5 results
DMP XIV: Prehistoric sites in the Wadi Barjuj, Fazzan, Libyan Sahara
- Marta Mirazón Lahr, Robert Foley, Federica Crivellaro, José Maillo Fernandez, Alex Wilshaw, Ben Copsey, Frances Rivera, David Mattingly
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- Journal:
- Libyan Studies / Volume 42 / 2011
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 24 April 2014, pp. 117-138
- Print publication:
- 2011
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This paper reports on the fifth season of fieldwork for the Palaeoanthropology part of the Desert Migrations Project. Previous seasons established an extensive archaeological map based on a wide survey of the rich record along the edges of the Ubari Sand Sea, a small area of the Messak Settafet, the Wadi al-Ajal, the Wadi ash-Shati and the Wadi Barjuj. These surveys, complemented with small excavations, demonstrated a deep prehistory to the Fazzan, with Mode 1 technologies, Acheulean, Mode 3 (classic Levallois, large blade technologies, and Aterian), and Late Stone Age and Neolithic assemblages, some with pottery and grinding stones. The focus of the 2011 season was the Wadi Barjuj. This is an extensive wadi system to the South of the Messak, running along the northern edge of the Murzuq Sand Sea, and draining towards the east. Geomorphologically, it comprises old channel cut and fill gravels, usually finely graded, with areas of ancient lacustrine duricrusts, some of which are elevated significantly above the landscape. Surveys, complementing those of 2008, revealed a particularly rich and extensive Holocene series of sites, with microliths, pottery and grinding stones. These sites indicate a dense early Holocene occupation which seems associated with both hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. In addition, there was a low frequency of MSA lithics (compared to other survey areas), although one extremely rich site (BJJ4) had a very large number of water-worn, highly diagnostic small bifaces, characteristics of some Africa MSA traditions. Acheulean was relatively rare. One restricted locality (BJJ6) provided further evidence for a Mode 1 presence in the region, similar to that reported earlier from the Messak and Wadi ash-Shati (Mirazón Lahr et al. 2009, 2010). The context for the finds suggests that at various points during the Pleistocene the Wadi Barjuj was a low lying, swampy and/or lacustrine region, possibly riverine at times, and attractive to hominin populations because of its relatively rich resource base. This paper describes the localities and finds underpinning these conclusions.
DMP XI: Preliminary results from 2010 fieldwork on the human prehistory in the Libyan Sahara
- M. Mirazón Lahr, Robert Foley, Federica Crivellaro, José Maillo Fernandez, Alex Wilshaw, Adam Purdon, Cornelius Halladay-Garrett, Djuke Veldhuis, David Mattingly
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- Journal:
- Libyan Studies / Volume 41 / 2010
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 03 March 2015, pp. 133-154
- Print publication:
- 2010
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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.
DMP VI: Preliminary results from 2009 fieldwork on the human prehistory of the Libyan Sahara
- Marta Mirazón Lahr, Robert Foley, Federica Crivellaro, Mercedes Okumura, Lisa Maher, Tom Davies, Djuke Veldhuis, Alex Wilshaw, David Mattingly
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- Journal:
- Libyan Studies / Volume 40 / 2009
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 03 March 2015, pp. 133-153
- Print publication:
- 2009
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This paper reports on the work carried out during the 2009 field season of the prehistory sub-theme of the Desert Migrations Project. The work consisted of detailed survey and small-scale excavations in two wadis that drain the Messak Settafet, near the town of Jarma. Both wadis were found to contain evidence of Palaeolithic and Neolithic occupation, as well as of having been used as migratory routes between the Ubari and Murzuq sand seas. One of the wadis (WJAR-E-O1) was surveyed intensely along a few kilometers of its tributary margins. This revealed archaeological material ranging from Oldowan (Mode 1) to historic. The distribution of the various industries and structures had a distinct spatial patterning; the Palaeolithic scatters were spatially discrete, but Holocene remains were often found superimposed on earlier industries. Among the finds were a spatially discrete Oldowan assemblage, an extensive Acheulean industry which included the exploitation of fossil wood as a raw material, the identification of at least five major outcrops of fossil trees, and a number of more recent structures dating from Neolithic to Islamic times and consisting of graves, cairns, rock engravings, and stone features. Middle Stone Age lithics, so predominant over the surface of the Messak plateau, were absent. The second wadi (WJAR-W-02) was geomorphologically different, being comparatively narrow and deeply incised, and containing a number of terraces on the wadi bed resulting from cut and infill processes in the past. The surface of these terraces contained an extensive Aterian lithic industry, while evidence of late Holocene use of the area was also recorded in the form of Tifinagh inscriptions, rock engravings, cairns and graves. Besides mapping the archaeological distributions, a number of trenches were dug at the edge of the river terraces. These revealed an in situ stratigraphic sequence, within which Aterian lithics were found at a depth of > 1 m. Samples for OSL dating were taken. Overall, the work of the 2009 field season was extremely successful in that, besides the fascinating range of archaeological material recorded and studied, it provided important insights into the role of the north-south wadis that cross the Messak, the southern boundary of the area being explored by the DMP, and their differential use in prehistory.
