User:AnnCeO/Wadi Kubbaniya

Wadi Kubbaniya

Example of a Wadi in Egypt, present day. A wadi is an area of land that is seasonally flooded. This flooding enriches the soil and makes it an ideal place for vegetation.

Wadi Kubbaniya is a Late Paleolithic site in Upper Egypt. Its original claim to fame and notoriety was that, initially, archaeologists believed that the site held evidence for some of the earliest examples of early agriculture. When it was discovered there were traces of barley that was originally used as evidence for farming. The belief now is that this is most likely not the case. The site has been dated to between 19,000 and 17,000 years ago using radiocarbon dating. This site was a part of a settlement system that people would come back to during its prime seasons- summer and winter.

Location

Wadi Kubbaniya is a site that is located in Southern Egypt. A wadi is geographical term that describes a valley that would become filled with water and form a stream during the rainy season. Wadis are normally lush and are valuable land for those wanting to have fertile soil. They normally occur within deserts which make their occurrence especially appreciable. Wadi Kubbaniya is found in the western bank of the Nile River and is roughly 30 kilometers from Aswan.

Archaeology

Wadi Kubbaniya was discovered by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild in January of 1967 during the Combined Prehistoric Expedition. However, due to time constrictions, they postponed excavating the site and then had to wait until 1977 for a permit to be granted due to war breaking out.

The skeleton found at Wadi Kubbaniya.

Discoveries reported at Wadi Kubbaniya are: grinding stones, fish bones, charcoal, bird bones, mammal bones, and backed bladelets. Two Middle Paleolithic individuals were also found, entombed within the same burial. Of the sixteen sites excavated, only four sites had evidence of plant remains and/or feces. These plant remains, overall, consist of fruits, tissues of soft vegetables, and 25 different types of seeds. The soft tissue of the vegetables preserved due to its interaction with fire which acted as a type of conservation. One of the identified plants was barley, which is what lead early researchers to believe this site was the origin for early agriculture. But after more research was done it was found that all of the 13 identified plants were actually wild, and even still grow wild in the Nile Valley today.

The nut-grass tubers that were found are known for having some toxins and a surplus of fibers. In order to eat these tubers consistently, these fibers and toxins need to be worked away. This can be done with boiling or grinding. The grinding stones found at the site are strong evidence that they ground these tubers to make them more edible.

Early agriculture

Of the plants discovered and identified at the Wadi Kubbaniya site, one of them stood out- barley. A sample was taken from a hearth and sent off for identification. From the sample, there were five grains, which were latter identified as barley and einkorn wheat. However, they could not definitively say whether these were domesticated or wild. Nevertheless, this was treated as exciting news for the archaeologists and their teams. They believed that these cereals could not have gown well without the assistance of humans. Therefore, if cereals were found at this site, and archaeologists believed that could not have survived without the intentional act of humans, this pointed to the theory that this was a site of early farming and cultivation. What bolstered their claim even more were the stone tools discovered. These tools were found with what they hypothesized was sickle sheen on them, which can be an indication of agricultural use. Archaeologists used these data and hypotheticals to poster that Wadi Kubbaniya was now the earliest known site for agriculture.

However, research was investigated further and it was determined that the barley found was actually wild and was not an indication of early agriculture taking place at Wadi Kubbaniya. But this does not mean all their research was to waste. Due to their convictions of Wadi Kubbaniya being one of the earliest sites for agriculture, there was much time and effort put into carefully excavating plant remains from the soil; which means that there is now a large and diverse collection of plant remains from Wadi Kubbaniya that can tell us more about the area and possibly other Late Paleolithic sites in Egypt.

Bibliography

Hillman, Gordon C. “Late Paleolithic Plant Foods from Wadi Kubbaniya in Upper Egypt: Dietary Diversity, Infant Weaning, and Seasonality in a Riverine Environment .” Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation, Unwin Hyman, London, Greater London, 1989, pp. 207–239.

Wendorf, Fred, and Romuald Schild. The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya. A Late Paleolithic Burial from Southern Egypt. Edited by Angela E. Close, vol. 1, Southern Methodist University Press, 1986.

Wendorf, Fred, and Romuald Schild. The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya. A Late Paleolithic Burial from Southern Egypt. Edited by Angela E. Close, vol. 2, Southern Methodist University Press, 1989.

Wendorf, Fred, and Romuald Schild. The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya. A Late Paleolithic Burial from Southern Egypt. Edited by Angela E. Close, vol. 3, Southern Methodist University Press, 1989.

Wendorf, Fred, and Romuald Schild. Loaves and Fishes: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya. Edited by Angela E. Close, Dep. of Anthropology, Inst. for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist Univ., 1980.