tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6760875.post-36455309330045561332008-07-25T10:08:00.002+01:002008-07-25T10:36:45.483+01:00<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080723101956.htm">Science Daily</a><br /><br /><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">A small but significant find made during a geological survey provides evidence of the oldest human presence yet discovered along the northernmost margin of <st1:country-region st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region>'s <st1:place st="on">Nile</st1:place> delta.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">A rock fragment carried by humans to the site was discovered in a sediment core section north of Burullus lagoon near the Mediterranean coast.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Radiocarbon analysis of plant-rich matter in the mud surrounding the object provides a date of 3350 to 3020 B.C., the late Predynastic period.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">This long, thin object, formed of dolomite, had not been deposited by the <st1:place st="on">Nile</st1:place> or the sea, but was collected and transported from an outcrop exposure positioned at least 160 kilometers south of the core site. The fragile object lay buried at a depth of 7.5 meters in dark mud deposited in a brackish lagoon setting close to a marsh.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Stanley et al.'s fortuitous find documents an early human presence in the mid-Holocene wetlands along the delta's paleocoast, a sector where traditional excavation and augering are normally incapable of reaching zones of ancient human activity now at considerable subsurface depths.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Journal reference: Jean-Daniel Stanley et al. August 2008 Geology, Pages 599-602.</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes</div>Andiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03342690442454499340noreply@blogger.com