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A Window into the Early–Middle Stone Age Transition in Northeastern Africa—A Marine Isotope Stage 7a/6 Late Acheulean Horizon from the EDAR 135 Site, Eastern Sahara (Sudan)

Michalec, Grzegorz; Cendrowska, Marzena; Andrieux, Eric; Armitage, Simon J.; Ehlert, Maciej; Kim, Ju Yong; Sohn, Young Kwan; Krupa-Kurzynowska, Joanna; Moska, Piotr; Szmit, Marcin; Masojć, Mirosław

A Window into the Early–Middle Stone Age Transition in Northeastern Africa—A Marine Isotope Stage 7a/6 Late Acheulean Horizon from the EDAR 135 Site, Eastern Sahara (Sudan) Thumbnail


Authors

Grzegorz Michalec

Marzena Cendrowska

Simon J. Armitage

Maciej Ehlert

Ju Yong Kim

Young Kwan Sohn

Joanna Krupa-Kurzynowska

Piotr Moska

Marcin Szmit

Mirosław Masojć



Abstract

This paper presents the results of the analysis of a late Acheulean horizon from the EDAR 135 site, which was discovered in the Eastern Desert, Sudan, in an area heavily transformed by modern mining activity. A lithic assemblage was discovered there, within a layer of gravel sediments formed by a paleostream in a humid period of the Middle Pleistocene. This layer is OSL dated between 220 ± 12 and 145 ± 20 ka (MIS 7a/6). These dates indicate that the assemblage could be the youngest trace of the Acheulean in northeastern Africa. Technological analysis of the lithics reveals different core reduction strategies, including not only ad hoc ones based on multiplatform cores, but also discoidal and prepared cores. The use of prepared core reduction methods has already been confirmed at other Late Acheulean sites in Africa and the Middle East. Microwear traces observed on lithic artifacts could relate to on-site butchering activities.

Citation

Michalec, G., Cendrowska, M., Andrieux, E., Armitage, S. J., Ehlert, M., Kim, J. Y., …Masojć, M. (2021). A Window into the Early–Middle Stone Age Transition in Northeastern Africa—A Marine Isotope Stage 7a/6 Late Acheulean Horizon from the EDAR 135 Site, Eastern Sahara (Sudan). Journal of Field Archaeology, 46(8), https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2021.1993618

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Nov 11, 2021
Publication Date 2021
Deposit Date Feb 1, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Field Archaeology
Print ISSN 0093-4690
Electronic ISSN 2042-4582
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 8
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2021.1993618

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.




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