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The archaeology and ethnoarchaeology of rain-fed cultivation in arid and hyper-arid North Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2019

Carla Lancelotti Open the ORCID record for Carla Lancelotti [Opens in a new window] ,
Stefano Biagetti ,
Andrea Zerboni ,
Donatella Usai  and
Marco Madella
Carla Lancelotti*
Affiliation:
CaSEs Research Group, Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, c/Trias Fargas 25–27, Barcelona 08005, Spain
Stefano Biagetti
Affiliation:
CaSEs Research Group, Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, c/Trias Fargas 25–27, Barcelona 08005, Spain School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa
Andrea Zerboni
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra ‘A. Desio’, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Mangiagalli 34, Milan, Italy
Donatella Usai
Affiliation:
Centro Studi Sudanesi e Sub-Sahariani, Strada di Cannizzano 128/d, Treviso 31100, Italy
Marco Madella
Affiliation:
CaSEs Research Group, Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, c/Trias Fargas 25–27, Barcelona 08005, Spain School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Rain-fed cultivation in drylands—especially in arid and hyper-arid areas—is often considered to play a minor role in human subsistence. Drawing upon the results of ethnoarchaeological research in North Africa, this paper reviews non-irrigated agricultural practices in the absence of anthropogenic water-harvesting structures, and presents a proposal for how such practices can be identified in the drylands of the past. An improved understanding of the long-term development of rain-fed cultivation augments our knowledge of past land-use strategies and can inform future models of sustainable agriculture in some of the world's driest regions.

Keywords

SaharaAl Khidayrain-fed cultivationdrylandsresiliencephytoliths
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 370 , August 2019 , pp. 1026 - 1039
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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