Middle Paleolithic occupation of the Moroccan Sahara: Open air sites of the Tafilalt (original) (raw)
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The Early and Middle Holocene Lithic Industries of Ifri n’Etsedda (Eastern Rif, Morocco)
African Archaeological Review
Archaeological research has been carried out in the Eastern Rif (Morocco) since 1995 by a collaborative Moroccan-German research team. A major topic of the project is the transition from hunting-gathering to food production and related cultural developments. Innovations such as pottery and domesticated species appeared around 7.6 ka calBP. The cultivation of cereals and pulses is evident at that time. Two of the most important sites in the area are Ifri Oudadane and Ifri n’Etsedda. Both provide Epipaleolithic as well as Neolithic deposits. While innovative technologies such as pottery production and cultivation indicate external influences, lithic artifacts demonstrate local technological and behavioral traditions. Therefore, the study of lithic industries is crucial to understanding the nature of cultural continuity and discontinuity between the hunting-gathering and agricultural populations in the Eastern Rif. Ifri n’Etsedda provides two distinct Epipaleolithic deposits and thus o...
Since 1995 archaeological research has been undertaken in the Eastern Rif (Morocco) by a Moroccan-German research team with participation of the “Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine du Maroc” (INSAP), the “Kommission für die Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts” (KAAK), and the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology of the University of Cologne. In the course of these studies, several hundred sites have been discovered and a number of these excavated. Sites investigated in more detail cover the time span from the Lower Palaeolithic up to Islamic times. From the onset of the project a particular focus has been on Neolithisation processes in the area. In the last years the raw material supply for pottery and stone tool production has also come into focus. In cooperation with mineralogists and sedimentologists a number of raw material sources could be identified. This paper summarises all known Neolithic sites and potential raw material sources of the area and reconstructs their spatial relations.
ABIOTIC RAW MATERIAL SUPPLY IN THE NEOLITHIC OF THE EASTERN RIF, MOROCCO. A PRELIMINARY REPORT
Since 1995 archaeological research has been undertaken in the Eastern Rif (Morocco) by a Moroccan-German research team with participation of the “Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine du Maroc” (INSAP), the “Kommission für die Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts” (KAAK), and the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology of the University of Cologne. In the course of these studies, several hundred sites have been discovered and a number of these excavated. Sites investigated in more detail cover the time span from the Lower Palaeolithic up to Islamic times. From the onset of the project a particular focus has been on Neolithisation processes in the area. In the last years the raw material supply for pottery and stone tool production has also come into focus. In cooperation with mineralogists and sedimentologists a number of raw material sources could be identified. This paper summarises all known Neolithic sites and pot...
2015
Ifri Oudadane represents one of the few recently excavated sites in NW-Africa which permits a study of the Neolithic transition. The site is dated by 23 radiocarbon ages suggesting an occupation between 11.0 and 5.7 ka calBP. The well-documented Neolithic transition occurred at about 7.6 ka calBP. This transition is marked by the appearance of pottery, cereals and legumes. Furthermore, geochemistry and micromorphology indicate several changes in the sedimentation milieu. One of the most interesting aspects of Neolithisation is the question of the continuity or discontinuity of this process. Does the transition to food production appear as part of a migration process or did local forager groups promote this develop-ment? Lithic material offers, as it appears through all periods, the best opportunity to study these developments. This paper presents an unchanging lithic industry across the Neolithisation regarding blank production, raw material supply, as well as tool composition. Thes...
