OSL dating of the Aterian levels at Dar es-Soltan I (Rabat, Morocco) and implications for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens

Barton, Nick; Bouzouggar, Abdeljalil; Collcutt, S. N.; Schwenninger, J.-L.; Clark-Balzan, Laine

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.03.010

Cited by 141 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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Section: Older Saharan Occupation and Crossingssupporting

confidence: 53%

“…This humid period corresponds very closely with the age of the first modern human occupation of the North African coast (45) and the Levant (46) by sub-Saharan populations, who may have been crossing the Sahara at this time (9). The occupation of the Mediterranean coast of Africa by these early modern human migrants appears to have lasted from ∼110 to ∼30 ka (45), though the Levantine occupation appears to have finished by ∼70 ka (47). Some view the out-of-Africa dispersal into the Levant as the start of the spread of modern humans onward into Arabia and India in MIS5 (48), whereas others believe it to be a "dead end" that was followed by a later more successful dispersal of modern humans out of Africa at a later date: 60 ka in MIS4 (49).…”

Section: Older Saharan Occupation and Crossingssupporting

confidence: 53%

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Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert

Drake

Blench

Armitage

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

410

327

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Evidence increasingly suggests that sub-Saharan Africa is at the center of human evolution and understanding routes of dispersal “out of Africa” is thus becoming increasingly important. The Sahara Desert is considered by many to be an obstacle to these dispersals and a Nile corridor route has been proposed to cross it. Here we provide evidence that the Sahara was not an effective barrier and indicate how both animals and humans populated it during past humid phases. Analysis of the zoogeography of the Sahara shows that more animals crossed via this route than used the Nile corridor. Furthermore, many of these species are aquatic. This dispersal was possible because during the Holocene humid period the region contained a series of linked lakes, rivers, and inland deltas comprising a large interlinked waterway, channeling water and animals into and across the Sahara, thus facilitating these dispersals. This system was last active in the early Holocene when many species appear to have occupied the entire Sahara. However, species that require deep water did not reach northern regions because of weak hydrological connections. Human dispersals were influenced by this distribution; Nilo-Saharan speakers hunting aquatic fauna with barbed bone points occupied the southern Sahara, while people hunting Savannah fauna with the bow and arrow spread southward. The dating of lacustrine sediments show that the “green Sahara” also existed during the last interglacial (∼125 ka) and provided green corridors that could have formed dispersal routes at a likely time for the migration of modern humans out of Africa.

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Section: Older Saharan Occupation and Crossingssupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Older Saharan Occupation and Crossingssupporting

confidence: 53%

Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert

Drake

Blench

Armitage

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

410

327

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…At Ifri n'Ammar, no perforated shells were recovered either in the Mousterian layer underlying the Aterian layer with shell beads or in the Aterian layer beneath the Mousterian. This patern may indicate, if we fix the beginning of the Aterian at approximately 110 ka (43), that shell bead use may have arisen or spread during the later part of MIS 5, after the Aterian had become established in NW Africa. The dating of Skhul Layer B with perforated Na to approximately 135-100 ka and those of Qafzeh with perforated Glycymeris to Ϸ90-100 ka may indicate a temporal gap between the Near East and the Moroccan early shell beads.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa

d’Errico

Vanhaeren

Barton

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

304

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Recent investigations into the origins of symbolism indicate that personal ornaments in the form of perforated marine shell beads were used in the Near East, North Africa, and SubSaharan Africa at least 35 ka earlier than any personal ornaments in Europe. Together with instances of pigment use, engravings, and formal bone tools, personal ornaments are used to support an early emergence of behavioral modernity in Africa, associated with the origin of our species and significantly predating the timing for its dispersal out of Africa. Criticisms have been leveled at the low numbers of recovered shells, the lack of secure dating evidence, and the fact that documented examples were not deliberately shaped. In this paper, we report on 25 additional shell beads from four Moroccan Middle Paleolithic sites. We review their stratigraphic and chronological contexts and address the issue of these shells having been deliberately modified and used. We detail the results of comparative analyses of modern, fossil, and archaeological assemblages and microscopic examinations of the Moroccan material. We conclude that Nassarius shells were consistently used for personal ornamentation in this region at the end of the last interglacial. Absence of ornaments at Middle Paleolithic sites postdating Marine Isotope Stage 5 raises the question of the possible role of climatic changes in the disappearance of this hallmark of symbolic behavior before its reinvention 40 ka ago. Our results suggest that further inquiry is necessary into the mechanisms of cultural transmission within early Homo sapiens populations.

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“…The bifacial component of Moroccan Middle Palaeolithic collections seems to be very reduced: apart from single bifaces, most bifacial formal tools are bifacial foliated ones, which remind feuille de laurier and pointes à face plane (Texier, 1986;Bouzouggar et al, 2002;Nespoulet et al, 2008;Barton et al, 2009;Richter et al, 2010;Dibble et al, 2012;Stoetzel et al, 2014;Kuhn et al, 2015;Ramos-Muñoz et al, 2016;Campmas et al, 2016 Tanged tools comprise a panoply of simple blanks with unmodified edges as well as retouched tools such as points and side-scrapers. The pedunculates were prepared through a bifacial thinning of the proximal end (Tixier, 1967).…”

Section: Formal Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mostly local raw material with diverse forms and qualities were collected and integrated in the lithic reduction strategies (Bouzouggar et al, 2002). The list encompasses flint, quartzite, quartz, limestone, sandstone, chalcedony, lava, basalt, diorite, radiolarite and chert (Hublin et al, 1987;Barton et al, 2009;Richter et al, 2010;Dibble et al, 2012;Campmas et al, 2015;Ramos-Muñoz et al, 2016;Campmas et al, 2016). Some non-local raw material was additionally identified.…”

Section: Raw Materials Provision Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural contact over the Strait of Gibraltar during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evaluating the visibility of cultural exchange

Tafelmaier¹,

Pastoors²,

Weniger³

2018

Munibe, Antropol.-Arkeol.

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Possible contacts between hunter-gatherers of Northern Africa and Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar during the Pleistocene are still object to discussions. In the absence of significant fossil remains, debates are mainly based on similarities and differences of singular aspects of material culture. However, a theoretical framework for these discussions was lacking. The first aim of this study thus has been the development of a theoretical base. We therein included Maslow´s pyramid of basic needs. The idea of our approach is that the presence or absence of so-called cultural tracers identify either contact or disparity. A large database on archaeological sites of Morocco and Southern Iberia dating between 160 ka and 40 ka years ago has been compiled, containing information about lithic technology and typology, lithic raw material acquisition, subsistence patterns and symbolic behaviour. We formulated three potential contact scenarios between the two regions. The presence and/ or absence of so-called cultural tracers within the data set, that covered all levels of Maslow´s pyramid, led us to conclude that -based on the present archaeological and anthropological data -no contact took place between Iberian and North African populations across the Strait of Gibraltar in the given time frame. RESUMENContactos entre grupos humanos del Pleistoceno superior entre África del Norte y la Península Ibérica cruzando el Estrecho de Gibraltar están siendo objeto de debates. Por la falta de fósiles humanos significativos el debate se centra básicamente en similitudes y diferencias en la cultura material. Pero todavía falta un marco metodológico para la discusión. Este trabajo intenta la presentación de una base teórica preliminar. La pirámide de Maslow con necesidades básicas forma parte de estas reflexiones. La ausencia o presencia de marcadores culturales indica según nuestro enfoque contactos o disparidades. En un banco de datos de yacimientos arqueológicos entre 160 ka y 40 ka de Marruecos y del sur de España hemos compilado información sobre tecnología de inventarios líticos, aprovisionamiento de materias primas, patrones de asentamiento y comportamiento simbólico. Se pueden formular tres escenarios de contacto entre ambas regiones. La aplicación de marcadores culturales in relación con la pirámide entera de Maslow indica que según la información actual no se pueden demostrar contactos entre ambos continentes. LABURPENAIparraldeko Afrikaren eta Iberiar penintsularen artean, Gibraltargo itsasartea zeharkatuta, Goi-pleistozenoan giza taldeen artean izan ziren harremanak eztabaidagai bihurtu dira. Gizakiaren fosil esanguratsurik ez dagoenez, eztabaidaren gai nagusia, batez ere, kultura materialean dauden antzekotasunak eta aldeak dira. Baina oraindik eztabaidarako testuinguru metodologikoa falta da. Lan honen helburua da aurretiazko oinarri teorikoa aurkeztea. Oinarrizko beharrak dituen Maslow piramidea gogoeta horien baitan dago. Gure ustez, markatzaile kulturalik ez izateak edo halakoak izateak harremanak edo desber...

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OSL dating of the Aterian levels at Dar es-Soltan I (Rabat, Morocco) and implications for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens

Cited by 141 publications

References 60 publications

Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert

Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert

Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa

Cultural contact over the Strait of Gibraltar during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evaluating the visibility of cultural exchange

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