The early Holocene in North Africa remains a poorly known period, documented unequally by region. Eastern Algeria and Tunisia have the greatest number of deposits, but most were excavated decades ago without the controls and recording required for modern interpretation. The chronological framework is based on radiocarbon (14C) dates that are also old, for the most part. Recent work on Mesolithic lithic industries of Western Europe has enabled us to revive the hypothesis of the existence of contacts between the northern and southern shores of the western Mediterranean at least by the 6th millennium cal BC. A collective research program was conducted in 2016–2017 to test this hypothesis with a particular focus on documenting the technological traditions in the lithic industry and situating them precisely in time. We have 46 new radiocarbon dates that were recently carried out on previously excavated Algerian sites, some of which contain several levels, allowing the construction of Bayesian models. These new measures reinforce the hypothesis of contacts between Europe and Africa by demonstrating the contemporaneity of similar technological processes. Above all, they make it possible to accurately refine the chronology of the main cultural entities of the Maghreb at the beginning of the Holocene.

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Résumé : C’est à la fin des années 1950, durant la guerre d’indépendance algérienne, que Georges Simonnet entreprit plusieurs sondages, sous forme de tranchées, sur le gisement de Saint-Trivier, à Mascara (Algérie). Le site se présente sous la forme d’une accumulation de vestiges d’occupations préhistoriques plus ou moins cendreux et de niveaux coquillers, en bordure d’un ravin abrupt l’ayant partiellement entaillé. Les sondages réalisés ont livré de nombreux vestiges de silex taillés, d’ossements animaux et de gastéropodes, ainsi que plusieurs aménagements, fosses et foyers. Issues d’une zone géographique à l’écart de l’essentiel des gisements algériens connus pour le début de l’Holocène, ces données s’avèrent particulièrement précieuses. La restitution du déroulé des opérations de terrain, des choix méthodologiques et l’examen des documents photographiques permettent de replacer les vestiges archéologiques au sein d’une stratigraphie de plus d’un mètre, scandée de plusieurs occupations distinctes. Adossée à plusieurs datations radiocarbone, l’analyse de l’évolution des industries lithiques et osseuses suggère que l’occupation principale se rapporte à un faciès particulier de l’Épipaléolithique méditerranéen d’Afrique du Nord : le Columnatien. Individualisé dans les années 1970, celui-ci n’était pour l’heure documenté que par deux gisements : Columnata et le site du Cubitus. Ces nouvelles données permettent d’apporter un éclairage inédit sur ce faciès particulier, daté du 8e millénaire avant notre ère, en Algérie occidentale.

ABSTRACT. The Neolithic site KS043, excavated by the Institut français d'archéologie orientale (IFAO), is situated in the southern basin of the Kharga Oasis (Egypt). It is one of the very few stratified prehistoric sites of the eastern Sahara. The archaeological remains were found near artesian springs that provided water for pastoralists during the dry Middle Holocene. In situ settlement features provided well-preserved material (charcoal, ashy sediment, ostrich eggshell) sufficient to perform radiocarbon dating in the IFAO laboratory in Cairo by the conventional liquid scintillation method. In 2 cases, ostrich eggshell and charcoal within the same in situ context gave significantly different results of, respectively, -600 and -1200 yr younger dates for the ostrich eggshells. The strong discrepancy is here highlighted for the first time and we suggest that it may be linked with postdepositional phenomena in the vicinity of the artesian springs. A thorough review of 14 C dates available for the Holocene in eastern Sahara shows that ostrich eggshells have been widely used. They seem slightly more prone to be discarded than other material but were never the object of a particular study in this context. Bayesian modeling shows that the Neolithic occupation at site KS043 spans a range from 5000 to 3950 cal BC (and concentrated around 4600-4350 cal BC). Characteristic flint tools and pottery relate this occupation to the end of the Neolithic and show links with the Tasian culture, confirming the timing of the presence of this cultural complex in the desert before its appearance in the Nile Valley.