Potential consequences of a Mid-Pleistocene impact event for the Middle Stone Age occupants of Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

While it is expected that prehistoric populations experienced the effects of impacts by extraterrestrial objects, there is little record of such events in occupied regions. We discuss the ramifications of an impact between 100 and 200ka into Dakhleh Oasis, at that time experiencing humid phase conditions and inhabited by Middle Stone Age people. Based on modeling of impact processes using estimated impact parameters, the impact blast would …