At the western edge of the Nile valley in Egypt about 200 kilometers north of Luxor is a cluster of eight Upper Paleolithic sites, containing evidence of chert mining activities beginning about 40,000 years ago: and a complete skeleton which is key to the human migrations out of Africa and into Eurasia.
Nazlet Khater 4 is a site with extensive evidence for Upper Paleolithic mining, with trenches, shafts and excavated galleries. Stone tools from the site are part of a blade technology with clear ties to that of the European Upper Paleolithic.
Nazlet Khater 2 is a complete human skeleton of an early modern human, buried some 40,000 years ago, who represents a hunter-gatherer miner, and one of the Kalahari desert hunter-gatherers who migrated out of Africa to populate Europe.
All of which is why you should know this site.
- Read more about Nazlet Khater
Comments
Kris, thanks for this article as it was quite interesting to see that this site is one of the few in the world where Levallois technology continued into the upper paleolithic. A quick “bing” image search of Nazlet Khater revealed a couple artifacts that were obviously made with the same levallois prepared core technology as what we have been posting in the forum. Although Nazlet Khater levallois tools are believed to be tens of thousands of years older than the oldest proposed paleolithic sites here at home, the core preparation was obviously the same even to the amateur eye. Tools of the same morphology have been being posted on the forum for quite a while now as you and the readers have seen. Thanks again, very enlightening!…..rick doninger
The article on Chert mining 40000 years ago in the Upper Nile is just more confirmation that Egyptian Civilization came downward from the Nubian Plateau. The sea level at that time was at that height. Thebes the ancient capital of Egypt was established later as the sea receded. Later Memphis and later Cairo were established in decending order as sea levels fell.
At that time the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Seas were at the same level making navigation possible to the Asian Sub Continent. As both seas receded the ports of Ramses and Pithom became landbound. The last separation of both seas took place at Pithom where the Israelites crossed to freedom.
See: “The Mysterious Receding Seas” by Richard Guy
347-340-8781