Age of Pioneers – Piotr Osypiński (the expedition initiative, prehistorian), Marta Gauza-Osypińska (archaeozoologist), Maciej Kurcz (ethnographer) – members of the Southern Dongola Reach Survey mission in February 2003 directed by Bogdan Żurawski (Department of Mediterranean Archaeology, Polish Academy of Sciences). Achilles Gautier (Department of Paleontology, Ghent University)  inspired us and was a real accelerator of the first summary of research upon Affad assemblages.

Levallois traditions Epigones… (2011-2015) – Marta Osypińska (Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Piotr Osypiński (Patrimonium Foundation, since 2016 IAE PAS), Achilles Gautier, Mike Morley (geoarchaeologist, Human Origins and Palaeo-Environments Research Group, Oxford Brooks University, Center for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong), Anna Maria Kotarba-Morley (assistant, School of Archeology, University of Oxford), Michał Sita (photographer), Tomasz Kalicki & Ireneusz Olszak (OSL , J. Kochanowski University in Kielce).

Epigones and Forerunners… (2016-2021) – new faces in the team: Michał Kuc (project scholarship holder – PhD student at the Institute of Geography of the University of Wrocław), Katarzyna Pyżewicz (use wear analysis, A. Mickiewicz University in Poznań), Marek Chłodnicki (archaeologist, Archaeological Museum in Poznań), Veerle Linseele (paleoichthyologist, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), Anne Skinner (ESR dating, Williams College), Paweł Wiktorowicz (GIS analyses, IAE PAS), Robert Ryndziewicz and Krzysztof Kiersnowski (magnetometric research, IAE PAS), Karol Standzikowski (OSL and TL, M. Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), Sallie Borough (OSL, University of Oxford), Zdzisław Bełka (strontium isotopes, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań).

Unearthing the pan-African crossroads… (2021-2025) – we go beyond Affad and partly return to Bogdan Żurawski’s home in Banganarti. The team is joined by: Roman Łopaciuk (drones, Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Justyna Kokolus and Przemysław Bobrowski (archaeologists, IAE PAS), Marzena Cendrowska (use-wear analysis), trainees – Beata Piotrowska, Jakub Sobko, Fatima Idris, Franek Osypiński

PalaeoAffad Project Almanac

Presentations:

  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee (25.05) Wyniki badań projektu Odkrywając pan-afrykańskie skrzyżowanie. Sezon 2023: Argi i Letti.
  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee (25.05) Badania na osadzie kermańskiej LTD1 w sezonach 2022 i 2023 – próba podsumowania
  • Warszawa Polacy nad Nilem. Sezon 2022-2023  (21-23.06) New advances in pre- and proto-historic settlement and economy of Upper Nubia. Argi and Letti sites as we know them in 2023
  • Poznań From foragers to farmers in Northeastern Africa (03-06.07) Early Holocene Tergis Group – Old Ideas and New Finds in Letti
  • Aarhus ESHE 2023 (21-23.09) Settlement processes in the Nile Valley at the beginning of the Holocene: new dental evidence supporting population discontinuity (Nicolas Martin, Adrien Thibeault, Lenka Varadzinová, Stanley H. Ambrose, Daniel Antoine, Petra Brukner Havelková, Matthieu Honegger, Joel D. Irish, Piotr Osypiński, Donatella Usai, Nicolas Vanderesse, Ladislav Varadzin, Rebecca J. Whiting, Petr Velemínský and Isabelle Crevecoeur. (abstract available at: PaleoAnthropology 2023/2 :351-352)

Publications: 

Osypinski P., M. Osypinska, J. Kokolus, P. Wiktorowicz, R. Łopaciuk, A.H. Gismallah & K. Standzikowski. New advances in research on pre and proto-historic settlement of Argi and Letti, Upper Nubia. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 32(2): 217–238. doi.org/10.37343/uw.2083-537X.pam32.2.06

Bobrowski P, Chłodnicki M, Kokolus J, Łopaciuk R, Osypińska M, Wiktorowicz P. LTD1: Kerma settlement in the Letti Basin (Sudan). Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 32(2):239-259. doi.org/10.37343/uw.2083-537X.pam32.2.09

Osypinski P., M. Osypinska, J. Kokolus, P. Wiktorowicz, R. Łopaciuk, A.H. Gismallah. Southern province of the first African state: discovery of the Kerman settlement in Letti, Sudan, ANTIQUITY, Project Gallery 97 (396): e33. doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.148

