PLEISTOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL GEOLOGY OF EGYPT

Sedimentary sequences from southern Saharan Egypt and the Nile Valley contain evidence of Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental change and prehistoric human adaptations. In the Bir Tarfawi region, in the Western Desert of Egypt, limestone deposits (micrites) indicate the presence of springs, ponds, and small lakes during the early part of the Middle Pleistocene (prior to about 300,000 years ago). Lower Paleolithic (Acheulian) artifacts are associated with these sedimentary remnants. Stratigraphic sequences that appear to reflect fluctuating environmental conditions during the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene contain Middle Paleolithic artifacts. Hyperarid conditions seem to have prevailed in the Western Desert during the Last Glacial Maximum. In contrast to the Western Desert, within the Nile Valley there is evidence for the presence of prehistoric human populations during the last glacial to interglacial transition. For instance, Wadi Kubbaniya, situated northwest of Aswan, contains a Late Pleistocene stratigraphic record with evidence of environmental change and Middle and Late Paleolithic human groups. The Pleistocene strata from southern Egypt can be used to develop a paleoclimate chronology for northeast Africa that can be linked to regional landscape evolution and human response to environmental change.