The Early Holocene Lithic Tradition of the Northern Farafra Plateau (Tenth–Ninth Millennia cal BP): Its Significance in the Egyptian Western Desert

The widespread utilization of laminar industries with backed retouch is the most characteristic feature of North African Later Stone Age contexts—from the Maghreb to the Nile Valley—between the end of the Pleistocene and the Early Holocene. These laminar microliths represent a true technological revolution triggered by the need for new tools to exploit a different range of resources available due to the changing environmental conditions. We propose that at Farafra the emergence of backed elements was tied to the re-occupation of the region at the beginning of the Holocene (twelfth–eleventh millennia cal BP), as demonstrated by the sites discovered in the southwestern area of the modern oasis at El Qasr. The paper focuses on the Farafra Northern Plateau and its slopes between the tenth and ninth millennia cal BP, a phase following the first re-occupation of the Farafra Oasis. We examine the techno-typological characteristics of the lithic assemblages and settlement strategies during the Early Holocene: how these were shaped by seasonality and changes in climatic regimes, considerations for access to raw materials for lithic tool production, and changing subsistence. The techno-typological characteristics of several lithic assemblages in Farafra depression are examined and compared with the assemblages in other areas of the Egyptian Western Desert during the Early Holocene.