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Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara: Chronology, Environment, and Archaeology

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Abstract

The Aterian has a huge geographic extension covering all North Africa, although it was not supposed to exist in the mountain ranges of the central Sahara. Its chronological context is not yet definitively determined and it is still difficult to say whether the Aterian tools are technological, typological, functional, or chronological markers. Recent surveys and excavations at Uan Tabu and Uan Afuda, two rock-shelters located in the central Tadrart Acacus, provide the first chronological, environmental and archaeological indications on this Late Pleistocene human occupation in the area. The lack of organic matter led us to perform OSL and TL analyses on sand.

L'Atérien a une énorme extension géographique qui couvre tout le Nord de l'Afrique, tandis qu'on ne pensait pas qu'il existait dans les montagnes du Sahara central. Son contexte culturel n'est pas définitivement déterminé et il est encore difficile de dire si les instruments atériens sont des indicateurs téchnologiques, typologiques, fonctionels ou culturels. Reconnaissances et fouilles récentes à Uan Tabu et Uan Afuda, deux abris situés dans l'Acacous central, fournissent les premières indications sur la chronologie, l'environnement et l'archéologie de l'Atérien dans la région. L'absence de la substance organique, nous a porté à faire des déterminations OSL et TL sur les sables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro di Geodinamica Alpina e Quaternaria, CNR, Milano, Italy

    Mauro Cremaschi

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche dell'Antichità, Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy

    Savino Di Lernia

  3. Dipartimento di Filologia e Storia, Università di Cassino, Cassino, Italy

    Elena A. A. Garcea

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  1. Mauro Cremaschi
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  2. Savino Di Lernia
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  3. Elena A. A. Garcea
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Cremaschi, M., Di Lernia, S. & Garcea, E.A.A. Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara: Chronology, Environment, and Archaeology. African Archaeological Review 15, 261–286 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021620531489

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