16-U-22 Melik en Nasr East – Sahaba

This site lay on raised terraces amongst rocky outcrops, c.350m east of the hamlet of Sahaba and c.160m from the Nile (noted as c. 25m above the level of the Nile in April 1968). Two areas were test excavated by Lars Gezelius and samples of pottery and lithics collected. Registered as a ‘Khartoum Neolithic’ site (=’Khartoum Variant’), the pottery decoration (mainly fabrics K1.01, K1.02) is very similar to that seen at Mesolithic sites in the Third Cataract and further south, for example at Wadi el-Arab and Barga sites (see also Usai 2020: figs 16.2-16.3). A variety of stone tools, including several burins, scrapers and arrow heads made use of quartzite, chert and perhaps Egyptian flint.

View north, towards river, over east side of 16-U-22
16-U-22 surface sherds from east side of site
16-U-22 – sherds from upper levels(5-10cm) of test trench on west side of site
16-U-22 – sherds from mid levels (10-20cm) from west side of site
16-U-22- sherds from lower levels (20-30cm) on west side of site