Battles & Wars › Prehistory & first cities › Prehistoric warfare: the first massacres
Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile valley, Sudan)
c. 11,400 BC or earlier (at least 13,400 years ago)· Event· Middle East & Africa
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
A Late Stone Age cemetery in northern Sudan where many of the 61 people buried show wounds from stone-tipped weapons.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Fred Wendorf's team excavated the cemetery in 1965–66, racing to save sites before Lake Nasser flooded behind the Aswan High Dam. A 2021 restudy of the 61 skeletons, now in the British Museum, found injuries on about 41 of them, including stone flakes from arrows or spears and many healed wounds. That points to repeated raids over years rather than one battle. Radiocarbon dating puts the site at least 13,400 years ago, when the Nile's people were hunter-fisher-gatherers.
Why it matters
It is the oldest clear evidence of repeated violence between groups. Some link it to harsh climate swings that pushed rival groups to compete for the Nile's food.
How we know
Microscopic study of the 61 skeletons, stone fragments still lodged in bone, and radiocarbon dates; published by Wendorf (1968) and restudied by Isabelle Crevecoeur and colleagues (2021).
Still debated
Whether it records warfare between rival groups or feuds and raids is debated, and the climate link is a plausible theory, not proven.
Connections (3)
▸Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile valley, Sudan) is the earliest clear evidence of Prehistoric warfare: the first massacresMostly agreed
The connection
Jebel Sahaba is the oldest site where many people clearly died from weapons used by other people. Its wounds, both healed and fresh, show repeated attacks over years, so archaeologists treat it as the starting point of the evidence for prehistoric warfare.
When and how
On the Nile in northern Sudan, at least 13,400 years ago; excavated by Fred Wendorf's team in 1965–66, restudied by Isabelle Crevecoeur and colleagues in 2021.
How sure are we?
Stone points still embedded in bone, impact marks studied under microscopes, and radiocarbon dates make the violence clear.
Debates and open questions
Whether the killings were warfare between groups or feuds and raids is debated; older single cases of violent death exist, but none with so many victims.
▸Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile valley, Sudan) predates the similar killings at Nataruk massacre (Lake Turkana, Kenya)Mostly agreed
The connection
Both sites show groups of African hunter-gatherers killed with projectile weapons. Jebel Sahaba is a few thousand years older and records repeated violence in a cemetery; Nataruk appears to record a single attack, with bodies left unburied by a lake.
When and how
Jebel Sahaba, Sudan, at least 13,400 years ago; Nataruk, Kenya, about 9,500–10,500 years ago, found in 2012.
How sure are we?
Both have radiocarbon-based dates and similar injuries: stone points in bone and head wounds. The link is a comparison, not a direct connection.
Debates and open questions
Whether either site reflects regular warfare or rare outbreaks is debated; they lie some 2,000 km and thousands of years apart.
▸Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile valley, Sudan) shows early warfare with projectiles like the Bow and arrowMostly agreed
The connection
Many wounds at Jebel Sahaba were made by small, sharp stone flakes, the tips and barbs of projectiles. Their size and impact marks fit arrows or light spears shot or thrown from a distance, showing that early fighting was often done at range.
When and how
Nile valley, northern Sudan, at least 13,400 years ago.
How sure are we?
The 2021 microscopic study identified projectile impact marks and stone fragments in bone; that they were arrows rather than darts is likely but not certain.
Debates and open questions
Whether bows or hand-thrown spears made most of the wounds often cannot be told from the damage.