Fig 1.
Schematic geological map of the Khartoum area and location of the sites cited in the text redrawn from El Tahir et al. (2013) [66] and D’Ercole et al. 2017 [67] using Adobe Illustrator 2023.
Key: 1 = recent alluvium; 2 = older alluvium; 3 = Gezira Formation; 4 = Umm Badda member (Omdurman Formation); 5 = Merkhiyat member (Omdurman Formation); 6 = Younger granites; 7 = Granitic ring dyke; 8 = Precambrian Basement Complex. See text for details.
Fig 2.
Wall thicknesses of Early Khartoum, Neolithic, and Late Neolithic sherds.
Fig 3.
Ovoid and globular vessels.
Fig 4.
Straight-walled and everted vessels.
Fig 5.
Decorated Early Khartoum pottery: Distribution of motifs within the rocker technique.
Fig 6.
Decorated Neolithic pottery: Distribution of techniques and implements.
Fig 7.
Decorated Late Neolithic pottery: Distribution of techniques and implements.
Fig 8.
Examples of analysed samples from the various periods: a-b. Early Khartoum pottery: a. Rocker dotted wavy lines; b. Rocker packed zigzags; c-d. Neolithic pottery: c. Rocker packed zigzags with stitches; d. Rocker zigzags of “vees” and dots; e-f. Late Neolithic pottery: e. Simple impressions; f. Incisions (Photos by G. D’Ercole).
Table 1.
Chronology, provenance, body portion, thickness, and decorative motif of samples submitted to POM, SEM, and ORA analysis.
Fig 9.
Photomicrographs of the main fabrics (POM): a) SHA039; b) SHA877; c) SHA058. Magnification 2.5x; polarization XP (Photos by G. Eramo).
Table 2.
Petrographic (POM) outline of the pottery fabrics (i: Iron oxides-oxyhydroxides; k: Carbonates; m: Micaceous; o: Organic matter; cp: Clay pellets; Bir: Matrix birefringence; Str: Oxidation pattern; Txt: Texture; P1 and P2: Primary and secondary porosity; D mode: Prevalent grain size class; D max: Maximum grain size; H: Paste homogeneity; R: Grain roundness (0–4); Qm: Monocrystalline quartz, straight extinction; Qmu: Monocrystalline quartz, undulose extinction; Qp: Polycrystalline quartz; Ch: Chert; Pl: Plagioclase; Kfs: K-feldspars; Ms: Muscovite; Bt: Biotite; Hbl: Horneblend; Epi: Epidote; Zrn: Zircon; Rtl: Rutile; PRF: Plutonic rock fragments; SRF: Sedimentary rock fragments; VRF: Volcanic rock fragments; Ia: Ferruginous aggregates; Cal2: Secondary calcite; 0–3: Relative amounts or degree, when otherwise not specified; ?: Non detectable; #: Altered).
Fig 10.
Layered elemental maps (SEM-EDS) of representative samples of the main fabrics: a) SHA034 (Q_i); b) SHA053 (KfsQ_m); c) SHA044 (Q_i); d) SHA025 (KfsQ_m); e) SHA050 (QF_m) and the single map of P (f) of the same frame. Mineral abbreviations after [68] (Photos by G. Eramo).
Table 3.
Mean values and standard deviations (italics) of EDS analyses of the clay-rich portion of the matrix.
In parenthesis: number of raster analyses (ca. 20x20 μm^2) per thin section. All data are normalized. Full data in S3 Table.
Fig 11.
SEM BSE images showing the microstructures of three representative samples of the (a) fabric Q_i (SHA034); (b) fabric KfsQ_m (SHA025); (c) fabric QF_m (SHA897).
Fig 12.
Partial gas chromatograms of trimethylsilylated FAMEs from the Esh-Shaheinab pottery extracts of a. SHA880 and b. SHA905, red circles, n-alkanoic acids (fatty acids, FA), IS, internal standard, C34 n-tetratriacontane. Numbers denote carbon chain length.
Fig 13.
Graphs showing: Δ13C (δ13C18:0 –δ13C16:0) values from a. Early Khartoum, b. Neolithic and c. Late Neolithic vessels from Esh-Shaheinab. Ranges shown here represent the mean ± 1 s.d. of the Δ13C values for a global database comprising modern reference animal fats from the UK, Africa and elsewhere [28, 69].
Table 4.
Laboratory number, square y axis, square x axis, layer, lipid concentration (μg g-1), δ13C and Δ13C values, attributions of pottery lipid residues, period and decoration.
Fig 14.
Distribution of the petrographic fabric groups in the different periods.
Fig 15.
Distribution of seriate/bimodal textures in the different petrographic fabric groups.
Fig 16.
Distribution of coil shapes in the different periods.
Fig 17.
Coil shapes in cross-section (Photos by G. D’Ercole).
Fig 18.
Distribution of decorative motifs in the different petrographic fabric groups (EK: Early Khartoum, N: Neolithic, LN: Late Neolithic).
Fig 19.
Distribution of birefringence classes (2: Medium; 3: High) in the different petrographic fabric groups.
Fig 20.
Distribution of birefringence classes (2: Medium; 3: High) in the Early Khartoum, Neolithic, and Late Neolithic periods.
Fig 21.
Distribution of firing structures in the different petrographic fabric groups (ROI: Reduced and oxidized on the inner surface; ROE: Reduced and oxidized on the external surface; RO: Reduced and oxidized; R: Non oxidized; O: Oxidized).
Fig 22.
Distribution of firing structures among Early Khartoum, Neolithic, and Late Neolithic periods (ROI: Reduced and oxidized on the inner surface; ROE: Reduced and oxidized on the external surface; RO: Reduced and oxidized; R: Non oxidized; O: Oxidized).