Egypt from 50 to 25 ka BP: a scarcely inhabited region?

Because different parts of Egypt have undergone different research intensities and taphonomic histories and because environmental fluctuations influenced differently each region, we describe the prehistoric record for each part of the country separately, emphasizing the regional cultural situation. In the Sinai, during a wet phase, between c. 34 and 28 ka BF, numerous sites are related to the southern Levantine Ahmarian. In Lower and Middle Egypt, due to the low Mediterranean sea level, remains of eventual human presence are most probably eroded or covered with thick deposits. No sites have been studied in detail. In Upper Egypt there are clear indications of a transition from Middle Palaeolithic style assemblages to Upper Palaeolithic ones (Taramsa 1). They are older than 45 ka BF. Such transitional assemblages have their roots in the local Middle Palaeolithic of the Lower Nile Valley Complex. No connections have as yet been found with what happened in the Mediterranean Levant. From 35 ka onwards, another type of blade technology (NK-4) is known by only a few sites. Egypt, in this period, seems to be looking more to the South than to the Mediterranean. Around 25-22 ka, the Shuwikhatian is a blade industry with typical Upper Palaeolithic tools, which forms probably the final stage in an evolution out of the local Middle Palaeolithic. Within the framework of North Africa and southwest Asia, the Upper Palaeolithic of Upper Egypt seems to be rather insular. The occupation of the Western and Eastern Desert was probably very rare or even non-existent. During the entire period from 50 to 25 ka BP population density in Egypt was apparently very low and probably restricted to the Sinai and the Upper Egyptian Nile valley.status: publishe