Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T09:50:55.053Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A tentative tale of Stone Age human dynamics in Pleistocene south-western Libya (central Sahara)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2021

Emanuele Cancellieri Open the ORCID record for Emanuele Cancellieri [Opens in a new window]
Emanuele Cancellieri*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità, Sapienza Università di Roma; Istituto Italiano di PaleontologiaUmana
*
Corresponding author: Emanuele Cancellieri, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The area encompassing the Acacus and Messak mountains in South Western Libya, similarly to the other central Saharan massifs, is characterized by a deeply eroded landscape where Quaternary geo-archaeological archives are rare, especially Pleistocene ones, making it difficult to understand and contextualize past human dynamics within a solid chrono-paleoenvironmental framework. Except for the few caves and open-air contexts where Pleistocene sedimentary sequences are preserved, the vast majority of archaeological evidence from the region is represented by lithic artefacts found on the surface of deflated open-air sites. Nonetheless, artefacts still stand as the main references used to build a rough framework for population dynamics through time. Although the evidence is not as solid as we would like, it allows us to at least reconsider connecting the human presence solely to ‘green’ phases, as a number of population dynamics related to arid landscapes have inferably occurred in the late Middle Pleistocene and in the Late Pleistocene. Coping with changing or difficult ecological settings could have been a driver at different times for behavioral adjustment, large scale displacement, increased interactions between populations and diffusion of technological innovations.

حكاية مؤقتة لديناميكية الإنسان الحجري خلال العصر الجليدي بجنوب غرب ليبيا (وسط الصحراء الكبرى)

ايمانويل كانسيليري

تتميز المنطقة التي تشمل جبال أكاكوس ومساك بجنوب غرب ليبيا، وعلى غرار الجبال الصخرية الوسطى الأخرى بالصحراء الكبرى، بمناظر طبيعية متآكلة بشدة حيث تندر المحفوظات الجيولوجية الأثرية للحقبة الرباعية منها ، مما يجعل من الصعب فهم ووضع سياق لديناميكيات الإنسان في الماضي داخل إطار زمني بيئي قديم . و باستثناء الكهوف القليلة والسياقات (Pleistocene) ، خاصة العصر الجليدي (Quaternary) تتمثل الغالبية العظمى من الأدلة الأثرية من المنطقة في المصنوعات الحجرية الموجودة على سطح ، (Pleistocene) الموجودة في الهواء الطلق حيث يتم الحفاظ على التسلسلات الرسوبية من العصر الجليدي مواقع الهواء الطلق التي تعرضت لتعرية الرياح . ومع ذلك، لا تزال المصنوعات اليدوية بمثابة المراجع الرئيسية المستخدمة لبناء إطار خشن لديناميكيات السكان عبر الزمن . على الرغم من أن الأدلة ليست قوية كما نحتاج، إلا أنها تسمح على الأقل بإعادة النظر في ربط الوجود البشري بالمراحل "الخضراء" فقط، حيث ظهرت عدد من الديناميكيات السكانية المتعلقة بالمشهد الطبيعي الجاف في أواخر العصر الجليدي الأوسط وفي العصر الجليدي الأخير . يمكن أن يكون التعامل مع الظروف البيئية المتغيرة أو الصعبة دافعاً في أوقات مختلفة لتعديل السلوك، والترحال على نطاق واسع، وزيادة التفاعلات بين السكان ونشر الابتكارات التكنولوجية .

