Mousterian Implements

[aggsbach]

You stimulated my interest to gain further informations about the use of symbols in the Aterien. As I learned from Sally McBrearty and  Alison S. Brooks there are some interesting findings within this context.
-Perforated shells of Arcularia gibbonsula from Oue Djebanna, Algeria recently described together with similar shell beads from Skhul in Israel by Vanhaeren in Science Vol. 312, 2006
-a bone pendant from the Grotte Zouhra, Morocco ,-deliberately drilled quartzite flakes, probably designed for use as pendants, from Seggedim in eastern Niger and the enigmatic piles of limestone balls at the site of El-Guettar, Tunisia.
Is there any newer detailed information available about the the latter ?

johannes

[Mikey Brass]

I am unaware of any more recent publications concerning El-Guettar. If anyone else here knows, I would also be grateful for the information.

Chris Henshilwood gave a good overview on the state of research into the
origins of modern human behaviour from southern Africa, at the June 2006 SAfA (Society of Africanist Archaeologists) conference. The Shkul, Algerian beads were but the first of many articles that will be published on MSA behavioural patterns over the coming year. Henshilwood and others
are extensively re-examining the collection materials from a number of
excavations, as evidence such as detailed in this particular article has
been overlooked or unrecognised for a number of years.

D'Errico and Henshilwood have a recent JHE article entitled "Additional evidence for bone technology in the southern African Middle Stone Age", which includes an analysis of a previously unpublished point from Peers Cave.

Diepkloof (South Africa) is being re-excavated. Inscribed ostrich
eggshell has been found dating to the late Howiesonspoort. In addition,
bifacial points have been found similar to Stillbay here and other
sites. Stillbay is no longer confined to the relatively small area of
Stillbay and Blombos.

As for the other forthcoming publications, Henshilwood was not at
liberty to discuss with any conference delegate.

Henshilwood's view is that there were bursts of modernity behaviour at
around the same time but not at the same time; i.e. a mosaic pattern and
process.

[aggsbach]

Lets wait for new informations-These topics will get very important and interesting................

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

I am unaware of any more recent publications concerning El-Guettar. If anyone else here knows, I would also be grateful for the information.

Same here, but then, contrary to you, I am not really up-to-date into North African prehistory matters. The most recent mention of El Guettar I have read can be found in Vialou’s (Ed.) recent Encyclopedia which has been mentioned HERE. It is essentially a summary of what had already been presented in an earlier encyclopedia article: J. Chavaillon, « El Guettar, Tunisie », Dictionnaire de la Préhistoire, sous la dir. d'A. Leroi-Gourhan, PUF, Paris, 1988, p. 354. Note also, that a recent, brief overview can be found HERE.

As for the rest of your summary, I would like to point out that quite a bit of information on the issue of early manifestations of “symbolism” is already available on the Forum. A search for “beads”, “Blombos”, “Henshilwood” “d’Errico”, etc. should provide you and others with some good leads.

Finally, I would like to suggest that if this topic is to slowly drift from “rocks” (i.e. “Mousterian implements”) to “symbols”, it might be a good idea to start posting on the “Parietal & Mobiliary Art” board.

Jacques

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

Garcea's views have been articulated in various articles:

Garcea, E. 2001. A Reconsideration of the Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age in North Africa after the Evidence from the Libyan Sahara. In Garcea, E. (ed.) Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Libyan Sahara. Firenze: All'insegna del giglio, 25-50.

Barich, B., Garcea, E. and Giraudi, C. 2006. Between the Mditerranean and the Sahara: Geoarchaeological Reconnaissance in the Jebel Gharbi, Libya. Antiquity 80, 567-582.

But the main article in which she articulated the results of her investigation into the affinities and spread of the Aterian is:

Garcea, E. 2004. Crossing Deserts and Avoiding Seas. Aterian North African-European Relations. Journal of Archaeological Research 60.

Her paper paper published argues that the Early MSA in North Africa was distant enough from the European Middle Palaeolithic to not be characterised as being part of the Mousterian. This, in itself, is interesting: A scholar (Sarah Wurz) who worked on material from Klasies River came to the conclusion that there was a
relationship between the MSA and MP, meaning that the two continents were not isolated from each other. In essence, that a terminology dichotomy has historical rather than factual origins. Wurz expanded on this in her 2002 JAS article on Klasies River. On the other hand, Garcea's work on Holocene and Palaeolithic African material has been  from North African sites and has led her to conclude, "Technologically,
the Early Middle Stone Age (MSA) exhibits a generalised stone industry occasionally (although incorrectly) called Mousterian or Middle Palaeolithic for its apparent similarities with Eurasian lithic industries."

