Stratigraphy and sedimentology at Bir Sahara, Egypt: Environments, climate change and the Middle Paleolithic

Bir Sahara, situated in northeast Africa, contains a set of sedimentary sequences that imply episodic changes in climate and environment during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Some of the stratigraphic contexts are associated with Middle Paleolithic artifact assemblages. The artifact assemblages are typically in sands that underlie deposits composed of high amounts of carbonate or fine clastics (muds) indicative of expanding lakes and wetter climates. The wetter climates may have provided landscapes that were periodically inhabitable by Pleistocene hominids.