Type
Part 1: Research Papers
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 52 , November 2021 , pp. 36 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Libyan Studies 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anag, G., Cremaschi, M., di Lernia, S. and Liverani, M. 2002. Environment, archaeology, and oil: the Messak Settafet rescue operation (Libyan Sahara). African Archaeological Review 19: 67–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anag, G. and di Lernia, S. 2007. The archaeological survey: aims, methodology and results. In: Anag, G., Cosentino, L. and Di Lernia, S. (eds), Edeyen of Murzuq. Archaeological Survey in the Libyan Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 33–38.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. and Kuhn, S.L. 1999. The big deal about blades: Laminar technologies and human evolution. American Anthropologist 101: 322–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barham, L. (eds). 2000. The Middle Stone Age of Zambia, South-Central Africa. Western Academic and Specialist Press, Bristol.Google Scholar
Barham, L. 2013. From Hand to Handle. The First Industrial Revolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barham, L. and Mitchell, P. 2008. The First Africans. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barich, B.E. 1987. Archaeology and Environment in the Libyan Sahara. The Excavations in the Tadrart Acacus, 1978–1983. BAR, Oxford.Google Scholar
Barich, B., Garcea, E.A.A., Giraudi, C., Mutri, G. and Lucarini, G. 2010. The latest research in the Jebel Gharbi (Northern Libya): environment and cultures from MSA to LSA and the First Neolithic findings. Libya Antiqua 5: 237–52.Google Scholar
Barich, B.E., Lucarini, G., Hamdan, M.A. and Hassan, F.H. 2014. From Lake to Sand. The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis Western desert, Egypt. All'insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
Barton, R.N.E., Bouzouggar, A., Collcutt, S.N., Schwenninger, J.-L. and Clark-Balzan, L. 2009. OSL dating of the Aterian levels at Dar es-Soltan I (Rabat, Morocco) and implications for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens. Quaternary Science Reviews 28: 1914–1931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, N., Bouzouggar, A., Hogue, J.T., Lee, S., Collcutt, S.N. and Ditchfield, P. 2013. Origins of the Iberomaurusian in NW Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dating of the middle and later stone age deposits at Taforalt Cave, Morocco. Journal of Human Evolution 65: 266–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biagetti, S., Cancellieri, E., Cremaschi, M., Gauthier, C., Gauthier, Y., Zerboni, A. and Gallinaro, M. 2013. The ‘Messak Project': archaeological research for cultural heritage management in SW Libya. Journal of African Archaeology 11: 55–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouzouggar, A. and Barton, N. 2012. The identity and timing of the Aterian in Morocco. In: Hublin, J.J. and McPherron, S.P. (eds), Modern Origins: A North African Perspective. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht: 93–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, D.R., Aldeias, V., Archer, W., Arrowsmith, J.R., Baraki, N., Campisano, C.J., Deino, A.L., DiMaggio, E.N., Dupont-Nivet, G., Engda, B., Feary, D.A., Garello, D.I., Kerfelew, Z., McPherron, S.P., Patterson, D.B., Reeves, J.S., Thompson, J.C. and Reed, K.E. 2019. Earliest known Oldowan artifacts at >2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, highlight early technological diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(24): 11712–11717.Google ScholarPubMed
Brooks, A.S., Yellen, J.E., Potts, R., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Deino, A.L., Leslie, D.E., Ambrose, S.H., Ferguson, J.R., d'Errico, F., Zipkin, A.M., Whittaker, S., Post, J., Veatch, E.G., Foecke, K. and Clark, J.B. 2018. Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age. Science 360: 90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bubenzer, O., Hilgers, A. and Riemer, H. 2007. Luminescence dating and archaeology of Holocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments of Abu Tartur, Eastern Sahara. Quaternary Geochronology 2: 314–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cancellieri, E. 2012. Gone with the wind. The Acheulean/MSA transition viewed from SW Libya (Central Sahara). Proceedings of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution 1. Lepizig: European Society for the Study of Human Evolution: 52.Google Scholar
Cancellieri, E., Cremaschi, M., Zerboni, A. and di Lernia, S. 2016. Climate, environment, and population dynamics in Pleistocene Sahara. In: Jones, C.S. and Stewart, A.B. (eds), Africa from MIS 6–2: Population Dynamics and Paleoenvironments. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht: 123–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cancellieri, E. and di Lernia, S. 2013. Middle Stone Age human occupation and dispersals in the Messak plateau (SW Libya, central Sahara). Quaternary International 300: 142–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cancellieri, E. and di Lernia, S. 2014. Re-entering the central Sahara at the onset of the Holocene: a territorial approach to early Acacus hunter–gatherers (SW Libya). Quaternary International 320: 43–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cancellieri, E. in press. Morphometric analysis of Middle Stone Age tanged tools from south-western Libya, central Sahara. A regional perspective. Archeologia e Calcolatori 32.Google Scholar
