Wadi Sodmein Terraces

Description

Numerous well-preserved surface remnants (wadi terraces) can be documented and analysed in the direct surrounding of Sodmein Cava / Sodmein Playa. One focus of research is directed to the strongly developed desert pavement formation and MSA artefact concentrations on these surfaces, which are most likely in-situ located. The documented artefacts exhibited both classical Levallois as well as Nubian and Taramsan technologies and therefore indicate direct technological affinities with the Egyptian Nile Valley and the Eastern Desert. It seems probable that some of these former Pleistocene surfaces were also exploited during the MSA for raw material resources as flint and chert gravels. Investigations of morphometric parameters including the total drainage network and single terraces provide a strong geomorphological framework for the landscape evolution as the background for palaeoenvironmental changes in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.