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| Iberomaurusian | |
|---|---|
| Name | Iberomaurusian |
| Period | Late Paleolithic to Epipaleolithic |
| Dates | c. 23,000–9,000 BP |
| Region | Northwest Africa |
| Major sites | Taforalt, Afalou, Haua Fteah |
| Preceding | Aterian |
| Following | Capsian |
Iberomaurusian The Iberomaurusian was a Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene North African stone-tool industry and archaeological tradition centered in the Maghreb and the Rif Mountains region. It is known from sites in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, and was first defined through work at Taforalt, Afalou Bou Rhummel, and Haua Fteah. Research on the Iberomaurusian has involved collaborations among institutions such as the National Museum of Natural History (France), the British Museum, the University of Oxford, and the Université de Bordeaux.
The term was introduced in the early 20th century by researchers including Auguste Pomel and later propagated by Henri Lhote and Louis Léger to describe a microlithic industry characterized by backed bladelets and tanged points at sites such as Taforalt. Debates over nomenclature engaged figures like Dorothy Garrod, Marion Spaulding, and Louis-Jean Maître, and intersected with discussions of the Aterian sequence and the subsequent Capsian culture. Classification has been influenced by typological frameworks advanced by the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, the Institut National d'Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INAP), and scholars from the École Française d'Archéologie.
Radiocarbon and stratigraphic work by teams from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the CNRS, and the Smithsonian Institution place the industry roughly between c. 23,000 and 9,000 BP, with regional variability noted at Taforalt, Contrebandiers Cave, Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa, and Haua Fteah. Distribution covers coastal and inland contexts across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and western Libya, extending into the Sahara peripheries during humid phases linked to the African Humid Period. Chronological models have been refined using Bayesian analyses developed at the University of Cambridge and University of Leiden.
Iberomaurusian assemblages are typified by geometric microliths, backed bladelets, end-scrapers, and occasional tanged points recovered from stratified deposits at Aïn el Guettar, Beni Mellal, Ifri Oudadane, and Sidi Ali. Lithic reduction strategies exhibit a focus on bladelet production from prepared cores, comparable in some respects to microlithic traditions documented in the Levant, Iberian Peninsula, and Italy. Faunal remains, ochre-stained artifacts, and worked bone items from sites such as Taforalt and Shuqbah indicate multi-material technology; analyses published by teams at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of Barcelona employed use-wear studies and residue analysis methodologies pioneered at Université Lyon 2.
Human skeletal material from Taforalt and other burial contexts, curated at institutions including the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Paris) and the National Museum of Antiquities (Algeria), has been central to bioarchaeological debates. Stable isotope, ancient DNA, and craniometric studies involving researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and the University of Toronto have explored affinities with populations linked to the Levantine Epipaleolithic, the Natufian culture, and later North African groups like those associated with the Capsian culture. Interpretations by teams including Chris Stringer, Carles Lalueza-Fox, and Hassan Taleb address questions of population continuity, admixture, and mobility.
Faunal and botanical assemblages from coastal and inland Iberomaurusian sites—analyzed by specialists from the University of Copenhagen, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid), and the University of Algiers—reveal exploitation of marine resources, small ungulates, and plant foods during shifts in palaeoenvironmental regimes. Pollen records and sediment studies coordinated with the PAGES project and the International Quaternary Association document oscillations between arid and humid conditions influenced by the African Humid Period; these environmental dynamics affected settlement patterns at locales such as Ifri n'Ammar and Oued el Akarit.
Scholars have compared Iberomaurusian technologies and mortuary practices with those of the Natufian culture, the Epipaleolithic of the Levant, and Late Pleistocene industries in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily. Hypotheses of demic diffusion, cultural transmission, or independent convergent evolution have been proposed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the University of Barcelona. Genetic and craniometric data have been discussed in the context of interactions among populations associated with the Aterian, Levantine foragers, and incoming Holocene groups implicated in the development of the Capsian culture.
Early excavations at Taforalt by Auguste Pomel and later systematic work by R.V. Seligman and Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel established the sequence later refined by teams from the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique and the École Pratique des Hautes Études. Key sites include Taforalt (Grotte des Pigeons), Afalou Bou Rhummel, Haua Fteah, Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa, Contrebandiers Cave, and Ifri Oudadane, with recent fieldwork involving collaborations among the Royal Museums of Art and History (Belgium), the National Center for Scientific Research (Algeria), and the University of Arizona. Ongoing projects deploy methods from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the University of York, and the University of Liège for excavation, dating, and interdisciplinarity integrating archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, and ancient DNA.
Category:Prehistoric cultures of Africa