While Levallois techniques were utilised in both Europe and North Africa, I am in agreement with Garcea when she states:
"The use of European-based terminologies for African contexts has created much confusion and biased understanding of the local African cultural horizons... These European terms are still in use today and, unfortunately, have brought with them meanings and assumptions that often limit and confuse substantial interpretation of African ancient cultures."

There are stone tools from sites dating to the Holocene, in West and southern Africa, which exhibit the Levallois technique.  For an example of the latter, see:
F.-X. Fauvelle-Aymar, K. Sadr, F. Bon & D. Gronenborn. 2006. The Visibility and Invisibility of Herders' Kraals in Southern Africa, with Reference to a Possible Early Contact Period Khoekhoe Kraal at KFS 5, Western Cape. Journal of African Archaeology 4(2).

Mikey,

If you do a “compare and contrast” exercise between…

Cremaschi, M., Di Lernia, Savino,and E. A. A. Garcea. 1998. Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara: Chronology, Environment, and Archaeology. African Archaeological Review, 15(4)

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.

KEY WORDS: Aterian; OSL and TL dating techniques; Late Pleistocene; central Sahara; Tadrart Acacus.

and…

Garcea, Elena A. A. 2005. Postcolonial criticism in one world archaeology: Where is North Africa's place? Archaeologies 1(2).

Abstracto:
África del Norte hace tiempo ha sido considerada una extensión de Europa del sur. Cuando fue claro que los arqueólogos de África del Norte siguieron la dinámica no-europea, ellos fueron excluidos de los actuales debates y recientes reseñas. Este trabajo ofrece una crítica postcolonial derivada de muchos años de trabajo en el campo en dos países árabes africanos: Libia y Sudan. Yo comienzo analizando el papel de tema/objeto del arqueólogo, que conlleva hacia una vista engendrada del presente. Después, yo discuto la perspectiva del arqueólogo sobre el desarrollo económico y explotación de recursos. Finalmente, yo sugiero reposicionar al África del Norte en el actual debate arqueológico, igual que en relación a los actuales eventos políticos y sociales.

Résumé:
L'Afrique du Nord a longtemps été considérée comme une extension de l'Europe du Sud. Quand il est devenu évident que les archéologues nord africains suivaient une dynamique non-européenne, ceux-ci ont été exclus des débats courants et des révisions. Ce papier offre une critique postcoloniale consécutive à de nombreuses années de travaux passées sur le terrain dans deux pays arabes d'Afrique du Nord: la Libye et le Soudan. Je commence par déconstruire les rôles sujet/objet de l'archéologue, qui mènent à une vision orientée du passé. Puis, j' examine la perspective des archéologues quant au développement économique et l'exploitation des ressources. Enfin, je suggère de replacer l'Afrique du Nord dans le débat archéologique courant, et de la mettre en relation avec les évènements sociaux et politiques en cours.

… it shows very clearly that Ms. Garcea is a “born again” archaeologist, having moved, over a period of seven years, from a straightforward scientific approach to the questions of North African/Mediterranean prehistory, to one that is heavily tainted by (opportunistic ?) ideological and political choices and arguments. Expectable if one chooses to go the WAC way.

Jacques

[Mikey Brass]

Jacques, unfortunately I do not as yet possess a reading knowledge of French and I do not trust online translators. What I have to go by is her published reports, including her 2006 World Archaeology article which is very scientific in its nature and content. I met her recently in Rome and also last year at the SAfA conference, where she presented a paper directly after me in the same session. I feel, despite my lack of French, I have a reasonable to good insight into the esteem she is held by fellow Africanists (due to her proven rigour) and how she is approaching various projects she currently has going.

However I might professionally disagree with her on the details of certain matters, the one thing I cannot accuse her of is being "born-again" (a term I personally find derogatory).

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

Jacques, unfortunately I do not as yet possess a reading knowledge of French and I do not trust online translators. What I have to go by is her published reports, including her 2006 World Archaeology article which is very scientific in its nature and content. I met her recently in Rome and also last year at the SAfA conference, where she presented a paper directly after me in the same session. I feel, despite my lack of French, I have a reasonable to good insight into the esteem she is held by fellow Africanists (due to her proven rigour) and how she is approaching various projects she currently has going.

However I might professionally disagree with her on the details of certain matters, the one thing I cannot accuse her of is being "born-again" (a term I personally find derogatory).

Here is a quick translantion of the French abstract. Doing it from the Italian version would have taken too much time.

