Nile

"Ethiopia is the WATER TOWER OF NORTH-EAST AFRICA.

The Nile is a river shared by ten poor riparian States and poverty, which necessitate the development of the Nile Water resources by all riparian States. The “treaty for the full utilisation of the Nile”, concluded between Egypt and the Sudan in 1959, divides the entire flow of the Nile between the two countries. Other riparian countries, notably Ethiopia - a country that contributes about 86% of the annual discharge of the Nile - to date use only less than 1% of it.

On the other hand, plans to build the world’s second highest dam, GG III, have been a source of frustration for Ethiopia. It is claimed that Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake and lifeline for more than 300,000 Kenyans and Ethiopians, has lost several metres of its water in the last five years. GG III will drastically reduce the inflow into the lake, increase the lake’s salinity and severely alter the lives of thousands of people and millions of animals dependent on the lake, increase the lake’s salinity and severely alter the lives of thousands of people and animals dependent on the lake for survival in this drought-stricken area.

The paper outlines strategies and processes for Ethiopia to use it vast water resources potential and at the same time minimise the claimed impact of the GGIII"

The Neolithic culture of the Middle Nile Rasin was distributed through the Central and Northern regions in the fifth millennium BC. Several cultural
traits mark the social and economical development in the Neolithic period. Burial practices indicate the presence of social hierarchies. Regional
cultures became more extensively distributed, and finally, the Late Neolithic cultures of this region became increasingly complex, forming the foundation for the development of the Bronze Age societies (A-Group, C-Groups and Kerma civilization).
The wide excavations on the Neolithic sites have greatly increased our knowledge of the cultural development of the Neolithic period, together with the results of the previous work in Nubia and Central Sudan. However,
many more questions concerning the Neolithic development remain unanswered. We know little about agricultural activities, land use, and community organization. We lack information on the origins of the Neolithic
of Central Sudan. Caneva argued that “the chronological gap which seemed to separate the Khartoum Mesolithic from the Shaheinab Neolithic
is now consistently filled by the dotted wavy line cultures” (1993: 89-90). Focusing the research on this problem ought to bring us closer to explaining to what degree the older, local cultural base contributed to the development of the Neolithic culture of Central Sudan and what the main factors were that contributed to the development of the Neolithic societies in this whole area.
Social differentiation appeared among Sudanese herders by the 6th millennium BP. Clusters of especially rich graves of men, women, and children at Kadero I argue for differences in wealth, but there is no evidence
for social stratification. Pastoral intensification and a decrease in wild animal use are also evident at some sites in the Middle Nile after 5300 BP. Despite these developments, the spread of herding was patchy: at Shaqadud, east of the Nile, subsistence focused on wild resources as late as 4000 BP.
However, whatever this social organization might have been, it should have left some material manifestations of its structure. The increasing importance
of domesticated animals, for example, would be associated with the emergence of more individualized rights and responsibilities in economic
management and this would have led to increased differentiation within such communities.
It seems that, in spite of many excavated sites, evidence for the social organization of the people of the Neolithic in Central Sudan will be limited
to that derived from burial information. Although the hypothetical social classes reflected in the graves were not observed in the settlements, currently available evidence seems to indicate that the burial grounds at el Kadada and Kadero I clearly illustrate the process of increasing concentration
of goods and power by a social “elite” toward the end of the Neolithic.
It is clear that the social structure in the Central Sudan during the Neolithic period exhibited more or less inseparable economic and settlement
patterns which are in turn witness to developmental stages extending
from the Early Neolithic to the complex picture of the Late Neolithic.
The archaeological and morphological evidences of Neolithic subsistence
show that the people practiced multi-resources during that period. There is evidence for food production based on animal husbandry around 6000 BP.

A young woman, scantily clad except for a long diaphanous wedding veil, stands on a stone platform. She is barefoot, and chained by her ankles to a heavy rock; her hands are tied at her sides. She is to be thrown into the river as a sacrifice.

This ubiquitous myth about Egyptian culture, ancient and Coptic, panders to the western taste for exoticism and the "barbaric" but fascinating east. In a nutshell, a beautiful maiden is  supposedly married to the river god, her wedding day attended by many thousands of "well wishers" concludes with her immolation by drowning.

