The Messak plateau contains remarkable evidence of human occupation during prehistoric and historic times, such as rock art engravings, megalithic monuments, and scatters of stone tools. Since 1980 these remains have been heavily affected by oil extraction-related operations, and it has only been over the last decade that these operations were adequately supported by archaeological mitigation strategies. The ‘Messak Project’ was originally conceived as a three-year programme (2010–2012) focusing on a range of co-ordinated actions to increase the knowledge of the area, to assess any damage and potential risks, and to preserve and manage the cultural heritage. Uprisings in Libya led to the sudden interruption of the project in late February 2011. Nevertheless, major results of the projects include: the compilation of a database of circa 10,000 sites, including hundreds of unpublished sites from previous surveys; the discovery of circa 2500 new archaeological sites; and the drawing of a set of GIS-based maps. In this paper we firstly introduce the materials and methods of the ‘Messak Project’, and secondly, we present an updated overview of the archaeological landscape of the Messak in the light of the project’s recent achievements.
Objectives: Tunisia has been a crossroads for people from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East since prehistoric times. At present, it is inhabited by two main ethnic groups, Arabs and Berbers, and several minorities. This study aims to advance knowledge regarding their genetic structure using new population samplings and a genome-wide approach. Materials and Methods: We investigated genomic variation, estimated ancestry components and dated admixture events in three Berber and two Arab populations from Southern Tunisia, mining a dataset including Middle Eastern, sub-Saharan, and European populations. Results: Differences in the proportion of North African, Arabian, and European ancestries and the varying impact of admixture and isolation determined significant heterogeneity in the genetic structure of Southern Tunisian populations. Admixture time estimates show a multilayer pattern of admixture events, involving both ethnolinguistic groups, which started around the mid XI century and lasted for nearly five centuries. Discussion: Our study provides evidence that the relationships between genetic and cultural diversity of old and new inhabitants of North Africa in southern Tunisia follow different patterns. The Berbers seem to have preserved a significant part of their common genomic heritage despite Islamization, Arab cultural influence, and linguistic diversity. Compared to Morocco and Algeria, southern Tunisian Arabs have retained a higher level of Arabian ancestry. This is more evident in the semi-nomad R'Baya, who have kept their original Bedouin lifestyle, than in the population from Douz, who have undergone multiple events of stratification and admixture.
The study area witnessed alternate paleoenvironmental and population events influenced by glacial/ interglacial conditions. Paleosols, relict fluvial bodies, lacustrine carbonatic deposits, sand dunes, and other features underline the severely fluctuating activity of water resources. The study region (SW Libya) provides two different data sets: (1) two stratified, dated, Middle Stone Age/Aterian sites; and (2) hundreds of surface lithic scatters rarely associated with paleoenvironmental proxies. Early/Middle Pleistocene\ud human occupation is presumable, but the bulk of evidence is from the late Middle/Late Pleistocene. Productive environments possibly housed human groups with a Late Acheulean technology during MIS 7. Most of the MSA evidences are barely diagnostic from a techno-typological point of view. Exceptions are made for scanty but precise similarities with sub-Saharan early MSA finds, suggesting the presence of modern humans in MIS 6, and for the Aterian, an example of MIS 4 arid landscape adaptation. Although MIS 3/2 post-Aterian human presence is not demonstrable, signs of a generalized LSA technology are recognizable in the Messak, where stony raw materials could have attracted task-specific temporary occupants
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