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Early and Middle Holocene Environments and Capsian Cultural Change: Evidence from the Télidjène Basin, Eastern Algeria

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Abstract

Interdisciplinary investigations from 1973 to1978 at Aïn Misteheyia and Kef Zoura D, two stratified Capsian sites in the Télidjène Basin, Tebessa Wilaya, Algeria, have shown that palaeoenvironmental changes centred around the 8,200calBP event can be correlated with changes in subsistence and technology traditionally associated with the difference between Typical Capsian and Upper Capsian. We use data from geoarchaeological investigations, invertebrate and vertebrate faunal assemblages, and radiocarbon analyses to characterize the nature and extent of these changes.

Resumé

Les investigations interdisciplinaires entrepris de 1973 jusqu’à 1978 à Aïn Misteheyia et Kef Zoura D, deux gisements Capsiens stratifiés dans le bassin de Télidjène, Wilaya de Tébessa, Algérie, ont montré que les changements paléoenvironnementales concentrés sur l'événement de 8,200calBP peuvent être corrélés avec ceux de la subsistance et de la technologie traditionnellement liées à la différence entre le Capsien typique et le Capsien supérieur. Nous employons les données géoarchéologiques, archéozoologiques et les analyses de radiocarbone pour caractériser la nature et l'ampleur de ces derniers changements.

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Notes

  1. Uncalibrated dates are given in years BP using the Libby half-life when ± values are shown. Calibrated dates (see Table 1) use CALIB 5.0.1 (Reimer et al. 2004, Stuiver and Reimer 1993) and are designated as calBP.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is the result of many years of research, supported by grants to DL from the Wenner–Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (1972), the Canada Council (1973–74), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (1974–82), and the University of Alberta (1994–98). Our colleagues William Farrand, Achilles Gautier, Fekri Hassan, James Ritchie and Peter Sheppard have contributed much to the development of the ideas expressed here but we are solely responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

    Mary Jackes & David Lubell

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  1. Mary Jackes
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  2. David Lubell
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Correspondence to Mary Jackes.

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Jackes, M., Lubell, D. Early and Middle Holocene Environments and Capsian Cultural Change: Evidence from the Télidjène Basin, Eastern Algeria. Afr Archaeol Rev 25, 41–55 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-008-9024-2

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