Fayum, Qarunian (Fayum B) (about 6000-5000 BC?)

Epipalaeolithic (also called Mesolithic) culture (late Capsian), well attested at a number of sites in the Fayum. The stone industry is different to Fayum Neolithic, and characterised by small tools ('microliths'). However there are some types common to both cultures (the arrowheads), suggestive of connections between them. Knives and scrapers are common. There is no pottery. The settlement site labelled Z by the excavators is thought to have been located about 5 m above the lake level at the time of its use. Not much survived from the settlement, but there is a 'hearth of ashes'. People must have lived from fishing, hunting and food gathering. The sites are small and were most likely only seasonal and perhaps short-lived.

microlithic stone tools (click on the images for a larger picture)

further reading:

Caton-Thompson/Gardner 1934: 55-67 (excavation report) Hendrickx/Vermeersch 2000: 35-36 (general introduction) Hoffman 1991: 188 (general introduction) Wetterstrom 1993: 186-191 (general introduction, discussion of food production)

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