Sahaba formation

The more recent (Neonile) sediments in the area include the Masmas formation (clay and sandy silts deposited some 40,000 years ago). Neonile sediments called the Sahaba formation are younger (ca. 20,000 B.C.), and, as seen in Figure 1, these sediments cover much of the area bordering the modern flood plain on which most of the Predynastic sites are located. Some chemical differences are seen between these two Neonile sedimentary units... 

Figure 4. Normalized REE distribution curves for Masmas and Sahaba formations and ceramic materials from Hierakonpolis. Key O, typical pattern of Masmas silt , ceramic plum red ware produced from this silt A, typical pattern of the straw tempered ware , a waster from the kiln where some of this straw tempered ware was produced X, silt from the Sahaba formation that was used at this kiln. (A silt from the Arkin formation was identical to the Sahaba silt in REE concentrations.)...

Figure 2. CM pattern of the modern and old Nile sediments. The abscissa (M) is the median grain size (in microns) for the sediments the ordinate (C) is the size of the largest 1% of the grains. The Sahaba ( + ) and Dandara (%) formations are considered to be modern (since middle Pleistocene period) silts the Giran el-Ful ( ) formation is from the older Nile regime. Significance of regions designated by roman numerals is discussed in the...

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