Czech Egyptologists uncover prehistoric burial site in Sudan

Prague, March 5 (CTK) - Czech Egyptologists have uncovered one of the biggest north African prehistoric burial sites in the Sabaloka mountains in central Sudan, where more than 400 hunters and gatherers are buried, Lenka Sukova, from Prague's Charles University, told CTK Tuesday.

The Czech expedition's latest finds have considerably complemented and extended the knowledge about the dawn of civilisation in the Nile and north African regions, Sukova said.

Miroslav Barta, head of the university's Egyptology Institute, said the Sudanese research is of a crucial importance.

The uncovered burial site dates back to the period between the 8th and 6th millennia B.C., and is situated 80 km north of Khartoum.

The area was never examined by archaeologists before the Czech experts' arrival in 2009.

The research can therefore provide valuable evidence about the life of the local hunters, gatherers and fishers, and also about the beginning of cattle breeding.

At present, however, the locality has been endangered by the planned construction of a dam on the Nile's sixth cataract, the experts said in a press release.

For the time being, they have exhumed skeleton remains of about 30 people enabling them to examine the health condition of prehistorical Africans and the conditions they lived in.

Apart from the burial site, the Czechs have uncovered and partly examined a network of settlements in the same region. The remains of settlements, located around a lake that does not exist any more, turned out to be one of the most significant from the period preceding the birth of farming in north Africa.

Czech archaeologists have an excellent reputation in the world. Charles University's expedition also operates in Egypt, being the largest Czech scientific expedition abroad.