100th century BCE
Upper Egypt
The Idfuan Industry was a Late Palaeolithic tradition of Upper Egypt, probably contemporary with the Fakhurian around 16,000–15,000 BC. It remained within the Levallois tradition and contained numerous burins and end-scrapers. Its associated subsistence strategy appears to have emphasized big-game hunting, contrasting with the fishing and shellfish-collecting emphasis attributed to the Fakhurian.
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The Story
The Idfuan Industry belonged to the complex group of Upper Egyptian traditions that emerged during the later Pleistocene. It is described as a Levallois-based industry with many burins and end-scrapers, preserving a technological orientation distinct from contemporary microlithic traditions. Its chronology is placed broadly between 16,000 and 15,000 BC.
The economic emphasis associated with the Idfuan appears to have been big-game hunting. This contrasts with the Fakhurian, another apparently contemporary Upper Egyptian industry whose microlithic assemblage is linked more closely with fishing and shellfish collection. The comparison demonstrates that neighboring traditions could differ substantially in both tool-making and subsistence emphasis.
The Idfuan should not be treated automatically as the material expression of a clearly bounded people. The wider archaeological discussion warns that lithic industries may not correspond directly to identity-conscious social groups. Its short chronology and economic interpretation also depend on incomplete evidence from a region where many earlier sites may have been destroyed or buried.
100th century BCE
Upper Egypt
The Idfuan Industry was a Late Palaeolithic tradition of Upper Egypt, probably contemporary with the Fakhurian around 16,000–15,000 BC. It remained within the Levallois tradition and contained numerous burins and end-scrapers. Its associated subsistence strategy appears to have emphasized big-game hunting, contrasting with the fishing and shellfish-collecting emphasis attributed to the Fakhurian.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Idfuan Industry belonged to the complex group of Upper Egyptian traditions that emerged during the later Pleistocene. It is described as a Levallois-based industry with many burins and end-scrapers, preserving a technological orientation distinct from contemporary microlithic traditions. Its chronology is placed broadly between 16,000 and 15,000 BC.
The economic emphasis associated with the Idfuan appears to have been big-game hunting. This contrasts with the Fakhurian, another apparently contemporary Upper Egyptian industry whose microlithic assemblage is linked more closely with fishing and shellfish collection. The comparison demonstrates that neighboring traditions could differ substantially in both tool-making and subsistence emphasis.
The Idfuan should not be treated automatically as the material expression of a clearly bounded people. The wider archaeological discussion warns that lithic industries may not correspond directly to identity-conscious social groups. Its short chronology and economic interpretation also depend on incomplete evidence from a region where many earlier sites may have been destroyed or buried.
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