Caton-Thompson, G. 1946. The Aterian industry: its place and significance in the Palaeolithic world. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 76: 87–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, J.D. 1980. Human populations and cultural adaptations in the Sahara and the Nile during prehistoric times. In: Williams, M.A.J. and Faure, H. (eds), The Sahara and the Nile. Balkema, Rotterdam: 527–82.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. 1993. The Aterian of the central Sahara. In: Krzyzaniak, L., Kobusiewicz, M. and Alexander, J. (eds), Environmental Change and Human Culture in the Nile Basin and Northern Africa until the Second Millennium BC. Poznan Archaeological Museum, Poznan: 49–67.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. 1994. The Acheulian industrial complex in Africa and elsewhere. In: Corruccini, R.S. and Ciochon, R.L. (eds), Integrative Paths to the Past: Paleoanthropological Advances in Honor of F. Clark Howell. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs: 451–69.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. 1998. Before food production in North Africa: overview and discussion. In: di Lernia, S. and Manzi, G. (eds), Before Food Production in North Africa : Questions and Tools Dealing with Resource Exploitation and Population Dynamics at 12,000–7,000 bp. ABACO, Forlì: 163–177.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. (eds). 2001. Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site: Volume 3. The Earlier Cultures: Middle and Earlier Stone Age. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. 2008. Epipalaeolithic aggregates from Gréboun and Adrar Bous. In: Clark, J.D. and Gifford-Gonzalez, D. (eds), Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren: 163–78.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. and Gifford-Gonzalez, D. (eds). 2008. Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D., Schultz, D.U., Kroll, E.M., Freedman, E.E., Galloway, A., Batkin, J., Kurashina, H. and Gifford-Gonzalez, D. 2008. The Aterian of Adrar Bous and the central Sahara. In: Clark, J.D. and Gifford-Gonzalez, D. (eds), Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren: 91–162.Google Scholar
Clarkson, C., Hiscock, P., Mackay, A. and Shipton, C. 2018. Small, sharp, and standardized: global convergence in backed-Microlith technology. In: O'Brien, M.J., Buchanan, B. and Eren, M.I. (eds), Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA: 175–200.Google Scholar
Coulthard, T.J., Ramirez, J.A., Barton, N., Rogerson, M. and Brücher, T. 2013. Were rivers flowing across the Sahara during the last interglacial? Implications for human migration through Africa. PLoS ONE 8: e74834.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cremaschi, M. 1998. Late Quaternary geological evidence for environmental changes in south-western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). In: Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. (eds), Wadi Teshuinat. Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in South-Western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 13–47.Google Scholar
Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. 1998a. The geoarchaeological survey in the central Tadrart Acacus and surroundings (Libyan Sahara). environment and cultures. In: Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. (eds), Wadi Teshuinat. Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in South-Western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 243–96.Google Scholar
Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. 1998b. Wadi Teshuinat. Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in South-western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. 1999a. The 1993 and 1994 excavations. geomorphology, stratigraphic context and dates. In: di Lernia, S. (ed.), The Uan Afuda Cave. Hunter Gatherer Societies of Central Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 57–130.Google Scholar
Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. 1999b. Holocene climatic changes and cultural dynamics in the Libyan Sahara. African Archaeological Review 16: 211–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cremaschi, M., di Lernia, S. and Garcea, E.A.A. 1998. Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara: chronology, environment, and archaeology. African Archaeological Review 15: 261–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cremaschi, M. and Zerboni, A. 2009. Early to Middle Holocene landscape exploitation in a drying environment: two case studies compared from the central Sahara (SW Fezzan, Libya). Comptes Rendus Geoscience 341: 689–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cremaschi, M. and Zerboni, A. 2011. Human communities in a drying landscape. Holocene climate change and cultural response in the central Sahara. In: Martini, I.P. and Chesworth, W. (eds), Landscape and Societies. Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: 67–89.Google Scholar
