Jebel Sahaba

Jebel Sahaba is an archaeological site where a prehistoric massacre occurred. It is between Sudan and Egypt, close to the Aswan High Dam.^[3] At this site, archaeologists found 61 remains from early hunter-gatherers, including men, women, and children. The victims did not include young men, who may have escaped or survived.^[4]

Violence at Jebel Sahaba
Part of resource competition in the Nile valley
Jebel Sahaba Jebel Sahaba (Sudan)
Date c. 12th millennium BC (see Dating) Location Jebel Sahaba (جَبَل ٱلصَّحَابَة) (in the north of present-day Sudan) 21°59′N 31°20′E
Belligerents
Qadan people (probably)
Casualties and losses
61 killed

Jebel Sahaba remains, JS 14

Name	Age	Cause of Death	Location of Death	Location of Birth
JS 14 [1]	c.13400[2]	Projectiles	Jebel Sahaba	Unknown

Egypt (Green) and Sudan (Orange)

Before the discovery in 1960, many experts believed that prehistoric people did not fight each other. This idea changed when Fred Wendorf found bones from the 12th millennium B.C., which showed a large number of injuries, damaged bones, and pieces of flint arrows.^[5]

Studies

Fred Wendorf

Wendorf and his team discovered the prehistoric massacre site in the 1960s. Then in 2014, Isabelle Crevecoeur^[2] from the French National Center for Scientific Research^[2] discovered over 100 more signs of trauma and injuries on the Jebel Sahaba remains.^[2]

For example, the victims' hands and forearms were damaged from trying to ward off blows. ^[2] Some victims' back-sided ribs had sharp cuts, maybe because they died trying to escape.^[2] A pregnant woman had her hands twisted together, suggesting that she might have been tied up. These medieval-like actions were very surprising for archaeologists and scientists.