Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33755675›Full record

ArticlePloS one2021

The oldest Homo erectus buried lithic horizon from the Eastern Saharan Africa. EDAR 7 - an Acheulean assemblage with Kombewa method from the Eastern Desert, Sudan.

Mirosław Masojć, Ju Yong Kim, Joanna Krupa-Kurzynowska, Young Kwan Sohn, Maciej Ehlert, Grzegorz Michalec, Marzena Cendrowska, Eric Andrieux, Simon J Armitage, Marcin Szmit and 6 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Sudan's complex genetic admixture history drives adaptation to malaria in Sudanese Copts.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Mirosław MasojćInstitute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.ORCID 0000-0001-7779-5014
Ju Yong KimKorea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Joanna Krupa-KurzynowskaFaculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wrocław, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-1196-9912
Young Kwan SohnDepartment of Geology and Research Institute of Natural Science, Gyeongsang National University (GNU), Jinju, Republic of Korea.
Maciej EhlertInstitute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
Grzegorz MichalecInstitute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-5794-5334
Marzena CendrowskaInstitute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
Eric AndrieuxDepartment of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Simon J ArmitageDepartment of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-1480-9188
Marcin SzmitGdańsk Archaeological Museum, Gdańsk, Poland.
Ewa DreczkoInstitute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
Jin Cheul KimKorea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Ji Sung KimKorea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Gwang-Soo LeeKorea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Piotr MoskaInstitute of Physics, Division of Geochronology and Isotope Research of the Environmental, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland.
Modather Abdalla JadainDepartment of Archaeology, Al Neelain University, Khartoum, Sudan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although essential for reconstructing hominin behaviour during the Early Palaeolithic, only a handful of Acheulean sites have been dated in the Eastern Sahara region. This is due to the scarcity of sites for this time period and the lack of datable material. However, recent excavations in the Atbara region (Sudan) have provided unique opportunities to analyse and date Acheulean stone tools. We report here on EDAR 7, part of a cluster of Acheulean and Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites that were recently discovered in the Eastern Desert Atbara River (EDAR) region, located in the Eastern Desert (Sudan) far from the Nile valley. At EDAR 7, a 3.5 metre sedimentary sequence was excavated, allowing an Acheulean assemblage to be investigated using a combination of sedimentology, stone tool studies and optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL). The site has delivered a complete Acheulean knapping chaine opératoire, providing new information about the Saharan Acheulean. The EDAR 7 site is interpreted as a remnant of a campsite based on the co-occurrence of two reduction modes: one geared towards the production of Large Cutting Tools (LCTs), and the other based on the flaking of small debitage and production of flake tools. Particularly notable in the EDAR 7 assemblage is the abundance of cleavers, most of which display evidence of flake production. Implementation of giant Kombewa flakes was also observed. A geometric morphometric analysis of hand-axes was conducted to verify a possible Late Acheulean assemblage standardisation in the Nubian Sahara. In addition, the analysis of micro-traces and wear on the artefacts has provided information on the use history of the Acheulean stone tools. Sediment analyses and OSL dating show that the EDAR 7 sequence contains the oldest Acheulean encampment remains in the Eastern Sahara, dated to the MIS 11 or earlier. This confirms that Homo erectus occupied the EDAR region during Middle Pleistocene humid periods, and demonstrates that habitable corridors existed between the Ethiopian Highlands, the Nile and the Red Sea coast, allowing population dispersals across the continent and out of it.

Indexed as

HominidaeAnimalsArchaeologySudan

Identifiers

PMID33755675
PMCPMC7989774

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.