Resource pressure and environmental change on the North African littoral: Epipalaeolithic to Roman gastropods from Cyrenaica, Libya

Hunt, Chris; Reynolds, Tim; el-Rishi, H.; Buzaian, Ahmed; Hill, Evan; Barker, Graeme

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.045

Cited by 43 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The period after the 8.2 ka event (Weninger et al, 2006) does not seem to have been significantly drier at the Haua Fteah than the period before it, the land snail assemblages do not point to significant aridification (Hunt et al, 2011), and there does not seem to be a strong link between the 8.2 ka event and subsistence change as has been argued for in the eastern Mediterranean (Weninger et al, 2006) and the Maghreb (Jackes and Lubell, 2008). The first appearance of Neolithic pottery at the cave is now dated to ca.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Changes in the size and abundance of Osilinus and Patella sp. shells indicate severe resource pressure or 'overgathering' from food scarcity at this time (Hunt et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Rather than a package of new resources, technologies, and associated behaviours appearing at the site at this time, there is evidence for piecemeal change, as appears to be the case elsewhere in North Africa (Linstädter, 2008;Dunne et al, 2012;Barker, 2013). The landscape around the site at this time was relatively open scrubland (Hunt et al, 2011). People continued to hunt species such as Barbary sheep and collect land snails (Trochoidea spp., Eobania spp., H. melanostoma) and marine molluscs (Patella caerulea, O. turbinatus), making fine drills ('mèche de foret') likely used as picks for removing the latter from their shells .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…People continued to hunt species such as Barbary sheep and collect land snails (Trochoidea spp., Eobania spp., H. melanostoma) and marine molluscs (Patella caerulea, O. turbinatus), making fine drills ('mèche de foret') likely used as picks for removing the latter from their shells . There are less marked signs of resource stress in the land snails and marine molluscs (Hunt et al, 2011). This system of foraging, more or less a continuation of Capsian practices in the Early Holocene, was augmented at some stage in the Neolithic by sheep and goat herding (Klein and Scott, 1986), but there is no certain evidence for cereal cultivation in terms of directly-dated seeds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya) — Optical dating of early human occupation during Marine Isotope Stages 4, 5 and 6

Jacobs

Farr

et al. 2017

Journal of Human Evolution

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a b s t r a c tThe 1950s excavations by Charles McBurney in the Haua Fteah, a large karstic cave on the coast of northeast Libya, revealed a deep sequence of human occupation. Most subsequent research on North African prehistory refers to his discoveries and interpretations, but the chronology of its archaeological and geological sequences has been based on very early age determinations. This paper reports on the initial results of a comprehensive multi-method dating program undertaken as part of new work at the site, involving radiocarbon dating of charcoal, land snails and marine shell, cryptotephra investigations, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments, and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of tooth enamel. The dating samples were collected from the newly exposed and cleaned faces of the upper 7.5 m of the w14.0 m-deep McBurney trench, which contain six of the seven major cultural phases that he identified. Despite problems of sediment transport and reworking, using a Bayesian statistical model the new dating program establishes a robust framework for the five major lithostratigraphic units identified in the stratigraphic succession, and for the major cultural units. The age of two anatomically modern human mandibles found by McBurney in Layer XXXIII near the base of his Levalloiso-Mousterian phase can now be estimated to between 73 and 65 ka (thousands of years ago) at the 95.4% confidence level, within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. McBurney's Layer XXV, associated with Upper Palaeolithic Dabban blade industries, has a clear stratigraphic relationship with Campanian Ignimbrite tephra. Microlithic Oranian technologies developed following the climax of the Last Glacial Maximum and the more microlithic Capsian in the Younger Dryas. Neolithic pottery and perhaps domestic livestock were used in the cave from the mid Holocene but there is no certain evidence for plant cultivation until the Graeco-Roman period.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Changes in the size and abundance of Osilinus and Patella sp. shells indicate severe resource pressure or 'overgathering' from food scarcity at this time (Hunt et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya) — Optical dating of early human occupation during Marine Isotope Stages 4, 5 and 6

Jacobs

Farr

et al. 2017

Journal of Human Evolution

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“…BP (e.g. Ouda et al, 1998;Hunt et al, 2001Hunt et al, , 2011aHunt et al, , 2011bZielhofer et al, 2002Zielhofer et al, , 2004Zielhofer et al, , 2008Marquer et al, 2008). Forest remained until the Greek period in the Gebel Akhdar in NE Libya (Hunt et al, 2002), but was eliminated by grazers and a climate change to more arid conditions in the Neolithic in NW Libya (Gilbertson and Hunt, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene climate change, vegetation history and human impact in the Central Mediterranean: evidence from the Maltese Islands

Carroll

Hunt

Schembri

et al. 2012

Quaternary Science Reviews

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a b s t r a c tHolocene climates and human impact in the Mediterranean basin have received much attention, but the Maltese Islands in the Central Mediterranean, although a pivotal area, have been little researched. Here, sedimentary and palynological data are presented for three cores from the Holocene coastal and shallowmarine deposits of the Maltese Islands. These show deforestation from Pinus-Cupressaceae woodland in the early Neolithic, and then a long, but relatively stable history of agriculturally degraded environments to the present day. The major climate events which have affected the Italian and Balkan peninsulas to the north, and Tunisia to the south, are not reflected in the pollen diagrams from the Maltese Islands because of the strong anthropogenic imprint on the Maltese vegetation from early in the Neolithic. Previous suggestions of environmentally-driven agricultural collapse at the end of the Neolithic appear, however, to be substantiated and may be linked to regional aridification around 4300 cal. BP. Depopulation in early Medieval times is not supported by the current palynological evidence.

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Integrated multidisciplinary ecological analysis from the Uluzzian settlement at the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, south‐eastern Italy

Silvestrini

Romandini

Marciani

et al. 2021

J Quaternary Science

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The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, between 50 000 and 40 000 years ago, is a period of important ecological and cultural changes. In this framework, the Rock Shelter of Uluzzo C (Apulia, southern Italy) represents an important site due to Late Mousterian and Uluzzian evidence preserved in its stratigraphic sequence. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary analysis performed on the materials collected between 2016 and 2018 from the Uluzzian stratigraphic units (SUs) 3, 15 and 17. The analysis involved lithic technology, use‐wear, zooarchaeology, ancient DNA of sediments and palaeoproteomics, completed by quartz single‐grain optically stimulated luminescence dating of the cave sediments. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a volumetric production and a debitage with no or little management of the convexities (by using the bipolar technique), with the objective to produce bladelets and flakelets. The zooarchaeological study found evidence of butchery activity and of the possible exploitation of marine resources, while drawing a picture of a patchy landscape, composed of open forests and dry open environments surrounding the shelter. Ancient mitochondrial DNA from two mammalian taxa were recovered from the sediments. Preliminary zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry results are consistent with ancient DNA and zooarchaeological taxonomic information, while further palaeoproteomics investigations are ongoing. Our new data from the re‐discovery of the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter represent an important contribution to better understand the meaning of the Uluzzian in the context of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition in south‐eastern Italy.

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Resource pressure and environmental change on the North African littoral: Epipalaeolithic to Roman gastropods from Cyrenaica, Libya

Cited by 43 publications

References 39 publications

The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya) — Optical dating of early human occupation during Marine Isotope Stages 4, 5 and 6

The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya) — Optical dating of early human occupation during Marine Isotope Stages 4, 5 and 6

Holocene climate change, vegetation history and human impact in the Central Mediterranean: evidence from the Maltese Islands

Integrated multidisciplinary ecological analysis from the Uluzzian settlement at the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, south‐eastern Italy

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