A Window into the Early–Middle Stone Age Transition in Northeastern Africa—A Marine Isotope Stage 7a/6 Late Acheulean Horizon from the EDAR 135 Site, Eastern Sahara (Sudan)

Figures & data

Figure 1. Location of sites in Sudan and Egypt mentioned in the text (EDAR sites marked with a star). 1—Khashm el Girba; 2—Khor Abu Anga; 3—Al-Jamrab; 4—Khor Shambat; 5—Hayna and Tagrada; 6—Sai Island 8-B-11; 7—Gebel Karaiweb; 8—Wadi Halfa; 9—Arkin 8; 10—Bir Sahara; 11—Bir Tarfawi; 12—Kharga Oasis; 13—Dakhla Oasis.

Figure 2. EDAR 135 site. A) Aerial photography of mining shaft complex; EDAR 135 marked with black arrow; B) aerial photography of the EDAR 135 site; C) eastern profile of mining shaft with marked (red dots) places of OSL S4 and S5 (below) sampling places; D) northern profile; E) northern profile before upper level excavations (MSA); F) removing sterile sediments above the lower horizon; and, G) excavating lower horizon (Acheulean).

Figure 3. Radial plots of EDAR samples. The dark grey bar is centered at the CAM Dose (broken black line), and all the points that lie within the bar are consistent (at 2σ) with this dose. A) EDAR135-1; B) EDAR135-2; C) EDAR135-S4; and, D) EDAR135-S5.

Table 1. OSL dating results.

Sample	Radionuclide Concentrations^1			Depth	Profile	Grain Size	Cosmic Dose	Total Dose	Burial Dose	Age
(EDAR- …)	K (%)	U (ppm)	Th (ppm)	(m)		(µm)	Rate (Gy/ka)^2	Rate (Gy/ka)^3	Db (Gy)^4	(ka)^5
135-1	0.30 ± 0.02	0.62 ± 0.20	1.12 ± 0.48	2.75 ± 0.05	Northern	90–212	0.151 ± 0.015	0.65 ± 0.04	125.7 ± 13.7	194.8 ± 25.1
135-2	0.37 ± 0.02	0.48 ± 0.11	0.81 ± 0.04	2.60 ± 0.05	Northern	90–212	0.154 ± 0.015	0.66 ± 0.03	94.9 ± 12	144.7 ± 19.4
135-S4	0.46 ± 0.04	0.25 ± 0.02	1.48 ± 0.15	2.20 ± 0.05	Eastern	90–125	0.161 ± 0.016	0.75 ± 0.04	129.9 ± 4.4	173.2 ± 10.7
135-S5	0.35 ± 0.03	0.22 ± 0.03	1.72 ± 0.15	2.60 ± 0.05	Eastern	90–125	0.154 ± 0.015	0.65 ± 0.02	142.4 ± 3.8	220.6 ± 12.4

¹ Radioisotope concentrations were measured using high resolution gamma spectrometry and converted to dose rates following Guérin, Mercier, and Adamiec (2011).

² Cosmic dose rates were calculated following Prescott and Hutton (1988) and using overburden densities of 1.8 g/cm³.

³ The total dose rates were corrected for grain sizes of 90–212 or 90–125 μm and moisture content (8 ± 3%) following Guérin and colleagues (2012).

⁴ Burial doses were calculated using the Central Age Model (CAM; Galbraith et al. 1999).

⁵ The datum of the age calculation is 2019.

Figure 4. Northern profile and chronology of EDAR 135. A) Stratigraphy and two cultural horizons with OSL results; B) results of granulometry analysis; and, C) calcium carbonate content.

Figure 5. Spatial analysis results. A) Spatial distribution by artifact type; B) distribution of artifacts by weight; and, C) Kernel density.

Table 2. Structure of lithic assemblage—number and weight of artifact classes by raw material.

		Rhyolite				Quartz
Artifact Type	Total n	N	%	Weight (g)	%	n	%	Weight (g)	%
Handaxes	2	1	0.1	48.2	0.7	1	0.1	391.2	5.5
Choppers	1	1	0.1	1108	15.7	-	-	-	-
Cores	7	-	-	-	-	7	0.9	1658.4	23.5
Flakes	119	7	0.9	136.1	1.9	112	15.2	1746.2	24.7
Chips	549	11	1.5	22.6	0.3	538	73.0	773.6	10.9
Debris	36	-	-	-	-	36	4.9	456.2	6.5
Retouched tools	23	3	0.4	106.4	1.5	20	2.7	623.2	8.8
Total	737	23	3.1	1421.3	20.1	714	96.9	5648.8	79.9

Table 3. Dimensions of all artifacts.

Attribute		Flakes	Tools	Cores
Length	Min.	15.9	16.2	20.8
	Max.	63.2	79.7	118.5
	Mean	31.4	37.6	56.4
	Median	28	32.3	33.4
	St. Dev.	10.8	18.5	41.5
Width	Min.	9.3	13.2	33.8
	Max.	79.2	62.5	104.2
	Mean	30.1	34.4	56.7
	Median	26.8	32.7	40.3
	St. Dev.	12.6	12.4	28.8
Thickness	Min.	2.5	5.8	20.8
	Max.	27.3	40.3	57.7
	Mean	12.9	14.8	36.9
	Median	12.4	13	34
	St. Dev.	5.7	8.8	14.4
Weight	Min.	2	2.5	33.1
	Max.	89	227.8	813.8
	Mean	16.65	32.1	236.9
	Median	9.3	14.2	37.1
	St. Dev.	18.1	52.3	346.1
Platform width	Min.	5.5	7.1
	Max.	51.8	48.2
	Mean	20.1	23.2
	Median	18.5	19.2
	St. Dev.	9	13.8
Platform length	Min.	2.5	3.3
	Max.	47.3	35.4
	Mean	10.8	12.1
	Median	9.8	9.9
	St. Dev.	6.6	8.2

Figure 6. Large Cutting Tools from EDAR 135: A) handaxe, quartz; B) basal fragment of a handaxe, rhyolite; and, C) chopper made from a rhyolite cobble.

Figure 7. Cores made from quartz pebbles: A) bipolar and B) flake core with changed orientation.

Figure 8. A) Levallois core (quartz) from EDAR 135, lower horizon and B) graphic presentation of scar pattern analysis results.

Figure 9. A) Discoidal core (quartz) from EDAR 135, lower horizon and B) graphic presentation of scar pattern analysis results.

Figure 10. Retouched tools: A–B) sidescrapers and C–E) perforators. A) Rhyolite and B–E) quartz.

Figure 11. Retouched tools: A–D) denticulate; E) Levallois flake; and, F) retouched flake. A) Quartz; B) rhyolite; and, C–F) quartz.

Figure 12. Use-wear analysis of artifacts from EDAR 135, lower horizon. A) Traces left by 1) contact with bone and 2) hide working. B) PDP alterations 3) covering almost the entire surface of the artifact.

Table 4. Late Acheulean and Sangoan sites mentioned in the paper.

Site	Country	Chronology	Cultural Attribution	LCTs	Cores	References
Kharga Oasis - K10	Egypt	ca. 400–300 kya	Late Acheulean	Handaxes, cleavers, trihedral picks, choppers	Discoidal, Levallois, miniaturized cores	Caton-Thompson 1952; Kleindienst 2006
Dakhla Oasis E-72-1, E-72-2	Egypt	ca. 400–300 kya	Late Acheulean	Handaxes, cleavers	Discoidal, Levallois, unidirectional, bidirectional multiplatform, globular, miniaturized cores	Schild and Wendorf 1977; Kleindienst 2006
Wadi Halfa	Sudan	?	Late Acheulean	Choppers, handaxes, trihedral picks	Discoidal, Levallois, multiplatform cores	Guichard and Guichard 1968
Khashm el Girba	Sudan	Older than MIS 7 and MIS 7	Late Acheulean/Early MSA	Choppers, handaxes, cleavers, trihedral picks	Discoidal, Levallois, multiplatform cores	Chmielewski 1968; Abbate et al. 2010
Khor Shambat	Sudan	?	Late Acheulean	Handaxes, cleavers	Discoidal, Levallois	Masojć et al. 2020
Sai Island 8-B-11	Sudan	≥ 223 ± 19; 223 ± 19–183 ± 20	Late Acheulean and Sangoan	Handaxes, core-axes	Discoidal, Levallois, single platform, bidirectional, Kombewa cores	Van Peer et al. 2003; Van Peer, Rots, and Vroomans 2004
Khor Abu Anga	Sudan	?	Late Acheulean and Sangoan	Choppers, handaxes, cleavers, core-axes	Levallois, discoidal, multiplatform, single platform, bidirectional cores	Carlson 2015
al-Jamrab	Sudan	older than MIS 5e	Late Acheulean or Early Sangoan	Handaxes	-	Spinapolice et al. 2018
Arkin 8	Egypt	?	Late Acheulean or Early Sangoan	Handaxes, ovates	Single platform, multiplatform, discoidal, “oval” cores	Chmielewski 1968
Mieso	Ethiopia	ca. 220 kya	Late Achuelean	Handaxes, cleavers	“Giant cores for flakes,” centripetal miniaturized cores, bidirectional cores	de la Torre et al. 2014

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