Kadero

Kadero

• Project name:

• Type of site:

  Remains of a Neolithic settlement and cemetery and a Meroitic cemetery

  Location:

  Sudan
  20 km north-east of Khartoum and 6.5 km east of the present-day riverbed of the Nile

  Dating:

  – Khartoum Neolithic (from the second half of the 5th to the beginning of the 4th millennium BC)
  – Meroitic period
  – Medieval period(?)
  

Most interesting finds:

– Neolithic settlement (fragments of ceramic vessels, stone and bone implements, small personal adornments);
– Neolithic cemetery: almost 250 burials, including a few richly-furnished graves;
– Bones of domesticated animals, remains of plants that were probably cultivated;
– Remains of a Meroitic cemetery: relatively poor burials (presumably dating to the first half of the 1st millennium AD)

History of research:

Dates of PCMA mission’s work:

1972–2003

Type of research:

Excavations

Directors:

Lech Krzyżaniak (1972–2003)

Co-operating institutions:

– Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw
– Archaeological Museum in Poznań
– National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums

Additional information:

The site was first recorded in 1940 by A. J. Arkell. In 1955, H. N. Chittick described the material collected from the surface and dated it to the Khartoum Neolithic.

Description of the site and research:

The research in Kadero was conducted under the aegis of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw in Cairo (now Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw) and the Archaeological Museum in Poznań. Seventeen excavation campaigns were carried out in the years 1972–2003 under the direction of Lech Krzyżaniak.

Both the Neolithic settlement and cemetery, in use at the same time, were studied. The settlement in Kadero is one of the best-recognized Early Neolithic sites in Sudan. It provided information on the natural environment as well as the daily life of its inhabitants, the economy, and the exchange of goods. About 250 burials were excavated in the cemetery, which is the only necropolis from that period in Sudan to be studied so comprehensively. The grave furnishings included ceramic vessels, jewelry, stone and flint tools, cosmetic utensils. Data acquired from the study of the necropolis allowed the reconstruction of the social structure of the inhabitants in the early phase of the Khartoum Neolithic.

The research was interdisciplinary and included anthropological analyses, among others.

Gallery: