Affad 23: settlement structures and palaeoenvironments in the Terminal Pleistocene of the Middle Nile Valley, Sudan

Osypiński, Piotr; Morley, Mike W.; Osypińska, Marta; Kotarba-Morley, Anna M.

doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.110

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(54 reference statements)

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“…The Late Pleistocene eastern Afrotropical reduncine record is similar to the Middle Pleistocene with Kobus ellipsiprymnus and Redunca redunca reported from Mumba Shelter (Mehlman, 1979) and the latter from Affad-23 (Osypiński et al, 2016). Both species were also reported at Aduma (Ardu B; Yellen et al, 2005).…”

Section: Reduncinaesupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Lukenya Hill in Kenya has a particularly rich antilopine record and includes Oreotragus oreotragus, Ou. ourebi and Madoqua kirki (Marean and Gifford-Gonzalez, 1991;Marean, 1992) and M. saltiana was found at Affad-23 in Ethiopia (Osypiński et al, 2016). In the Saharo-Arabian region, Gazella dama, G. dorcas and perhaps G. rufifrons were found at Bir Tirfawi (Gautier, 1993).…”

Section: Antilopinaementioning

confidence: 99%

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Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Stewart

Louys

Price

et al. 2019

Quaternary International

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Plio-Pleistocene faunal turnovers and their implications for hominin dispersals have recently received considerable attention. Exploration and palaeontological study of faunal exchanges has traditionally centred on East Africa, North Africa and the Levant in Southwest Asia. Despite this attention, considerable debate surrounding the timings, rates, and directions of hominin dispersals remain. Notwithstanding its close geographical proximity to these regions and a landmass of over 3 million km2, the Arabian Peninsula has largely been excluded from these discussions, mostly owing to the paucity of its Pleistocene vertebrate record. However, recent palaeoenvironmental studies have demonstrated that Arabia experienced periods of climatic amelioration during the Pleistocene, resulting in the establishment of large, perennial water sources and open-grasslands; conditions vastly different than today. This interpretation is further underpinned by archaeological and palaeontological data, and it is now clear this region is important for understanding faunal and hominin movements between Africa and Eurasia. Examination of the Arabian Middle to Late Pleistocene fossil record in a biogeographical context indicates the composite nature of the Arabian faunal record, with Eurasian and African intrusions present in addition to well-established endemics. Open grassland habitats and taxonomic similarities between Pleistocene Arabia on the one hand, and the Levant and Africa on the other, suggests that hominin dispersal into Arabia did not require significant behavioural and/or technological innovations, while subsequent climatic deterioration likely resulted in hominin retreat/extirpation

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Section: Reduncinaesupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Antilopinaementioning

confidence: 99%

Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Stewart

Louys

Price

et al. 2019

Quaternary International

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“…The methodology of the Kielce laboratory and the results of measurements from 2014 were published as supplementary materials (Kalicki and Olszak 2016) of the article on geomorphology and remains of settlement from Affad (Osypiński et al . 2016). A total of 12 samples were analysed in this laboratory using the multi‐grain single‐aliquot regenerative (SAR) method on quartz (63–100 μm diameter) and calculating the age of the samples according to the Minimum Age Model (MAM) (as described by Galbraith et al .…”

Section: Summarized Methods and The Results Of Laboratory Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sometimes, however, within buried levels the original elements of the stratigraphy are preserved in‐situ (e.g., at Affad 23), including anthropogenic cut features, such as postholes, hearths and clusters of the levallois/Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithics (Osypiński et al . 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re‐examining the age of the Affad MSA deposits in the Middle Nile Valley

et al. 2021

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We present data on the chronology of fluvial and aeolian sediments as well as ecofacts that allow us to indicate the timing of Middle Stone Age settlement in Affad on the Middle Nile. Previously published chronometric data based solely on (multi-grain) optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates suggested the extremely late settlement and usage of Middle StoneAge technology in North-East Africa during the Terminal Pleistocene (post-Last Glacial Maximum). The current analyses using multiple dating methods-multi-and single-grain OSL, thermoluminescence (TL), electron spin resonance (ESR) or accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14 C)-with OSL analyses carried out blind in three independent laboratories suggest this age is incorrect. More likely is that the site dates to about 50 ka. The comparison of dating results and methodological differences enable us to explore a spectrum of possible explanations. Here we infer the strong need to consider an appropriate methodology specific to the depositional context for indicating the age of fluvial sediments and prehistoric settlements at open-air sites of North-East Africa.

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“…Sedimentation history of the explored area reconstructed due to present research at Affad 23 revealed accumulation of sand and silt units, dated by OSL method (Kalicki and Olszak 2016) to the period 15.9 ± 1.75 ka (UJK-OSL-35) and 15.1 ± 1.66 (UJK-OSL-37), over calcareous silts of LGM alluviation dated to 21.1 ± 2.32 ka (UJK-OSL-36). Sand bar or channel bank beach was a place of human seasonal settlement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Animal Exploitation and Behaviour of the Latest Middle Stone Age Societies in the Middle Nile Valley: Archaeozoological and Taphonomic Analysis of Late Pleistocene Fauna from the Affad Basin, Sudan

Osypińska

Osypiński

2016

Afr Archaeol Rev

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With the research on the issue in its initial phases, the behaviour and hunting strategies of MSA communities inhabiting the Nile Valley in the Late and Terminal Pleistocene have been fragmentarily recognised thus far. Osteological materials from the area of the Affad Basin in the Middle Nile Valley, recorded in archaeological contexts and dated to the sixteenth millennium BP using OSL methods, have significantly enhanced our knowledge in this regard. It is the first time that an opportunity has occurred to construct a reliable model of the environment exploitation and the behaviour of human groups producing lithic tools using Levallois methods in the Terminal Pleistocene. Archaeozoological analyses have allowed the identification of taxa, species and anatomical origin of remains and enabled the establishment of a database of osteometric measurements. The animals hunted in the Sudanese Nile Valley during the Terminal Pleistocene have been classified with a view to refer the data to the results of analogous studies on MSA in South Africa. The behaviour of the communities occupying the Affad Basin 15,000 years ago was connected to the environment of the tree-covered, swampy savannah and extensive backwaters. Medium-sized antelope (kobus) was hunted most often. People hunted also, albeit less frequently, for large ruminants (buffalo), guenons and large rodents. Remains of fish and mega-fauna (hippopotamus and elephant) have been found in isolated concentrations, away from the camp sites. Remains of molluscs or ostrich eggs have not been registered. The condition of the osteological materials, notably their anatomical distribution, is shown to have been largely affected by wetland environment, rich in iron and manganese.

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Affad 23: settlement structures and palaeoenvironments in the Terminal Pleistocene of the Middle Nile Valley, Sudan

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 10 publications

References 18 publications

Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Re‐examining the age of the Affad MSA deposits in the Middle Nile Valley

Animal Exploitation and Behaviour of the Latest Middle Stone Age Societies in the Middle Nile Valley: Archaeozoological and Taphonomic Analysis of Late Pleistocene Fauna from the Affad Basin, Sudan

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