"Not just A corridor, human occupation of the Nile Valley and neighbouring regions between 75,000 and 15,000 years ago"
International Workshop 31.5-2.6.18
Workshop Focus
The end of the Pleistocene (~75-15 ka) is a key period for the Nile Valley prehistory. The global shift to more arid conditions regionally translates into the expansion of the Sahara, the lowering of the sea level and the desiccation of some major eastern African lakes. These changes have a major impact on the Nile behaviour and its role as an ecological refugium. During this period, genetic studies suggest that several dispersals of modern humans ‘out-of’ and ‘back-into’ Africa took place. And while the Nile Valley constitutes one of the possible routes for these dispersals, archaeological evidence for contacts between the Nile Valley and its neighbouring regions remain scarce and debated.
This three-day workshop aims to bring together researchers in all fields (archaeology, geology, palaeoenvironments, zooarchaeology, genetics, palaeoanthropology) of
the prehistory of Northeastern Africa and neighbouring regions. Participants will discuss and address broad-scale topics such as human responses to changes in their environment, human occupation
of the Nile Valley and adjacent deserts and the role of Northeastern Africa in modern human dispersals.
Principal organiser
Alice Leplongeon,
UMR CNRS 7194 HNHP, Sorbonne-Université, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Department ‘Human and Environment’, National Museum of Natural History, Paris (France)
Co-organisers
David Pleurdeau
UMR CNRS 7194 HNHP, Sorbonne-Université, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Department ‘Human and Environment’, National Museum of Natural History, Paris (France)
Mae Goder-Goldberger
Departement of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva (Israel)
The workshop is hosted by the UMR CNRS 7194, 'Human and Environment' Department, National Museum of Natural History, Paris and will take place at the 'Institut de Paléontologie Humaine' and 'Musée de l'Homme'.
It is supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant CONF-764), the National Research Agency (ANR) 'Big Dry' Project (#ANR-14-CE31-0023) and the joint project (PRC) CNRS-MOST 'Horn' (#1637).