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Bir Kiseiba

Overview

Bir Kiseiba is a natural oasis located in Egypt, within the Eastern Sahara. The site is characterized by a few dom and date palm trees, which indicate a near-surface water table in an otherwise hyper-arid environment devoid of vegetation. Bir Kiseiba is known for its significance as an archaeological site. Archaeologists have used artifactual evidence to argue that it exhibits one of the earliest instances of cattle domestication in Africa. The site has been used to draw comparisons between cattle domestication in Africa, which precedes any extensiveagricultural systems in the area, to the chronology of agricultural and pastoral innovation in southwest Asia.

Early History

The Bir Kiseiba region has experienced fluctuating moisture cycles, with distinct periods of decreased aridity. Pond and spring deposits in the geologic record could be evidence for increased rainfall or a higher water table, and the earliest evidence for human occupation is found near such deposits in the Late Acheulian. The region became hyper-arid following the Aterian period, before going through another wet period known as the “green Sahara” during the Early Holocene (10,000 BP-5,000 BP).

Present Day

Bir Kiseiba is currently used as a landmark and watering hole along the Darb el Arbain camel road from Kharga to El Fasher

Archaeological work

Archaeologists have focused on Early Holocene occupations at Bir Kiseiba, which, along with nearby sites like Nabtya Playa, have the largest assemblage of Neolithic faunal remains in the Eastern Sahara. For this reason, archaeologists sometimes discuss the region as the combined Nabtya-Kiseiba area. Most of the archaeology at the site was done in 1979 and 1980 by Wendorff and Schild, who argued that Bir Kiseiba was a location of early independent cattle domestication in the Eastern Sahara. Their analysis was focused on 13 sites, most of which were determined through an examination of basins and other areas where Playa sediments remained preserved. A systematic survey was also done on a plateau found above the Keseiba Scarp. Excavations were only conducted at locations where significant portions of the cultural horizon were found in situ. Their work emphasized sites predating 6500 BP, and utilized lithostratigraphy and archaeozoology. The report assembled by Wendorff and Schild is notable in that it recorded possible cattle domestication at Bir Kiseiba at the 9^th/8^th millennium BC, though domestication is not seen in other parts of Egypt until the 6^th millennium. While cattle bones were not dated directly, the contexts surrounding them at Bir Kiseiba were extensively dated via radiocarbon to 9000 BP. Archaeologists believe that Early Holocene peoples at Bir Kiseiba were nomadic hunter-gatherers who also keep modest domestic cattle stores. These people were non-agricultural, but did rely significantly on wild plants, and used ceramics. Wendorff divides the human occupation at the site into three stages: Early, Middle, and Late Neolithic. The Early Neolithic was characterized by four lithic tool types, which are consistent with the finds and dates from other archaeological sites in the Sahara. The pottery is usually marked with incised and impressed designs. The Middle Neolithic had large amounts of Early Khartoum-like ceramics, with smeared and impressed designs. Lithic material shifted from mostly Egyptian flint to quartz, and people may have begun to cultivate wheat and barley. It is during this period that possible evidence for cattle domestication emerged. In the Late Neolithic, pottery began to exhibit evidence of polishing or burnishing, though lithic tools remain similar to those in the Middle Neolithic.

Theories for cattle domestication during the Early Holocene

Faunal assemblages from the 1979 and 1980 seasons were analyzed by Gautier. He identified 18 types of animals, many of which occurred naturally in the Saharan environment. He focused on the occurrence and frequency of mammals, which included hedgehogs, ground squirrels, porcupines, hares, gazelles, and a few carnivores. Most important to Gautier’s analysis were 28 fragments of large bovids, which he argued were from cattle (Bos Primigenius). Gautier claims that the environment of the Early Holocene Sahara was too arid for large Bos Primigenius to survive without some human intervention. Gautier says this intervention could be seen in the archaeological record, as humans dug shallow wells that may have been used to water cattle. It would have been advantageous for humans to begin exploiting domesticated animals at the time for nutritional reasons. During periods of drought, fat can be stored for longer in cattle than in African game animals. Therefore greater control over, and access to, bovines would have been important to human survival in the Sahara.

Dissenting Opinions

As Gautier notes, the faunal remains from Bir Kiseiba are fragmentary and the sample size is small. Also, the total number of bone fragments found was much larger than the number of bones that could be identified. This has led other archeologists to question the arguments of Wendorf and Schild. Smith argues that the environment of Early Holocene Bir Kiseiba, which supported hares and gazelles, should also be capable of supporting oryx, giraffes, rhinos, and elephants. To support Bos Primigenius, humans would still need pastureland, and this would allow for other ungulates that could live on less water. However, these larger animals are not found in Gautier’s analysis. Smith also critiques the ability of researchers to identify similar animals found in cotemporaneous contexts. He specifically questions Gautier’s ability to tell cattle from the African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), considering the sparse and fragmentary assemblages that were recovered. He proposes an alternate hypothesis, that the early Holocene wet period provided opportunities for hunter-gatherer groups to hunt gazelle and bovines already in the area, rather than domesticate them.

Other sites of human occupation in the Eastern Sahara

a.    Nabtya Playa

b.    Kharga Oasis

c.    Gilf el Kebir

d.    Bir Tarfawi

e.    Wadi Bakht

f.     Grotte Capeletti

g.    Gebel Nabtya