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A Last Interglacial Fauna from the Eastern Sahara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kazimierz Kowalski ,
Wim van Neer ,
Zygmunt Bocheński ,
Marian Młynarski ,
Barbara Rzebik-Kowalska ,
Zbigniew Szyndlar ,
Achilles Gautier ,
Romuald Schild ,
Angela E. Close  and
Fred Wendorf
Kazimierz Kowalski
Affiliation:
Institute of Systematic and Experimental Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
Wim van Neer
Affiliation:
Royal Museum of Central Africa, B-1980 Tervuren, Belgium
Zygmunt Bocheński
Affiliation:
Institute of Systematic and Experimental Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
Marian Młynarski
Affiliation:
Institute of Systematic and Experimental Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
Barbara Rzebik-Kowalska
Affiliation:
Institute of Systematic and Experimental Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
Zbigniew Szyndlar
Affiliation:
Institute of Systematic and Experimental Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
Achilles Gautier
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, State University of Ghent, Krijgslaan 281/S8, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Romuald Schild
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Świerczewskiego 105, 00-140 Warsaw, Poland
Angela E. Close
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275
Fred Wendorf
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275
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Abstract

Recent work on the middle Paleolithic at Bir Tarfawi, in the hyperarid Eastern Sahara (<1 mm of rain per annum), has yielded a rich faunal assemblage, including several thousand remains of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. They are derived from the sediments of two consecutive lakes dated by several techniques to about 135,000 yr B.P. Fifty-nine taxa have been identified and indicate that at times during the Last Interglaciation the area received at least 500 mm of rainfall as a result of the northward shift of the monsoon belt, and that, on several occasions, there may have been water connections between Bir Tarfawi and unidentified but permanent bodies of water elsewhere.

Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , November 1989 , pp. 335 - 341
Copyright
University of Washington

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