Turning the Desert Green: Reconstructing Late Paleolithic Vegetation at Wadi Kubbaniya, Upper Egypt

Summary

Wadi Kubbaniya is the largest wadi extending from the Western Desert to the Nile in Upper Egypt. The Combined Prehistoric Expedition devoted four seasons in the late 1970s-early 1980s investigating Late Paleolithic (20,000-12,000 BP) settlement-subsistence in the wadi. The Expedition documented one of the most complete occupational sequences for this period in Upper Egypt. Because of excellent preservation, the Expedition was able to reconstruct the vegetation and identify floral resources exploited during the Late Paleolithic. In 2012, the Combined Prehistoric Expedition Foundation in collaboration with the Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project returned to excavate WK26, which dates to the end of the Late Paleolithic sequence, with the objective of continuing vegetative reconstruction and identifying exploited floral resources, applying recent technology. This paper addresses vegetation during and plant use in the Late Paleolithic and techniques for identifying such resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Science of Organic Residue Analysis and the Art of Cultural Interpretation II   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15294