Conclusions

Abstract

In this section we will summarize the data presented in the preceding descriptive reports, integrate this with the information available from previously reported sites at Bir Kiseiba and other nearby areas, and develop a regional picture of the Holocene archaeology of Southwestern Egypt. In a few instances, we will discuss sites in more distant parts of southern Egypt. Our goals are to describe briefly the cultural developments that occurred in this area between around 10,000 and 3600 bp. In particular, we are interested in the changes in human behavior that occurred, and how these changes may relate to the abrupt and dramatic climatic changes that are recorded in what was always, even in the best of times, a highly restrictive environment.