The Shaqadud Project: Alternative modes of cultural adaptation to the mid-Holocene aridification of North Africa

The project is concerned with responses of human societies to extreme climatic changes. It is aimed at grasping development in a long time perspective, using the example of cultural adaptation to mid-Holocene desiccation of North Africa which constitutes the most significant environmental change during the past ten thousand years. Attention is paid to neglected forms of cultural sustainability that are well represented at the archaeological site of Shaqadud (Sudan) from ca. 6,000–1,500 BC. Through various archaeological and scientific investigations and analyses, the team will work towards comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of resistance and stabilisation of societies facing adverse global changes. The project aspires to answer the question under which circumstances it is more profitable for a society to adapt to deteriorating external conditions and, on the contrary, under which circumstances it is more reasonable to adopt a mobile way of life or to emigrate.