K. Nelson, "Chronology and technology: The pottery of Nabta Playa (Egypt)" - The ceramic chronology at the sites of Nabta Playa spans the entire Neolithic sequence. From the onset of ceramic production in the desert to the latest sites predating the Predynastic, ceramic vessel form, construction and distribution is defined by changing ceramic technology and use. The first ceramics of North Africa are among the first pottery to appear in the world, second only to early pottery in Japan as part of the Jomo culture dating to 12,700 BP. The earliest date for ceramics from Nabta is approximately 9,000 BP. The pottery of Nabta Playa provides not only a chronology of types but indicates changes in subsistence and a changing relationship with the Egyptian Nile. Late Neolithic pottery, for the first time in the Nabta sequence is similar to types found to the north and along the Egyptian Nile. The onset of the Late Neolithic, the arrival of herders, the differential use of cattle, seen in the changes of hearths and first evidence of roasted cattle bone along with pottery similar if not the same as Badarian pottery, provide evidence of this transition. With further study including the relationships of types, use wear analysis and further chemical studies, the function and distribution of pottery may reveal the dynamics of the people that once occupied Nabta Playa.

J. Linstädter, "Middle and Late Neolithic in the Wadi Bakht (Gilf Kebir)" - Assuming that the symposium title "Culture Markers" also means "Chronological Markers" I'll contribute to the chronological discussion of the Neolithic Phase in the Eastern Sahara. As a result of several years of archaeological fieldwork in Northern Africa I've noticed that if we do chronological work with just a single artefact type or a ceramic decoration these - let's call it markers - can be connected to different archaeological material coming from very different periods. To get a more precise image of an archaeological group or culture, we should add as many features as possible to our description, like stone tool production sequences, mobility patterns or other indications of land use strategies. To illustrate this idea I'll present the outlines of our recent work in the Gilf Kebir. Over the period of the past 20 years the upper reaches of several wadis have been subject to archaeological research of scientists of the University of Cologne. By combining these single features we get a first image about the middle neolithic inhabitants of our study area. During the rainy season the groups came always back to theirs places on the barrier dune, where the large amount of artefacts shows an extensive settlement. The plateau was only used on its edges for the raw material acquirement. Several indications suggest a hunter-gatherer economy. Late neolithic people had their camps always on the Playa surface. They can be identified as remains of a single stay. Earlier camps might be covered by the Playa deposits. The Plateau was integrated in the subsistence activities, even far from its edges. The reason was maybe a different precipitation regime or a change of subsistence strategies. The existence of domesticated lifestock is proved. The field work in Wadi Bakht region will be continued this year. Besides an enlargement of our survey area on the plateau, the main aim will be the dating of the plateau sites and their assignment to one of the two main phases. The preliminary results have to be proved and our hypotheses have to be tested. So we need to check to which period the stone structures are belonging to, or whether the fauna and the tool kit indicates a hunter-gatherer economy in the middle and a pastoral society in the late neolithic. And, if there was a change of subsistence strategy how, when and why it took place.

R. Kuper, "Through Abu Ballas to the back of the beyond: Pharaonic tracks in the Libyan Desert" - They found that around 6,000 BC there were many human settlements in the Western Desert and none in the Nile Valley, by 4,000 BC the situation had drastically changed with settlements in various parts of the Nile Valley illustrating about the beginning of agricultural activity and none in the Western Desert. It would seem that by then the situation had become like what we will find later in Pharaonic texts, that is, that life ceased beyond the oases. What a Hungarian traveller (the hero of the recent film "The English patient") had speculated about in the first half of the XXth century, that is, the existence of an ancient commercial route going west from Ballat, through the oases and Gilf Kebir, now it has been found to be correct when more settlements along this route were located. Old Kingdom and later pottery was found besides occasional inscriptions indicating that a certain Egyptian official had passed on his way "to meet the inhabitants of the desert". A relief was also found representing an ass. Curiously, the Old Kingdom pottery is a good example of the contemporary manufacture but the New Kingdom one is of bad quality, the actual term used by the speaker was "rubbish". The expedition took excellent aerial photographs by means of a simple device consisting of flying a kite with a digital camera hanging from it with a wire to trigger it from below. This system enabled them to photograph objects as small as 5 cm long, which were clearly identifiable. In other places they found even older objects, in some there were stone circles, a stone stela mentioning the god Amun was also found as well as a satirical engraving representing a cat and a mouse made on the rock wall. To the question of what could the ancient Egyptians want from such inhospitable and remote area of the desert situated so far west, the speaker replied that it was not probably a commercial route but in fact a military one used during the New Kingdom in order to transfer troops without being detected by the enemy. Near Ballat they also found another engraving representing the god Set.