Presentations:

  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee (06.06) Inwentarz kamienny z Affad 131 i procesy formowania się stanowiska w środkowej Dolinie Nilu
  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee (06.06) Raport z pierwszego sezonu badań projektu „Unearthing Pan-African Crossroads…” w Basenie Letti 2022
  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee Grupa Tergis w świetle najnowszych badań
  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee Kilka uwag o wytwórczości „krzemieniarskiej” społeczności horyzontu kermańskiego w świetle badań na stanowisku LTD 1 i Kadakol 1 w basenie Letti w 2022.
  • Poznań Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee Odgrzewanie kotleta. Nowe dane do debaty o pochodzeniu bydła w Afryce.
  • Warszawa Polacy nad Nilem. Sezon 2021  (20-22.06) Rezultaty pierwszego sezonu badań nowego projektu NCN w środkowej Dolinie Nilu (Letti Basin, Sudan)
  • Zanzibar 16th PanAfrican Archaeological Association for Prehistory and Related Studies (07-12.08) Indigenous African cattle domestication – old ideas, new data
  • Warsaw 15th International Conference for Nubian Studies (29.08-04.09) PalaeoAffad Project and more – Focus on Southern Dongola Reach Prehistory

Publications:

Osypińska M., Kokolus J., Wiktorowicz P, Cendrowska M., Łopaciuk R.,  Chłodnicki M., Piotrowska B., Sobko J., Madani H.K. Unearthing 6th-century-AD occupation on the fringes of the Nile Valley. Closing the PalaeoAffad Project in the Affad Basin, Sudan, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 31: 375-384; doi.org/10.31338/uw.2083-537X.pam31.12

Osypiński P., Osypińska M., Chłodnicki M., Kokolus J., Cendrowska M., Łopaciuk R., Piotrowska B., Sobko J., Madani H.K. Unearthing a Middle Nile crossroads – exploring the prehistory of the Letti Basin, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 31: 23-58; doi.org/10.31338/uw.2083-537X.pam31.13

Bobrowski P., Chłodnicki M., Osypińska M., Kokolus J., Łopaciuk R., Cendrowska M., Piotrowska B., Sobko J., Madani H.K. Return to Kadakol:new research on Site 1(LTI019) in the Letti Basin (Sudan), Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 31: 61-80; doi.org/10.31338/uw.2083-537X.pam31.16

Marta Osypińska, Piotr Osypiński, Exploring the oldest huts and the first cattle keepers in Africa / Na tropie najstarszych chat i pierwszych hodowców bydła w Afryce (in:)  Henryk Paner, Artur Obłuski, Mahmoud El-Tayeb (eds.) From Faras to Soba. 60 years of Sudanese–Polish cooperation in saving the heritage of Sudan / Od Faras do Soba. 60 lat współpracy polsko-sudańskiej w ratowaniu dziedzictwa Sudanu, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warszawa 2022, pp. 187-198.

Publications:

Osypiński P., Burrough S., Skinner A., Standzikowski K. 2021. Re-examining the age of the Affad MSA deposits in the Middle Nile Valley, Archaeometry 63/6: 1405-1420 doi: 10.1111/arcm.12670

Osypinska M., Osypinski P., Belka Z., Chlodnicki M., Wiktorowicz P., Ryndziewicz R. & Kubiak M. 2021. Wild and Domestic Cattle in the Ancient Nile Valley: Marks of Ecological Change, Journal of Field Archaeology 46/7:429-479 doi:10.1080/00934690.2021.1924491

Publications:

Osypińska M., Osypiński P., Chłodnicki M., Kuc M., Wiktorowicz P. Ryndziewicz R. The PalaeoAffad Project and the Prehistory of the Middle Nile, Archaeologia Polona, vol. 58: 2020, 79 – 97 doi:10.23858/APa58.2020.005

Osypiński P. Upper Nubia and beyond during the Terminal Pleistocene New premises for the late occurrence of the Middle Stone Age, in: Leplongeon A., Goder-Goldberger M. & Pleurdeau D. (eds) „Not just a Corridor. Human occupation of the Nile Valley and neighbouring regions between 75,000 and 15,000 years ago”. Paris 2020: Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Natures en Sociétés ; 3), pp. 115-138.

