Members of the A1 and F2 projects have carried out a field campaign (March, 2018) in the proximity of Wadi Sodmein in the Eastern Desert, Egypt. The team consisted of a diverse group of experts in geoarchaeology, geomorphology and geochronology, and we were joined in the field by our partners, the geologists from the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority. The fieldwork focused on the development and age of the Sodmein Playa, on the geomorphological development of the landscape around Wadi Sodmein, on the sedimentological and geomorphological character of the Wadi terraces, and on the formation process of desert pavements that are found on the terraces.
We also collected buried (and sometimes partly exposed) granite and quartz-rich cobbles that will be exposed to daylight on a roof in the nearby town of Quseir for at least one year. These cobbles will be used to calibrate exposure age models (OSL dating) which are applied to date previously sampled cobbles.
We hope that our efforts will lead to an increased understanding of the palaeoenvironment around Wadi Sodmein, which will advance the scientific understanding of the lives of our ancestors in this beautiful land that once belonged to them.