Abstract
At the end of the Pleistocene (25,000-15,000 BP), there is a shift to more arid conditions in the Negev and the Sinai corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum. For the Nile Valley and the Levant, the lowering of the Mediterranean sea level, the expansion of the Sahara and the desiccation of some major eastern African lakes had important consequences on: (1) the general behaviour of the River Nile; (2) the landscape around the Nile Delta; and (3) sand dune mobilisation. Despite this shift to more arid conditions, there is abundant evidence for human occupation in the Egyptian Nile Valley and in the arid zone of the Southern Levant at this time. In addition, contacts between these two regions have sometimes been suggested, mainly by genetic studies, including early ‘Back-to-Africa’ dispersals.
 This paper focuses on the analysis of six terminal Pleistocene (ca. 25,000-15,000 BP) lithic assemblages from the western Negev Desert dunes in Israel, attributed to the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic. The analysis relies on the chaîne opératoire approach combined with attribute analysis that enables quantification of typo-technological differences. Results of this analysis allows comparisons with assemblages from the Egyptian Nile Valley analysed in the same way previously. This comparative analysis is then used to discuss hypotheses of potential technical diffusions between these two regions. Current archaeological evidence therefore does not support any contacts between populations between the Levant and the Nile Valley at the end of the Pleistocene.
Highlights
This paper aims to contribute to this issue by comparing lithic assemblages from the Epipalaeolithic of the Negev with assemblages from the Late Palaeolithic of the Nile Valley, both occurring during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2
A recently excavated site in Sudan, Affad 23, has yielded an occupation level dated to ~15-16ka, associated with a faunal assemblage dominated by medium to large-size mammals and a lithic assemblage with full Middle Stone Age characteristics, including Levallois methods (Osypiński & Osypińska 2016; Osypińska & Osypiński 2016)
This short review contributes to highlighting several problems that have hampered testing hypothetical connections between the Levant and the Nile Valley: the lack of archaeological data, in the northern part of the Nile Valley, as any posited sites are likely to be deeply buried within the delta sediments due to latter aggradation as sea levels rose following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), as well as the debated palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, in the lower Nile Valley
Summary
Most evidence for Late Pleistocene connections between the Nile Valley, North Africa and the Levant, including back-to-Africa dispersals, through or from the Levant, at the end of the Pleistocene derive from genetic studies (Forster et al 2007; Henn et al 2012; Hodgson et al 2014; Olivieri et al 2006; Pennarun et al 2012; Underhill et al 2001). The lack of sites from this period in the Nile Valley hamper any thorough comparisons between these two areas, and more data are needed to discuss contacts during the Late Pleistocene. The Nile Valley and Sinai-Negev are obvious routes out-of and back-into Africa, very little is known of interactions between these two areas during the later Pleistocene. This paper aims to contribute to this issue by comparing lithic assemblages from the Epipalaeolithic of the Negev with assemblages from the Late Palaeolithic of the Nile Valley, both occurring during MIS 2
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