The ancient remains
of Nabta Playa were
first discovered in 1974
by a group of scientists
led by Fred Wendorf,
an
Anthropology
Professor from the
Southern
Methodist
University in Texas.
The team of researchers had stopped for a
break during the arduous journey from the
Libyan border to the
Nile Valley when, as
Wendorf explained, “we
were standing there
minding our own business, when we noticed
potsherds and other
artifacts.” It was to be
the start of an incredible discovery.
Wendorf made several more visits to the
site during the 1970s
and 1980s, each time
discovering something
new. But the real significance of Nabta Playa
was not recognised for
a long time, and it was
to be several decades
before researchers discovered the dozens of
stone structures that
are known today, and
began to realize the
role and importance of
these great megaliths.
The Early People of Nabta
Playa
Although Nabta Playa
currently lies within
a dry and unforgiving
desert, it was not always
this way.
Scientists
have been able to
determine that around
10,000 BC, a climatic
change occurred over
North Africa caused
by a northward shift
of the summer monsoons.
This change
brought enough rainfall to the region to
fill a number of playas
(dry lakes) for at least
several months of the
5
year, and thereby support life for both animals and humans.
Archaeological evidence appears to suggest that the first settlements of people in
Nabta Playa arrived
between 11,000 and
9,300
years
ago.
Wendorf, and ethnolinguist
Christopher
Ehret, have suggested
that the people who
occupied the region at
this time were pasto-