Cremaschi, M., Zerboni, A., Mercuri, A.M., Olmi, L., Biagetti, S. and di Lernia, S. 2014. Takarkori rock shelter (SW Libya): an archive of Holocene climate and environmental changes in the central Sahara. Quaternary Science Reviews 101: 36–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deino, A.L., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Brooks, A.S., Yellen, J.E., Sharp, W.D. and Potts, R. 2018. Chronology of the Acheulean to Middle Stone Age transition in eastern Africa. Science 360: 95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delagnes, A. and Roche, H. 2005. Late Pliocene hominid knapping skills: the case of Lokalalei 2C, West Turkana, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 48: 435–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Lumley, E. 2006. Il y a 2,5 millions d'années… un seuil majeur de l'hominisation. L’émergence de la pensée conceptuelle et des stratégies maîtrisées du débitage de la pierre. C.R. Palevol 5: 119–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeMenocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T., Adkins, J., Sarnthein, M., Baker, L. and Yarusinsky, M. 2000. Abrupt onset and termination of the African humid period: rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing. Quaternary Science Reviews 19: 347–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Menocal, P.B. and Tierney, J.E. 2012. Green Sahara: African Humid periods paced by earth's orbital changes. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10): 12.Google Scholar
d'Errico, F., Vanhaeren, M., Barton, N., Bouzouggar, A., Mienis, H., Richter, D., Hublin, J.-J., McPherron, S.P. and Lozouet, P. 2009. Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 16051–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
di Lernia, S. 1999a. The cultural sequence. In: di Lernia, S. (ed.), The Uan Afuda Cave. Hunter Gatherer Societies of Central Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 57–130.Google Scholar
di Lernia, S. 1999b (eds). The Uan Afuda Cave: Hunter-Gatherers Societies of Central Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
di Lernia, S. 2015. Save Libyan archaeology. Nature 517: 547–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
di Lernia, S. and Gallinaro, M. 2014. Libya before and after the conflict: what future for Its cultural heritage? In: Castillo, A. (ed.), Archaeological Dimension of World Heritage. Springer, New York: 73–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
di Lernia, S. and Manzi, G. (eds). 2002. Sand, Stones, and Bones: The Archaeology of Death in the Wadi Tanezzouft Valley (5000–2000 BP). All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
di Lernia, S. and Zampetti, D. (eds). 2008. La memoria dell'arte. Le pitture rupestri dell'Acacus tra passato e futuro. All'insegna del Giglio, Rome and Tripoli.Google Scholar
Drake, N., Blench, R.M., Armitage, S.J., Bristow, C.S. and White, K.H. 2011. Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108: 458–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drake, N. and Breeze, P. 2016. Climate change and modern human occupation of the Sahara from MIS 6–2. In: Jones, S.C. and Stewart, B.A. (eds), Africa from MIS 6–2: Population Dynamics and Paleoenvironments. Springer, Dordrecht: 103–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, N., Breeze, P. and Parker, A. 2013. Palaeoclimate in the Saharan and Arabian Deserts during the Middle Palaeolithic and the potential for hominin dispersals. Quaternary International 300: 48–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, N., Lem, R.E., Armitage, S.J., Breeze, P., Francke, J., El-Hawat, A.S., Salem, M.J., Hounslow, M.W. and White, K. 2018. Reconstructing palaeoclimate and hydrological fluctuations in the Fezzan Basin (southern Libya) since 130 ka: a catchment-based approach. Quaternary Science Reviews 200: 376–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duller, G.A.T., Tooth, S., Barham, L. and Tsukamoto, S. 2015. New investigations at Kalambo Falls, Zambia: luminescence chronology, site formation, and archaeological significance. Journal of Human Evolution 85: 111–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehrmann, W. and Schmiedl, G. 2021. Nature and dynamics of North African humid and dry periods during the last 200,000 years documented in the clay fraction of Eastern Mediterranean deep-sea sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 260: 106925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, R. 1981. Off-site archaeology and human adaptation in Eastern Africa. BAR International Series.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, R.A., Maíllo-Fernández, J.M. and Mirazón Lahr, M. 2013. The Middle Stone Age of the Central Sahara: biogeographical opportunities and technological strategies in later human evolution. Quaternary International 300: 153–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, R.A. and Mirazón Lahr, M. 2015. Lithic landscapes: early human impact from stone tool production on the Central Saharan environment. PLoS ONE 10: e0116482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallinaro, M. 2013. Saharan rock art: local dynamics and wider perspectives. Arts 2: 350–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallinaro, M. 2014. Tadrart Acacus rock art sites. In: Smith, C. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York: 7201–208.Google Scholar
Gallinaro, M., Gauthier, C., Gauthier, Y., Le Quellec, J.L., Abdel Aziz, S., Biagetti, S., Boitani, L., Cancellieri, E., Cavorsi, L., Massamba N'Siala, I., Monaco, A., Vanzetti, A., Zerboni, A. and di Lernia, S. 2012. The Messak project. Cultural and natural preservation and sustainable tourism (south-western Libya). Antiquity 086.Google Scholar