North Africa has long been viewed as an extension of southern Europe. When it became evident that North African archaeologists had developed a non-European dynamic [whatever this is supposed to mean], they have been excluded from participating in current debates and revisions. This paper presents a post-colonial critique based on many years of fieldwork carried out in two Arabic countries of Norh Africa: Lybia and Sudan. I begin by deconstructing the archaeologist’s subject/object roles which leads to an oriented (?) vision of the past [whatever this is supposed to mean]. Then, I examine the archaeologists’ perspective on economic development and resource exploitation. Finally, I suggest that North Africa should regain its place in the current archaeological debate and the current social and political events.

Now, for me, the tone of this short abstract – assuming it is a fair representation or summary of her actual presentation – has clearly more to do with present day ideology and politics, than with what understand a reasonable scientific discourse should be. Ergo, my  cynical “born again” qualifyer”. As I suggested earlier, do read what Garcea has to say about the North African Mousterian and Aterian in:

Cremaschi, M, Di Lernia,S., and Garcea E.A.A. 1998. Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan
Sahara: Chronology, Environment, and Archaeology. African Archaeological Review 14(4)

Jacques

[Mikey Brass]

I'm familiar with the AAR article. Savino is a good colleague of mind who heads the Italian-Libyan expedition in the central Acacus, has government contacts, etc. Aside from examining the MSA-late Holocene levels at the sites, the expedition also conducts ethnographic research and does indeed include the "archaeologists’ perspective on economic development and resource exploitation." It's a multi-faceted expedition and, as such, I simply do not read into this what you do.

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

I'm familiar with the AAR article. Savino is a good colleague of mind who heads the Italian-Libyan expedition in the central Acacus, has government contacts, etc. Aside from examining the MSA-late Holocene levels at the sites, the expedition also conducts ethnographic research and does indeed include the "archaeologists’ perspective on economic development and resource exploitation." It's a multi-faceted expedition and, as such, I simply do not read into this what you do.

Well, it is clear to me that this discussion is leading nowhere, and I am sure that it hasn’t anwered Bob’s initial question. So, I’ll conclude by noting that there is a vast amount of literature out there – unfortunately for you, much of it in French – supporting the notion that vast segments of the Mediterranean North African zone have yielded assemblages that exhibit definite Mousterian techno-typological characteristics. And this, by the way, is shown by some of the later, early Aterian assemblages.

Jacques

[Mikey Brass]

Jacques, no scholar is disputing the existence of Mousterian techno-typological characteristics.

[Chatelperron]

Hi All:

I read your discussion on Mousterian Implements, the Aterian and so on and I found it very interesting. Very valuable information has been posted here.

I'm preparing an article on the claimed Aterian - Solutrean connection. However, I still need some articles I don't have acces to, and one of them is Garcea (2004):CROSSING DESERTS AND AVOIDING SEAS: ATERIAN NORTH AFRICAN-EUROPEAN RELATIONS. Journal of Anthropological Research 60 (1): 27-53.

I would be very grateful to whoever could send me this article.

Thanks.

Best,

Manuel Alcaraz
Área de Prehistoria
Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain)

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

Hi All:

I read your discussion on Mousterian Implements, the Aterian and so on and I found it very interesting. Very valuable information has been posted here.

I'm preparing an article on the claimed Aterian - Solutrean connection. It will mainly review the thesis of Marc Tiffagom, which can be found in:

Tiffagom M. (2006): De la Pierre à l’Homme. Essai sur une paléoanthropologie solutrénne. ERAUL 113. Université de Liège, Liège.

Tiffagom M. (2005): El Solutrense de facies ibérica o la cuestión de los contactos transmediterráneos (Europa, África) en el Último Máximo Glaciar. En J. L. Sanchidrián, A. M. Márquez y J. M. Fullola (eds.): IV Simposio de Prehistoria Cueva de Nerja. La Cuenca Mediterránea durante el Paleolítico Superior, 38.000-10.000 años: 60-77.

Sorry for the folks who can't read french or spanish.

However, I still need some articles I don't have acces to, and one of them is Garcea (2004):CROSSING DESERTS AND AVOIDING SEAS: ATERIAN NORTH AFRICAN-EUROPEAN RELATIONS. Journal of Anthropological Research 60 (1): 27-53.

I would be very grateful to whoever could send me this article.

Thanks.

Best,

Manuel Alcaraz
Área de Prehistoria
Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain)

Dear Manuel Alcaraz,

The article is on its way, and I am sure that a number of participants are looking forward to reading what you will have to say about the Aterian-Solutrean connection.

Best,

Jacques

[Chatelperron]

Thanks a lot Jacques:

I will post some comments on my view of the Aterian - (Iberian) Solutrean connection as soon as I have some time nex days.

Regards,

Manuel.