Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:52:52.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2010: the fourth season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007–2009 fieldwork

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Graeme Barker ,
Annita Antoniadou ,
Simon Armitage ,
Ian Brooks ,
Ian Candy ,
Kate Connell ,
Katerina Douka ,
Nicholas Drake ,
Lucy Farr  and
Evan Hill
...Show all authors
Graeme Barker
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Annita Antoniadou
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Simon Armitage
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Ian Brooks
Affiliation:
Engineering Archaeological Services Ltd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, UK
Ian Candy
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Kate Connell
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
Katerina Douka
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford, UK
Nicholas Drake
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, King's College, London, UK
Lucy Farr
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Evan Hill
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Chris Hunt
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Robyn Inglis
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
Sacha Jones
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Christine Lane
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford, UK
Giulio Lucarini
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Archeologia e Preistoria, University ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy
John Meneely
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Jacob Morales
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Historicas, University of Las Palmas, Spain
Giuseppina Mutri
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Archeologia e Preistoria, University ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy
Amy Prendergast
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
Ryan Rabett
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Hazel Reade
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
Tim Reynolds
Affiliation:
Faculty of Continuing Education, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
Natalie Russell
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
David Simpson
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Bernard Smith
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast, UK
Chris Stimpson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, 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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The paper reports on the fourth (2010) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results of analyses of artefacts and organic materials collected in the 2009 season. Ground-based LiDar has provided both an accurate 3D scan of the Haua Fteah cave and information on the cave's morphometry or origins. The excavations in the cave focussed on Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age ‘Pre-Aurignacian’ layers below the base of the Middle Trench beside the McBurney Deep Sounding (Trench D) and on Final Palaeolithic ‘Oranian’ layers beside the upper part of the Middle Trench (Trench M). Although McBurney referred to the upper part of the Deep Sounding as more or less sterile, the 2010 excavations found evidence for small-scale but regular human presence in the form of stone artefacts and debitage, though given the sedimentary context the latter are unlikely to represent in situ knapping. The excavations of Trench M extended from the basal Capsian layers investigated in 2009 through Oranian layers to the transition with the Dabban Upper Palaeolithic. Some 17,000 lithic pieces have been studied from the Capsian and Oranian layers excavated in Trench M, in an area measuring less than 2 m by 1 m by 1.1 m deep, along with numerous animal bones, molluscs, and macrobotanical remains, as well as occasional shell beads. Preliminary studies of the lithics, bones, molluscs, and plant remains are revealing the changing character of late Pleistocene (Oranian) and early Holocene (Capsian) occupation in the Haua Fteah. Alongside the work in the Haua Fteah, the project continued its assessment of the Quaternary and archaeological sequences of the Cyrenaican coastland and completed a transect survey of surface lithic materials and their landform contexts from the pre-desert across the Gebel Akhdar to the coast, with a new focus on the al-Marj basin. Significant differences are emerging in patterns of Middle Palaeolithic and later hominin occupation and palaeodemography.

Type
Archaeological Reports
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 41 , 2010 , pp. 63 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2010

