Human occupation and environmental change in the western Maghreb during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Late Glacial. New evidence from the Iberomaurusian site Ifri El Baroud (northeast Morocco)

Abstract

With the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), hunter-gatherers of the so-called Iberomaurusian techno-complex appeared in what is now the Mediterranean Maghreb. During a period of about seven thousand years, these groups left sandy occupation layers in a limited number of archaeological sites, while at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GI) 1, the sudden shift towards the deposition of shellrich sediments and the increase in number of sites document clear changes in subsistence strategies as well 2 as occupation density. It is highly likely that these shifts in human behaviour are related to paleoenvironmental changes in the area, which, so far, are poorly documented in geological and archaeological archives. Ifri El Baroud (Gunpowder Cave, northeast Morocco) contains a well-stratified archaeological sequence covering both phases of Iberomaurusian occupation separated by a sharp sedimentary change. In this paper, new chronological data and detailed investigations on site formation using sedimentology and micromorphology are presented. In addition, results of the analyses of fauna, pollen, macrobotanical remains, and phytoliths are included. This data contributes to a full-scale paleoenvironmental interpretation of the site's archaeological deposits, highlighting the fluctuations of landscape conditions at the transition from the cold-arid Greenland Stadial (GS) 2.1 to the warmer and moister Greenland Interstadial 1.

Pots, plants and animals: Broad-spectrum subsistence strategies in the Early Neolithic of the Moroccan Rif region

“…For example, the larger mammal fauna in the Iberomaurusian levels at Ifri El Baroud (Gunpowder Cave, northeast Morocco) comprises large ungulates such as wild equid species (Equus sp. ), Cuvier's Gazelle (Gazella cuvieri), Bubal Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), and Aurochs (Bos primigenius), very similar to that seen at the Rif sites discussed here (Potì et al 2019). These taxa are mostly known to reside in open habitats or savannahs, which suggests that the environment in Holocene northeast Morocco was quite different from that of today (Michel et al 2009).…”

“…This may be connected to local topography and/or to selective exploitation that maximised specialised hunting strategies (Potì et al 2019). The groups exploiting the rockshelter at Hassi Ouenzga began to exploit domesticates contemporaneously with those at Ifri Oudadane.…”

Isotopic evidence of high reliance on plant food among Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers at Taforalt, Morocco

“…Wild plants have been recovered from other Iberomaurusian sites and could have been collected for the purpose of consumption, such as at Tamar Hat, Algeria 25 , and Ifri el Baroud, Morocco (Fig. 1 ) 26 .…”

“…To date, it is one of the oldest cemeteries in North Africa, with the largest number of human burials (including adults, adolescents and infants). The human remains were directly dated to 15,077 to 13,892 cal BP 17 , which coincides with a rapid warming period following the Last Glacial Maximum 26 . It is a key site for studying human dietary behaviour during the Late Pleistocene in North Africa and offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate human dietary behaviours at the end of the Late Pleistocene and before the spread of farming practices in the region.…”

Morphological, biometric and taphonomic analyses of Holocene gerbils from Guenfouda (Eastern Morocco) and first mention ofGerbillus henleyiin a fossil record

“…Later, the species became more frequently recorded during the Middle Pleistocene in Morocco (Hominid cave and Rhinoceros Cave, Geraads et al 2010;Salé, Tong 1989;Jebel Irhoud;Geraads et al 2013;Sidi Abderrahmane, Tong 1989), as well as in Algeria (Aïn Mefta; Tong 1989) or in Tunisia (Jebel Ressas; Mein and Pickford 1992). In the Upper Pleistocene and the Holocene, with the exception of a mention of G. maghrebi at Chrafate and Ez-Zarka in northern Morocco (Ouahbi et al 2003), G. campestris became the only gerbil species cited throughout different sites in Morocco (El Harhoura 2, Stoetzel et al 2010;Contrebandiers Cave, Reed and Barr 2010;Felids Cave, Geraads et al 2010;Chrafate and Ez Zarka;Ouahbi et al 2003;Oued Assaka, Wengler et al 2002;Ifri-el-Baroud;Potì et al 2019;Guenfouda, M et al 2013;Ifri N ‗Ammar, Mouhsine 2003; Kehf-el-Baroud; Barton et al 2005;Kahf-That-El-Ghar, Ouchaou 2000;Gazelles Cave, Geraads et al 2010;Hassi Ouenzga, Linstädter 2004) and in Algeria (Gueldaman, Saidani et al, 2016).…”