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The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2009: the third season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007–2008 fieldwork

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Graeme Barker ,
Annita Antoniadou ,
Huw Barton ,
Ian Brooks ,
Ian Candy ,
Nicholas Drake ,
Lucy Farr ,
Chris Hunt ,
Abdulsaid Abdulhamid Ibrahim  and
Robyn Inglis
...Show all authors
Graeme Barker
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Annita Antoniadou
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Huw Barton
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Ian Brooks
Affiliation:
Engineering Archaeological Services Ltd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, UK
Ian Candy
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Nicholas Drake
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, King's College, University of London, UK
Lucy Farr
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Chris Hunt
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Abdulsaid Abdulhamid Ibrahim
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Omar Mukhtar University, al-Beida, Libya
Robyn Inglis
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
Sacha Jones
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Jacob Morales
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Historicas, University of Las Palmas, Spain
Iain Morley
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Giuseppina Mutri
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Archeologia e Preistoria, University ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy
Ryan Rabett
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Tim Reynolds
Affiliation:
Faculty of Continuing Education, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
David Simpson
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Mohammed Twati
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Omar Mukhtar University, al-Beida, Libya
Kevin White
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Archaeology, University of Reading, UK
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Abstract

The paper reports on the third (2009) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results from the analysis of materials collected in the previous (2007 and 2008) fieldwork. Sediments in a 14 m-deep core drilled beside the McBurney trench provide an invaluable overview of the overall stratigraphic sequence, including at depths reached by the 1950s Deep Sounding but not yet investigated by the present project. Sampling of newly-exposed faces of the original excavation trench for dating (14C, ESR, OSL, U-series) and palaeoenvirommental indicators continued. Excavation was begun of sediments assigned to the early Holocene Libyco-Capsian (McBurney's Layer X), and of Pre-Aurignacian layers beside the top of the Deep Sounding. The Libyco-Capsian layers are particularly prolific in lithic debris, shells, and animal bones; preliminary analysis of the lithics suggests a development from Typical to Upper Capsian within the layers excavated in 2009. Geoarchaeological survey along the littoral to the west and east of the Haua Fteah identified complex sequences spanning most of the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Geoarchaeological survey south of the Haua Fteah characterized the major landforms of the Gebel Akhdar mountain and of the pre-desert and desert-edge zones further south, with Late Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic) material being found especially on the southern side of the Gebel Akhdar, and Middle Stone Age (Middle Palaeolithic) material in the pre-desert and desert regions. The first suite of 14C dates (from charcoal samples taken in 2007) indicates the use of the Haua Fteah by Oranian hunter-gatherers during the Last Glacial Maximum and in the succeeding millennia, but not in the Younger Dryas cold/dry phase (c. 11,000–10,000 cal. BC), with Libyco-Capsian occupation resuming soon after the beginning of the Holocene c. 9000 cal. BC, suggesting that the cave, and perhaps the Gebel Akhdar in general, have a complex history as refugia for human settlement during the Pleistocene.

Type
Archaeological Reports
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 40 , 2009 , pp. 55 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2009

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