Presentations:

  • Warszawa Polacy nad Nilem. Sezon 2017-1018 12.06 „Affad 3.0: KROWA+. Sezon badawczy 2018 realizacji projektu „Epigoni i prekursorzy. Strategie adaptacyjne społeczności sub-saharyjskich w późnym plejstocenie i wczesnym holocenie…”
  • Gdańsk XXVI Ogólnopolska Konferencja Nubiologiczna 14-16 czerwca 2019 r. 16.06 „AFFAD 3.0: KROWA+ Sezon badawczy 2018 realizacji projektu „Epigoni i prekursorzy. Strategie adaptacyjne społeczności sub-saharyjskich w późnym plejstocenie i wczesnym holocenie…” oraz „Nowe ustalenia chronologiczne dla osadnictwa środkowopaleolitycznego w Affad, Sudan”
  • Poznań Society and Subsistence in the Prehistory of Northeastern Africa 01-04.07 „How old were the epigones of Levallois traditions? New dates for Affad (Sudan)”, „Karmakol Group in Affad Basin (Sudan)” oraz współudział w wystawie organizowanej w Muzeum Archeologicznym w Poznaniu (Gdy Sahara była zielona. Polskie badania archeologiczne nad prahistorią Afryki Północnej, M. Chłodnicki, P. Polkowski (red.), Poznań, Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu)

Publications:

Osypińska M., Osypiński P., Chłodnicki M., Kuc M., Wiktorowicz P, Ryndziewicz R. Affad 3.0 / Cattle+. Field seasons 2017 and 2018 of the PalaeoAffad Project, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 28 (2): 239-250; doi: 10.5604/01.3001.0013.6888

Presentations:

  • Paris Not Just A Corridor. Human Occupations of the Nile Valley and Neighbouring Regions between 75,000 and 15,000 years ago. 02.06 „Upper Nubia and beyond at the Terminal Pleistocene – growing evidence of the late occurrence of MSA”
  • Warszawa Polacy nad Nilem. Sezon 2017-1018 13.06 „Dziki przodek i ludzie. Późno-Plejstoceński zasięg Bos opisthonomus w Dolinie Nilu i jego rola w modelu łowieckim społeczności paleolitycznych: nowe dane PalaeoAffad Project, sezon 2017”
  • Ankara 13th ICAZ International Conference 2-7.09. poster „Late Pleistocene range of Bos opisthonomus in the North-Eastern Africa and its significance within the subsistence model of Palaeolithic societies: New archaeozoological data from Affad, Sudan”
  • Paris 14th International Conference for Nubian Studies 11.09 „Neolithic of the Southern Dongola Reach”
  • Rabat The 15th Congress of PanAfrican Archaeological Association for Prehistory and Related Studies 12.09 „Too young for MSA – too archaic for LSA. Too young for Mesolithic – too archaic for Neolithic. Subsistence strategies and chronological systems in the Middle Nile Valley archaeology”
Presentations:

  • Poznań 17.05 Wydział Historyczny UAM, publiczna obrona rozprawy doktorskiej mgr. Piotra Osypińskiego pt. „Najpóźniejsze tradycje lewaluaskie środkowej doliny Nilu. Technologia wytwórczości kamiennej na przykładzie mikroregionu Affad w Sudanie”
  • Warszawa Polacy nad Nilem. Sezon 2016-1017 13.06 „Nowy etap projektu PaleoAffad. Epigoni i Prekursorzy w sezonie 2016/17”
  • Gdańsk Bayuda and its Neighbours. The Archaeology of the Bayuda Desert. Second Internationl Bayuda Conference, Gdańsk 12th-14th October 13.10„New dates on the Terminal Pleistocene inhabitation of the Middle Nile – PalaeoAffad Project 2016”.

Publications:

Osypiński P. Najpóźniejsze tradycje lewaluaskie środkowej doliny Nilu. Technologia wytwórczości kamiennej na przykładzie mikroregionu Affad w Sudanie PhD dissertation available at the A.Mickiewicz University Repository – http://hdl.handle.net/10593/17689.

Publications:

Osypiński, P., Osypińska, M., Optimal adjustment or cultural backwardness? New data on the latest Levallois industries in the Nile Valley, Quaternary International 408 (Part B): 90-105, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.09.033.

Osypińska M., Osypiński P. Animal Exploitation and Behaviour of the Latest Middle Stone Age Societies in the Middle Nile Valley: Archaeozoological and Taphonomic Analysis of Late Pleistocene Fauna from the Affad Basin, Sudan, African Archaeological Review doi:10.1007/s10437-016-9220-4.