K. Kindermann, "New investigations into the Neolithic settlement system of Djara (Abu Muharik Plateau, Western Desert)" - An old caravan route connecting the Farafra Oasis with Assiut, goes through this area. One of the subjects of this research is the conglomeration of Neolithic sites here, which were first visited by a German explorer of the XIXth century, G. Rholfs, who went from Assiut to Farafra. Djara was rediscovered in 1989 by Carlo Bergmann who found neolithic stone artefacts around the entrance to the cave and noticed the presence of rock engravings. The greater part of the Djara archaeological sites situated between Bahariya and Kharga oases, fall into the Middle Neolithic (6,400 - 5,400 calC14 BC). The Abu Muharik Plateau as other parts of the Western Desert during the Early and Middle Holocene was not an environment to live and survive in. Vegetation was sparse and concentrated around ephemeral lakes. In the Western Desert many Holocene sites were also discovered near playa sediments. The special attraction of the Djara region consists of the abundance of easily available raw material such as flint and the especially favourable environmental circumstances. After 5,400 BC the occupation seemed to have broken off. Possibly the drying trend at the end of the 6th millennium which interrupted the relatively moist mid-Holocene, forced people out from this region as it did to such groups from other parts of the Western Desert, towards more fertile lands such as the Egyptian oases or the Nile Valley. Cultural markers here (distinct key forms of prehistoric periods) are arrowheads, side-blow flakes and bifacially retouched knives, like the "Gerzean flint knives" of Egypt.

J. J. Castillos, "Social development in Predynastic Egypt: a study of cemeteries in the Badari area" - Using a methodology borrowed and adapted from quantitative sociology, the speaker found out that a different evolution could be determined from the cemetery data for each one of the major sites in northern Upper Egypt at Matmar, Mostagedda and Badari. The cemeteries at Matmar appear to have declined in social differentiation during the Protodynastic, a phenomenon not uncommon in other parts of Predynastic Upper Egypt and which seems to have affected out of the way settlements, far from the political and economic centres at the time. At Mostagedda, the evolution appears as what we might call the most "normal" with a continuous increase in wealth and social differentiation while at Badari itself, according to the speaker, the probable centre of the Badarian culture, the natural resistance of such a privileged location to accept a role of a provincial outpost of later cultures caused a less clear development in which Badarian levels were only surpassed during the Protodynastic. The speaker also mentioned that in all the probable élite tombs that could be identified in these cemeteries at Badari itself, not in one case the occupant was a woman, men apparently being privileged in this aspect. Some of the scholars in the audience pointed out that in their excavations in Sudan and in Lower Egypt, they had found the opposite, with some obviously élite tombs being occupied by women, to which the speaker replied that his findings did not imply that elsewhere the situation could not be different and also that in many cases the occupant of large or rich tombs in the Badari area could not be identified, so his results were tentative, although it remains strange that if the general practice was as mentioned by some of the members of the audience, not in one case here among those where the sex of the occupant could be determined, agreed with such findings elsewhere. From his previous research, the speaker could infer that although the picture in this aspect is fairly complex, men and women were on the whole treated in a roughly equal manner in the Predynastic cemeteries, although it would appear that women seem to have been favoured in the wealth of the tombs in early predynastic times, while men saw their status improved as time went by.