African Archaeological Review, 2008
In the 1970s, the discoveries of Palaeolithic human remains in the caves of Dar es Soltane 2, El Harhoura 1 and Les Contrebandiers reinforced interest in the sites of the Témara region. These sites, often cited, have been the object of numerous investigations which have produced a major contribution to the prehistory of Morocco. Over the past 15 years, research at two key sites, El Mnasra and El Harhoura 2, have considerably enhanced the available data for this region. Preliminary results obtained from excavations since 2001, allow us to present the palaeoenvironmental framework and describe the technological behaviour of prehistoric groups within a re-evaluated stratigraphic context. The microfaunal and macrofaunal assemblages are analysed according to systematics, taphonomy and palaeoecology. The lithic and bone industries document patterns of raw material acquisition and transformation. Within the context of the history of more than 60 years of research in the region of Témara, this contribution allows us to approach the question of Palaeolithic population on the basis of recent, and for the most part new, data and evidence. Dans les années 1970, les découvertes de restes humains paléolithiques à Dar es Soltane 2, El Harhoura 1 et aux Contrebandiers ont renforcé l’intérêt des sites de la région de Témara. Ces derniers, souvent cités en référence, ont fait l’objet de nombreuses recherches et ont apporté une contribution majeure à la Préhistoire du Maroc. Depuis 15 ans, les recherches effectuées dans deux sites clefs: El Mnasra et El Harhoura 2 ont considérablement enrichi les données disponibles pour cette région. Les résultats préliminaires obtenus lors des fouilles menées depuis 2001 permettent de présenter le cadre paléoenvironnemental et de documenter les comportements techniques dans un contexte stratigraphique renouvelé. Les restes fauniques (microfaune et macrofaune) sont envisagés sous le triple aspect de la systématique, de la taphonomie et de la paléoécologie. Les industries lithiques et osseuses documentent les modalités d’acquisition et de transformation des matières premières. Replacée dans l’histoire des recherches menées depuis plus de 60 ans dans la région de Témara, cette contribution permet d’aborder la question du peuplement paléolithique sur la base de données récentes, pour la plupart inédites.
Recent work on the Middle Palaeolithic of the Eastern Sahara
The African Archaeological Review, 1987
Recent research at the remote depression of Bir Tarfawi, in the hyperarid Eastern Sahara, has revealed a sequence of four, or possibly five, Pleistocene lake-episodes. The first lake was probably associated with a Late Acheulean and the remaining four with a Middle Palaeolithic, specifically with a Denticulate Aterian, industry. Lithostratigraphic, macrofaunal and microfaunai analyses have permitted a quite detailed reconstruction of the local environment during the periods of the last two lakes; during the period of the fourth lake, local rainfall may have been ca 600 mm per annum but was rather less during the time of the fifth lake. Investigation of some of the many associated archaeological sites is revealing a complex pattern of specialized site-types, including living-sites, primary and secondary workshops and primary and secondary butchery-sites. Specific types of sites are closely related to the local landscape. Preliminary analyses from several experimental methods of chronometric dating suggest that almost all of the sequence falls within the Middle Pleistocene.
2018
The region of eastern Morocco is very rich in sites and archaeological remains. Many Pleistocene and Holocene sites have been discovered during the last 20 years. Systematic surveys and excavations were realized in the frame of the Spanish-Moroccan research project that started in 2006. Fieldwork permitted the identification of new archaeological Middle Stone Age open air sites in this region. It is the first time since the 1990’ (Wengler 1993a, 1993b, 1997; Wengler &Vernet 1992) that new sites belonging to this chronological period have been discovered in this region. Lithic assemblages, found on the surface as well as in stratigraphic position, are located on the exposed surfaces of river banks, around springs and on the slopes. ∗Intervenant †Auteur correspondant: gchacon@iphes.cat sciencesconf.org:uispp2018:182901 Since a technological point of view these sites contain a typologically and technologically homogeneous set of flake assemblages with a significant Levallois component ...
An ethnoarchaeological project in the western Rif (northern Morocco): first results
In the Jebala region, NW of Morocco, the making of recipients of dung from cows or/and clay (tonna and tabtoba) was common in the past. These recipients were used for stocking cereals and other dry products, for feeding the livestock, or for transporting the cereals to the rotative mill. The élaboration of these objects, which dissapeared 20 or 30 years ago, represented a general technical knowledge which was carried out by all the women in the région, in order to satisfy their domestic needs.
We provide a detailed chronological framework for the Early Neolithic of the Eastern Rif of Morocco. Neolithic innovations such as pottery and domestic plants begin ca. 7.6 ka calBP, at which time plant cultivation is clearly documented for cereals (Triticum monococcum/dicoccum, Triticum aestivum/durum, Hordeum vulgare) and pulses (Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum, Vicia faba). This represents the earliest evidence for Africa as a whole. The Early Neolithic ends ca. 6.3 ka calBP and is marked by the definitive disappearance of Cardium-decorated pottery. The disintegration of the Early Neolithic dates to the interval 6.6e6.0 ka calBP, during which time a gradual desiccation of the Sahara has been observed. In the Eastern Rif of Morocco, Saharan influences become visible after 6.0 ka calBP. These are characterised by the presence of ivory objects and the appearance of comb-impressed pottery with so-called herringbone motives.