A palaeolake from the Last Pleistocene interglacial phase in the hyperaridsouthern area of Jordan.

The fossiliferous deposits of a large palaeolake were recently observed in southern Jordan, overlapping into Saudi Arabia. Preliminary U/Th analyses o f Cerastoderma sp. shells date the lake at 116 +/- 5.3 kyr and 76.8 +/- 8.2 kyr. Archaeological sites with Levalloiso-Mousterian artifacts are superim posed on those deposits, which fit a possible sub-stage 5a date. These new data imply a possible geographical continuity of the Last Pleistocene Inter glacial humid phase throughout the Saharo-Arabian arid belt, in the same cl imatic context, as the palaeolakes in northern Mall and Fezzan. (C) 2000 Ac ademie des sciences / Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.