Prehistory of the Sudan

Elena A.A. Garcea is Associate Professor in Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cassino and Southern Latium, Italy. She has undertaken fieldwork and has coordinated archaeological research in Sudan since 1986, investigating different parts of the country: Khartoum province and Jebel Sabaloka (central Sudan), Karima and Multaga-Abu Dom areas, Sai Island and Amara West district (northern Sudan). She also conducted research projects in Libya for twenty years, and was field director of the Gobero Archaeological Project in Niger in 2005 and 2006. She is author and editor of 7 books (Cultural Dynamics in the Saharo-Sudanese Prehistory, 1993; Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Libyan Sahara, 2001; South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples Between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago, 2010; Gobero: The No-Return Frontier. Archaeology and Landscape at the Saharo-Sahelian Borderland, 2013, among others) and over 240 journal articles and book chapters on African prehistoric archaeology.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Man the Migrant.- 3. The Last Hunter-Gatherers and Settlement Strategies.- 4. The Last Hunter-Gatherers and Technical Knowledge Accumulation.- 5. The Revolution of Food Production and the Trade of Domestic Animals and Plants.- 6. Cultural Hallmarks of Pastoralism.- 7. Epilogue or Premise? Later Developments in the Prehistory of the Sudan.

“The book perfectly achieves its objective. It is concise, clearly structured, and presents very synthetic and accessible information, based on the results of the most recent research. It is therefore an excellent reference-book for researchers, students, and those wishing to learn about the subject. … Reading of this book gives the immense satisfaction of providing an overall panorama of the prehistory of the Sudan, which is concise and intelligently synthesised.” (Matthieu Honegger, Sudan & Nubia, Vol. 25, 2021)“This is an excellent volume, full of new details and enriched by an extensive and up-to-date bibliography of Sudanese prehistoric archaeology, from new archaeometric and functional approaches to material culture to palaeogenetics and biomolecular archaeology. … The author’s goal of putting Sudanese archaeology, which has too often hidden inthe shade of illustrious neighbours, under the spotlight has been brilliantly achieved. This book therefore succeeds exceptionally well in leading Sudanese archaeology on its own journey Out-of-Sudan.” (Giulio Lucarini, Azania, Archaeological Research in Africa, April 13, 2021)