Middle Paleolithic Lakes in the Southwestern Desert of Egypt

Abstract

Recent work in the fossil lacustrine basins of Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East has yielded a large quantity of paleoecological data from complex, but well established, lithostratigraphic contexts. Dating is not ideal since it depends on recently developed techniques. In spite of some problems with chronology and correlation, it is clear that the southern Eastern Sahara saw several relatively long episodes of increased humidity and rainfall in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, some of which involved rainfall as high as 500 mm per annum. The best studied wet episodes are associated with Middle Paleolithic occupations and correlate with Isotope Stage 5.