Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:07:01.875Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

DMP XI: Preliminary results from 2010 fieldwork on the human prehistory in the Libyan Sahara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

M. Mirazón Lahr ,
Robert Foley ,
Federica Crivellaro ,
José Maillo Fernandez ,
Alex Wilshaw ,
Adam Purdon ,
Cornelius Halladay-Garrett ,
Djuke Veldhuis  and
David Mattingly
M. Mirazón Lahr
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
Robert Foley
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
Federica Crivellaro
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
José Maillo Fernandez
Affiliation:
UNED, Spain
Alex Wilshaw
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
Adam Purdon
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
Cornelius Halladay-Garrett
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
Djuke Veldhuis
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
David Mattingly
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of the work of the Palaeo team of the DMP in January 2010. The fieldwork was focused on two different areas – the Wadi ash-Shati and the southwestern margin of the Ubari Sand Sea. Work in the Wadi ash-Shati confirmed the existence of Oldowan sites in Fazzan (locality SHT11 and environs), which although undated, represent a major addition to the extent of prehistoric occupation of the area. Further work near the site originally studied by Petit-Maire in the 1980s confirmed the association of a shell layer dated to the last interglacial with archaeological artefacts in situ. These artefacts are of MSA affinity, thus placing Fazzan in the context of other northern African sites of that time. The work in the southwestern margin of the basin represented the first formal archaeological survey of that area. This revealed extensive Holocene and MSA occupations, and in a group of sites at the southern edge of the Hamada Zaqher, also Oldowan lithics. Little if any Acheulean remains were observed, while the latter predominate in the interdunes just north of the Wadi al-Ajal. Overall, the spatial and technological analyses of the sites and remains suggest that there were different resource constraints on hominins in the Middle and later Quaternary, shaping the distribution of industries and raw materials. Furthermore, the relative widespread distribution of Oldowan sites – Wadi ash-Shati, southern Messak, and Hamada Zaqher, shows that the Central Sahara played an important role in the evolutionary geography of Lower Pleistocene hominins in Africa.

Type
Archaeological Reports
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 41 , 2010 , pp. 133 - 154
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

Armitage, S., Drake, N., Stokes, S., El-Hawat, A., Salem, M.J., White, K., Turner, P. and McLaren, S.J. 2007. Multiple phases of North African humidity recorded in lacustrine sediments from the Fazzan Basin, Libyan Sahara. Quaternary Geochronology 2: 181–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, R.A. 1981. Off-site archaeology and human adaptation in Eastern Africa: an analysis of regional artefact density in the Amboseli, southern Kenya. Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 3. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 97, Oxford.Google Scholar
Geyh, M.A. and Thiedig, F. 2008. The Middle Pleistocene Al Mahrúqah Formation in the Murzuq Basin, northern Sahara, Libya: Evidence for orbitally-forced humid episodes during the last 500,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 257: 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D.J., Lahr, M., Armitage, S., Barton, H., Dore, J., Drake, N., Foley, R., Merlo, S., Salem, M., Stock, J. and White, K. 2007. Desert Migrations: people, environment and culture in the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 38: 115–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M., Foley, R., Armitage, S., Barton, H., Crivellaro, F., Drake, N., Hounslow, M., Maher, L., Mattingly, D.J., Salem, M., Stock, J. and White, K. 2008. DMP III: Pleistocene and Holocene palaeoenvironments and prehistoric occupation of Fazzan, Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 39: 1–32.Google Scholar
Mirazón Lahr, M., Foley, R., Crivellaro, F., Okumura, M., Maher, L., Davies, T., Veldhuis, D., Wilshaw, A. and Mattingly, D.J. 2009. DMP VI: Preliminary results from 2009 fieldwork on the human prehistory of the Libyan Sahara. Libyan Studies 40: 143–162.Google Scholar
Petit-Maire, N., Delibrias, G. and Gaven, C. 1980. Pleistocene lakes in the Shati area, Fezzan (27°30'N). In Sarnthein, M., Seibold, E. and Rognon, P. (eds), Sahara and the Surrounding Seas. Palaeoecology of Africa, 12. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam: 289–295.Google Scholar
Sharon, G. 2009. Acheulian giant-core technology: A worldwide perspective. Current Anthropology 50: 335–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar