Nabta Playa. However, dozens of living sites of a similar age were discovered between the Nile and the Libyan border, in the Dakhlah oasis, and in the Sudanese Wadi Howar and its surroundings by an important German expedition led by R. Kuper. This picture of a steppe that was relatively inhabited and traveled through during the wet phase of the early and middle Holocene, at least from 6000 to 5000 b.c., will probably prove to be identical to that of the entire Libyan Desert and the plains north of the Tibesti.

Throughout this period of the early Holocene, up to about 4000 b.c., Egypt apparently was a relatively poor province archaeologically because the Neolithic in the Fayum and at Merimde occurred near 4000 b.c., that is, not earlier than at Khartoum. The most important change to the conceptual field of Saharan prehistorians over the last decades is the vision of an Africa with precociously fragmented populations.

The majority of Saharan archaeological studies are concentrated on the periods of the early and middle Holocene. Recent proto-historic periods are, as already pointed out, relatively less studied. It follows that, contrary to what can be noted in sub-Saharan Africa, this prehistoric research, essentially focused on the Neolithic period, is regarded by indigenous people as an intellectual exercise. Although admittedly useful to the understanding of humankind and human evolution, it has no links with their own ethnic or current national identity. Perhaps this is why there are still very few indigenous researchers—far too few to solve such vast problems. Meanwhile, mass tourism has increased, endangering rock art and rock paintings. And because most countries of northern Africa are burdened by war, rebellion, or bandits, they are unable to offer researchers the security needed to conduct their studies.

Alfred Muzzolini

See also

Africa, Francophone; Africa, Sudanic Kingdoms; Maghreb; Rock Art

References

Arkell, A.J. 1949. Early Khartoum. London: Oxford University Press.

———1953. Shaheinab. London: Oxford University Press.

Flamand, G.B.M. 1921. Les Pierres Ecrites (Hadjret Mektuba). Paris: Masson.

Frobenius, L. 1937. Ekade Ektab. Die Felsbilder Fezzans. Leipzig: Harrassowits.

Frobenius, L., and H. Obermaier. 1925. Hadschra Maktouba. Munich: Wolff.

Graziosi, P. 1942. L’arte rupestre della Libia. Naples: Edizioni Mostra d’Oltremare.

Le Quellec, J.-L. 1993. Symbolisme et art rupestre au Sahara. Paris: L’Harmattan.

Lhote, H. 1973. A la decouverte des fresques du Tassili. [1st ed., 1958.] Paris: Arthaud.

———. 1976. Vers d’autres Tassilis. Paris: Arthaud.

Monod, T. 1932. L’Adrar Ahnet. Travaux et Memoires de l’Institut d’Anthropologie 19. Paris.

Mori, F. 1965. Tadrart Acacus. Turin: Einaudi.

Muzzolini, A. 1986. L’art rupestre préhistorique des massifs centraux sahariens. British Archaeological Reports, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 16. Oxford: B.A.R. International Series 318.

Vaufrey, R. 1939. L ‘art rupestre nord-africain. Archives de l’Institut de Paleontologie Humaine, 20. Paris: Masson.

Wenforf, F., R. Schild, and A. E. Close. 1984. Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Sahara: The Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba. Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist University, Department of Anthropology.

Winkler, H.A. 1938 and 1939. Rock-Drawings of Southern Upper Egypt, vols. 1 and 2. London: Egypt Exploration Society.

Africa, South, Historical

Close to the shores of False Bay in the Cape Town suburb of Muizenberg stands what is believed by many people to be the oldest extant nonindigenous dwelling in South Africa. Dated through the Deeds Office, Cape Town, to 1673, the Posthuys (Post House), formed part of a VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, Dutch East India Company) outpost. Fittingly, perhaps, it was also the earliest colonial site to be excavated (in the 1970s) by an archaeologist, in this case, Hennie Vos. When offered a post at the Stellenbosch Museum forty kilometers east of Cape Town shortly afterward, Vos naturally concentrated his further efforts in and around that town, doing any archaeological work that came to hand. This included a great deal of rescue archaeology, and Vos has played a major role