Gallotti, R., Muttoni, G., Lefèvre, D., Degeai, J.-P., Geraads, D., Zerboni, A., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Maron, M., Perini, S., El Graoui, M., Sanz-Laliberté, S., Daujeard, C., Fernandes, P., Rué, M., Magoga, L., Mohib, A. and Raynal, J.-P. 2021. First high resolution chronostratigraphy for the early North African Acheulean at Casablanca (Morocco). Scientific Reports 11: 15340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 1996. Archaeological investigation in the Messak Settafet. Libya Antiqua (New Series) 2: 15–21.Google Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 2001a. Cultural adaptations at Uan Tabu from the Upper Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. In: Garcea, E.A.A. (ed.), Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of Libyan Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 219–35.Google Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 2001b. A reconsideration of the Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age in Northern Africa after the evidence from the Libyan Sahara. In: Garcea, E.A.A. (ed.), Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of Libyan Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 25–49.Google Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 2001c. Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of Libyan Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 2010. South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples Between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago. Oxbow Books, Oxford.Google Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 2012. Modern human desert adaptation: a Libyan perspective on the Aterian Complex. In: Hublin, J.J. and McPherron, S.P. (eds), Modern Origins: A North African Perspective. Springer, New York: 127–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. 2013. Regional overview during the time frame of the Gobero occupation. In: Garcea, E.A.A. (ed.), Gobero: The No-Return Frontier. Archaeology and Landscape at the Saharo-Sahelian Borderland. Africa Magna Verlag, Frankfurt am Main: 251–70.Google Scholar
Garcea, E.A.A. and Giraudi, C. 2006. Late Quaternary human settlement patterning in the Jebel Gharbi. Journal of Human Evolution 51: 411–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goder-Goldberger, M., Gubenko, N. and Hovers, E. 2016. ‘Diffusion with modifications’: Nubian assemblages in the central Negev highlands of Israel and their implications for Middle Paleolithic inter-regional interactions. Quaternary International 408: 121–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haour, A.C. 2003. One hundred years of archaeology in Niger. Journal of World Prehistory 17: 181–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmand, S., Lewis, J.E., Feibel, C.S., Lepre, C.J., Prat, S., Lenoble, A., Boes, X., Quinn, R.L., Brenet, M., Arroyo, A., Taylor, N., Clement, S., Daver, G., Brugal, J.-P., Leakey, L., Mortlock, R.A., Wright, J.D., Lokorodi, S., Kirwa, C., Kent, D.V. and Roche, H. 2015. 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya. Nature 521: 310–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, A.L. 2012. The Aterian of the Oases of the Western Desert of Egypt: adaptation to changing climatic conditions? In: Hublin, J.-J. and McPherron, S.P. (eds), Modern Origins. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht: 157–75.Google Scholar
Hiscock, P. 1994. Technological responses to risk in Holocene Australia. Journal of World Prehistory 8: 267–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hublin, J.-J., Ben-Ncer, A., Bailey, S.E., Freidline, S.E., Neubauer, S., Skinner, M.M., Bergmann, I., Le Cabec, A., Benazzi, S., Harvati, K. and Gunz, P. 2017. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 546: 289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnsons, C.R. and McBrearty, S. 2010. 500,000 year old blades from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 58: 193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaboth-Bahr, S., Gosling, W.D., Vogelsang, R., Bahr, A., Scerri, E.M.L., Asrat, A., Cohen, A.S., Düsing, W., Foerster, V., Lamb, H.F., Maslin, M.A., Roberts, H.M., Schäbitz, F. and Trauth, M.H. 2021. Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118: e2018277118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleindienst, M.R. 1998. What is the Aterian? The view from Dakhleh Oasis and the western desert, Egypt. In: Marlow, M. and Mills, A.J. (eds), The Oasis Paper 1: The Proceedings of the First Conference of the Dakhleh Oasis Project. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 1–14.Google Scholar
Kleindienst, M.R., McDonald, M.M.A., Skinner, A.R., Blackwell, B.A.B. and Wiseman, M.F. 2020. Evidence for Pleistocene habitability and occupations in the Western Desert of Egypt, MIS 4 through early MIS 2. In: Leplongeon, A., Goder-Goldberger, M. and Pleurdeau, D. (eds), Not Just a Corridor. Human Occupation of the Nile Valley and Neighbouring Regions between 75,000 and 15,000 Years Ago. Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris: 39–69.Google Scholar
