Revealing Hominin Occupation of the Western Margin of the Red Sea Basin: Recent Progress

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances and Debates in the Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The western periphery of the Red Sea (WPRS) occupies a pivotal location as a potential biogeographic corridor for hominin movement between Africa and Southwest Asia. Its long, coastal niche that once extended into the Danakil Depression would have made the WPRS a natural destination for hominins dispersing from the interior East African landscapes. From there, some populations would have launched a northward coast-wise dispersal up to the Levant. Unfortunately, the immediate peripheries of the basin, especially the African side had seen little prior Paleolithic research, hindering well informed assessment of its contribution to hominin survival and dispersal. This paper will discuss recent progress made in revealing the Paleolithic potential of the WPRS by presenting results of field investigations recently carried out on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea and the Sudan. These recent projects have recorded sites spanning the Acheulean up to the Later Stone Age cultural phases. Paleolithic data from the Eritrean and Sudanese coastal regions has direct relevance for clarifying the potential role of the WPRS as a viable ecological niche and dispersal corridor for Pleistocene hominins.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Recent Advances and Debates in the Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23992