Osypiński P., Morley M., Osypińska M., Kotarba-Morley A.M. Affad 23: settlement structures and palaeoenvironments in the Terminal Pleistocene of the Middle Nile Valley, Sudan,Antiquity 90 (352), doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.110

Osypińska M., Osypiński P., Levallois tradition Epigones in the Middle Nile Valley – results of the survey in Affad Basin, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 24 (1): 601-626.

Presentations:

  • Poznan, Desert and the Nile. Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, 03.07 “Levallois concepts, training and lithic assemblage of Terminal Pleistocene Affad in Sudan”
  • Exhibition at the Poznan Archaeological Museum „Lost in Paradise. The oldest camps by the Nile” July-August 2015
  • Biskupin, Czytanie kamienia – między teorią a praktyką. 12 warsztaty krzemieniarskie SKAM, 15.10 “Wszystko czego nie da się zmierzyć i policzyć – kilka uwag o analizach zespołów kamiennych z sudańskiego Affad”

Presentations:

  • Khartoum, National Museum of Sudan 25.03 “Affad 2012-2014. The oldest huts by the Nile and palaeolithic habitat modelling”
  • Poznan, Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee, 27.05 „Nowe dane o strategiach adaptacyjnych późno plejstoceńskich grup ludzkich w Środkowej Dolinie Nilu. Wyniki projektu „Epigoni tradycji lewaluaskich…”
  • Gdansk, XXI Ogólnopolska Naukowo-Edukacyjna Konferencja Nubiologiczna, 06.06 „Zagubieni w środkowo-paleolitycznym raju. Rezultaty projektu „Epigoni tradycji lewaluaskich w środkowej Dolinie Nilu, Sudan”
  • Warsaw, Konferencja sprawozdawcza Polacy nad Nilem, sezon 2013-2014, 12.06 „Epigoni tradycji lewaluaskich w środkowej Dolinie Nilu – rezultaty dotychczasowych badań nad paleośrodowiskiem i osadnictwem schyłkowo-plejstoceńskim”
  • Radio interview, 20.06 Przedpołudnie z radiem tok.fm „O nowych odkryciach archeologicznych Hanna Zielińska rozmawiała z dr Martą Osypińską i Piotrem Osypińskim”
  • Johannesburg, 14th Congress of Pan-African Archaeological Association “African Archaeology without Frontiers”, 15.07 “New data on early human behaviour in the Middle Nile Valley”
  • Neuchâtel, The 13th International Conference for Nubian Studies, 05.09 “Levallois Tradition Epigones in the Middle Nile Valley. Preliminary results of the new project in Southern Dongola Reach, Sudan”
  • Bordeaux, Middle Palaeolithic in the Desert II, 11.12 „Optimal adjustment or cultural backwardness? New data on the latest MSA industries in the Nile Valley”

Publications:

Osypińska M., Osypiński P., The Latest Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Middle Nile Valley, Antiquity 88 (341) – Project Gallery

Presentations:

  • Poznan, Polskie badania nad prahistorią Afryki północno-wschodniej. Nowe odkrycia i idee, 05.06 „Nowe dane do badań nad paleolitem środkowym w Southern Dongola Reach (Sudan)”
  • Gdansk, XX Ogólnopolska Naukowo-Edukacyjna Konferencja Nubiologiczna, 07.06 „Affad – drugi sezon badań”
  • Warsaw, Polacy nad Nilem, sezon 2012-2013, 18.06 „Osadnictwo wczesnych Homo sapiens w Dolinie Nilu Środkowego – nowe dane. Drugi sezon interdyscyplinarnych badań w Affad 23, Sudan”
  • Iasi, Stories Written in Stone, International Symposium on Chert and Other Knappable Materials, 22.08 „The lithic traditions of Late Pleistocene settlement at Affad, Sudan: raw materials economy and technological features”

Publications:

Osypińska M., Osypiński P. Middle Palaeolithic Research in the Middle Nile Valley – 2013 Field Season in Affad, Northern Sudan, Nyame Akuma 80: 14-21.