Knight, J. and Zerboni, A. 2018. Formation of desert pavements and the interpretation of lithic-strewn landscapes of the central Sahara. Journal of Arid Environments 153: 39–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larrasoaña, J.C. 2012. A Northeast Saharan perspective on environmental variability in North Africa and its implications for modern human origins. In: Hublin, J.-J. and McPherron, S.P. (eds), Modern Origins: A North African Perspective. Springer, Dordrecht: 19–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larrasoaña, J.C., Roberts, A.P. and Rohling, E.J. 2013. Dynamics of Green Sahara periods and their role in Hominin evolution. PLoS ONE 8: e76514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leplongeon, A. 2021. The main Nile valley at the end of the Pleistocene (28–15 ka): dispersal corridor or environmental refugium? Frontiers in Earth Science 8. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.607183/fullCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leplongeon, A. and Pleurdeau, D. 2011. The upper Palaeolithic lithic industry of Nazlet Khater 4 (Egypt): implications for the stone age/Palaeolithic of Northeastern Africa. African Archaeological Review 28: 213–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, H., Kuman, K., Lotter, M.G., Leader, G.M. and Gibbon, R.J. 2017. The Victoria West: earliest prepared core technology in the Acheulean at Canteen Kopje and implications for the cognitive evolution of early hominids. Royal Society Open Science 4: 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liverani, M. (eds). 2005. Aghram Nadharif. The Barkat Oasis (Sha ‘abiya of Ghat, Libyan Sahara) in Garamantian Times. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
Martini, M., Sibilia, E., Zelaschi, C., Troja, S.O., Forzese, R., Caputa, C., Gueli, A.M., Cro, A., Foti, F. and Pellegriti, M.G. 1998. TL and OSL dating of fossil dune sand in the Uan Afuda and Uan Tabu sites (Tadrart Acacus, Libyan Sahara). In: Cremaschi, M. and di Lernia, S. (eds), Wadi Teshuinat. Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in South-western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 67–72.Google Scholar
Mattingly, D.J. 2019. A road less travelled? The Society for Libyan Studies and the landscape archaeology of Libya's early civilisations. Libyan Studies 50: 35–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBrearty, S. and Brooks, A. 2000. The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 39: 453–563.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDonald, M.M.A. 2009. Increased sedentism in the central oases of the Egyptian Western Desert in the early to mid-Holocene: evidence from the peripheries. African Archaeological Review 26: 3–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, M.M.A. 2013. Whence the Neolithic of northeastern Africa? Evidence from the central Western Desert of Egypt. In: Shirai, N. (ed.), Neolithisation of Northeastern Africa. Berlin ex oriente, Berlin: 175–92.Google Scholar
McDonald, M.M.A., Wiseman, M.F., Kleindienst, M.R., Smith, J.R., Taylor, N., Wreschnig, A.J., Skinner, A.R. and Blackwell, B.A.B. 2016. Did Middle Stone Age Khargan peoples leave structural features? ‘Site J’, the forgotten settlement of the ‘empty desert’, Kharga Oasis, Egypt: 1933 and 2011. Journal of African Archaeology 14: 155–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M. 2010. Saharan Corridors and their role in the evolutionary geography of ‘Out of Africa I’. In: Fleagle, J.G., Shea, J.J., Grine, F.E., Baden, A.L. and Leakey, R.E. (eds), Out of Africa I: The First Hominin Colonization of Eurasia. Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M., Foley, R., Armitage, S., Barton, N., Crivellaro, F., Drake, N., Hounslow, M., Maher, L., Mattingly, D., Salem, M., Stock, J. and White, K. 2008. DMP III: Pleistocene and Holocene palaeoenvironments and prehistoric occupation of Fazzan. Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 39: 263–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M., Foley, R., Crivellaro, F., Fernandez, J.M., Wilshaw, A., Copsey, B., Rivera, F. and Mattingly, D. 2011. DMP XIV: prehistoric sites in the Wadi Barjuj, Fazzan, Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 42: 117–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M., Foley, R., Crivellaro, F., Maillo Fernandez, J., Wilshaw, A., Purdon, A., Halladay-Garrett, C., Veldhuis, D. and Mattingly, D. 2010. DMP XI: preliminary results from 2010 fieldwork on the human prehistory in the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 41: 133–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M., Foley, R., Crivellaro, F., Okumura, M., Maher, L., Davies, T., Veldhuis, D., Wilshaw, A. and Mattingly, D. 2009. DMP VI: preliminary results from 2009 fieldwork on the human prehistory of the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 40: 143–62.Google Scholar
Mori, F. 1965. Tadrart Acacus. Arte Rupestre e Culture del Sahara Preistorico. Einaudi, Torino.Google Scholar
Mori, L. 2013. Life and Death of a Rural Village in Garamantian Times. Archaeological Investigations in the Fewet Oasis (Libyan Sahara). All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze.Google Scholar
Mourre, V. 2003. Implications culturelles de la technologie des hachereaux. PhD dissertation, Université de Paris X.Google Scholar
Mutri, G. 2013. Levallois lithics on a Middle Stone Age Playa: finds at Bir el-Obeiyid, Northern Farafra Depression, Egypt. In: Bagnall, R.S., Davoli, P. and Hope, C.A. (eds), THE OASIS PAPERS 6. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Dakhleh Oasis Project. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 99–106.Google Scholar
