At the lakeshore - An Early Nubian Complex site linked with lacustrine sediments (Eastern Desert, Egypt)

Open-air sites dating to the Pleistocene are very rare in the Eastern Desert of Egypt due to the often erosive hyper-arid landscape and its highly geomorphological dynamics. But information retrieved from such sites is also important for an enhanced understanding of the Middle Stone Age in Northeast Africa, though open-air sites present challenges of their own in comparison with cave sites. During an archaeological survey conducted by the universities of Cologne and Leuven, such a new open-air site associated with Pleistocene lacustrine deposits in close proximity to the Sodmein Cave was discovered. The recorded lithic artefacts, which eroded out of the sediments, can be attributed to the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Several Nubian type 2 cores assigned this assemblage most likely to the Early Nubian Complex. Together with the stone artefact material from the lowest layer J at the nearby Sodmein Cave, this new open-air site clearly establishes the presence of the Early Nubian Complex in the region east of the Nile. Although chronometric dating of the Pleistocene playa silts is in progress, the Early Nubian Complex can be correlated, according to the Northeast African chronological evidence, to the Last Interglacial.