News:

Nie taka dzika Afryka, National Geographic, Polska, 2013, NR 5(164) maj, p. 14

Presentations:

  • Poznan, Instytut Prahistorii UAM 22.05 „Epigoni Tradycji Lewaluaskich w Środkowej Dolinie Nilu – założenia i pierwsze rezultaty projektu”
  • Gdansk, XIX Ogólnopolska Naukowo-Edukacyjna Konferencja Nubiologiczna,25.05 „Tropami epigonów środkowego paleolitu. Pierwszy sezon badań projektu PALAEOAFFAD”
  • Warsaw, Polacy nad Nilem, sezon 2011-2012, 05.06 „Pierwszy sezon badań projektu PALAEOAFFAD, północny Sudan”

Publications:

Osypiński P., The Lithic Traditions of Late-Pleistocene settlement at Affad, Sudan, in: Kabaciński J, Chłodnicki M., Kobusiewicz M. (eds.) „Prehistory of Northeastern Africa, New Ideas and Discoveries”, Studies in African Archaeology, vol.11, pp.213-221, Poznań Archaeological Museum 2012.

Osypińska M., Osypiński P. Epigones of the Levallois Tradition in the Middle Nile Valley: the First Season of a New Prehistoric Project in Affad, Northern Sudan, Nyame Akuma 78: 17-22.

Publications:

Osypiński P., Osypińska M., Gautier A., Affad 23, a Late Middle Palaeolithic Site with Refitted Lithics and Animal Remains in the Southern Dongola Reach, Sudan. Journal of African Archaeology 9 (2): 177-188. doi: 10.3213/2191-5784-10186

Presentations:

  • Poznan, Archaeology of the Earliest Northeastern Africa, „Affad 23 – Middle Palaeolithic site in Southern Dongola Reach, Sudan”

Publications:

Osypiński P., Osypińska M. Affad 23. In: Żurawski, B. (ed.) „Survey and Excavations between Old Dongola and Ez-Zuma.” Zakład Śródziemnomorskiej Polskiej Akademii Nauk & Wydawnictwo Neriton, Warsaw, pp. 270–272.

The results of archaeological research at Affad in Sudan have shown their unusually high scientific value and uniqueness. Next to the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of the oldest open-air hut in the world) and the diverse hunting and gathering loci some 50,000 years old, our team discovered there extremely rich evidence of the presence of nomadic cattle keepers – perhaps the first such cultures in Africa. In this context, we see the need to accurately recognize the broader context of these discoveries. The main goal of the current stage of research is therefore to find equally well-preserved remains of prehistoric settlement in other parts of Southern Dongola Reach. It is a land in the Northern part of Sudan between the III and IV cataracts on the Nile, where three great dry channels escape from the south and west. Therefore this place could have been already in the earliest times a great “African crossroads” for migrating human communities and ideas. The project would develop current research of Polish archaeological missions – survey of the right bank of the valley and the already mentioned multi-aspect exploration of the Affad Basin. To date, research in this region (prior to Affad excavations) has been based on imprecise data, both spatial and temporal, which significantly limits their scientific value.

Our goal is to focus on three areas pointing the main gaps in current knowledge of early human history in this part of Africa. The first is the Letti Basin – a fertile depression that was the economic background for medieval Nubian civilizations. Today we know about the presence of only a few prehistoric sites in this area. Another important area is the right-bank of the Nile Valley (Argi), where, apart from the Affad Basin, further river bends require archaeological research. Finally, the third area: the left bank of the valley – especially the mouths of three large dry channels, Wadi Howar, Wadi el-Melik and Wadi Muqaddam, connecting the Nile with the plains of Central Africa and the fertile Kordofan. So far, these were areas penetrated by archaeologists only as part of ad hoc salvage operations.

A group of experienced specialists responsible for the classification and studies of finds and data will be involved at both excavations and surface survey. The team will be fulfilled by a group of “trainee surveyors”, for whom participation in the project means a chance to gain valuable experience (volunteers – students from both Europe and Africa). The studies of the collected data will also use a wide range of advanced techniques combining archeology with earth sciences and biology: luminescent and radiocarbon dating, isotope analysis and determining the elemental composition or trace amounts of fat on fragments of vessels and ancient tools.

One of the scientifically most important, expected results of the project is to improve our methods and the basic knowledge about the settlement of an area extremely important at the dawn of human history: Southern Dongola Reach – both during the era of the first migrations of our species, and much later, when pastoral communities with cattle herds were passing the sub-Saharan Sahel. Advanced mapping methods and laboratory analyses are the most important scientific tools of the project. The results will be used in the future to identify extremely important sites where multi-aspect archaeological research will be developed