The total excavated ceramic collection recovered comprised 8407 sherds, of which 4299 (51.1%) were decorated. Two complete pots were found. The first season’s collection consists of 3272 body sherds, 446 rim sherds, with only one identifiable base. The second season’s collection consists of 4279 body sherds, 686 rim sherds and 15 bases. The small size and poor condition of some of the sherds meant that we could not analyse all of them and a sample of 657 sherds from the first
season and 1683 from the second season, are classified here, all of which are decorated.

"We use chronostratigraphic data from 194 organic-rich peat and lagoon points to quantitatively reevaluate the drivers of Nile Delta surface dynamics during the Holocene. Reconstructed subsidence rates range from 0.03 to 4.5 mm/yr, and are highest in the Manzala, Burullus, Idku, and Maryut lagoons, areas that correspond to deep late Pleistocene topography infilled with compressible Holocene strata; 88% of the subsidence values are <2 mm/
yr.
We suggest that during the Holocene two significant but previously underestimated contributors to changes in Nile Delta mass balance have been sediment compaction and orbitally forced changes in sediment supply. Between 8000 and 4000 calibrated (cal) 14C yr B.P., spatially averaged sedimentation rates were greater than subsidence, meaning that delta aggradation was the dominant geomorphological process at the regional scale. Since ca. 4000 cal yr B.P., a sharp climate-driven fall in Nile sediment supply, coupled with the human-induced drainage of deltaic wetlands, has rendered the depocenter more sensitive to degradation by sea-level rise and extreme flood events."

The site of es-Sour (16° 57.045' N / 33° 43.133' E) is located c. 35km from Shendi, 1.5km from the right bank of the modern Nile channel (Figures 1 and 2). It occupies an area of c. 176 x 90m, and while generally flat, forms two low mounds on its eastern side. The site has been the subject of excavations by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Khartoum since 2004.
During three seasons from 2005-2007, we excavated 15 test- pits across the site. The results of these excavations were extremely positive, demonstrating the existence of Neolithic occupation deposits up to 80cm deep in some places, although affected by water and wind erosion, and by some later graves (Meroitic and medieval) cut into the site. Material from the site is similar to that recovered from al-Kadada, which lies about 30km upriver, but no associated cemetery has yet been identified at Es-Sour. However, as at Kadada, two burials of infants, contained in large pots, were found within the settlement site.

Maryut lagoon is situated on the north-western margin of the Nile Delta, near Alexandria in Egypt. Its evolution has been reconstructed
through the biosedimentological study of ten radiocarbon-dated borings. The lagoon was formed at about ~8,000 years cal. B.P.,
during the marine transgression, before being rapidly isolated from the sea by a sand barrier during the progradation of the Nile Delta
coastline. A first biofacies highlights confined ecological conditions until ~4,800 years cal. B.P., followed by a second biofacies that
records a more open lagoon until ~3,200 years cal. B.P. Transition towards a more open lagoon is recorded when the Nile’s discharge
strongly decreased during a period of regional aridification. Then, we describe the alternation of two biofacies with a much finer resolution,
each lasting several decades. This phase of environmental change appears to be correlated with higher fluctuations in Nile
discharge. Our study refines the chronology and the hydrosedimentary specificity of the northwestern delta margin.

A strophic poem by the popular Poet Ibrāhīm al-Miʿmār (d. 749 H.) written in dialect casts light on the popular side of the wafāʾ an-Nīl ceremony. It is also important for the history of the zajal. Edition, translation, commentary and study.

