A last interglacial fauna from the Eastern Sahara

Abstract

Recent work on the middle Paleolithic at Bir Tarfawi, in the hyperarid Eastern Sahara (<1 mm of rain per annum), has yielded a rich faunal assemblage, including several thousand remains of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. They are derived from the sediments of two consecutive lakes dated by several techniques to about 135,000 yr B.P. Fifty-nine taxa have been identified and indicate that at times during the Last Interglaciation the area received at least 500 mm of rainfall as a result of the northward shift of the monsoon belt, and that, on several occasions, there may have been water connections between Bir Tarfawi and unidentified but permanent bodies of water elsewhere.