GEOMORPHOLOGY, PLEISTOCENE STRATIGRAPHY AND LEVALLOIS OCCURRENCES AT GEBEL RAMLAH, NUBIA-SHAB PEDIPLAIN, SOUTHERN SAHARAN EGYPT

The Gebel Ramlah sedimentary basin, in the Western Desert of Egypt, has a Pleistocene stratigraphic sequence buried under Holocene playa-pan sediments. Studies by the Combined Prehistoric Expedition (CPE) document landscape settings of open-air surface artifact occurrences reflecting Levallois (prepared-core) strategies within the basin catchment. The catchment is on the Nubia-Shab Pediplain which extends westward from the Nile to the Kiseiba scarp and the Atmur El Kibish, and is bounded to the north by the Sinn El-Kaddab Plateau escarpment. Erosion in wadis on the flanks of Gebel Ramlah have cut ravines which carried debris down slope during local rains. Zones of deposition consist of the alluvial fans that coalesce to form a bajada and the central basin; coarse materials are chiefly part of the bajada and finer clastics (silts and clays) are deposited within the central basin. Luminescence ages range from 185-18 ka years for alluvial sands, basin (“playa”) silts, and eolian deposits; the playa silts date to 100,000 ka or older. Levallois artifacts occur on the eroded limestone bedrock surface in a shallow ravine on the top of the gebel (ca. 272-277 masl), and on the gebel slope adjacent to gullies and alluvial fan deposits (144 masl). Levallois artifacts also are on the margin of the surface west of the playa-pan sediments with tributary wadi channels and terrace surfaces (138-145 masl), and south of the central basin adjacent to or on silts, tributary wadi channels or slightly elevated surfaces. In addition, Levallois artifacts are found on higher surfaces (147-149 m asl) over a km south of the central basin area. These landscape contexts can be compared to other Levallois occurrences on the Nubia-Shab Pediplain, near the Sinn El Kaddab escarpment, in the Nile Valley, and the Atmur El Kibish. At Kiseiba, Levallois artifacts were documented by the CPE in basal deltaic-alluvial sands and attributed to the Middle Paleolithic or Late Acheulian. South of Gebel Ramlah Levallois scatters also occur on the top of gebels, along the margin of playa deposits and at higher elevations. These geologic contexts suggest that the Levallois occurrences at Gebel Ramlah may, in part, be associated with late Middle/early Late Pleistocene landscapes and associated erosional and depositional processes. This project was funded by grant no. 2017/25/B/HS3/02385, National Science Centre, Poland to JK.