Mutri, G. and Lucarini, G. 2008. New data on the late Pleistocene of the Shakshuk area, Jebel Gharbi, Libya. African Archaeological Review 25: 99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicoll, K. 2018. A revised chronology for Pleistocene paleolakes and Middle Stone Age – Middle Paleolithic cultural activity at Bîr Tirfawi – Bîr Sahara in the Egyptian Sahara. Quaternary International 463: 18–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olszewski, D.I., Dibble, H.L., McPherron, S.P., Schurmans, U.A., Chiotti, L. and Smith, J.R. 2010. Nubian complex strategies in the Egyptian high desert. Journal of Human Evolution 59: 188–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olszewski, D.I., Dibble, H.L., Schurmans, U.A., McPherron, S.P. and Smith, J.R. 2005. High desert Paleolithic survey at Abydos, Egypt. Journal of Field Archaeology 30: 283–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pausata, F.S.R., Gaetani, M., Messori, G., Berg, A., Maia de Souza, D., Sage, R.F. and and deMenocal, P.B. 2020. The greening of the Sahara: past changes and future implications. One Earth 2: 235–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perego, A., Zerboni, C. and Cremaschi, M. 2011. Geomorphological map of the Messak Settafet and Mellet (Central Sahara, SW Libya). Journal of Maps 2011: 464–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, R., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Faith, J.T., Tryon, C.A., Brooks, A.S., Yellen, J.E., Deino, A.L., Kinyanjui, R., Clark, J.B., Haradon, C.M., Levin, N.E., Meijer, H.J.M., Veatch, E.G., Owen, R.B. and Renaut, R.W. 2018. Environmental dynamics during the onset of the Middle Stone Age in eastern Africa. Science 360: 86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Potts, R., Dommain, R., Moerman, J.W., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Deino, A.L., Riedl, S., Beverly, E.J., Brown, E.T., Deocampo, D., Kinyanjui, R., Lupien, R., Owen, R.B., Rabideaux, N., Russell, J.M., Stockhecke, M., deMenocal, P., Faith, J.T., Garcin, Y., Noren, A., Scott, J.J., Western, D., Bright, J., Clark, J.B., Cohen, A.S., Keller, C.B., King, J., Levin, N.E., Brady Shannon, K., Muiruri, V., Renaut, R.W., Rucina, S.M. and Uno, K. 2020. Increased ecological resource variability during a critical transition in hominin evolution. Science Advances 6: eabc8975.Google Scholar
Quade, J., Dente, E., Armon, M., Ben Dor, Y., Morin, E., Adam, O. and Enzel, Y. 2018. Megalakes in the Sahara? A review. Quaternary Research 90(2): 253–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramos, J., Bernal, D., Domínguez-Bella, S., Calado, D., Ruiz, B., Gil, M.J., Clemente, I., Durán, J.J., Vijande, E. and Chamorro, S. 2008. The Benzú rockshelter: a Middle Palaeolithic site on the North African coast. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 2210–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raynal, J.P., Gallotti, R., Mohib, A., Fernandes, P. and Lefèvre, D. 2017. The western quest, first and second regional Acheuleans at Thomas-Oulad Hamida Quarries (Casablanca, Morocco). In: Wojtczak, D., Wegmüller, F., Elsuede, H. and Al Najjar, M. (eds), Vocation préhistoire. Hommage à Jean-Marie Le Tensorer. ERAUL, Liège: 309–22.Google Scholar
Reynolds, T. 2007. Section 42. The lithics. In: Mattingly, D. (ed.), The Archaeology of Fazzan.Volume 2, Site Gazetteer, Pottery and Other Survey Finds. Department of Antiquities and Society for Libyan Studies, Tripoli and London: 432–47.Google Scholar
Richter, D., Grün, R., Joannes-Boyau, R., Steele, T.E., Amani, F., Rué, M., Fernandes, P., Raynal, J.-P., Geraads, D., Ben-Ncer, A., Hublin, J.-J. and McPherron, S.P. 2017. The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age. Nature 546: 293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richter, D., Moser, J., Nami, M., Eiwanger, J. and Mikdad, A. 2010. New chronometric data from Ifri n'Ammar (Morocco) and the chronostratigraphy of the middle Palaeolithic in the western Maghreb. Journal of Human Evolution 59: 672–679.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riemer, H. 2004. Dating and production technique of Ounan points in the Eastern Sahara. New archaeological evidence from Abu Tartur, Western Desert of Egypt. Nyame Akuma 61: 10–16.Google Scholar
Roberts, P. and Stewart, B.A. 2018. Defining the ‘generalist specialist’ niche for Pleistocene Homo sapiens. Nature Human Behaviour 2: 542–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rolland, N. 1995. Levallois technique emergence: single or multilple? A review of the Euro-African record. In: Dibble, H.L. and Bar-Yosef, O. (eds), The Definition and Interpretation of Levallois Technology. Prehistory Press, Madison: 361–79.Google Scholar
Roset, J.-P. 2005. El-Akarit et le Paléolithique moyen en Tunisie. Archéologies, 20 ans de recherches françaises dans le monde. ADPF, Ministére des Affaires étrangéres, Paris: 225–26.Google Scholar
Sahnouni, M., Hadjouis, D., van der Made, J., Derradji, A.-E.-K., Canals, A., Medig, M., Belahrech, H., Harichane, Z. and Rabhi, M. 2002. Further research at the Oldowan site of Ain Hanech, North-eastern Algeria. Journal of Human Evolution 43: 925–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sahnouni, M., Parés, J.M., Duval, M., Cáceres, I., Harichane, Z., van der Made, J., Pérez-González, A., Abdessadok, S., Kandi, N., Derradji, A., Medig, M., Boulaghraif, K. and Semaw, S. 2018. 1.9-million- and 2.4-million-year-old artifacts and stone tool–cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria. Science 362: 1297–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sahnouni, M., Semaw, S. and Rogers, M. 2013. The African Acheulean. In: Mitchell, P. and Lane, P. (eds), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Sánchez Goñi, M.F. 2020. Regional impacts of climate change and its relevance to human evolution. Evolutionary Human Sciences 2: e55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scerri, E.M.L., Drake, N.A., Jennings, R. and Groucutt, H.S. 2014. Earliest evidence for the structure of Homo sapiens populations in Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 101: 207–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scerri, E.M.L. and Spinapolice, E. 2019. Lithics of the North African Middle Stone Age: assumptions, evidence and future directions. Journal of Anthropological Sciences 97: 9–43.Google Scholar
Schwenninger, J.-L., Collcutt, S.N., Barton, N., Bouzouggar, A., Clark-Balzan, L., El Hajraoui, M.A., Nespoulet, R. and Debénath, A. 2010. A new luminescence chronology for Aterian cave sites on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. In: Garcea, E.A.A. (ed.), South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples Between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago. Oxford: Oxbow Books: 18–36.Google Scholar
Sereno, P.C., Garcea, E.A.A., Jousse, H., Stojanowski, C.M., Saliège, J.-F., Maga, A., Ide, O.A., Knudson, K.J., Mercuri, A.M., Stafford, T.W. Jr., Kaye, T.G., Giraudi, C., N'Siala, I.M., Cocca, E., Moots, H.M., Dutheil, D.B. and Stivers, J.P. 2008. Lakeside cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 years of Holocene population and environmental change. PLoS ONE 3: e2995.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharon, G. 2007. Acheulian Large Flake Industries: Technology, Chronology and Significance. BAR International Series 1701. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Sharon, G. 2010. Large flake Acheulian. Quaternary International 223–224: 226–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A.B. 1993. Terminal Palaeolithic industries of Sahara: a discussion of new data. In: Krzyżaniak, L., Kobusiewicz, M. and Alexander, J. (eds), Environmental Change and Human Culture in the Nile Basin and Northern Africa until the Second Millennium BC. Poznan Archaeological Museum, Poznan: 69–75.Google Scholar
Spinapolice, E.E. and Garcea, E.A.A. 2014. Aterian lithic technology and settlement system in the Jebel Gharbi, North-Western Libya. Quaternary International 350: 241–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tierney, J.E., deMenocal, P.B. and Zander, P.D. 2017. A climatic context for the out-of-Africa migration. Geology 45: 1023–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tryon, C.A., McBrearty, S. and Texier, P.J. 2006. Levallois lithic technology from the Kapthurin formation, Kenya: Acheulian origin and Middle Stone Age diversity. African Archaeological Review 22: 199–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Peer, P. 2001. Observations on the Palaeolithic of the south-western Fezzan and thoughts on the origin of the Aterian. In: Garcea, E.A.A. (ed.), Uan Tabu in the settlement history of Libyan Sahara. All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze: 51–62.Google Scholar
Van Peer, P. 2016. Technological systems, population dynamics, and historical process in the MSA of Northern Africa. In: Jones, C.S. and Stewart, A.B. (eds), Africa from MIS 6–2: Population Dynamics and Paleoenvironments. Springer, Dordrecht: 147–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Peer, P., Fullagar, R., Stokes, S., Bailey, R.M., Moeyersons, J., Steenhoudt, F., Geerts, A., Vanderbeken, T., De Dapper, M. and Geus, F. 2003. The early to Middle Stone Age transition and the emergence of modern human behaviour at site 8-B-11, Sai Island, Sudan. Journal of Human Evolution 45: 187–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Peer, P., Vermeersch, P.M. and Paulissen, E. 2010. Chert Quarrying, Lithic Technology and a Modern Human Burial at the Palaeolithic Site of Taramsa 1, Upper Egypt. Leuven University Press, Leuven.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, P.M. 2010. Middle and upper Palaeolithic in the Egyptian Nile Valley. In: Garcea, E.A.A. (ed.), South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples Between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 66–88.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, P.M. 2020. Human occupation density and mobility in the lower Nile Valley (75,000–15,000 years ago). In: Leplongeon, A., Goder-Goldberger, M. and Pleurdeau, D. (eds), Not Just a Corridor. Human Occupation of the Nile Valley and Neighbouring Regions between 75,000 and 15,000 Years Ago. Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris: 139–57.Google Scholar
Wendorf, F., Schild, R. and Close, A.E. (eds). 1993. Egypt During the Last Interglacial: The Middle Paleolithic of Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, J., Pollarolo, L. and Kuman, K. 2010. Prepared core reduction at the site of Kudu Koppie in northern South Africa: temporal patterns across the Earlier and Middle Stone Age boundary. Journal of Archaeological Science 37: 1279–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Will, M. and Mackay, A. 2020. A matter of space and time: how frequent is convergence in lithic technology in the African archaeological record over the last 300 kyr? In: Groucutt, H.S. (ed.), Culture History and Convergent Evolution: Can We Detect Populations in Prehistory? Springer International Publishing, Cham: 103–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, M. 2014. Climate Change in Deserts: Past, Present and Future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zerboni, A., Perego, A. and Cremaschi, M. 2015. Geomorphological map of the Tadrart Acacus Massif and the Erg Uan Kasa (Libyan Central Sahara). Journal of Maps 11: 772–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zerboni, A., Trombino, L. and Cremaschi, M. 2011. Micromorphological approach to polycyclic pedogenesis on the Messak Settafet plateau (central Sahara): formative processes and palaeoenvironmental significance. Geomorphology 125: 319–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar