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'''Dotted wavy line and wavy line pottery''' has been discovered in archaeological sites across North and Eastern Africa. These pieces are some of the oldest examples of pottery, made by hunter-fisher-gatherers between five and ten thousand years ago. The pieces of pottery are characterized by their namesake solid wavy lines and dotted wavy lines.
== Background ==
In the later [[Holocene]], fishers and hunter-gatherers in [[North Africa|Northern Africa]] created pottery that was characterized by decorative incised and dotted wavy lines.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Keding|first=Birgit|date=2017|title=Middle Holocene Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Turkana in Kenya and Their Cultural Connections with the North: The Pottery|journal=[[Journal of African Archaeology]]|volume=15|pages=42–76|doi=10.1163/21915784-12340003}}</ref> These pieces were created between ten thousand and five thousand years ago,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Mohammed-Ali|first=Abbas S.|date=March 2003|title=Wavy Line and the Dotted Wavy Line Pottery in the Prehistory of the Central Nile and the Sahara-Sahel Belt|journal=African Archaeological Review|volume=20|pages=25–58|doi=10.1023/A:1022882305448}}</ref> making them some of the oldest known pieces of African pottery.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Friederike|first=Jesse|date=October 2010|title=Early Pottery in Northern Africa - An Overview|journal=Journal of African Archaeology|volume=8}}</ref> These people lived during the [[African humid period]] in semi-permanent and permanent settlements around the numerous bodies of water that existed in the now-arid regions of North and East Africa.<ref name=":0" /> These settlements are characterized by the discovery of wavy line pottery found in conjunction with barbed bone points, which are adaptations for an "aqualithic" lifestyle, that is, a lifestyle dependent on bodies of water.<ref name=":0" />
== Archaeology ==
Many pieces of wavy line and dotted wavy line pottery were discovered in the Khartoum Hospital and [[Esh Shaheinab|Shaheinab]] sites in the Nile Valley of Sudan. [[Khartoum]] was settled during the Mesolithic era.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Usai|first=Donatella|date=2016-06-02|title=A Picture of Prehistoric Sudan|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935413-e-56|access-date=2021-04-09|website=Oxford Handbooks Online|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.013.56|isbn=978-0-19-993541-3}}</ref> The Shaheinab site is just north of the Khartoum site on the west bank of the [[Nile|Nile River]].<ref name=":3" /> Extensive excavations were done at these sites by archaeologist [[A. J. Arkell]] in the late 1940s and early 1950s.<ref name=":3" /> Although the majority of wavy line and dotted wavy line pottery examples come from these two sites, additional pieces have been discovered across the north and east of Africa. The oldest evidence comes from the sites of Tagalagal and Adrar Bous 10 in Niger where [[Thermoluminescence dating|thermoluminescence dates]] hint to ca. 10.000 BC, while the oldest more reliable [[Radiocarbon dating|C14 date]] - from Temet in Niger - proofs that pottery production was invented independently in Africa at latest around 8.600 BC.<ref name=":2" />
== Decorating motifs and implements ==
=== Decorating motifs ===
Arkell used the term "wavy line" to cover a broad range of decorating motifs, including incised wavy lines, which are more cohesive, and dotted wavy lines, which are wavy lines made of small dots.<ref name=":2" /> Incised wavy line pottery includes arch-shaped motifs and waves. Dotted wavy line pottery includes short and long waves, as well as arch-shaped motifs.<ref name=":2" />
=== Implements ===
Many different tools were used to create the decorations. These tools included combs, pronged instruments, and spatulas made of animal products, such as bone or mollusk shell, plants and wood, or clay.<ref name=":2" /> Essentially any tool with a serrated edge could be used for decoration.<ref name=":2" />
== Regional pottery ==
There are slight regional differences in the decorating motifs, implements used to make the decorations, and the tempers used in the pottery. The reason for these differences has not been studied extensively, but the availability of resources in different regions may be a factor.
=== Northeast Africa ===
Each decorating motif appears to pertain to a specific region. Pottery with smaller waves was more common in the central Sahara and Northern Chad, while pottery with longer waves was mostly in the Eastern Sahara and Nile Valley.<ref name=":2" /> Dotted wavy line pottery has been discovered in the northernmost part of the continent across the Sahara; however, the dotted wavy line pottery with small waves was concentrated in the central Sahara, and was rarely found in the Khartoum area.<ref name=":2" /> Additionally, incised wavy line pottery, a subcategory of the dotted wavy line pottery, was mostly discovered in an area between Chad and the Red Sea, with most of the sites containing this decorating motif concentrated between Khartoum and [[Atbara]].<ref name=":2" />
=== Lake Turkana ===
Similar pottery, also characterized by incised and dotted wavy lines, along with barbed bone points, was discovered in the [[Lake Turkana|Lake Turkana Basin]] of Kenya.<ref name=":0" /> This pottery is much like that of Northeast Africa, especially the Khartoum pottery, but there are some regional differences in the decorating motifs, implements, and tempers used in the pottery. It is hypothesized that this pottery was adopted from Northeast Africa, but there are no comparative analyses of the lifestyles and material cultures (including pottery) of the people of East and Northeast Africa.<ref name=":0" />
== Early and late Mesolithic pottery ==
Arkell observed that the wavy line pottery was characteristic of the early [[Mesolithic]], while the dotted wavy line pottery was characteristic of the late Mesolithic.<ref name=":3" /> These two series of pottery differ slightly in aspects besides decorating motifs; the potters from these different periods used distinct implements, or tools, to create the decoration, as well as separate materials to [[Temper (pottery)|temper]] the clay.<ref name=":1" /> In general, the earlier pottery was tempered with quartz or sand, while later potters used organic tempers, such as chaff, shell, or bone.<ref name=":1" />
==See also==
* [[Ancient Egyptian pottery]]
* [[Esh Shaheinab]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:African pottery]]
[[Category:Ancient pottery]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Sudan]]
[[Category:Ancient Egyptian pottery]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of Africa]]
[[Category:Archaeology of North Africa]]