Pressure Knapping and the Timing of Innovation: New Chrono-Cultural Data on Prehistoric Groups of the Early Holocene in the Maghreb, Northwest Africa

Abstract

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.

Potential interactions between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers in the Western Mediterranean: The geochronological data revisited

“…Possible or proven cases of coexistence are rare and limited to small geographical areas. Sometimes, as in the Maghreb [ 26 ], dense populations of hunter-gatherers somehow seem to resist the waves of Neolithization for a few decades or centuries. Elsewhere, Mesolithic and Neolithic groups seem to avoid each other, like perhaps in Asturias.…”

“…In recent years, the increase in absolute chronological data, in particular with radiocarbon dating [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], and the use of Bayesian modelling tools [18,24,27] have made it possible to greatly refine the chronometric framework for the Neolithic transition and to test this assumption based on objective, high-definition data. The objective of this work is thus to present the results of such an analysis carried out at the scale of the Western Mediterranean to identify the geographical areas where Neolithic farmers and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers may really have encountered each other, based on reliable chronological data.…”

Quelles relations entre l’Afrique du Nord et l’Europe au début de l’Holocène ?

“…La situation est beaucoup plus obscure en Afrique du Nord. L'Ibéromaurusien fut longtemps pensé comme étant directement antérieur au Capsien typique, mais l'analyse critique des dates montre qu'il existe un important hiatus entre les deux, soit entre environ 10 500 et 9000 ans avant notre ère (Perrin et al, 2020). Il n'y a a priori pas de raisons évidentes pour lesquelles il y aurait une absence totale d'occupations sur l'ensemble de l'Afrique du Nord à cette période, aussi est-il plus probable que ce ne soit là qu'un manque de données.…”

New Light on the Silent Millennia: Mediterranean Africa, ca. 4000–900 BC

“…The second millennium BC picture is even more obscure. Only two dates are available: one comes from Mechta el Arbi, west of Constantine (Perrin et al 2020), and the other from the Ouled Zouaï shell midden, also in the area of Constantine (Camps 1968). This paucity continues into the early first millennium BC; only the site of Tipasa 2, in northern Algeria, yielded a date ranging from the tenth to the sixth century BC (Rahmouni et al 1972).…”