A team of archaeologists has made a breakthrough in Iraq’s Western Desert, where seven Paleolithic sites have been discovered comprising over 850 stone tools. Led by Ella Egberts from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), this research was undertaken in late 2024 in a pilot project investigating the geomorphological history of the region and assessing the potential for the preservation of ancient archaeological sites.
In the Al-Shabakah region, during the Pleistocene, there was a vast lake. The surroundings and the now-dry lake bed, crisscrossed with ancient dry riverbeds known as wadis, yielded many artifacts. The finds included Lower Paleolithic handaxes, potentially dating back to 1.5 million years, as well as Middle Paleolithic Levallois reduction flakes from around 300,000 to 50,000 years ago.
“Our targeted fieldwork led to the discovery of seven Paleolithic sites in an area of 10 by 20 km,” said Egberts in a statement. “One location was selected for systematic research to determine the spatial distribution of Paleolithic material and to conduct preliminary technological and typological analyses.”
Egberts, along with Jaafar Jotheri from the University of Al-Qadisiyah and Andreas Nymark from the University of Leicester, believes that further excavation in the area will yield even more significant findings. “The other sites deserve equally thorough systematic investigation, which will undoubtedly yield similar amounts of lithic material,” she noted. The research team intends to expand their study area and conduct in-depth artifact analysis to facilitate a deeper understanding of human evolution and behavior on the Arabian Peninsula.
Three archaeology students from Iraq participated in the fieldwork. They were taught aspects of geoarchaeology and Paleolithic archaeology. The team also hosted a workshop at Al-Qadisiyah University to inspire more students and academics to explore Iraq’s prehistoric past.
The findings were presented to a diverse audience, including a multidisciplinary academic gathering at a conference in Karbala and a public event at the Writers’ Union in Najaf. Egberts and her team also seized the opportunity to show local elementary school children the prehistoric flint discoveries, fostering a new generation’s interest in archaeology.
The project was funded by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and awarded to Egberts through an honorary fellowship at the University of Leicester. Her next steps will include the reconstruction of environmental changes during the Pleistocene and the study of early human life and behavior in the Western Desert.
More information: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
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I am so very amazed and very proud of your discoveries, advancement in archaeology methods and collaborations. I knew history would be uncovered more thoroughly one day. New methods like Lidar really excited me and I had always been interested in prehistory since my elementary school days and field trips to the raised areas of the Continental shelf in South Carolina where I live and fossils I found and loved. My dad and I also found Native American artifacts on our family property. I had always been told when younger that I was related to Pocahontas whose father was chief I believe of the Powhaton tribe near or on the James River in VA. Also that I am supposedly related to Thomas Jefferson through the Eppes, Epps or Epes family who are the longest continuous to this day landholders by white man in North America. Purportedly, but I believe it. I am 66 y.o. and had to retire from Land surveying out of Cola. S.C. as I had strokes since then have found out a birth defect in my heart caused this.
25 years ago I found a Savannah River Concentric Pottery pot on the bank of the Saluda river. Reported to be the furtherest North of this type ever found and the best of 3 ever found. On Our family property I have found around 1000 artifacts of all kinds and all surface hunting. 99% of my collection was stolen and that depressing event has not helped my recovery from my stroke I firmly believe. Archaeology is my love and I still walk and look and have friends who are Archaeologist but some have passed away. So years come to my eyes as I recalls these wonderful tools and objects I have found. . . So I enjoy and appreciate all your work and every topic you may cover. I would love to have a Lidar Drone to search the couple 100 acres of our family land. I have never dug any except that pot and I noticed a rim sticking out of the orange clay dirt bank at the Saluda River.i have been streaming a Science in Archaeology program Tonite for about 4.5 hours. I have friends from Iran, Morrocco, Australia, England and many places I would have loved to go, I feel I will not be around much longer as I just don’t feel good . But this is what I wanted to say the most. My whole life my children gave me joy and happiness but they do not care about the past or even me, so I must tell you I believe the biggest joy and love in my life has been studying Human history, archaeology stuff and looking at and reading about the wonderful things you all do. It is so wonderful to me. I just had to leave this long comment because it asked for it. I thank you dearly for what you do and the field you in is a noble one to me.
Grateful I am for persons like you most
Sincerely, Cliff Epps