Middle Holocene hunting and herding at Gueldaman Cave, Algeria: An integrated study of the vertebrate fauna and pottery lipid residues

Kherbouche, Farid; Dunne, Julie; Merzoug, Souhila; Hachi, Slimane; Evershed, Richard P.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.01.005

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(14 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A total of 306 potsherds from Ifri Oudadane, Ifri n'Etsedda and Hassi Ouenzga were analysed using GC, GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS (Table 1). The rate of lipid recovery was 15%, 9% and 17% for Ifri Oudadane, Ifri n'Etsedda and Hassi Ouenzga, respectively (Table 1) which is lower than from ceramics recovered from Gueldaman Cave, Algeria (23%; Kherbouche et al 2016;Dunne et al 2017), a similar environment, and very low in comparison to ceramics analysed from the Libyan Sahara (94%; Dunne et al 2012), which likely reflects the more favourable preservation conditions of arid environments. The mean lipid concentration of the sherds was 3.5, 0.3 and 0.04 mg g -1 for Ifri Oudadane, Ifri n'Etsedda and Hassi Ouenzga, respectively (Table 1), with maximum lipid concentrations of 46.7, 1.3 and 0.2 mg g -1 (Table 2).…”

Section: Lipid Residue Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

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

Dunne

Manning

Linstädter

et al. 2020

Quaternary International

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Lipid Residue Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

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

Dunne

Manning

Linstädter

et al. 2020

Quaternary International

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Lipid residue analysis has been applied to investigate the inception and development of pastoral economies in northern and eastern Africa, finding that dairy products were used or stored in ceramic vessels 37 , 38 , 40 , 67 . Models for interpreting lipid residue results in European studies 68 may suggest that the very low detection rate for milk lipids from African ceramics indicates minimal contributions of milk to African herder diets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Consuming the milk of other species is a unique adaptation of Homo sapiens, with implications for health, birth spacing and evolution. Key questions nonetheless remain regarding the origins of dairying and its relationship to the genetically-determined ability to drink milk into adulthood through lactase persistence (LP). As a major centre of LP diversity, Africa is of significant interest to the evolution of dairying. Here we report proteomic evidence for milk consumption in ancient Africa. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) we identify dairy proteins in human dental calculus from northeastern Africa, directly demonstrating milk consumption at least six millennia ago. Our findings indicate that pastoralist groups were drinking milk as soon as herding spread into eastern Africa, at a time when the genetic adaptation for milk digestion was absent or rare. Our study links LP status in specific ancient individuals with direct evidence for their consumption of dairy products.

show abstract

“…There are five other dates from the third millennium, associated with domestic caprines and unconfirmed domestic cattle and pig. All these dates are also associated with the presence of pottery, and a strong signal of dairying (Chaïd-Saoudi 1987;Jousse 2017;Kherbouche et al 2014Kherbouche et al , 2016Merzoug et al 2016). After this, the Gueldaman sequence ends (Kherbouche et al 2014).…”

Section: Central Maghrebmentioning

confidence: 98%

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

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The so-called neolithization process (ca. 6000/5500–4000 BC) in Mediterranean Africa and the Sahara has been increasingly researched in recent years. In contrast, relatively little is known, especially in Mediterranean Africa, of the period between the beginnings of irreversible climatic deterioration in the Sahara, around 4000–3500 BC, and the onset of Iron Age to broadly Classical times. Why, with the exception of the Nile Delta, is our knowledge of the period between the fourth millennium BC and the threshold of the first Iron Age Phoenician and Greek colonies so limited? To what extent can this information gap be attributed to aridification in the Mediterranean zone, or is it rather a product of the failure to look for the right kinds of materials and sites, and of their relative visibility? In order to answer these questions, this paper focuses specifically on Mediterranean Africa (with the exception of Egypt) from about 4000 BC to ca. 900 BC. It is mainly based on the data made available on MedAfriCarbon, a spatially linked, publicly accessible database and web app comprising the 14C chronometric evidence from Mediterranean Africa from 12,000 to 600 cal. BC, with details of associated cultural and economic information. Analysis of these data shows that most of Mediterranean Africa beyond the Nile was occupied to different extents throughout the 3000-year period covered in this article and that, with a few important exceptions, the robust and resilient nature of local, mainly pastoral, ways of life militated against a shift towards a fully agricultural economy.

show abstract

Middle Holocene hunting and herding at Gueldaman Cave, Algeria: An integrated study of the vertebrate fauna and pottery lipid residues

Cited by 14 publications

References 41 publications

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

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

Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About