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2026-02-12 06:53:17 • ID: 2401
The advanced Epipaleolithic at Kharga Oasis
The Epipaleolithic period in the Western Desert and the oases of Egypt, also known as the terminal Paleolithic by some scholars, dates back to the early Holocene, around 8,5–6,0 cal.BC.
During this period, human groups returned to the desert after an extremely dry phase at the end of the Pleistocene era. This was made possible by a subsequent wetter period known as the African Humid Period.
At Dakhla Oasis, the Epipalaeolithic period begins with the Masara C Complex. The first signs of sedentary tendencies, such as stone circles for huts, date back to around 6.8 k.a. cal BC (Masara A Complex).
At Kharga Oasis, the Holocene settlement sequence begins around 8.5 k.a. cal BC (Masara C, followed by the Kharga A phase), reflecting the transition from nomadic to more sedentary lifestyles.
Early Holocene settlement phases, such as the El Adam (around 8.5 k.a. cal BC) and El Ghorab (around 7.4 k.a. cal BC), at Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba show that initial contact was made between mobile hunter-gatherer groups and the Nile Valley.
During the Early Holocene, hunter-gatherer groups in the Western Desert (including the Dakhleh, Kharga, and Fayum oases) utilised a strict microlithic bladelet technology.
This technology was characterised by opposed platform cores, primarily used for producing bladelets and blades. Common tools included backed bladelets, triangles, lunates and denticulated pieces.
Alongside the microlithic component, shouldered and tanged points played an important role in the advanced Epipaleolithic and may indicate a shift in hunting strategies.
The terminology for these points was originally developed in relation to late Pleistocene ensembles in North Africa (Ounanian points) and the Levant (Harifian points) - see here: 1541 , here: 1327 .
Similar, though not identical, points are also known from the Egyptian Sahara and its oases. These artefacts are less standardised than their Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene counterparts and date from the Middle Holocene. They are sometimes referred to as Ounanian-Harifian points - see here: 1544 .
These points, together with examples that are more similar to Ounanian points sensu stricto, have been found at sites in Dakhleh Oasis, Kharga Oasis, the Nabta-Kiseiba region, the Fayum Oasis, Elkab, Nabta Playa, Bir Kiseiba, and Abu Tartur, and are dated to 7.5–6.5 k.a. cal BC.
Suggested Readings:
Shirai, Noriyuki: The Archaeology of the First Farmer-Herders in Egypt. New Insights into the Fayum Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic . https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/21366
Robert Vernet : le golfe d’Arguin de la préhistoire à l’histoire via academia edu.
G. Caton-Thompson:The Kharga Oasis in Prehistory (London, 1952).
R. Schild and F. Wendorf: The Prehistory of Dakhla Oasis and Adjacent Desert. (Wroclaw, 1977).
important Literature:
Tiphaine Dachy et al. Living in an Egyptian Oasis: Reconstruction of the Holocene Archaeological Sequence in Kharga. Afr Archaeol Rev Vol. 35 (2018), pp. 531–566.
Mary M. A. McDonald: Technological Organization and Sedentism in the Epipalaeolithic of Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt
Afr Archaeol Rev Vol. 9 (1991), pp. 81-109.
Resources and images in full resolution:
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- Image: 2026-02-12_IMG_8847.jpeg