Jebel Sahaba: A succession of violence rather than a prehistoric war

Archival photograph illustrating the double grave of individuals JS 20 and JS 21 with pencils indicating the position of associated lithic artefacts. Wendorf Archive, British Museum. Since the 1960s, the Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile Valley, present-day Sudan) has become the emblem of organised warfare during prehistory. Re-analysis of the data, however, argues for a succession of smaller conflicts. Competition for resources is probably one of the causes of the conflicts witnessed in this cemetery. Since its discovery in the 1960s, the Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile Valley, Sudan), 13 millennia old, was considered to be one of the oldest testimonies to prehistoric warfare. However, scientists from the CNRS and the University of Toulouse - Jean Jaurès 1 have re-analysed the bones preserved in the British Museum (London) and re-evaluated their archaeological context.