Giusi Mutri

Fabrizio Serra editore, Volume V, 252p. Pisa, Rome, 2010 Table de matières : http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php ?chiave=201010601&rivista=106 Saleh R. Akab Preface Pagine : 9 (1) Antonino Di Vita L'Università di Macerata : dieci anni di studi e restauri archeologici in Tripolitania ; (1998-2008) Pagine : 11-24 (13) Enrica Fiandra, Anna Maria Dolciotti Missione archeologica congiunta italo-libica. "Tempio Flavio", Leptis Magna, Libia. Attività 1998-2007 Pagine : 25-36 (12) Detlev Kreikenbom..

Stone raw materials are valuable indicators of human activity and movements during the Stone Age. By analysing the physical and chemical characteristics of a lithic complex it is possible to reconstruct how the human group interacted with the environment. At the same time, the resources procurement system is a tool for measuring the living-space of an ethnic group and, consequently, of a specic culture. These aspects become particularly interesting if we transfer the analysis onto the diachronic level, studying cultural and economic choices in eri. The system of raw material procurement is one of the most interesting aspects since rocks are xed resources, not affected by seasonal and climate changes as are water, fauna and botanical resources

North African territories at the end of the Pleistocene is mirrored in significant changes in lithic production. From a technological point of view all the Final Pleistocene lithic complexes in North Africa are characterized by an increase frequency in the production of geometric microliths and by the presence of particular tool types, such as backed blades and bladelets, which are often present in high percentages (Barich & Conati Barbaro 2003; Bouzouggar et al. 2008; Close 2002; Jackes & Lubell 2008; Lubell 1984; Lubell et al. 1984; Rahmani 2003; 2004). As for the North Libyan regions, during the twentieth century, the study of microlithic complexes was mainly focussed in two areas: the Cyrenaican and Tripolitanian littoral and the corresponding coastal ranges, the Jebel Akhdar, east of the Gulf of Sirte, and the Jebel Gharbi, west of it. These studies have helped clarify the role played by the Libyan coast as a cultural link between the Mediterranean shores and the central and ea...

The Jebel Gharbi region, located on the northern edge of the Tripolitanian plateau, has been the object of research by the Italo-Libyan Joint Mission, directed by Barbara E. Barich (University of Rome "La Sapienza") and Elena A.A. Garcea (University of Cassino), since the 1990s. During the 2000 season an important settlement area was detected at the foot of the jebel, near the village of Shakshuk. The importance of the area, which is located between the Jefara plain and the alluvial fan belt, is due to the different human occupation horizons and to the plentiful archaeological findings scattered on the surface. Perennial water sources allowed the territory to be inhabited even in the most arid phases of the Pleistocene. Investigation in the Shakshuk area has resulted in the important discovery of Site SJ-00-56, located near to one of the abovementioned springs. The lithic assemblage recovered from the site is almost entirely composed of bladelets and small flakes, within a...

The paper reports on the third (2009) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results from the analysis of materials collected in the previous (2007 and 2008) fieldwork. Sediments in a 14 m-deep core drilled beside the McBurney trench provide an invaluable overview of the overall stratigraphic sequence, including at depths reached by the 1950s Deep Sounding but not yet investigated by the present project. Sampling of newly-exposed faces of the original excavation trench for dating (14C, ESR, OSL, U-series) and palaeoenvirommental indicators continued. Excavation was begun of sediments assigned to the early Holocene Libyco-Capsian (McBurney's Layer X), and of Pre-Aurignacian layers beside the top of the Deep Sounding. The Libyco-Capsian layers are particularly prolific in lithic debris, shells, and animal bones; preliminary analysis of the lithics suggests a development from Typical to Upper Capsian within the layers excavated in 2009. Geoarchaeol...

... 106 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:99–107 Page 9. ... Antiquity, 80(309), 567–582. Bouzouggar, A., Barton, RNE, & De Araujo, I. (2004–2005). A brief overview of recent research into the Aterian and Upper Palaeolithic of Northern and Eastern Morocco. ...

The paper reports on the third (2009) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results from the analysis of materials collected in the previous (2007 and 2008) fieldwork. Sediments in a 14 m-deep core drilled beside the McBurney trench provide an invaluable overview of the overall stratigraphic sequence, including at depths reached by the 1950s Deep Sounding but not yet investigated by the present project. Sampling of newly-exposed faces of the original excavation trench for dating (14C, ESR, OSL, U-series) and palaeoenvirommental indicators continued. Excavation was begun of sediments assigned to the early Holocene Libyco-Capsian (McBurney's Layer X), and of Pre-Aurignacian layers beside the top of the Deep Sounding. The Libyco-Capsian layers are particularly prolific in lithic debris, shells, and animal bones; preliminary analysis of the lithics suggests a development from Typical to Upper Capsian within the layers excavated in 2009. Geoarchaeological survey along the littoral to the west and east of the Haua Fteah identified complex sequences spanning most of the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Geoarchaeological survey south of the Haua Fteah characterized the major landforms of the Gebel Akhdar mountain and of the pre-desert and desert-edge zones further south, with Late Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic) material being found especially on the southern side of the Gebel Akhdar, and Middle Stone Age (Middle Palaeolithic) material in the pre-desert and desert regions. The first suite of14C dates (from charcoal samples taken in 2007) indicates the use of the Haua Fteah by Oranian hunter-gatherers during the Last Glacial Maximum and in the succeeding millennia, but not in the Younger Dryas cold/dry phase (c. 11,000–10,000 cal. BC), with Libyco-Capsian occupation resuming soon after the beginning of the Holocenec. 9000 cal. BC, suggesting that the cave, and perhaps the Gebel Akhdar in general, have a complex history as refugia for human settlement during the Pleistocene.

The paper reports on the fourth (2010) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results of analyses of artefacts and organic materials collected in the 2009 season. Ground-based LiDar has provided both an accurate 3D scan of the Haua Fteah cave and information on the cave's morphometry or origins. The excavations in the cave focussed on Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age ‘Pre-Aurignacian’ layers below the base of the Middle Trench beside the McBurney Deep Sounding (Trench D) and on Final Palaeolithic ‘Oranian’ layers beside the upper part of the Middle Trench (Trench M). Although McBurney referred to the upper part of the Deep Sounding as more or less sterile, the 2010 excavations found evidence for small-scale but regular human presence in the form of stone artefacts and debitage, though given the sedimentary context the latter are unlikely to representin situknapping. The excavations of Trench M extended from the basal Capsian layers invest...

The paper reports on the fifth (2012) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project. The primary focus of the season was the continuation of the excavation of the prehistoric occupation layers in the Haua Fteah cave. A small trench (Trench U) was cut into Holocene (Neolithic) sediments exposed on the south wall of Charles McBurney's Upper Trench. Below this, the excavation of Trench M was continued, on the southern side of McBurney's Middle Trench. In previous seasons we had excavated Oranian ‘Epipalaeolithic’ layers dating toc.18,000–10,000 BP (years before the present). In 2012 the excavation continued downwards through Dabban ‘Upper Palaeolithic’ occupation layers, one of which was associated with a post-built structure and likely hearths. There are indications of an occupational hiatus separating the oldest Dabban from the youngest Levallois-Mousterian (Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age) lithic material. The Deep Sounding excavated by Charles McBurney in...