The Oldowan in the Egyptian Nile Valley

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-241
Author(s):  
Aboualhassan Bakry ◽  
Ahmed Saied ◽  
Doaa Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
East African ◽  
Out Of Africa ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
Egyptian Desert ◽  
East African Highlands

Abstract Although there is no good “Oldowan” record in the Egyptian Nile Valley, the presence of the “Pebble Tools Tradition” is confirmed by surface finds, scattered in the valley and the deserts, recorded through both early and recent excavations, and confirmed by three important stratified sites at Western Thebes, Nag el Amra and Abassieh. Evidence for the existence of the Oldowan complex in Egypt was found, although there was no water corridor connecting the East African highlands to the Mediterranean, as the Proto-Nile had its sources within Egypt itself at the time of the Plio-Pleistocene boundary. The western coast of the Red Sea also should be considered a possible corridor for early Pleistocene hominins. There is still much more research to be done, especially in the Eastern Egyptian Desert and Sinai, to obtain a clearer picture of the scenario that happened during the Plio-Pleistocene episode of hominin dispersal out of Africa.

scholarly journals Short term fallow and partitioning effects of green manures on wheat systems in East African highlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 269 ◽  
pp. 108175
Author(s):  
Tilahun Amede ◽  
Gizachew Legesse ◽  
Getachew Agegnehu ◽  
Tadesse Gashaw ◽  
Tulu Degefu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Green Manures ◽  
East African ◽  
Short Term ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
East African Highlands

scholarly journals Effect of Seasonal Drought on the Agronomic Performance of Four Banana Genotypes (Musa spp.) in the East African Highlands

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Brigitte Uwimana ◽  
Yasmín Zorrilla-Fontanesi ◽  
Jelle van Wesemael ◽  
Hassan Mduma ◽  
Allan Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Yield Traits ◽  
East African ◽  
Ploidy Levels ◽  
Early Effect ◽  
Seasonal Drought ◽  
Musa Spp ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Genome Group ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
East African Highlands

Banana (Musa spp.), a perennial (sub-)tropical crop, suffers from seasonal droughts, which are typical of rain-fed agriculture. This study aimed at understanding the effect of seasonal drought on early growth, flowering and yield traits in bananas grown in the East African highlands. A field experiment was set up in North Tanzania using four genotypes from different geographical origins and two different ploidy levels. The treatments considered were exclusively rain-fed versus rain supplemented with irrigation. Growth in plant girth and leaf area were promising traits to detect the early effect of water deficit. Seasonal drought slowed down vegetative growth, thus significantly decreasing plant girth, plant height and the number of suckers produced when compared to irrigated plants. It also delayed flowering time and bunch maturity and had a negative effect on yield traits. However, the results depended on the genotype and crop cycle and their interaction with the treatments. “Nakitengwa”, an East African highland banana (EAHB; AAA genome group), which is adapted to the region, showed sensitivity to drought in terms of reduced bunch weight and expected yield, while “Cachaco” (ABB genome group) showed less sensitivity to drought but had a poorer yield than “Nakitengwa”. Our study confirms that seasonal drought has a negative impact on banana production in East Africa, where EAHBs are the most predominant type of bananas grown in the region. We also show that a drought-tolerant cultivar not adapted to the East African highlands had a low performance in terms of yield. We recommend a large-scale screening of diploid bananas to identify drought-tolerant genotypes to be used in the improvement of locally adapted and accepted varieties.

Fragile East African Highlands: a Development Vision for Smallholder Farmers in the Ethiopian Highlands

1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Mohamed Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Land Resource ◽  
East African ◽  
Ethiopian Highlands ◽  
Ethiopian Highland ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
East African Highlands ◽  
Resource Environment

For societies that depend on agriculture, the process of meeting current or future welfare demands should not continue without regard to the potential long-term dangers of land resource over-use. With an increasing human and animal population in the Ethiopian highlands development efforts so far have been hasty and disjointed, and have sidetracked issues of production base security and conservation. As a result, large-scale degradation has ensued, and if the trend continues the agricultural future of the country is threatened. Cohesive land-use practices are needed in order to manage the fragile Ethiopian highland resource environment properly and to support growing human demands.

