HISTORY LESSON

What was life like in Nabta Playa when this site was built? This is what studies indicate about a year in the life of people at Nabta Playa 9,000 Years Ago.

Picture a community in Nabta Playa, an ancient settlement in what is now southern Egypt also on the border with north Sudan, thriving amidst the stark beauty of the Sahara. Life revolves around the annual rhythms shaped by the inventions and cultural practices that had emerged in Africa over millennia.

Winter Solstice: The year begins with a ceremony marking the solar calendar, a marvel of early African astronomy. The community gathers to observe the movement of stars and the sun, using the stone alignments of their monumental site to track time and plan agricultural activities. These annual ceremonies foster social cohesion, connecting the community to their environment and the celestial cycles above. At Nabta Playa and across the eastern Sahara, Neolithic communities carved various petroglyphs, including representations of cattle, geometric symbols, and human and animal figures. These engravings, dating back as far as 9,000 years, reflect the cultural and ritual practices of the people, highlighting their pastoralist lifestyle and symbolic expressions. The rock art, combined with the site's monumental stone alignments, illustrates a complex society deeply connected to their environment and the celestial cycles.

Roleplaying (early forms of theatre) was probably performed for first time in human history.

Spring: As the rains arrive, residents rely on their extensive knowledge of local crops like sorghum, millet, and groundnut, planting them in carefully prepared fields. The domesticated cattle, central to the pastoralist lifestyle at Nabta Playa, were likely a key component of both subsistence and ritual practices, while the site's strategic location along ancient trade routes suggests it served as a seasonal gathering place for regional exchange and social interaction. Sculptures were first made that foreshadowed APIs bull and Hathor rituals. 

Summer: With the heat rising, daily life slows but doesn’t stop. The community uses loom weaving techniques to produce light clothing from locally grown cotton, perfect for the sweltering temperatures. Workshops bustle with activity: men and women make pottery, repair tools, and craft musical instruments like harps and trumpets, providing entertainment and fostering communal bonds.

Autumn: Harvest time brings a focus on collecting and storing food. People bake bread in communal ovens, their techniques passed down through generations. The surplus is stored in pottery containers and recorded with tokens—an early form of accounting—ensuring fair distribution. Meanwhile, some members engage in fishing expeditions along the Nile, using harpoons crafted from local materials.

Throughout the year, oral tradition and storytelling serve as the community’s library, preserving history, wisdom, and identity. The elders recount tales of their ancestors, passing down knowledge of the stars, the land, and the ways of the world. Far from relying on "hearsay," they practice a sophisticated system of memory and education that has sustained them for generations.

In Nabta Playa, the people embody a dynamic interplay of innovation, culture, and survival—proof that the African continent, even 9,000 years ago, was a cradle of human ingenuity and social complexity.

The knowledge for the astronomical alignments of Giza and the astroceremonial practice of using Orion’s Belt, Sirius B and the Big Dipper to determine when to start the solar calendar year for agriculture was developed during the African Humid Period in Nabta playa between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. This practice was called “stretching of the cord”. This fact has been peer-reviewed and checked by 3 separate teams.

Nabta playa is important because it tracks at least 5 things with its azimuth and gates: Sirius rising; Dubhe rising; The asterism of Orion’s Belt, considered “Osiris” by the ancient Egyptians 3,000 years later); the beginning of the raining season in Southern Egypt (the summer solstice); and the end of the raining season (winter solstice). At the time, these ancient Africans didn’t have million dollar domes, multi-million dollar telescopes, computers, or satellites. However, they needed to know when to plant. The revolutionary thinking of these ancient Africans was accompanied by mystification by adding ceremony and the sacrificing of cattle, a forerunner of the Pharaonic Egypt cattle cult.

Several African populations still celebrate the New Year in September. The Oromo in Ethiopia mark this time with the festival of *Irreecha*, while Ethiopian Orthodox Christians observe *Enkutatash*. In Egypt, Coptic Orthodox Christians celebrate *Nayrouz*. The Berber (Amazigh) people of North Africa honor *Id Yennayer*, and the Igbo in Nigeria celebrate *Iri Ji Ohuru*. In South Africa, the Zulu observe *Umkhosi Womhlanga*, while in Kenya, the Kikuyu celebrate *Mugithi*, and the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania mark the occasion with *Enkipaata*.

The ancient Egyptians also celebrated their New Year, known as *Wepet Renpet* ("Opening of the Year"), around late summer to early September. This timing coincided with the annual inundation of the Nile River, which was crucial for agriculture. The New Year was marked by the appearance of the star Sirius (Sopdet) just before dawn, signaling the start of the flood season and the renewal of life and fertility in Egypt.