ARCH 1616 Between Sahara and Sea: North Africa from Human Origins to Islam Brett Kaufman brett_kaufman@brown.edu Office Hours week of September 22: Monday, 2:30-4:30 pm Rhode Island Hall 007
Hominid Evolution in the Sahara and North Africa
What characterizes hominin presence in North Africa?
Toolmaking: Oldowan, Acheulean, Middle Stone Age (Mousterian, Levalloiso-Mousterian, Aterian, etc.) Hominid fossil evidence in North Africa North African sites
Some principal Saharan and North African prehistoric sites on a map from 1957 (Alimen)
Alimen 1957 considered part of transitional industry from Pebble Culture to Chellean now seen as Oldowan or sometimes just chipped rocks in many regions terminology is constantly changing (methodological consideration)
In Tunisia, many Acheulean and Mousterian sites noted but little current research. Acheulean is more attested throughout Sahara. Acheulean Sidi Zin Gafsa Mousterian (sites characterized by Levallois debitage and richness in sidescrapers, sometimes with Aterian inclusions) Oued Akarit (Gabes) EI Guettar (Gafsa) Am Meterchem, Ain Mhrotta (Kairouan) and Sidi-Zin Am Meterchem El Guettar Sidi-Zin cleaver and handaxe
Raynal et al. 2001
Oldowan sites in Tropical Africa, including artifacts and/or Australopithecus and Homo habilis fossils
Principal African Acheulean sites
What are tools used for? Hunting and/or butchering scavenged meat. Many predators rely on both hunting and scavenging strategies.
Taphonomic processes can lead to false positives in identification of hunting sites Drowning, drought stratigraphic and sediment analyses can help rectify this
Zooarchaeologists can identify tool versus bone marks 1.8 million year old fossil bones from Olduvai
Ain Hanech in Algeria contains the remains of the earliest, securely dated North African remains, from about 1.8-1.2 mya, savanna-like faunal assemblage associated with Oldowan artifacts.
The flaked artifacts from Ain Hanech are roughly spherical with jagged edges, corresponding at least partially to the Developed Oldowan in East Africa. Archaeologists taking a field trip from the II Pan African Congress of Prehistory in Algiers in 1952, found some Acheulean bifaces on the surface, so assumed it was an Acheulean site. More recent investigations have established that the Oldowan and Acheulean sequences are stratigraphically separated.
Recent excavations at Ain Hanech have confirmed that at 1.8 mya, Oldowan hominins butchered meat, earliest evidence for North Africa.
Germa (Jarma, Libya)
In the Libyan Fezzan survey established that Oldowan assemblages were spatially discrete from extensive Acheulean (with exploitation of fossil wood) and later assemblages.
Ternifine (Tighénif) Acheulean technology, Early Middle or Late Lower Pleistocene (around 900 kya)
Ternifine (Tighénif) Additionally, a few human mandibles, parietal, and several teeth recovered. The finds are consistent with Homo erectus or ergaster, the first Homo to be identified in Africa. Tighénif 3 mandible Tighénif 4 in comparison
Ternifine (Tighénif)
Thomas 1 quarry, likely the oldest evidence of human activity in Morocco.
Thomas 1 quarry Acheulean technology made of quartzite and rarely of flint. Chopping tools, bifaces, and cleavers, consuming hippo, zebra, and gazelle, dating to around 1 mya (Lower to Middle Pleistocene), but human remains at the site date closer to 600 kya, seemingly identified as Homo erectus.
Rhino cave of Oulad Hamida 1 Many lithics with abundant white rhinoceros remains, showing specialized hunting and/or scanvenging. Nearby, Thomas 1 quarry cave had remains of human mandible. Also much faunal material but more bears, hyenas, and canines. These caves date to 600-400 kya (Middle Pleistocene). The cave complex represents one of the best references for the Middle Pleistocene.
Middle Pleistocene Hominid Cave Complex, Casablanca
Salé
Salé A cranial fragment, some of it lost following discovery, but some features were reconstructable from impression left in natural mould of sandstone. Seems to be Homo erectus or perhaps Homo heidelbergensis young adult female, perhaps with deformity. Same layer had bovid enamel dating 455-389 kya.
Erg Tihodaïne
Erg Tihodaïne southern Algeria between Tassili and Hoggar massifs, late Acheulean types occur in a lacustrine clay deposit indicating wetter conditions with bones of extinct types of elephant, zebra, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bos primigenius, gazelles, and antelopes. Dating is very difficult, but is evidence for Saharan Acheulean penetration. Hippopotamus molars Acheulean biface
Djebel Ighoud, Morocco
Djebel Irhoud, Morocco Faunal assemblage indicates dry conditions, with an unfortunately wide range of 190-90 kya. The morphological features display a number of primitive Homo features, and there is a debate as to whether or not these can be reasonably considered Neanderthals. Moroccan Mousterian best documented at sites like this one Irhoud 1
Djebel Irhoud, Morocco Irhoud 3 Recent work in PNAS confirms that individuals are Homo sapiens, and a juvenile mandible is currently the oldest-known member of Homo with a developmental dentition pattern that is more similar to modern sapiens than to earlier members of Homo.
Grotte de Pigeons, Taforalt
Grotte de Pigeons, Morocco A site 40 km from the coast showed evidence that authors argued for fully modern human behavior 82 kya, with the perforation of shell beads, some painted with ocher, perhaps strung on a cord or sewn onto clothing
But two Neanderthal caves in Spain (Cueva Ánton and Cueva de los Aviones) dating to around 50 kya also show evidence for ochre use and shell perforation. So this type of behavior is not only associated with sapiens.
Aterian: Particular North African assemblage that follows and is contemporary with the Mousterian and Levalloiso- Mousterian mode-3 artifacts. These are part of the Middle Stone Age repertoire and date broadly to 250-40 kya. Sites that typify this are (the typesite) Bir el Ater in Algeria, El Guettar in Tunisia, Adrar Bous in Niger, and Bir Sahara in Egypt. Pre-Aurignacian: mode-4 industry at the Libyan site of Haua Fteach, a distinct industry where other sites had Aterian or Levalloiso- Mousterian. Aterian artifacts from Bir el Ater in Algeria and Adrar Bous in Niger
Dabban: After the Pre- Aurignacian, the Levalloiso- Mousterian continued until 40 kya until this mode-4 Upper Paleolithic industry develops in Cyrenaica. Dabban goes until 14 kya, then replaced with some overlap by Oranian.
Oranian: mode-5 industry, no evidence for continuity from Mousterian, Tamar Hat in Algeria has this industry from 20-16 kya. This brings us from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Oranian artifacts from Taforalt
What characterizes hominin presence in North Africa? Arrival about two million years ago of Homo species, perhaps ergaster or erectus. Archaeology provides glimpses of Oldowan (mode-1), with more Acheulean (mode-2), Mousterian (mode-3) and well-developed Aterian, and finally a host of diversified Upper Paleolithic industries such as Dabban (mode-4) and Oranian (mode-5) technologies. Post-Acheulean African sites