Banana leaf pruning to facilitate annual legume intercropping as an intensification strategy in the East African highlands

2019 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 125923 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Ocimati ◽  
J. Ntamwira ◽  
J.C.J. Groot ◽  
G. Taulya ◽  
P. Tittonell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East African ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
East African Highlands ◽  
Banana Leaf

scholarly journals Climate change and the resurgence of malaria in the East African highlands

Nature ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 415 (6874) ◽  
pp. 905-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon I. Hay ◽  
Jonathan Cox ◽  
David J. Rogers ◽  
Sarah E. Randolph ◽  
David I. Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
East African ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
East African Highlands

scholarly journals What Farm Size Sustains a Living? Exploring Future Options to Attain a Living Income From Smallholder Farming in the East African Highlands

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wytze Marinus ◽  
Eva S. Thuijsman ◽  
Mark T. van Wijk ◽  
Katrien Descheemaeker ◽  
Gerrie W. J. van de Ven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Skewed Distribution ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
East African ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Cropping Patterns ◽  
African Highlands ◽  
East African Highlands

Smallholder farming in sub-Saharan Africa keeps many rural households trapped in a cycle of poor productivity and low incomes. Two options to reach a decent income include intensification of production and expansion of farm areas per household. In this study, we explore what is a “viable farm size,” i.e., the farm area that is required to attain a “living income,” which sustains a nutritious diet, housing, education and health care. We used survey data from three contrasting sites in the East African highlands—Nyando (Kenya), Rakai (Uganda), and Lushoto (Tanzania) to explore viable farm sizes in six scenarios. Starting from the baseline cropping system, we built scenarios by incrementally including intensified and re-configured cropping systems, income from livestock and off-farm sources. In the most conservative scenario (baseline cropping patterns and yields, minus basic input costs), viable farm areas were 3.6, 2.4, and 2.1 ha, for Nyando, Rakai, and Lushoto, respectively—whereas current median farm areas were just 0.8, 1.8, and 0.8 ha. Given the skewed distribution of current farm areas, only few of the households in the study sites (0, 27, and 4% for Nyando, Rakai, and Lushoto, respectively) were able to attain a living income. Raising baseline yields to 50% of the water-limited yields strongly reduced the land area needed to achieve a viable farm size, and thereby enabled 92% of the households in Rakai and 70% of the households in Lushoto to attain a living income on their existing farm areas. By contrast, intensification of crop production alone was insufficient in Nyando, although including income from livestock enabled the majority of households (73%) to attain a living income with current farm areas. These scenarios show that increasing farm area and/or intensifying production is required for smallholder farmers to attain a living income from farming. Obviously such changes would require considerable capital and labor investment, as well as land reform and alternative off-farm employment options for those who exit farming.

scholarly journals Invasion of an invader: a case study from the Suez Channel

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasser Geneid ◽  
Amgad El Shaffai
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Red Sea ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Algal Species ◽  
Suez Canal ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Fishing Ground ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Seagrass Meadows ◽  
The Mediterranean

After the year 1869, a major change in the Mediterranean marine ecosystem occurred. A pathway called Suez Canal was created allowing the passage of alien invasive species from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, which is currently harboring over 900 introduced marine species. About 54% of these established non-native species reached through the Suez Canal. Whilst most of the studies dealing with marine invasive species focused on the Mediterranean, very few were done in the Suez Canal itself. The goal of this study is to review the distribution and current status of two invasive marine plants in the Suez Canal, specifically the Bitter Lakes area. This area was selected because of its special environmental conditions and its importance as a major fishing ground in the entire canal. Visual observations of the marine vegetation in the study sites were carried out starting year 2001. Halophila stipulacea , a tropical seagrass distributed along the coasts of the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, has migrated and is widely found around the Mediterranean. It was recorded in the Suez Canal by the Cambridge Expedition in 1924 and is known to occur in the shallow sandy-muddy bottom areas along its western coast. Since 2000, different studies along the Bitter Lakes have shown total disappearance of seagrass meadows caused by another invader that have replaced the seagrass plants and reached a percentage cover of nearly 100% in some of the studied sites. A new intruder was the green seaweed Caulerpa prolifera, a Mediterranean algal species that was recorded in the Gulf of Suez in 1984, among few species migrated from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It has rapidly colonized different locations in the Suez Canal replacing H. stipulacea meadows. However, in 2004, a dramatic change took place in the study area where C. prolifera began diminishing allowing the previously found H. stipulacea to inhabit the seafloor. While salinity reduction from hypersaline conditions – due to growing of coastal communities along the Bitter Lakes with more fresh water discharge – may cause the expansion of C. prolifera in the study area, the reasons why it declined and disappeared are still unclear.

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