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Plant Remains from the Holocene of Sheikh El-Obeiyid Area (Farafra Oasis, Egypt), 7730-5360 b.p.

Author Affiliations

  • 1 Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt and Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif, KSA

Int. Res. J. Biological Sci., Volume 5, Issue (9), Pages 22-31, September,10 (2016)

Abstract

Egypt is a hyperarid region of the Eastern Sahara of Africa, the oases of the Western Desert form green patches. In the Holocene of Farafra Oasis (7730-5360b.p.) humid climate with dense vegetation and herding animals were recorded. Archaeobotanical and Archaeological evidences of the Sheikh El-Obeiyid area in the westnorth of Farafra Oasis, three active occupation periods in Sheikh El-Obeiyid Neolithic site were identified, the first period extended from 7530–6166 b.p. in El-Bahr Playa, and the second period extended from 6320–6170 b.p. in Valley 1 and Bir El-Obeiyid Playa and the third period from 5790–5360 b.p. in Valley 1 and Valley 3. Identified plant species indicated a moist conditions of small lakes with their surrounding Tamarix nilotica, Juncus sp., Cyperus sp, and Samolus valerandii; in the Wadi El-Obeiyid and its tributaries Acacia, Tamarix aphylla and Ficus trees forms a desert savanna vegetation. The recorded types of vegetation proved that there are obvious effects of monsoon summer and Mediterranean winter climate on the vegetation of the Holocene in Sheikh El-Obeiyid area. There is a similarity of archaeological features between the Sheikh El-Obeiyid and the nearby Hidden Valley basin, both of them were active in the seventh millennium b.p.

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