 The area witnessed alternate paleoenvironmental
and population events ruled by glacial/interglacial conditions. Paleosols,
relict fluvial bodies, lacustrine carbonatic deposits, sand dunes and other
features underline the severely fluctuating presence and activity of water
resources. The region provides two different data sets: 1) two stratified,
dated, Middle Stone Age/Aterian sites; and 2) hundreds of surface lithic
scatters rarely associated with paleoenvironmental proxies. Early/Middle
Pleistocene human occupation is presumable, but the bulk of evidence is from
the late Middle/Late Pleistocene. Productive environments possibly housed human
groups with a Late Acheulean technology during MIS 7. Most of the MSA evidence
is barely diagnostic from a techno-typological point of view. Exceptions are
made for scanty but precise similarities with sub-Saharan early MSA findings,
suggesting the presence of modern humans in MIS6, and for the Aterian, an
example of MIS 4 arid landscape adaptation. Although MIS 3/2 post-Aterian human
presence is not demonstrable, signs of a generalized LSA technology are
recognizable in the Messak, where stony raw materials could have attracted
task-specific temporary occupants. Acheulean biface Learn more Cancellieri, E., M. Cremaschi, A. Zerboni, and S. di Lernia. in press. "Climate, Environment and Population Dynamics in Pleistocene Sahara," in Africa from Marine Isotope Stages 6-2: population dynamics and paleoenvironments. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Edited by S. Johnes and B. Steward: Springer. Cancellieri, E., and S. di Lernia. 2013. Middle Stone Age human occupation and dispersals in the Messak plateau (SW Libya, central Sahara). Quaternary International 300 (25): 142–152. AZA 1, 1999 - The Uan Afuda Cave. Hunter-Gatherer Societies of Central Sahara. Ed. by S. di Lernia AZA 2, 2001 - Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Libyan Sahara. Ed. by E.A.A. Garcea |
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