DMP III: Pleistocene and Holocene palaeonvironments and prehistoric occupation of Fazzan, Libyan Sahara
- Marta Mirazón Lahr, Robert Foley, Simon Armitage, Huw Barton, Federica Crivellaro, Nicholas Drake, Mark Hounslow, Lisa Maher, David Mattingly, Mustapha Salem, Jay Stock, Kevin White
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- Journal:
- Libyan Studies / Volume 39 / 2008
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 03 March 2015, pp. 263-294
- Print publication:
- 2008
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The palaeoanthropological and geomorphological sub-projects of the Desert Migrations Project (DMP) focus on the Pleistocene and early Holocene environment and prehistory of Fazzan so as to assess the timing and extent of hominin and human movement across the Sahara through time. This paper reports on the findings of the 2008 field season, with a focus on the prehistoric evidence along the northern margin of the Ubari sand sea.
The geomorphological record of the area preserves evidence of at least five past episodes of lake formation. The exact chronology of these, as well as the spatial extent of these lakes, remains the focus of further study.
The archaeological record of hominin and human occupation of Fazzan prior to the establishment of the Garamantian civilisation is extraordinarily rich. Between 2007 and 2008, the DMP palaeoanthropological project surveyed thirty-five localities along the northern margin of the Ubari sand sea, recording a range of assemblages spanning all Palaeolithic industries. Most of the archaeological remains found consisted of stone-tools, while grinding stones were comparatively restricted geographically. Mode 1/Oldowan tools were found at two localities, contrasting with the widespread presence of Mode 2/Acheulean, Mode 3/Middle Stone Age and Mode 5/microlithic artefacts. This indicates that, although hominin presence in the area is probably earlier than previously thought, populations were comparatively sparse until the Middle Pleistocene. Twenty-one localities within the Ubari sand sea, as well as seven south of the Messak Settafet were also surveyed between 2007 and 2008. The detailed study of the lithics from these areas will be carried out next year, but preliminary results stress the different nature of the assemblages found within interdune corridors — very low frequency of cores, no Mode 1 and extremely rare Mode 2 lithics (found at a single locality).
The 2009 field season will focus on obtaining further samples of palaeolake sediments for dating, on the evidence of Mode 1 assemblages south of the Messak, as well as on the refining of the archaeological indicators that may distinguish the different phases of hominin and human occupation of Fazzan during the Later Pleistocene and Holocene.
Desert Migrations: people, environment and culture in the Libyan Sahara
- David Mattingly, Marta Lahr, Simon Armitage, Huw Barton, John Dore, Nick Drake, Robert Foley, Stefania Merlo, Mustapha Salem, Jay Stock, Kevin White, Muftah Ahmed, Franca Cole, Federica Crivellaro, Mireya Gonzalez Rodriguez, Maria Guagnin, Sebastian Jones, Vassil Karloukovski, Victoria Leitch, Lisa Maher, Farès Moussa, Anita Radini, Ian Reeds, Toby Savage, Martin Sterry
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- Journal:
- Libyan Studies / Volume 38 / 2007
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 03 March 2015, pp. 115-156
- Print publication:
- 2007
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The Desert Migrations Project is a new interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional collaborative project between the Society for Libyan Studies and the Department of Antiquities. The geographical focus of the study is the Fazzan region of southwest Libya and in thematic terms we aim to address the theme of migration in the broadest sense, encompassing the movement of people, ideas/knowledge and material culture into and out of Fazzan, along with evidence of shifting climatic and ecological boundaries over time. The report describes the principal sub-strands of the project's first season in January 2007, with some account of research questions, methods employed and some preliminary results. Three main sub-projects are reported on. The first concerns the improved understanding of long-term climatic and environmental changes derived from a detailed palaeoenvironmental study of palaeolake sediments. This geo-science work runs alongside and feeds directly into both archaeological sub-projects, the first relating to prehistoric activity and mobility around and between a series of palaeolakes during wetter climatic cycles; the second to the excavation of burials in the Wadi al-Ajal, exploring the changing relationship between material culture, identity and ethnicity across time, from prehistory to the early Islamic period (the span of the main cemetery zones). In addition, some rock art research and a survey of historic period sites was undertaken in the Wadi ash-Shati and Ubari sand sea.