S. Hendrickx, "The Badarian living site Mahgar Dendera II and the distribution of the Badarian in Upper Egypt" - This site was excavated 10 years ago by the speaker and B. Midant-Reynes. It was a rescue excavation because then already one half of the site had disappeared due to modern human activity. Now nothing remains of this site. Under a top layer of sand, the gravel was found to contain archaeological material, among which graves without matting. Only large post holes belonging to the settlement could be identified because the smaller ones would not have gone deep enough into the gravel to be recognizable. They found Badarian pots and sherds. Hearths were also found and could be dated to about 6,480 BP (4,300 calC14 BC). Milling stones were also found, permanently installed on the ground, several areas had storage pits. The big post holes indicated the presence of large structures but these could not be precisely defined. Pottery was fairly rare in this site, lithics were much more frequent, the opposite of what has been found elsewhere. Some evidence of the so-called Tasian pottery, which also appears occasionally in Badarian contexts, was found here. The lithics were studied by B. Midant-Reynes, the stone used was local, half of the tools were borers, bifacial tools such as axes were also found, common in Naqada I and II contexts but also in Badarian ones. Agriculture does not seem to have been important in this site, flints that had to do with it were comparatively rare, the lithics seem to have been meant for cutting wood and other perishable items. Faunal remains analysis indicated seasonal occupation of this site. They would take their flocks to the Nile. The permanent settlement was not found, only this apparently seasonal one. From all the evidence they could infer a sequence of land use during the whole year, before, during and after the annual flood. They would fish in the Nile with nets, slaughter the young goats while the water was receding. This site offers a glimpse of life in Badarian times. He also pointed out that Tasian (Badarian related) items were also found in the desert west of Luxor, at Dakhla Oasis and also in the Eastern Desert from Matmar to Hierakonpolis. K. Kroeper objected to the use of C14 dates because in this period (around 5,000 BP) it leads to ranges of plus / minus 300 years which are useless since they don't provide calC14 dates plus / minus 50 years which would be useful, some people have even quoted such C14 dates that would seem to agree with their pet theories, which is not an acceptable procedure. P. Vermeersch said that at this time period the calibration curve is quite flat which makes determinations difficult.

L. Watrin, "Five or six lost generations: what was going on in the Delta after Maadi and before Naqada" - Buto I has been dated by C14 to around 5,000 BC. Maadi, contemporary with Naqada Ib to Naqada IIc,d, shows notorious Palestinian influences, it was dated to 3,800 - 3,500 BC (F. Hassan). The semi-underground structures found there are related to EB I Palestinian ones. The rest of the Maadi material is related to Upper Egyptian artefacts (fish-tail blades, maceheads, etc.). Buto IIa seems to be contemporary with Naqada IIa and with the closing of Maadi. The current excavations at Tell el Farkha seem most promising because they cover the gap between the post-Maadian and the early Naqadian presence up north. There was a gap between the end of Maadi and early Naqada penetration in the north that has been compressed and eliminated from the chronology of this period and that the new excavations are bringing up evidence of the material culture that would fill such a gap.

M. Chlodnicki, "Recent research at Tell el Farkha" - The structures found here by the Italians in the late eighties just north of the modern village, were of Old Kingdom date with the earliest being Predynastic, contemporary with Buto. Magnetic surveys have indicated the underground presence of brick walls and that these stretched far into beneath the modern village. In the Early Dynastic layers structures (brick walls) orientated in a NE-SW direction were found as well as other round ones, probably ovens.

K. Cialowicz, "Tell el Farkha 2000: Excavations at the Western Kom" - The strata seem to confirm the replacement of Delta artefacts by Upper Egyptian ones, the latest layer of the Western Kom seems to date to the First Dynasty. They found the remains of the rounded corner of a brick wall structure and some badly preserved remains of the floor. The wall was built in two ways, an inner layer consisting of yellow bricks and an outer one consisting of grey bricks. The orientation of the building was the normal one at tell el Farkha, that is, NE-SW. The building seems to have had rectangular chambers divided by thin walls. This was a large Naqada II structure that at some point was destroyed and was then abandoned. Another structure found seems to have been a brewery and it would be the oldest such building found so far in the Delta. The building was erected using regularly placed D-shaped bricks (20 by 10 cm), this type of bricks seem to have been used from the earliest periods in this site. Inscribed objects and seal impressions as well as fragments of statuettes were also found.

