The Stone Age of the Libyan Littoral: The Results of a War-Time Reconnaissance

Abstract

Military service during the 1942–43 campaign in Libya provided an opportunity for myself and a few friends to make a preliminary reconnaissance of stone age remains along the 1200 miles of coast between Alexandria and Tripoli. Under the circumstances many of our observations were necessarily of a very incomplete and cursory nature. I have nevertheless thought it worth while presenting them as a whole, since they do at least provide a first estimate of the culture-sequence in this interesting and little-studied area. One cave and a few vaguely described, or very scanty, surface finds appear to make up the sum total of previously published discoveries.

Patterns of Hominin Occupation and Cultural Diversity Across the Gebel Akhdar of Northern Libya Over the Last ~200 kyr

“…Previous geoarchaeological surveys in northern Cyrenaica concentrated on the coast and its immediate hinterland (Watson 1949;McBurney and Hey 1955;McBurney 1947McBurney , 1967McBurney , 1968Hey 1968;Barker et al 2007Barker et al , 2008, but did not venture southwards across the Gebel Akhdar and into the arid zones. McBurney and Hey (1955) pioneered this research, reporting evidence from several open-air and cave sites.…”

“…It is significant that the discovery of true Acheulean bifaces was extremely rare during the landscape surveys undertaken by McBurney (McBurney et al 1948;McBurney and Hey 1955). An earlier surface collection of seven bifaces from Tocra (McBurney 1947) and a broken butt from a putative "amygdaloid" biface from Lete (Petrocchi 1940), both near Benghazi, are the nearest Acheulean material, albeit broken and heavily worn. Three handaxes, however, were described as possessing a smooth patina and sharp edges suggesting they had eroded out relatively recently (McBurney 1947: 78).…”

“…This material was considered to be an "evolved Acheulian-Middle Palaeolithic type" (McBurney 1947: 78). A small number of other bifacial pieces have been recorded but these are thought to be Neolithic (McBurney 1947;McBurney & Hey 1955). Given this paucity of evidence, H. sapiens may have been the first hominin species to inhabit Cyrenaica, using an industry that was either late Acheulean or part of the MSA.…”

Archaeology in the Sirte Basin: Preliminary Results of Mitigation Surveys carried out for Shell 2007–2009

“…This was not dated, but considered by McBurney to be pre-Neolithic, and named the 'Sirtican Culture' (McBurney 1947;McBurney and Hey 1955, 220). Prior to the Shell surveys presented here, the prehistoric archaeology of the area was effectively unknown.…”

“…The only published prehistoric site that falls within the area of Shell's operations is a rich knapping scatter -dominated by microliths, bone fragments, and ostrich eggshell (OES) -identified by McBurney at 'Marble Arch' (Ras Lanuf) in the aftermath of the Second World War. This was not dated, but considered by McBurney to be pre-Neolithic, and named the 'Sirtican Culture' (McBurney 1947;McBurney and Hey 1955, 220). Prior to the Shell surveys presented here, the prehistoric archaeology of the area was effectively unknown.…”