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The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2011: Late-Holocene environments and human activity from a cave fill in Cyrenaica, Libya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2014

Chris O. Hunt ,
Ian Brooks ,
John Meneely ,
David Brown ,
Ahmed Buzaian  and
Graeme Barker
Chris O. Hunt
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Ian Brooks
Affiliation:
Engineering Archaeological Services Ltd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, UK
John Meneely
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
David Brown
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Ahmed Buzaian
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Garyunis University, Benghazi, Libya
Graeme Barker
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
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Abstract

Little is known about late Holocene environmental change in Cyrenaica. The late Holocene sequence in the Haua Fteah, the key regional site, is highly discontinuous and characterised by stable-burning deposits. The geoarchaeology of the late-Holocene cave fill of a small cave, CP1565, located close to the Haua Fteah, is described. The well-stratified sequence, dating from the fourth century AD to the present day, provides a glimpse of life at the bottom of the settlement hierarchy and of changing environments over the last 1600 years, with degraded vegetation and aridity in the ‘Little Ice Age’.

Type
Archaeological Reports
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 42 , 2011 , pp. 77 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2011

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