Stone Age sites in Wadi al-Allaqi (Upper Egypt)

Abstract

Unpublished materials related to several open–type localities investigated by participants of the Nubian Archaeological Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences during the 1962-1963 season in the Wadi al-Allaqi area were found in the Palaeolithic Department of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Technical and typological analysis of stone artefacts allows us to attribute the collections under discussion to a long period from the Middle Stone Age to the Mesolithic. Materials and methods. The article examines the materials of three locations: Huqab-Abd-as-Salam 1, Huqab-Abd-as-Salam 4, Huqab-Karar. The classification of archaeological finds (186 items in total) was carried out according to various characteristics: raw materials. Many aspects, due to the incomplete was carried out according to various characteristics: raw materials. Many aspects, due to the incomplete preservation of field documentation and imperfect methods of investigating open-type locations of the 60s of the last century, cannot be clarified at this stage. Results and discussion. As a result of studying the finds from the locations of Huqab-Abd-as-Salam 1, Huqab-Abd-as-Salam 4 and Huqab-Karar, the authors came to the conclusion about the mixing of different materials within the collections, and the presence of at least two components: artefacts of the Middle Paleolithic; artefacts of the "Mesolithic" era. Conclusions. In the collections of the Huqab-Abd-as-Salam 1, Huqab-Abd-as-Salam 4 and Huqab-Karar localities, the authors assume the presence of at least two cultural components – Middle Paleolithic Levalloisian and "Mesolithic". Further study of materials from other locations may allow the authors to expand this picture somewhat.