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

Abstract

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.

Sediment micromorphology and site formation processes during the Middle to Later Stone Ages at the Haua Fteah Cave, Cyrenaica, Libya

“…Using the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and Upper Palaeolithic (UP) terminologies of Europe and the Near East, McBurney classified the earliest industry, a flake‐ and blade‐based MSA industry, as “Libyan Pre‐Aurignacian MP.” It occurred in three concentrations within the Deep Sounding (McBurney, ), with occasional lithics and shell fragments recovered throughout the Deep Sounding (Farr et al., ; McBurney, ; Rabett et al., ). These sediments have been dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to MIS 5, with the base of the sequence lying below the MIS 5/6 boundary (Jacobs et al., ). Close to the base of the Middle Trench, artifacts with “Levalloiso‐Mousterian MP” affinities were found by McBurney in initially high numbers from sediments for which the present project, using new 14 C and OSL determinations, has provided a modeled age of 75–70 ka (Douka et al., ).…”

“…McBurney excavated in spits that often crosscut sediment layers, though the relationship of the spits to stratigraphic layers was observed as the excavation proceeded downwards (McBurney, 1967 McBurney, 1967;Rabett et al, 2013). These sediments have been dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to MIS 5, with the base of the sequence lying below the MIS 5/6 boundary (Jacobs et al, 2017). Close to the base of the Middle Trench, artifacts with "Levalloiso-Mousterian MP" affinities were found by McBurney in initially high numbers from sediments for which the present project, using new 14 C and OSL determinations, has provided a modeled age of 75-70 ka (Douka et al, 2014).…”

“…This paper utilizes a range of geoarchaeological techniques to examine site formation processes in the late MSA to early LSA layers at the Haua Fteah cave on the Cyrenaican coast of northeast Libya (22 o 3′5″E, 32 o 53′70″N). The cultural sequence revealed by Charles McBurney's excavations in the 1950s (McBurney, ) is unparalleled in North African prehistory, with the earliest deposits dating to the end of MIS 6 (Douka et al., ; Jacobs et al., ), and containing cultural material from the MSA to the present (McBurney, ). Renewed investigations by a multidisciplinary team, The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project (CPP), between 2007 and 2015 have combined archaeological excavation with paleoenvironmental and chronological analyses (e.g., Barker et al., , , ; Barker, Hunt, Reynolds, Brooks, & el‐Rishi, , ; Farr et al., ; Rabett et al., ).…”

“…In particular, sediment micromorphology allows microscopic interrogation of sediments, enhancing field observations and complementing quantitative sediment analysis (Goldberg & Sherwood, 2006;Woodward & Goldberg, 2001), especially in studies of sedimentation rates and stratigraphic integrity beyond the reach of radiocarbon dating (e.g., Aldeias, Goldberg, Dibble, & El-Hajraoui, 2014;Karkanas & Goldberg, 2010;Mallol et al, 2012). (Douka et al, 2014;Jacobs et al, 2017), and containing cultural material from the MSA to the present (McBurney, 1967).…”

Increased climate seasonality during the late glacial in the Gebel Akhdar, Libya

“…Data from the Gebel Akhdar not only provide an opportunity to consider Mediterranean palaeoseasonality from a North African context, but also provide a valuable opportunity to explore relationships between seasonal climate, environment and human subsistence choices. The Gebel Akhdar has an archaeological record that extends back to at least oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 5 (Douka et al, 2014;Jacobs et al, 2017) and was a likely coastal refugium during periods when surrounding Saharan areas were depopulated due to increased aridity (Barker et al, 2010;Cremaschi et al, 1998). Palaeoenvironmental data from the Gebel Akhdar show relatively low-magnitude long-term variations in temperature and aridity during the late Pleistocene and Holocene (Inglis, 2012;Prendergast et al, 2016b;Reade et al, 2016a;, which contrast with an archaeological record that displays significant changes in resource exploitation and landscape use across this time period (Hunt et al, 2011;Jones et al, 2016;Klein and Scott, 1986;Prendergast et al, 2016a).…”