J. Kabacinski, "Lithic industry from the Predynastic and Early Dynastic settlement at Tell el Farkha (Nile Delta)" - The evidence indicates that the tools were used there but not manufactured at the site since there is no evidence of such work. Three basic types of raw materials were found: semitransparent flint, opaque flint of the normal colour and a variety of flint almost black. The manufacturing technique used was pressure. Two basic types can be found: denticulated blades to be inserted into handles and used to cut grass or other plants since they have the gloss that indicates such a use and bi-truncated blades without gloss whose use is still unknown. About 70 % of all flints were sickle blades. Other tools found are bi-truncated blades at the base with a pointed top probably used as perforators (burins). Bifacial flints (mostly broken) as well as a fragment of a flint bracelet were also found. A small proportion of the tools seems to have been manufactured using other techniques rather than pressure, so it seems that there were basically two technological approaches present here.

A. Maczynska, "Lower Egyptian culture at Tell el Farkha: Preliminary Report" - They found some large pits about 3 m in diameter and a number of smaller pits, probably post holes. Several types of pottery were found, about 92% were rough ware of a brownish colour (brownish red or brownish grey), 4% were red slip ware. Many of the pots were decorated with incised geometric continuous or dotted zigzag patterns.

M. Jucha, "Research on Predynastic and Early Dynastic pottery from Tell el Farkha" - Some of the pots were broken and were probably used to dry grain. Decorated ware consists of the so-called "water lines", typical of Naqada III. In phases IV and V they also found W ware. Some of those cylindrical pots (Naqada IIIa2) had degenerated wavy handles made by pushing the clay while soft. Her evidence shows an early occupation by people with a Lower Egyptian tradition contemporary with Naqada II before the Early Dynastic strata.

B. Gabriel, "Cultural relics as Saharan landscape elements" - For example, stone formations in the desert which an untrained eye would miss altogether, were mostly hearths used by neolithic herders. Some geomorphologists have defined them as natural formations but since the times of Caton-Thompson at Kharga Oasis and Fred Wendorf's work in the Western Desert, they have been identified as archaeological features. Many of these formations are being destroyed by traffic through the desert routes. A number of clusters of pits (about 3 m wide and 0.5 m deep) can be seen in the Western Desert (for example, at the latitude of Malawi or at Dakhla) and they cannot be explained as natural formations. They have different shapes (oval or more or less rectangular). They have been explained by some as paleolithic mining pits for the procurement of different types of raw materials. Isolated stone boulders in the desert seem to have been the result of human activity as well. Even waste products of today may become the relics of tomorrow, as the remains of Second World War campaigns scattered in the desert or even discarded trucks by the road which are found today testify.

B. Barich, E. Garcea, C. Conati Barbaro, C. Giraudi, "The Ras el Wadi sequence in the Jebel Gharbi and the Late Pleistocene cultures of Northern Lybia" - A systematic surface collection permitted assembling collections of aterian points and Levallois tools. In an area of about 100 square metres a high density of objects could be recovered including epipaleolithic tools. The high percentage of bladelets probably indicates plant collection activities. Two major sources of flint were located in this area. It seems that the Aterian here was later than in other Saharan sites, followed by epipaleolithic and other later stages.

