498 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 



implements of geometric design in Sebilian III are comparable in 

 technique with the Tardenoisian industry and may be of the same 

 age. 



Sandford and Arkell find that the Sebilian industry described 

 by Vignard is not confined to the Kom Ombo plain. They find it 

 on both sides of the Hawara Channel, especially at Kon Medinet, 

 Ghurab and Dimishkin, in silt and fine gravel. Within the Faiyum, 

 the gravel banks flanking the Hawara Channel spread out into a 

 second system of beaches, storm beaches and shoals closely resembling 

 those associated w4th the lake of Mousterian times. Tlie water in 

 the lake during the Late Paleolithic or Sebilian times stood at 28 m. 

 (92 feet) above sea level, or G.l m. (20 feet) below its elevation in 

 Mousterian times. An exceptional!}^ prolific Sebilian site was found 

 on the shore of this late Paleolithic lake near Philadelphia. The 

 beach of this old lake is a prominent feature in the great bay of 

 Philadelphia and the greater part of the Greco-Roman town was 

 built upon and just behind it. In an obscure corner of the Faiyum 

 Basin between Shakluf Bridge and Kasr Basil, Sandford and Arkell 

 were so fortunate as to find no less than 10 beaches left by the falling 

 lake as the climate became progressively more arid. 



The industry of Late Paleolithic or Sebilian age found at the 

 28 m. (92 feet) beach level is of surprising uniformity. The cores 

 are miniatures of the Mousterian cores. The flakes fall into two 

 classes: (a) Miniatures of the Mousterian flake and (h) thin broad 

 flakes with straight parallel margins. Most of the microlithic 

 Sebilian types of Upper Egypt still remain to be discovered in Lower 

 Egypt. 



The field work of Sanford and Arkell terminated with the 22.5 

 m. (74 feet) level. However they agree with Miss G. Caton-Thomp- 

 son and Miss E. W. Gardner that the 22.5 m. (74 feet) lake was suc- 

 ceeded by a Neolithic lake at a level of 17.4 m. (57 feet) ; that these 

 two successive lakes were separated b}^ a long interval of time, dur- 

 ing which the Faiyum Basin was drained and the old lake deposits 

 were deeply eroded before the water rose again to the 17.4 m. (57 

 feet) level, decadent Neolithic industries being associated with it 

 down to 2.1 m. (7 feet) below sea level; that it has since continued to 

 sink until the present day, when its surface lies 44.8 m. (147 feet) 

 below sea level and only 5.5 m. (18 feet) above the bottom of the 

 deepest part ; that the last stage of contraction has been accompanied 

 by a sudden increase in salinity, which has killed most of the fresh- 

 water fauna, two marine bivalves taking its place. Desert condi- 

 tions were apparently established in -Upper Egypt as early as 

 Sebilian times, and at a later date as one proceeds northward, north 

 of the latitude of the Faiyum, they may not have become absolute 

 until post-Neolithic times. 



