1
|
Cáceres I, Chelli Cheheb R, van der Made J, Harichane Z, Boulaghraief K, Sahnouni M. Assessing the subsistence strategies of the earliest North African inhabitants: evidence from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (Algeria). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 2023; 15:87. [PMID: 37251552 PMCID: PMC10220151 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-023-01783-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The archaeological data on the earliest hominin behavioral subsistence activities in North Africa are derived primarily from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (northeastern Algeria). Ain Boucherit consists of two archaeological layers, Ain Boucherit Upper (AB-Up) and Ain Boucherit Lower (AB-Lw), estimated to ~ 1.9 Ma and ~ 2.4 Ma, respectively. Cutmarked and hammerstone percussed bones associated with Oldowan stone tools were found in both layers, with AB-Lw yielding the oldest in North Africa. The faunal assemblages from both deposits are dominated by small-sized bovids and equids. Evidence of cutmarks and percussion marks in both assemblages shows that hominins exploited animal carcasses, involving skinning, evisceration and defleshing activities. The evidence of meat and marrow acquisition is more abundant at AB-Lw with carnivore activity being scarce. However, the AB-Up assemblage shows more carnivore damage and less hominin-induced tool marks. Ain Boucherit evidence, is similar, in type and chronology, to that provided by the Early Pleistocene sites in East Africa (e.g., the Gona sites), where the oldest evidence of stone tools used in faunal exploitation have been discovered. This paper reports on the ability of early North African Oldowans to compete successfully for accessing animal resources with other predators.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Cáceres
- Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain
| | - Razika Chelli Cheheb
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
| | - Jan van der Made
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales & Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Zoheir Harichane
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
- Musée Public National du Bardo, Algiers, Algeria
| | - Kamel Boulaghraief
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
| | - Mohamed Sahnouni
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
- Stone Age Institute & Anthropology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Duval M, Sahnouni M, Parés JM, Zhao JX, Grün R, Abdessadok S, Pérez-González A, Derradji A, Harichane Z, Mazouni N, Boulaghraief K, Cheheb RC, van der Made J. On the age of Ain Hanech Oldowan locality (Algeria): First numerical dating results. J Hum Evol 2023; 180:103371. [PMID: 37178466 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Duval
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain; Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia; Palaeoscience Labs, Dept. Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, 3086 Victoria, Australia.
| | - Mohamed Sahnouni
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain; Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria; Stone Age Institute, 1392 W Dittemore Rd, Gosport, IN 47433, USA; Anthropology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Josep M Parés
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
| | - Jian-Xin Zhao
- Radiogenic Isotope Facility, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Rainer Grün
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; DFG Center for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools", University of Tübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Salah Abdessadok
- Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique (HNHP), UMR7194, Département Homme & Environnement, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1, rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Alfredo Pérez-González
- Instituto de Evolución en África (IDEA), Fundación General de la UAH, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - Abdelkader Derradji
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria; Institut d'Archéologie, Université Alger 2, 02 Avenue Djamel Eddine el Afghani, 16032 Bouzareah, Algiers, Algeria
| | - Zoheir Harichane
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria; Musée Public National du Bardo, 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria
| | - Nacim Mazouni
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria; Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Dept. d'Història i Història de l'Art, Fac. de Lletres, Av. Catalunya, 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Kamel Boulaghraief
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria
| | - Razika Chelli Cheheb
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), 3 rue Franklin Roosevelt, 16015 Algiers, Algeria
| | - Jan van der Made
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), c. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sahnouni M, Parés JM, Duval M, Cáceres I, Harichane Z, van der Made J, Pérez-González A, Abdessadok S, Kandi N, Derradji A, Medig M, Boulaghraif K, Semaw S. 1.9-million- and 2.4-million-year-old artifacts and stone tool-cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria. Science 2018; 362:1297-1301. [PMID: 30498166 DOI: 10.1126/science.aau0008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
East Africa has provided the earliest known evidence for Oldowan stone artifacts and hominin-induced stone tool cutmarks dated to ~2.6 million years (Ma) ago. The ~1.8-million-year-old stone artifacts from Ain Hanech (Algeria) were considered to represent the oldest archaeological materials in North Africa. Here we report older stone artifacts and cutmarked bones excavated from two nearby deposits at Ain Boucherit estimated to ~1.9 Ma ago, and the older to ~2.4 Ma ago. Hence, the Ain Boucherit evidence shows that ancestral hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in northern Africa much earlier than previously thought. The evidence strongly argues for early dispersal of stone tool manufacture and use from East Africa or a possible multiple-origin scenario of stone technology in both East and North Africa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed Sahnouni
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain. .,Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria.,Stone Age Institute and Anthropology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Josep M Parés
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
| | - Mathieu Duval
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
| | - Isabel Cáceres
- Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.,Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Tarragona, Spain
| | - Zoheir Harichane
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria.,Musée National du Bardo, Algiers, Algeria
| | - Jan van der Made
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Salah Abdessadok
- Département Homme et Environnement, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France.,Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria
| | - Nadia Kandi
- Département d'Archéologie, Université Lamine Debaghine Sétif 2, Sétif, Algeria
| | - Abdelkader Derradji
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria.,Institut d'Archéologie, Université Alger 2, Algiers, Algeria
| | - Mohamed Medig
- Institut d'Archéologie, Université Alger 2, Algiers, Algeria
| | - Kamel Boulaghraif
- Centre National de Recherches Préhistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques (CNRPAH), Algiers, Algeria.,Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Sileshi Semaw
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain.,Stone Age Institute and Anthropology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Sahnouni M, Hadjouis D, van der Made J, Derradji AEK, Canals A, Medig M, Belahrech H, Harichane Z, Rabhi M. On the earliest human occupation in North Africa: a response to Geraads et al. J Hum Evol 2004. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
|
5
|
Sahnouni M, Hadjouis D, van der Made J, Derradji AEK, Canals A, Medig M, Belahrech H, Harichane Z, Rabhi M. Further research at the Oldowan site of Ain Hanech, North-eastern Algeria. J Hum Evol 2002; 43:925-37. [PMID: 12473489 DOI: 10.1006/jhev.2002.0608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Further investigations were carried out at Ain Hanech, Algeria in 1998 and 1999 to explore its potential for investigating early hominid behavioral patterns and adaptation. Research concentrated on the stratigraphy and dating, identifying new archaeological deposits, and excavating the Ain Hanech and El-Kherba localities. To enhance the chronological control within a biostratigraphic framework, the Ain Boucherit fossil-bearing stratum, yielding a Plio-Pleistocene fauna, is correlated with the regional stratigraphy. In the stratigraphic sequence, the Ain Boucherit stratum, located 13m below the Ain Hanech Oldowan occurrences, is found in Unit Q of the Ain Hanech Formation. Unit Q shows a paleomagnetically reversed polarity, which may be correlated with an age earlier than the Olduvai normal subchron (1.95-1.77Ma). Based on test trenches and stratigraphic analyses, additional Oldowan deposits A, B, and C are identified at Ain Hanech. All three deposits and the El-Kherba site contain Mode I technology artefacts associated with an Early Pleistocene fauna. El-Kherba is stratigraphically equivalent to Ain Hanech. These two archaeological sites are estimated to be dated to about 1.8Ma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed Sahnouni
- CRAFT Research Center, Indiana University, 419 North Indiana Avenue, Bloomington 47405, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|