Alluvial deposits within the Sabaloka Gorge and the Sixth Cataract, the Nile River, Sudan, represent a set of deposits with a high lithological variability. This is due to the geomorphology and short-time and intensive flood events resulting in aggradation and erosion of the alluvial zone. Human maintenance of the alluvial zone also plays a role. Therefore, these sediments seem to

The site of Meroe has seen much archaeological interest
since the beginning of the 20th century, mainly focused on
its Kushite (Napatan and Meroitic) and Post-Meroitic remains.
However, relatively little systematic survey has been
carried out in the surrounding region. For this reason, beside
others, the Department of Archaeology, University of
Khartoum began a new survey project, concerned with sites
of all periods in the region to the north of Meroe, extending
as far as Mutmir. Survey and test excavations were begun
within a concession held by the Department directed
by Prof. Ali Osman during 2004 and by the author during
Jan-Feb 2005.
One site discovered during this survey was located east
of the village of es-Sour, north of the Royal City of Meroe. This large Neolithic site does not appear to have
been previously recorded although it is located no more
than c.750m from the last archaeological unit labelled by
Garstang in the city of Meroe area (i.e. M622). This is the
first substantial Neolithic site discovered in the neighbourhood
of Meroe, and bears many similarities to the large
Neolithic site at al-Kadada, which lies about 30km upriver
from Meroe.

Groundwater is the main source of water for different purposes in the desert areas of Egypt. The agricultural and different human activities in line with hydrological characteristics have influenced the quality of this water resource. The main aim of this work was the determination of groundwater quality and vulnerability to pollution in west Luxor Governorate, Egypt. For completion of this work, 50 boreholes were sampled during October 2014 and groundwater samples were analyzed chemically. Hydrological, topographic, lithological, climatic conditions and land use data, which are considered key factors for pollutants transport, were also collected for building groundwater vulnerability maps. The results revealed high levels of groundwater pollution with NO3¯, Cd and Pb, as well as increased levels of total dissolved solids. The map of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability (based on the IV index; Arauzo 2017) showed medium and high levels of vulnerability associated with natural factors in 62% and 38% of the area, respectively. The map of specific groundwater vulnerability (based on the LU-IV procedure; Arauzo 2017) indicated that 52% of the area showed high to extreme levels of vulnerability to nitrate pollution from nonpoint sources. From this, it was concluded that the study area can be considered a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) and, therefore, specific measures (including optimization of water and N-fertilizers applications) must be taken in order to restore water quality.

Alluvial deposits within the Sabaloka Gorge and the Sixth Cataract, the Nile River, Sudan, represent a set of deposits with a high lithological variability. This is due to the geomorphology and short-time and intensive flood events resulting in aggradation and erosion of the alluvial zone. Human maintenance of the alluvial zone also plays a role. Therefore, these sediments seem to be ideal for a methodological case study to show how the lithological facies differ depending on the sedimentary dynamics of the river. Non-magnetic proxies together with TOC values depend on magnetic properties characterized by magnetic susceptibility and its frequency dependence.

This paper investigates the change sin settlement patterns characteristic of Neolithic societies in Central Sudan from the Sixth to the late Fourth millennium BC. It uses the available information on the distribution of the Neolithic sites from this region to present the structure of settlement. It also discusses in brief the chronology and the social aspects of the Neolithic in the region.
The paper concludes that the study of “settlement patterns” is a difficult one since we are using so few sites to understand the culture in a wider area. Accordingly, it is not clear whether the settlement patterns we see reflect the real situations that existed during the Neolithic Period.

A series of presentations (in Czech) provides an overview of the most significant findings and discoveries made by the Czech interdisciplinary team in the area of Jebel Sabaloka and the Sixth Nile Cataract in the Sudan since 2009. In addition to the main themes and results of the hitherto exploration, further perspectives and course of the research will be outlined.

Research of the Czech Institute of Egyptology in the Sudan
(Prof. Miroslav Bárta, Dr., Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague)

Sabaloka Research Project
(Mgr. Lenka Suková, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague)

Archaeological exploration of Jebel Sabaloka
(Mgr. Ladislav Varadzin, Ph.D., Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, v. v. i.)

Testimony of the lithics
(Mgr. Jaroslav Řídký, Ph.D., Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, v. v. i.)

Natural sciences in Jebel Sabaloka
Palaeoecology (Mgr. Petr Pokorný, Ph.D., Centre for Theoretical Studies, Charles University in Prague)
Archaeobotany (Mgr. Adéla Pokorná, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague)
Sedimentology (Mgr. Lenka Lisá, Ph.D., Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, v. v. i.)
Archaeozoology (Mgr. Zdenka Sůvová, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague)