Nubian Complex strategies in the Egyptian high desert

Systematic survey by the Abydos Survey for Paleolithic Sites project has recorded Nubian Complex artifact density, distribution, typology, and technology across the high desert landscape west of the Nile Valley in Middle Egypt. Our work contrasts with previous investigations of Nubian Complex settle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human evolution 2010-08, Vol.59 (2), p.188-201
Main Authors: Olszewski, Deborah I., Dibble, Harold L., McPherron, Shannon P., Schurmans, Utsav A., Chiotti, Laurent, Smith, Jennifer R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Archaeology - methods
Archaeology and Prehistory
Desert Climate
Early modern humans
Egypt
Egypt and Sudan
Egypt, Ancient
History, Ancient
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Middle Paleolithic
Palaeolithic and epipalaeolithic
Prehistory and protohistory
Residence Characteristics - history
Settlement systems
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Summary:Systematic survey by the Abydos Survey for Paleolithic Sites project has recorded Nubian Complex artifact density, distribution, typology, and technology across the high desert landscape west of the Nile Valley in Middle Egypt. Our work contrasts with previous investigations of Nubian Complex settlement systems in Egypt, which focused on a small number of sites in the terraces of the Nile Valley, the desert oases, and the Red Sea Mountains. Earlier research interpreted the Nubian Complex, in particular, as a radiating settlement system that incorporated a specialized point production. Our high desert data, however, indicate that the Nubian Complex associated with early modern humans in this region of the high desert reflects a circulating, rather than a radiating, settlement system, and that point production has been over-emphasized. Data available from our work, as well as sites investigated by others, do not conclusively identify Nubian Complex behavioral strategies as modern. These data, however, do contribute to the understanding of landscape use by early modern human populations living along the Nile Valley Corridor route out of Africa.
ISSN:0047-2484
1095-8606
DOI:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.06.001