Angela E. Close

The identification of style in lithic artefacts

Abstract This paper is concerned with the identification of assemblages made by the same, or socially related, groups. It is believed that variability which can be shown, rather than assumed, to have been determined principally by stylistic factors provides the most reliable means of identifying social groups. A number of attributes of backed bladelets are selected, and various hypotheses proposed which might explain their variability. Tests are then performed to disprove one or more of the hypotheses, and the results suggest that the principal determinant of the variability in question was stylistic or traditional factors. The assemblages are then grouped in terms of these ‘stylistic’ attributes and the resultant pattern ‐ interpreted as reflecting the social relationships of the groups who manufactured them ‐ is compared with the conventional taxonomy. The primary concern of the paper is not, however, to reconstruct a ‘culture history’ but to develop a method by which social groupings might be recognize...

Dating lacustrine episodes in the eastern Sahara by the epimerization of isoleucine in ostrich eggshells

The eggshell of the African ostrich, Struthio camelus, closely approximates a closed system for the retention of indigenous proteinaceous residues. Epimerization of the protein amino acid isoleucine follows linear first-order kinetics in laboratory simulations nearly to racemic equilibrium, and the variation in D/L ratio within a single fragment, or between fragments of the same age, is significantly less than in other carbonate systems. These observations suggest that the extent of isoleucine epimerization (aIle/Ile ratio) in ostrich eggshell offers the potential for high-resolution geochronology of Quaternary deposits. From the simulation experiments, and dated early Holocene samples for which we have in situ mean annual sediment temperature measurements, Arrhenius parameters have been calculated; the activation energy is 30.33 kcal mol−1, similar to that of other carbonate systems. We have measured the aIle/Ile ratio in ostrich eggshell associated with lacustrine episodes at Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East, two depressions in what is currently the hyperarid eastern Sahara. The ratios can be used directly to indicate qualitatively the time represented by each series of lake sediment, and to correlate disjunct lacustrine deposits within and between the basins. Uranium-series disequilibrium dating of algal mats contained within some of the lake beds indicate that a major wet interval occurred about 130 ka ago. Using the U-series date for calibration, the amino acid ratios are used to date the most recent lacustrine interval to about 100 ka B.P., and two older intervals, one about 200 ± 25 ka B.P., and an older interval that occurred prior to 250 ka ago.

A last interglacial fauna from the Eastern Sahara

Abstract Recent work on the middle Paleolithic at Bir Tarfawi, in the hyperarid Eastern Sahara (

A Survey of the Egyptian Radar Channels: An Example of Applied Archaeology

Abstract The shuttle imaging radar experiment (SIR-A) in 1981 revealed a complex of previously unknown, channel-like features beneath the sandsheets of the Eastern Sahara. Since the age(s) and significance of these features could not be otherwise determined, a survey was undertaken of the archaeology of the region to provide at least a minimal age for them and to evaluate their potential as reservoirs of Pleistocene and Holocene rainfall. The results of the survey indicate that the features predate all detectable human activity in the area and are likely to be earlier than Pleistocene, and that there is no evidence that they now hold, or have held since at least the Middle Pleistocene, significant quantities of water. The area of the channels may have been no more than marginal to human economic systems, even during the wetter phases of Saharan prehistory.

On the Validity of Middle Paleolithic Tool Types: A Test Case from the Eastern

AbstractUsing data from a Middle Paleolithic site at Bir Taifawi in the Eastern Sahara, this study tests recent hypotheses that much of the typological variation apparent in the Middle Paleolithic can be traced to intensity of raw material use, and consequent reuse and reshaping of retouched tools. The Saharan material indicates that, although raw material was used quite intensively, the archaeologically defined types were desired forms in their own right and not simply stages in a reduction sequence.

Distance and decay : an uneasy relationship

The application of the distance-decay model to lithic material from southwestern Egypt explores the relationship between size and portability.

Site E-77-7 Revisited: The Early Neolithic of El Adam Type at El Gebal El Beid Playa

El Gebal el Beid Playa (“The White Hills Playa”) is a basin some 40 km northeast of Gebel Nabta. It is separated from El Kortein Playa to the south by a line of three prominent white hills, for which it is named, and extends northward almost 10 km towards the Eocene scarp. A brief survey was conducted here in 1977, sufficient to establish that the basin is several kilometers in extent, but it was not mapped in detail (Wendorf and Schild 1980:100–101).

New radiocarbon dates and Late Palaeolithic diet at Wadi Kubbaniya, Egypt

Vegetable remains are a rarity in Palueolithic contexts. These new determinations on material from southern Egypt establish securely the date of an intensive grass-tuber and fish economy in the Nile Valley towards 20,000 years ago.

Site E-91-1: An Al Jerar Phase Locality at Nabta Playa

Site E-91-1 is a large (300 × 75 m), partially destroyed settlement with numerous houses, bell-shaped storage pits, and hearths. A dense mantle of fire-cracked rocks, lithic artifacts, pottery sherds, and occasional faunal remains cover the surface of the site. Occupation occurred here at the very end of the Early Neolithic and represents a new entity which we have named Al Jerar. Radiocarbon age measurements suggest that this phase lasted for around 500 years, between 7800 and 7300 years ago. Present evidence indicates significant cultural continuity with the preceding El Nabta phase. Since the most recent dates for the El Nabta phase are at around 7900 bp (Site E-75-6, Krolik and Schild, Chapter 7, this volume), only 100 years separates these two entities. Two recently obtained dates on charcoal from pits in different parts of Site E-91-1, both around 8000 bp, suggest that there may also have been a small El Nabta occupation at Site E-91-1. If so, however, the artifacts associated with the El Nabta presence cannot be distinguished from those from the much larger and richer Al Jerar settlement.

E-88-1: The Archaeology of the Sandsheet

Site E-88-1 lies in northern part of the basin of Bir Sahara East, about 500 m north of BS-1 and BS-12 (see map on p. 472). The site was first observed as a series of artifacts along the northern and northeastern slopes of an erosional remnant that stood 1–2 m above the surrounding, modern, aeolian sandsheet (Fig. 32.1). Not many artifacts were exposed, and very few were on the surface of the remnant. Scraping the upper slopes of the remnant uncovered a few fresh flakes, and it therefore seemed likely that most of the site remained in situ in the remnant. Excavation was undertaken to determine the archaeological nature and geological position of the site. The excavation was directed by the authors, with the help of Ms. Amy Campbell, who was also responsible for the study of the surface collection (see below).