Wood fuel use in the Predynastic Upper Egypt Nile Valley

Abstract

Predynastic cultures (4th millennium BCE) of the Nile Valley, especially the Naqada Culture of Upper Egypt, are documented mainly from excavated cemeteries, with few settlements excavated. Wood charcoal assemblages from two Naqada sites in the Nile Valley, Halfiah Gibli (HG) and Semaineh (SH), elucidate woodland ecology, economic strategies for fuel gathering and use, and human impacts on wood resource availability over time. Using traditional and dendroanthracological analyses to identify, quantify, and characterize these remains, we identify several lines of evidence that indicate that high-quality local fuel sources, mainly tamarisk and acacia, were abundant and low-effort gathering strategies were sufficient to meet local fuel needs. We find no evidence for human impacts on woodland structure over time and suggest this was due to low population density in the region throughout the 4th millennium BCE.