Sedimentary Environment of the Early Pleistocene Gravels of the Edfu formation from the Saqqara Archaeological Site (Egypt) – Preliminary Results

Abstract A gravel horizon is preserved in several locations within the world-wide known archaeological site in Saqqara (northern Egypt). It is characterized by a variable thickness, composed of coarse, quartz, quartzitic and flint pebbles, and considered to correspond to gravels of the Edfu Formation, deposited in the Early Pleistocene by the early phase of the Nile development (Protonile Phase). This relatively short (ca. 200 ka) and at the same time very dynamic period of Protonile activity during the Edfu Pluvial is one of the most poorly recognized hydrological-climatic episodes of the Quaternary in north-eastern Africa. This paper is focused on the preliminary sedimentological-petrographic characteristics of these deposits and an attempt to indicate their source areas as well as mechanisms of transportation and deposition in the context of Pleistocene pluvial episodes.