Egypt During the Last Interglacial : The Middle Paleolithic of Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East

by Fred Wendorf, Romuald Schild and Angela E. Close INTRODUCTION roughly contemporaneous with the later part of Isotope Stage 7; most sites occur in sediments dated between 100 The Middle Paleolithic is potentially one of the most and 130 ka and fall early in the Last Interglacial; the most interesting periods in human history. It marks a major recent Middle Paleolithic site dates between 70 and 80 ka. at break from the long period of the Lower Paleolithic when the end of the Last Interglacial. there was essentially no change for several hundreds of thousands of years, and it was during the Middle THE MODERN ENVIRONMENT Paleolithic, and probably early in that stage, that the The two depressions of Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East are modem form of human being first appeared in Africa (Stringer and Andrews 1988). We do not know whether the near the center of the southern Libyan Desert. They are earliest modem Africans behaved differently from Middle about 350 km southwest of Kharga Oasis, and the same Paleolithic people elsewhere in the world and of different distance west and slightly north of Abu Simbel, at 22°55'N, physical types, but we should find out. A study of human 28°45'E. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-7 Front Matter....Pages 9-10 Contribution to the Stratigraphy of the Area of Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East....Pages 11-14 Middle Paleolithic Lakes in the Southwestern Desert of Egypt....Pages 15-65 Sedimentology of Pleistocene Deposits Associated with Middle Paleolithic Sites in Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East....Pages 66-105 Chemical Stratigraphy of Lacustrine Sequences Deposited During Latest Pleistocene Pluvial Periods in the Eastern Sahara....Pages 106-114 Lacustrine Paleoenvironments of the Area of Bir Tarfawi-Bir Sahara East Reconstructed from Fossil Ostracods and the Chemistry of their Shells....Pages 115-119 Diatoms from the Pool in Section BT-A of Bir Tarfawi....Pages 120-120 The Middle Paleolithic Archaeofaunas from Bir Tarfawi (Western Desert, Egypt)....Pages 121-143 Fish Remains from the Last Interglacial at Bir Tarfawi (Eastern Sahara, Egypt)....Pages 144-154 Remains of Small Vertebrates from Bir Tarfawi and Their Paleoecological Significance....Pages 155-204 Uranium-Series Dating of Carbonates from Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East....Pages 205-217 Bir Tarfawi: A Stratigraphic Test of Uranium-Series Dating of Tooth Enamel....Pages 218-223 Thermoluminescence Dating of Deposits from the Area of Bir Sahara East and Bir Tarfawi....Pages 224-226 Thermoluminescence Dates for Burnt Earth Samples from Bir Sahara East and a Burnt Core from Bir Tarfawi....Pages 227-228 Optical Dating of Sediment Samples from Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East: an Initial Report....Pages 229-233 Electron Spin Resonance Dating of Tooth Enamel from Bir Tarfawi....Pages 234-237 ESR Study of Materials from the Middle Paleolithic of Bir Tarfawi....Pages 238-240 Chronology of Hominid Occupation at Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East, Based on the Epimerization of Isoleucine in Ostrich Eggshells....Pages 241-251 Front Matter....Pages 253-254 The Analysis of Middle Paleolithic Artifacts....Pages 255-260 E-88-14: An Assemblage Associated with the Tarfawi White Lake....Pages 261-264 Front Matter....Pages 253-254 Work at BT-14 During 1974....Pages 265-287 BT-14 Main Excavation: The Archaeological Sequence of the East Lake (1986 and 1987 Seasons)....Pages 288-344 E-87-5: Occupations Dating to the Grey Phases....Pages 345-355 Front Matter....Pages 357-358 E-86-1: A Site Associated with the Sand Pan....Pages 359-372 E-87-4: A Sand Pan Site....Pages 373-379 E-87-1: A Locality Associated with the Sand Pan Delta....Pages 380-398 E-86-2: Occupations During the Grey and Green Phases....Pages 399-411 E-86-3: An Assemblage in Hydromorphic and Basin-Edge Sands of the Lower Lake (Grey Phase 3)....Pages 412-423 E-86-4: Artifacts in Marsh-Related Sands of the Lower Lake (Grey Phase 3)....Pages 424-442 E-87-2: A Site in Lake-Margin Deposits of the Green Phase....Pages 443-458 E-87-3: A Small, Dry-Season Occupation at the Onset of the Green Phase....Pages 459-470 Front Matter....Pages 471-472 E-88-1: The Archaeology of the Sandsheet....Pages 473-487 BS-11: A Site in the Recessional Beach of West Lake 1....Pages 488-511 E-88-11: A Site Associated with West Lake 2....Pages 512-518 BS-12: A Site Associated with West Lake 2 (1988 Excavations)....Pages 519-527 E-88-2: Occupations Associated with West Lake 4....Pages 528-538 Front Matter....Pages 539-539 Spatial Analyses of Middle Paleolithic Localities in the Bir Tarfawi Basin: An Interpretative Study....Pages 541-551 Summary and Conclusions....Pages 552-573 Back Matter....Pages 575-596 This landmark work reports the results of the authors' six year, multinational research program on the archaeology and paleoenvironment of the Eastern Sahara. 350 illustrations and more than 200 tables serve to enhance their remarkable findings