Uranium-Series Dated Authigenic Carbonates and Acheulian Sites in Southern Egypt
- 24 February 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 243 (4894) , 1053-1056
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.243.4894.1053
Abstract
Field investigations in southern Egypt have yielded Acheulian artifacts in situ in authigenic carbonate deposits (CaCO3-cemented alluvium) along the edges of now-aggraded paleovalleys (Wadi Arid and Wadi Safsaf). Uranium-series dating of 25 carbonate samples from various localities as far apart as 70 kilometers indicates that widespread carbonate deposition occurred about 45, 141 and 212 ka (thousand years ago). Most of the carbonate appears to have been precipitated from groundwater, which suggests that these three episodes of deposition may be related to late Pleistocene humid climates that facilitated human settlement in this now hyperarid region. Carbonate cements from sediments containing Acheulian artifacts provide a minimum age of 212 ka for early occupation of the paleovalleys.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Paleorivers and geoarchaeology in the southern Egyptian SaharaGeoarchaeology, 1988
- A Survey of the Egyptian Radar Channels: An Example of Applied ArchaeologyJournal of Field Archaeology, 1987
- Subsurface Valleys and Geoarcheology of the Eastern Sahara Revealed by Shuttle RadarScience, 1982