B. Keding, "Environmental change and cultural development in the Middle Wadi Howar (Northwestern Sudan)" - Things seem to have started here around 4,000 calC14 BC, there was probably nothing earlier because the land was too swampy for human occupation. Some authors have overemphasized environmental elements or social elements or the context (contacts with other people) as determining change but she tried to integrate these different approaches into a comprehensive one. A climatic deterioration can be perceived until at about 4,000 BC aridity got installed permanently. A large number of lithics related to plant gathering and processing activities could be found, but also big game hunting took place here. No evidence of animal domestication could be found. So far, the evidence indicates that the environment at the time here was a savanna type. The population were hunter-gatherers and the transition to domestication took place between the 4th and the 2nd millennium calC14 BC. It seems that domestication reached here from two sources: from more western Sahara sites and from the Nile Valley. As this process advanced, the settlements became smaller as people became pastoralists. Finds of cattle bones and almost complete pots indicate the existence of ritual ceremonies having to do with cattle, the source of this people's main livelihood. Then we can appreciate the second change in this people's main activity from cattle pastoralism to the keeping of small livestock. At about 1,000 calC14 BC we see this people keeping cattle, sheep and goats, a diversification more suitable to environmental change towards greater aridity. The climatic change cannot be considered the main stimulus for the change into pastoralism here because it was not drastic enough, but the increasing aridity must have encouraged change. The transition seems to have been due more to socio-cultural changes due to decreasing usable land, changes in group size and a tendency to sedentarization or semi-sedentarization. To a suggestion that change could have been due to the intrusion of new people rather than to people changing their ways, she replied that in her opinion that was not the case because she could not find a clear break in the material remains such as the pottery. L. Krzyzaniak asked if the cattle bones were related to human burials, she replied that none so far but since modern ethnographic practice (Dinka) is to bury people and in other places cattle bones are buried simultaneously, a similar practice might have taken place here, although no evidence has been found yet. P. Vermeersch asked if there was any indication of warfare that we know happened in modern times, were these people so peaceful? She replied that having found so few burials she can't possibly say one way or the other, but she feels there was then enough space for all and therefore warfare might not have been necessary. J. J. Castillos said that so many interpretations years ago resorted too quickly to war and conquest to explain change in human cultures that it is only reasonable that nowadays archaeologists are reticent to explain change that way unless there is compelling evidence.

Ph. Van Peer, "Survey of Paleolithic sites on Sai Island (Northern Sudan)" - He found many sites of quartz lithic implements, many of them stratified. He confined himself to one special site of those found, an area of 30,000 square metres with three layers, one of middle paleolithic mixed to some extent with neolithic tools and two other later layers. Over the underlying Nubian sandstone he found a layer with stone boulders associated to Acheulian tools. They tried, sometimes successfully, to reassemble the original nucleus by re-grouping the tools but with quartz it is a difficult task. They found then a break represented by a layer with boulders associated to re-worked Acheulian tools and over this, another with stones which he called grinding stones and which have one of their sides smooth (polished). On top of that there was a layer of black silt and then a layer of Middle Paleolithic occupation. The raw material (quartz) was brought to the site as nuclei that were processed in situ. They seem to have been normal habitational sites like those found in later Nubian phases. On top of this there was a layer which he called "Aterian" but that was very deteriorated. Many boulders over this top layer may have helped prevent further erosion of this site. He pointed out that in his opinion the origin of the Aterian should be found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

M. Lange, "Finds of the A-Group from the Eastern Sahara and the chronological development of the ceramic in the Laqiya region (Northwestern Sudan)" - His site could be dated to 3,200 to 3,100 calC14 BC. A domestic cow skull dated to 3,000 calC14 BC shows that these people were pastoralists. The skull was found at a certain distance and not associated to other remains. He described the ceramics from this site that were decorated with several incised patterns and that later deteriorated as the site was resettled after temporary abandonment. A large sandstone palette was found like some of those bird-shaped ones found at Naqada.

B. Gratien, "Paleogeomorphology and human occupation in the northern Wadi el Khouri (Sudan)" - They found a cemetery covering an area of about 100 metres by 100 metres with neolithic tombs, in very bad condition because they had been disturbed. Wind erosion was very strong, they estimated that they had lost about 60 to 80 cm of upper layer due to it, affecting a Kerma, pre-Kerma and early Kerma settlement. At about 2,000 BC (Middle Kerma) they found the first structures of irregular rectangular shape with granaries surrounded by post holes belonging to a fence around it all. They also found rectangular houses with a hearth and also a 4 m wide probable sanctuary or shrine. They also found the remains of large farms with houses that wee rebuilt many times, a large courtyard, kitchen outside the house, etc. The site was abandoned at about 1,500 BC from the pottery sequence. They also found large Classical Kerma structures built with strong brick walls that reveal that the builders were acquainted with contemporary Egyptian building techniques. The upper level dates to the 18th Dynasty, they found houses of Kerma type, kilns, etc. The material is late Kerma and Egyptian, scarabs of Tuthmosis III and typical contemporary Egyptian pottery was also found.

