The Nile Valley in Prehistory –did it play a role in human dispersals?

Congrès, colloques, réunions

 

4-9 juin 2018
Paris

 

XXII-2 session du 18ème congrès UISPP, Paris 2018, proposée par Mae Goder Goldberger & Alice Leplongeon

 

For a group of hunter - gatherers to disperse across geographical regions the landscape must be familiar. Groups recognize landmarks which help them navigate their way. Knowledge of distinctive natural features and associated routes are part of the learned behavior of a group. The Nile Valley may have acted as such a landmark which crosses the desert and connects the Ethiopian highlands with numerous routes through the Levantine corr idor into Eurasia and along the Northern African coast. At times of climatic amelioration paths through the western and eastern desert could also have connected to the Nile Valley, while during drier periods it may have acted as a refugia. The Nile Valley has been suggested as a possible route for the "Out of Africa" early dispersals of Homo erectus, and based on genetic data, also the later dispersals of Homo sapiens "Out and Back into Africa". Conversely, archaeological data supporting dispersal events vi a the Nile Valley remain scarce. This session intends to tackle research questions that address the role played by the Nile Valley in hominin dispersals. How does the Nile valley geology allow us to determine episodes that facilitated, or to the contrary h ampered, movement along the Nile? What can we learn from the Nile behavior over time that may shed light on the way hunter - gatherers exploited it? What impact did groups living or passing through the Valley have on the on neighboring desert oases? How does this manifest in the archaeological record? What markers could be used to identify dispersal events? Can contact between adjacent areas and the Nile Valley be identified in the archaeological record? What can we learn from the paleo - botany and paleo - zoolo gy regarding natural dispersals along the Valley? This session aims to bring together researchers working in northeastern Africa and neighboring regions during the Upper Pleistocene and early Holocene to discuss recent advances in studies which may shed li ght on hominin dispersal within the regional context.

 

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