This paper presents some first results about the role of the Sudanese region of northern Kordofan as a region of interaction between the cultures of the Nile Valley and the Sahel zone. Until recent times, the cultures of...
moreThis paper presents some first results about the role of the Sudanese region of northern Kordofan as a region of interaction between the cultures of the Nile Valley and the Sahel zone. Until recent times, the cultures of ancient and medieval Nubia were mostly interpreted from a Nile-valley background. Recent research in Northern Kordofan indicates that as well as considering lines of interaction along the Nile they have also to be seen as Sudanic states that relied on large hinterland regions and their rangeland economies. They must thus be reckoned as part of the east-western chain of state building cultures based in the Niger Valley as well as the Chad Basin. Northern Kordofan seems to be an important border zone where manifold linkages between the Nile Valley and its intra-African neighbours are visible in the archaeological record.