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

Aura, J.E., Carrió, Y., Estrelles, E. and Pérez-Jorda, G. 2005. Plant economy of hunter-gatherer groups at the end of the last Ice Age: plant macroremains from the cave of Santa Maira (Alacant, Spain) c. 12,000–9000 BP. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 14: 542–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, G.N. and Woodward, J.C. 1997. The Klithi deposits: sedimentology, stratigraphy and chronology. In Bailey, G.N. (ed.), Klithi: Palaeolithic Settlement and Quaternary Landscapes in Northwest Greece. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge: 61–94.Google Scholar
Barker, G., Hunt, C. and Reynolds, T. 2007. The Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica (northeast Libya): renewed investigations of the cave and its landscape, 2007. Libyan Studies 38: 93–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, G., Basell, L., Brooks, I., Burn, L., Cartwright, C., Cole, F., Davison, J., Farr, L., Grün, R., Hamilton, R., Hunt, C., Inglis, R., Jacobs, Z., Leitch, V., Morales, J., Morley, I., Morley, M., Pawley, S., Pryor, A., Reynolds, T., el-Rishi, H., Roberts, R., Simpson, D., Twati, M. and van der Veen, M., 2008. The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2008: the second season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the initial (2007) fieldwork. Libyan Studies 39: 175–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, G., Antoniadou, A., Barton, H., Brooks, I., Candy, I., Drake, N., Farr, L., Hunt, C., Ibrahim, A.A., Inglis, R., Jones, S., Morales, J., Morley, I., Mutri, G., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Simpson, D., Twati, M. and White, K., 2009. 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. Libyan Studies 40: 55–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Kaufman, A. and Wasserburg, G.J. 1999. The eastern Mediterranean paleoclimate as a reflection of regional events: Soreq cave, Israel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 166: 85–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulos, L. 1983. Medicinal Plants of North Africa. Algonac (MI): Reference Publications.Google Scholar
Cartwright, C. and Hunt, C. 2008. Preliminary observations on the wood charcoal. In Barker, et al. 2008: 205–8.Google Scholar
Charco, J. 2001. Guía de los Árboles y Arbustos del Norte de África. Madrid: AECI.Google Scholar
Cremaschi, M., Di Lernia, S. and Garcea, E. 1998. Some insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara: chronology, environment, and archaeology. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 15: 261–86.Google Scholar
Dobson, M. and Wright, A. 2000. Faunal relationships and zoogeographical affinities of mammals in North-west Africa. Journal of Biogeography 27.2: 417–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, P. and Bar-Yosef, O. 1998. Site formation processes in Kebara and Hayonim caves and their significance in Levantine prehistoric caves. In Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. and Bar-Yosef, O. (eds), Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Western Asia. Plenum Press, New York: 107–26.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. and Sherwood, S.C. 2006. Deciphering human prehistory through the geoarcheological study of cave sediments. Evolutionary Anthropology 15: 20–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, S.J.G. 2008. A comparative analysis of the habitat of the extinct aurochs and other prehistoric mammals in Britain. Ecography 31: 187–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hey, R.W. 1967. Appendix 4A. Land-snails. In McBurney, , 1967: 358.Google Scholar
Higgs, E.S. 1967. Environment and chronology — the evidence from mammalian fauna. In McBurney, 1967: 16–44.Google Scholar
Hublin, J.-J. 2000. Modern–Non-modern hominid interactions: a Mediterranean perspective. In Bar-Yosef, O. and Pilbeam, D. (eds), The Geography of Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Peabody Museum Bulletin 8, Cambridge (MA): 157–82.Google Scholar
Inglis, R. 2009. Micromorphology. In Barker, et al. 2009: 64–5.Google Scholar
Klein, R. and Scott, K. 1986. Re-analysis of faunal assemblages from the Haua Fteah and other Late Quaternary archaeological sites in Cyrenaican Libya. Journal of Archaeological Science 13: 515–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Quellec, J.-L. 1990. Pierres de Ben Barur et ‘Radnetzen’ au Fezzan (Libye). L'Anthropologie 94: 115–26.Google Scholar
McBurney, C.B.M. 1960. The Stone Age of Northern Africa. Penguin Books, London.Google Scholar
McBurney, C.B.M. 1967. The Haua Fteah (Cyrenaica) and the Stone Age of the South-East Mediterranean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
McBurney, C.B.M. and Hey, R.W. 1955. Prehistory and Pleistocene Geology in Cyrenaican Libya. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Meneely, J.D., Smith, B.J., Viles, H.A. and Gomez-Heras, M. 2008. In-situ monitoring of limestone buildings in Oxford. In Tiano, P. and Pardini, C. (eds), In-situ Monitoring of Monumental Surfaces. Centro Nazionale di Ricerche, Florence: 327–34.Google Scholar
Meneely, J.D., Smith, B.J., Curran, J. and Ruffell, A. 2009. Developing a non-destructive scientific toolkit to monitor monuments and sites. Proceedings of ICOMOS Scientific Symposium (Changing World, Changing Views of Heritage: the Impact of Global Change on Cultural Heritage – Technological Change). Available at: http://www.international.icomos.org/adcom/malta2009/symposium.htm.Google Scholar
Morales, J. and Barker, G. 2009. The macrobotanical remains from the 2008 season. In Barker, et al. 2009: 83–6.Google Scholar
Morales, J. and van der Veen, M. 2008. Preliminary observations on the macrobotanical remains. In Barker, et al. 2007: 208–13.Google Scholar
Moyer, C. 2003. The Organisation of Lithic Technology in the Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic Industries at the Haua Fteah, Libya. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Olsen, S.L. and Shipman, P. 1988. Surface modification on bone: trampling versus butchery. Journal of Archaeological Science 15: 535–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P.J. and McCormac, F.G. 2002. Marine radiocarbon reservoir corrections for the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Radiocarbon 44: 159–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., van der Plicht, J. and Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51: 1111–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rivera, D. and Obón, C. 1991. La Guía de INCAFO de las Plantas Útiles y Venenosas de la Península Ibérica y Baleares (Excluidas Medicinales). Madrid: INCAFO.Google Scholar
Roberts, C., Zanchetta, G. and Jones, M. 2010. Oxygen isotopes as tracers of Mediterranean climate variability: an introduction. Global and Planetary Change 71: 135–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B.J. 1978. The origins and geomorphic implications of cliff foot recesses and tafoni on limestone hamadas in the northwest Sahara. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie 22: 21–43.Google Scholar
Smith, B.J. 2009. Weathering processes and forms. In Abrahams, A. and Parsons, A. (eds), Geomorphology of Desert Environments: 69–100. (2nd edition). Springer, Berlin.Google Scholar
Stein, J.K. 2001. A review of site formation processes and their relevance to geoarchaeology in earth sciences and archaeology. In Goldberg, P., Holliday, V.T. and Ferring, C.R. (eds), Earth Sciences and Archaeology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York: 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tixier, J. 1963. Typologie de l'Epipaléolithique du Maghreb. Paris: Mémoires du C.R.A.PE. (II).Google Scholar
Vaquer, J. and Ruas, M.-P. 2009. La grotte de L'Adeurador Félines-Minervois (Hérault): occupations humaines et environnement du Tardiglaciaire à l'Holocène. In De Méditerranée et d'Ailleurs. Mélanges Offerts à Jean Guilaine: 761–92. Toulouse: Archives d'Écologie Préhistorique.Google Scholar
Wall, C. 2004. Coastal Ungulates: The Seasonal Use of Ibex and Barbary Sheep Among Mediterranean Hominins. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Zong, G. 1984. A record of Bos primigenius from the Quaternary of the Aba Tibetan Autonomous Region. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 22.3: 239–45.Google Scholar