I. Takamiya, "Egyptian pottery in A-Group cemeteries, Nubia: Towards an understanding of pottery production and distribution in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt" - She undertook quantitative analysis of the Naqadian pottery distribution patterns as compared to A-Group Nubian pottery, mainly from funerary contexts. She selected about 30 cemeteries of A-Group suitable for her study, they were divided into three groups: Naqada II, Naqada II-III and Naqada III. She used Hierakonpolis as the Naqada assemblage more suitable for this study because the periods were well represented there. She found the pottery distribution in contemporary A-Group and Hierakonpolis mostly in agreement in the case of Hard Orange Ware (HOW) abundance in the latter site indicating capacity to supply. The probable distribution centre for A-Group people was probably situated at Elephantine because this site dates back to Naqada II when HOW started to be produced in quantities suitable for export. During Naqada II the study showed a linear system of exchange based on simple transfer of products, in Naqada III there were two systems of distribution, one for wavy handled vases and another for wine jars. One objection was raised by H. Nordström that in this study only intact tombs should have been used because it was a common practice to rob Egyptian pots for later re-use and that would distort her picture, which the speaker admitted was possible.

M. Honegger, "Neolithic and Pre-Kerma occupation at Kerma" - His work was confined to the area around the third cataract, covering a time span of between the 5th and the end of the 4th millennium BC. Most of the sites were in bad condition due to wind erosion. The excavation now comprises more than 10,000 square metres and hundreds of pits measuring about 2 m in diameter containing jars or potsherds and grinding stones and rarely, cattle remains. The function was for storage of foodstuff or liquids, there are also many post holes belonging to structures that measured from 1 to 7 m in diameter. A very common measurement was 4 m which most probably were houses. According to contemporary practice, branches were intertwined with the posts to enclose the structures which were probably workshops or the houses of important people. Two rectangular buildings were also identified, one of them apparently important because it was rebuilt three times with exactly the same design. The second had thicker post holes. Post holes belonging to palisades to divide dwelling areas were also found. The total area of this site is of about two hectares, the western part was eroded by the wind until the lower neolithic layers were exposed in the surface, other areas were destroyed by Middle Kerma tombs or other structures. These Pre-Kerma agglomerations appear as more complex than those of modern times. The pottery had pointed bottoms (sometimes flat) and wide mouths, no Egyptian imports were found here. A neolithic settlement dating back to 4,500 BC was surveyed. They found post holes around oval structures. The design does not seem as coherent as the Kerma one, the remains of caprines and other domestic animals were found, the pots were globular in shape and had rippled decoration. Fluctuations in the course of the Nile seem to indicate that at the time it flowed closer (towards the east) to the structures described here. The radiocarbon dates are much more reliable and agree with the expected dates if charcoal is used, for mummified tissue and bone remains the dates appear to be more recent because of some sort of pollution that they have not been able to explain yet.

L. Chaix and J. Hansen, "The 'Bent Horned' cattle from Kerma (Sudan): A cultural marker?" - During Kerma times it is possible to observe a progressive decrease in the number of cattle kept by these communities until in Late Kerma cattle is comparatively rare while caprines and sheep increase in numbers to fill the gap. The tombs found in a tumulus consist of the burial chamber with a wooden bed and caprine and sheep bones. The central burial depression is surrounded by buried bucrania (cattle skulls). In the tombs of important people up to thousands of bucrania are found buried in their immediate vicinity. These bucrania were buried in Early Kerma with the nasal bones, in Middle Kerma with the lower part of the skull cut in half and in Late Kerma only the horns and the top of the skull are present. The skulls were buried facing the dead human being. Some cases of deformed cattle horns were found in which they had been deformed by mechanical means while the animal was alive, starting with young calves. These are about 15% of the total number of bucrania. The idea was to make the horns parallel to each other. Female animals seemed to predominate with about 70% of the total. This practice has been observed in most of North Africa, apparently arising from the central Sahara. The first examples of these practices appear in Tassili (7th millennium BC) and decrease in time. A similar practice can still be seen among contemporary people living near the Ethiopian border made by tying the horns of the animal with ropes. R. Kuper asked the speaker if there were other types of deformed horns (both falling down, one deformed and the other normal, etc.), as found in the Sahara rock art, he admitted that such odd deformities were present in his sites. He was also asked whether the horns were ornamented as can be appreciated as well in the rock art, but no examples of this could be found among his bucrania. M. Kobusiewicz asked as to the reason for the progressive decrease in the number of cattle, the speaker replied that it was most probably a consequence of the aridification process as time went by and cattle became a precious commodity. P. Vermeersch pointed out that a similar trend towards sheep and goats can also be observed in the neolithic of Western Asia. K. Kroeper asked whether the cattle for the burials were killed at one time and then buried or if they were collected over a long period of time and buried with the dead. The speaker replied that it was possible, he is only sure that they were buried at the same time. F. Wendorf pointed out that cattle and sheep/goats require different management done separately, probably the aridification made this not feasible anymore so as to manage them both equally, so only small groups continued keeping cattle, most kept only sheep and goats. He also asked the speaker what he had done with the numerous bucrania he had found, he replied that some he kept for further study, the rest he reburied in the sand.

J. Kabacinski, "Stone Age lithic industries in the Letti Basin" - In this area Middle Paleolithic sites were found at the edge of the desert, in natural elevations of the ground, the later neolithic remains were found in the valley. The Middle Paleolithic tools exhibit a very simple technology. Very few endscrapers and a majority (30%) of segments, some burins, etc. In later neolithic settlements the same simple lithic techniques were observed (direct percussion, etc.). Some of the pots found resemble those of Late Kadero (beakers). Some of the pots had incised dotted decoration in zigzag but that goes right through the pot, so they were obviously not meant to contain liquids. More than 70% of the lithics associated to these objects were retouched denticulates, very few were endscrapers. Most of these lithics were made of chert or agate and very few of quartz.

E. Garcea, "A review of the El Melek group in the Dongola reach (Sudan)" - The sites studied were Late Neolithic and can be compared to the other neolithic sites on the other bank of the Nile. Near the river, the sites were smaller, with fewer chipped lithics but with more abundant pottery and grinding stones. In the lithic work the cores were not deeply exploited, a few chips were struck away and the cores were discarded. The stone work was generally rough and careless. Quartz, agate, chert were used and their percentages vary, only in one site quartz predominated. In most sites notched denticulates and perforators were the most numerous tools in the industry. The poor condition of the pottery that was discovered is due not only to the erosion (they were lying exposed on the surface) but also to the poor firing. The simple tool kit of these people indicates pastoralists in the Late Neolithic here. These Late Neolithic sites and Pre-Kerma elsewhere can be compared because of the predominance of denticulates and perforators and because of the poor quality of the pottery.

P. Osypinski, "Palaeolithic sites from the SDRS" - This study involved the Dongola area of the Sudan and they found Lower Paleolithic tools in the slopes of the natural elevations of the terrain. Upper paleolithic tools were also found with a levallois technique. Late Paleolithic artefacts could also be found. The raw materials were quartz, agate, etc.

D. Welsby, "Survey in the Fourth Cataract region (Sudan)" - This survey was carried out in this area after the Fourth Cataract due to a rescue operation carried out because of the planned construction of a dam that today appears as a doubtful project. The human occupations found range from the Middle Paleolithic to the Medieval Period in about 120 sites found in only 6 km of their 40 km concession. The dam may be built, after all, in 2006, so we are almost too late now for any long term projects in this area.

L. Krzyzaniak, "Excavation at Kadero: A summary of results" - This site is situated about 20 km from Khartoum. They have already found 191 neolithic burials in the centre of the mound, where they had expected to find a settlement. The tombs could be dated to the 5th millennium BC (4,850-4,250 BC). In the midden they found thousands of grinding stones, animal bones, plant remains. Most of the tombs found had no objects as funerary items but some occupied by women were richly furnished with pots, ivory bracelets and anklets, bone harpoons, Red Sea shells. The male burials appeared less rich, men were only buried with maceheads. Early Kadero pottery consists of globular pots with wide mouths while the Late Kadero pots are tall decorated beakers. No rippled pottery was found here, which is unusual for the neolithic. So far, and in spite of several flotation and other attempts, no evidence of sorghum has been found. He thinks that they used wild sorghum (there are many grinding stones at the site) and also were definitely pastoralists. Erosion was severe at Kadero and he estimates that what we have now is probably 1 m less than the original surface level. There were also some very rich tombs of subadults and even of babies, which would indicate the presence of an élite, if we go along with current anthropological thinking, in this pastoralist, cattle breeding community. The richest graves were clustered on one side of the cemetery. The speaker pointed out that there may still be another cluster of rich tombs. The speaker showed a graphic representation of the tombs in this cemetery divided in three classes, very few class I (more than 5 objects), class II (between 1 and 4 objects) which were also very few, and a large majority of class III graves without any items. J. J. Castillos asked whether the tombs were all found intact, to which the speaker replied that yes concerning the rich burials, but that he cannot be sure about the poor ones, at least he could not find any robbers' pits. Then J. J. Castillos asked whether all these tombs were roughly contemporary (same archaeological horizon) or if they belonged to several periods, to which the speaker replied that he can't say since he does not have C14 dates yet for them, but they seem to be contemporary. J. J. Castillos then asked about the size of the graves, why their volume was not determined to use as another guideline to evaluate them. The reply was that the size was hard to define for the poorer graves. K. Kroeper, who also worked in this site, later clarified that because no intrusions of one grave into another were detected it appears to be the cemetery of one group at a given time.

M. Kaczmarek, "Biological consequences of environmental change in the Post Pleistocene Nubia" - Referring to the Kadero cemetery, she gave numbers indicating that of a total of 229 graves (205 neolithic, 23 Meroitic (100 BC - 400 AD) and 1 Christian (550 - 1400 AD), which were oval pits, of the 205 neolithic burials, 48 belonged to immature individuals (0 to 14 years, 31.8% of the total of identified human remains), 56 males, 39 females (ratio 1.43 - 1), 56 of unknown sex and 6 were unidentified. The mean age at the time of death was 30.8 years for men (standard deviation=2.43) and for women 27.7 years (standard deviation=1.70). Dental studies would place the Kadero population between mesolithics and agriculturalists, although from other evidence she would place the Kadero people close to intensive agriculturalists and far from mesolithic. J. J. Castillos pointed out that the percentage of subadults in this neolithic cemetery is similar to the one he found for the Early Predynastic and the Badarian in the Nile Valley. He asked whether no paleopathological studies had been carried out on the human remains in order to determine possible illnesses or congenital malformations. The speaker replied that those studies will be carried out in the future.

M. Winiarska-Kabacinska, "Neolithic gouges from Kadero: what were they used for?" - She explained that microwear analysis of such artefacts, abundant at Kadero, more than 100 have already been found, revealed that they were used for cutting or working with soft or hard materials, so they were in fact multi-task tools.

After these dissertations and discussions, a final general meeting took place in which several decisions were made:

- M. Kobusiewicz wrote a letter to Prof. J. Desmond Clark, eminent prehistorian, founder and staunch supporter of these regular meetings, wishing him well and expressing our regret at not being able to have him with us. This letter was signed by all present and sent to Prof. Desmond Clark.

- In the name of all present, H. Nordström thanked the organizers of this Symposium for their hospitality, for the excellent accommodation provided and for the efficient day to day running of this event.

- It was announced that in order not to overlap with other related conferences, our next Symposium in Poznan will take place on the 25 - 30 August 2003.

- F. Wendorf encouraged all those would be willing and able to carry out rescue archaeological work in areas of the Sudan threatened by various reasons, so as to recover and register the information before it is too late.

- J. J. Castillos suggested (and it was unanimously accepted) that the next volume with the Proceedings of this Symposium will be dedicated to Prof. J. Desmond Clark.

Then F. Wendorf gave an overview of the meeting, mentioning the papers that had impressed him most and summarizing the main themes that had marked this event.

Following this, each participating member of the audience gave a short description of his or her future work.

The writer wishes to thank the Director of the Archaeological Museum of Poznan, Prof. Lech Krzyzaniak, for his hospitality arranging for a brief stay at the Museum Guest Rooms until he could fly back home.

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