This paper, published this week in the open access online journal PLOS ONE, presents the detailed analysis of two lithic assemblages attributed to the Late Palaeolithic of Egypt: E71K18C and E71K20. Both assemblages are part of the Wendorf Collection, stored at the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.
The paper can be read here:
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188824
Both assemblages are attributed to period corresponding to generally dry conditions in North-East Africa. The impact of these dry conditions on the behaviour of the River Nile is debated. Was it a highly seasonal river, almost dry during the low water season, or was the dune activity at that time such, that it dammed the Nile at several places, creating large lakes, as evidence suggests around Qena? Whatever the model considered, this major climatic change is likely to have had important consequences on human populations living in the Nile Valley.
This study of these two lithic assemblages help us better understand the variability of technical behaviours at that time. It also provides us with a database that summarises all the characteristics of these assemblages, which facilitates comparisons. Preliminary observations suggest that technical behaviours in the Nile Valley are very different from those from adjacent regions (i.e. North Africa, East Africa, the Levant). Was the Nile Valley a true 'refuge' area during this very arid period?
Further information can be found on the website of the Department of Archaeology of the University of Cambridge.
This research has been conducting during a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) as well as at the University of Cambridge (UK). It has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 655459, from the Fyssen Foundation, from the ANR 'Big Dry' no ANR-14-CE31-0023-03, the Marie Curie Alumni Association and the CNRS-MOST research project 'Horn'.
