A Glimpse into the Prehistory of the Western Lowlands of Eritrea
A Glimpse into the Prehistory of the Western Lowlands of Eritrea
The western lowlands of
Eritrea are known to have a long
history of human settlement. The
lowlands have archaeological
sites which for long have been
associated with the country´s later
prehistory. While introducing
the potential of the lowlands
in light of a multitude of sociocultural
processes of the past,
an outline of different phases of
human settlement constituted in
the archaeological record of the
region is provided here for the
reader.
The archaeology of the western
lowlands of Eritrea started to
feature since the second half
of the last century, when a
sizable collection of artifacts
was reported from what came to
be known as the four Agordat
sites. The localities of Kokan,
Dandaneit, Shabeit and Ntanei
have been designated the Agordat
sites and eventually the western
lowlands are said to be the conduit
of linking this part of the Horn to
major civilizations of antiquity in
Nubia and ancient Egypt.
Arkell´s report of the Agordat
sites in 1942 provoked a
significant amount of interest,
particularly as to their age and the
evidence they possibly provide
for cultural contacts between the
pastoralists, farmers and urban
centers of the Nile Valley and
eastern lowlands of Sudan and
those of the Eritrean highlands.
The Kokan rock shelter was
excavated in 1994, 50 years after
the initial reporting of the sites
and the excavations uncovered
flaked stone tools, grindstones,
and pottery that helped place the
Agordat sites in chronological
and cultural sequences. These
find showed close similarities to
the civilizations which flourished
along the Middle Atbara valley
and the Gash Delta along the
Eritrean- Sudanese borderland.
This connection is of paramount
importance as it helps understand
the emergence of complex agropastoral
societies in this part of
the Horn.
The evidence from the Agordat
sites, and particularly from the
Kokan rock shelter, firmly place the western lowlands of Eritrea
within the array of regional
trading systems from 2300 B.C. to
400 B.C. indicating a successive
sequence of human settlement in
the lowlands by different cultural
groups. The evidence, therefore,
indicates that western Eritrea
was influenced by a number of
nomadic, pastoral and agropastoral
cultures from eastern
Sudan through direct or indirect
contacts. The geographical
position of the lowlands also confirms that they could have
played an important role in the
region as social, economic and
political conduits between polities
of eastern Sudan and the Nile
Valley and the increasingly more
complex socio-political systems
that emerged in the Eritrean
highlands during this period. The
premise that the Agordat sites
are dated to at least the Egyptian
New Kingdom (1500 BC) and
that they were tied socially,
politically and economically to
pastoral, agro-pastoral farming
and urban communities as far
north as Nubia and perhaps Egypt
in itself begs the outline a number
of socio-cultural processes that
shaped the late prehistory of this
part of the Horn.
The northern Horn of Africa
had a key position at the
junction between two major
trade exchange circuits; namely,
the Nile Valley and the Red Sea
Coast during antiquity. In light of recent researches along the Nile
valley and the Red Sea Coast, the
western lowlands of Eritrea are
considered as crucial interface
in the processes of interaction
between the Mediterranean and
Africa through the circuits. The
routes were complementary and
sometimes used alternatively
in ancient times and trade
connections forged along these
corridors are important to
consider in order to understand
the archaeological potential of the western lowlands of
Eritrea. Glancing from the wider
spectrum, therefore, important
milestones of this period are
framed here revolving around
the peopling of the lowlands
and their integration in regional
trade to further indicate their
archaeological potential.
The peopling of the Eritrean-Sudanese
borderland showed a
pattern of continuity from the
5th millennium B.C. to the 1st
millennium A.D. as shown in
the archaeological record of
the region. The borderland was
inhabited by a cultural group
known as the Butana group,
which was included in an
interchange route starting in the
fourth millennium B.C. giving
rise to a hierarchical society at
the confluence of the Gash and
Atbara rivers. A shift to cattle
breeding and cereal cultivation
was witnessed during this time
allowing permanent settlements along the borderland. Later, the
progressive shift of the Gash from
its original confluence with the
Atbara river to the present bed by
the late 4th to early 3rd millennium
BC allowed a more direct route
from the Nile valley to the Horn
of Africa, further enabling the
descendants of the Butana group
to exploit the resources of the
western lowlands during seasonal
movements from the Gash to the
plateau. The descendants, the
Gash group as they are called, started to play a crucial role as
intermediaries between Nubia
and the region of the Horn of
Africa and they started to spread
along the western lowlands as far
as the Red Sea Coast. Residential
villages appeared in the middle
Barka valley in early second
millennium BC along the way
from Kassala to the plateau.
As far as interregional trade is
concerned two major events which
connected the Horn of Africa to
the Nile Valley civilizations of
Nubia and ancient Egypt can be
mentioned. Egyptian commercial
expansion southwards began by
the fourth millennium BC. The
middle Atbara valley and the
Horn seem to have been involved
in a broad network of contacts by
the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC,
possibly related to the economic
exchange through which ancient
Egypt was supplied with African
raw materials. The question of
the Land of Punt is seen in light of these developments where the
Horn of Africa was integrated in
the trade connections forged via
land caravan routes across the
Nile valley.
Throughout the ancient
Egyptian history, several nonmilitary
expeditions were
organized to a region which the
Egyptians called Punt. The Land
of Punt was a major exporter of
gold and biological materials
such as myrrh, ebony, ivory, short
horned cattle and baboons (Papio
hamadryas). The importance of
these materials to the ancient
Egyptians is reflected in the
trade that spanned for 1200 years
between ancient Egypt and Punt
(2458-1163 BC). Analysis of
baboon remains uncovered from
New Kingdom tombs, a period
considered to be a thriving trade
epoch with Punt, showed that the
Eritrean corridor was a source
of the luxury items to ancient
Egypt from the Horn. A further
evidence comes from a network
of obsidian trade which by the
2nd millennium BC absorbed the
western lowlands, Eastern Sudan,
the Red Sea Coast and Arabian
Peninsula into interregional
exchange.
Obsidian raw materials supplied
from sources in the Denakil
Depression and the Arabian
Peninsula circulated along these
lands and reached civilizations in
Nubia and Egypt via the western
lowlands. In this respect, the
western lowlands were positioned
to reap the benefits of this large
circuit of economic interchange
that gradually evolved between
the peoples of the regions.
In conclusion, the Agordat
communities should be seen as
social, economic and political
intermediaries that linked the
highlands and lowlands to major
civilizations in the Nile valley.
The lowlands were isolated
towards the end of the 2nd
millennium BC as the Red Sea
became the main trade route
from Egypt to the Horn of Africa
and southern Arabia. The shift
resulted in regression of social
complexity seen in the lowlands
and culminated in the emergence
of complex societies in highland
Eritrea and the Coast, a topic that
will be addressed in subsequent
editions of the column.
A Glimpse into the Prehistory of the Western Lowlands of Eritrea
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