Subsistance en zone côtière durant le Middle Stone Age en Afrique du Nord : étude préliminaire de l’unité stratigraphique 8 de la grotte d’El Mnasra (Témara, Maroc)

Campmas, Émilie; Chakroun, Amel; Chahid, Driss; Lenoble, Arnaud; Boudad, Larbi; Hajraoui, Mohamed Abdeljalil El; Nespoulet, Roland

doi:10.4000/books.cths.4566

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Patellidae and Mytilidae were found in abundance in the US 7 and US 6 [38], clearly visible in section and, during the excavations, by well-delimited shell beds [38]. One of our hypotheses attributes US 7 and/or US 6 to MIS 5a, around 80-70 ka.…”

Section: Chronology and Msa Occupations Model At El Mnasra Cavementioning

confidence: 69%

“…Occupations recorded in US 9b to 5 have yielded marine shell use and consumption. However, Nassariidae perforated shells are only present in US 8d to US 5 [38]. The abundance of Nassariidae shells in US 8 deposits could be explained by the attractivity of the marine resources in the Te ´mara region for Aterian populations around the MIS 5c to 5a.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 97%

“…El Mnasra also yielded evidence of bone tools [4] and pigment use in an Aterian MSA context in archaeological levels 5 to 7 [5,37]. In addition, the cave has delivered a large number of marine shells associated with combustion areas and, to our knowledge, the largest number of Nassariidae (N>236) associated with a MSA context in Africa [5,38]. Hearths are known in archaeological levels 5 and 6, some of them delimited by stone structures [5,35], others characterised by the presence of intense combustion areas clearly delimited by limestone pavements in archaeological levels 6 and 8 [5,35].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time range intervals (95% of probability) were added to a synthesis considering a synthetic section of the cave deposit, archaeological and paleoenvironmental data available for El Mnasra cave. We have also considered the sparse paleoenvironmental data extracted from large and small vertebrates [5,18,34,38,[59][60][61][62][63]. These data are synthesised in S9 Table.…”

Section: Chronology and Msa Occupations Model At El Mnasra Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two specific marine taxa, Patellidae and Mytillidae, were preferably consumed. They are intertidal molluscs living on a rocky substratum and likely accessible during low tides near the cavities [38]. A study in the nearby cave of El Harhoura 2 showed the presence of characteristic notches on Patellidae shells, suggesting that they were directly collected on the rocks by MSA human groups [20].…”

Section: Chronology and Msa Occupations Model At El Mnasra Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

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An improved chronology for the Middle Stone Age at El Mnasra cave, Morocco

et al. 2022

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North African coastal Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites are key to study the development and expansion of early H. sapiens. El Mnasra cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco (Témara region) is a crucial site associated with MSA archaeological materials considered advanced cognitive hallmarks of behavioural innovation, such as numerous Nassariidae perforated shells, hematite pigments, bones industry and coastal resources exploitation. We provide new trapped-charges dates (OSL and combined US-ESR ages). Our Bayesian modelling strengthens the new lithostratigraphic interpretation of the cave stratigraphic units (US) and we propose an updated chronostratigraphic model for the Middle Stone Age archaeo-sequence of El Mnasra Cave. We confirm a human presence between 124–104 ka, earlier than what the previous OSL and US-ESR data showed. Our time range intervals allowed us to also extend the age of the MSA occupations considerably to the MIS 4/3 (~62–30 ka), marked by the disappearance of the Nassariidae perforated shells. Outstandingly, our model pushed back the age of the largest record of Nassariidae perforated shells and placed the age of their use by the Aterian groups at El Mnasra from the MIS 5d-5b (~115–94 ka).

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Section: Chronology and Msa Occupations Model At El Mnasra Cavementioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 97%