Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene human phenotypic diversity in the Nile Valley
The end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the beginning of the Holocene witnessed major climatic changes whose effect on human populations is poorly known. In the Nile Valley, natural geographical corridor, and probable refuge zone during periods of severe climatic stresses, hyper-arid environmental conditions are documented until the Holocene, when a gradual shift towards greater humidity occurs.
The impact of these environmental changes on Late Pleistocene modern human diversity and on population processes in the Nile Valley is crucial to our understanding of the cultural and biological evolution of our species within Africa. However, the scarcity of human remains in this region as limited most of palaeoanthropological prospects.
In this presentation, we will thoroughly fully analyse the few human remains associated to this time period in the Nile Valley. We will highlight their singularity in term of phenotypic diversity and question population isolation and dynamic in this area at the end of the Pleistocene.