Early Permanent Residences in Sudan

Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: African History
Forum Discription: Talk about African History
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33314
Printed Date: 10-May-2024 at 09:02
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Topic: Early Permanent Residences in Sudan

Posted By: TheAlaniDragonRising
Subject: Early Permanent Residences in Sudan
Date Posted: 25-Feb-2013 at 00:28

Polish archaeologists in Sudan claim 'unique' human settlement discovery

Polish archaeologists working in Sudan have found remains of human settlements that appear to date back as far as 70,000 years.

If confirmed, the discovery in the Affad Basin of northern Sudan will challenge existing theories that our distant ancestors only began building permanent residences on leaving Africa and settling in Europe and Asia.
“The Middle Palaeolithic discoveries in Affad are absolutely unique,” enthused Dr Marta Osypinska, one of the members of the team, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“Last season, we came across a few traces of a light wooden construction. But it's only with ongoing research that we have been able to locate the settlement precisely and identify other utility areas: a large workshop for processing flint... and an area for cutting up the carcasses of dead animals.”
The team will be cooperating at the site in the Nile Valley with academics from Oxford University, in a bid to further unravel the geological history of the area.
http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/127828%2CPolish-archaeologists-in-Sudan-claim-unique-human-settlement-discovery - http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/127828%2CPolish-archaeologists-in-Sudan-claim-unique-human-settlement-discovery

A little more can be found on this link: http://archeosudan.org./index_en.html - http://archeosudan.org./index_en.html

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What a handsome figure of a dragon. No wonder I fall madly in love with the Alani Dragon now, the avatar, it's a gorgeous dragon picture.

Replies:

Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 25-Feb-2013 at 08:21

The lithic evidence they are presenting looks weak to me. With the age they say these items came from, how are they reconciling this with the Toba eruption? The question arises, are these habitation sites of H. Sapiens, or.........?

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"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
Unknown.

Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 25-Feb-2013 at 20:38

It's extremely weak. In Africa, a brush shelter leaves "traces of light wooden construction", but hardly qualifies as a "permanent structure".

I do, however, believe that we fail to appreciate the intelligence and capabilities of Early Man, as evidenced by our new findings on the behavior and tool making of homo Neanderthal.

For quite some time now I have noticed the tendency by scientists and researchers in all disciplines to rush to make dramatic announcements and leap to conclusions that are not supported by hard evidence. I call this "grant-seeking behavior".

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 26-Feb-2013 at 10:46

All Hail the almighty buck.

" Grant seeking behavior" I like that. I've seen this myself, on a local level.

The Lenape pole lodge would leave signs of light construction also, but hardly a permanent structure.

Around 1978, I took part in the excavation and documentation of a very large and very early Lenape encampment, just outside of West Chester Pa. It covered the better part of 100 acres of a farm off rt3. When we carefully stripped down the top 8-10 inches of soil, you could see the remains of the poles, dark circles left in the lighter soils. The science done at that time showed the site had only been occupied for a period of about 3 years. The patterns suggested that the lodges were moved periodically. Again, not exactly what one would call "permanent structures".

What I was initially speaking of as weak, was the lithic evidence. I've seen better and more sophisticated produced by H. Erectus. And what they are calling "cores" do not resemble anything I'm aware of as "cores". I think Toltec would agree with me on this.

I started to imply that the site they are speaking of could well be the work of H. Erectus, or some other early branch, I think that could be the case.

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"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
Unknown.