Decades of archaeological research in southeastern Arabia (Oman and the UAE) have provided a good understanding of the evolution of human societies in this arid region, with the transition from ...mobile pastoralism to settled agricultural villages occurring at the start of the Hafit period (ca. 3100–2700 BCE). The delayed adoption of farming, ceramics, mudbrick architecture, metallurgy, and other technologies until the start of the 3rd millennium BCE has been a particularly salient feature of this region relative to its neighbours in Mesopotamia, southern Iran, and northwestern South Asia. However, recent geoarchaeological research at the World Heritage Site of Bat, situated within the Wadi Sharsah valley in northwest Oman, has provided evidence of irrigation practices that have been dated to the early-mid 4th millennium BCE. While direct evidence of farming from this early period remains elusive, the presence of irrigated fields at this time raises new questions about the supposedly mobile pastoralist groups of the Arabian Neolithic and the beginning of farming practices in the region.
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•We examine charred plant remains from El Mekta, Tunisia (ca. 9500–7500BP).•We identified three taxa including Pinus halepensis, Quercus sp., and Stipa tenacissima.•We use ...ethnobotanical data to interpret archaeological plant remains.•Acorns and pine nuts could be used as staples, and Alfa grass in basketry.•Decreasing of acorns through time suggests climatic deterioration in the area.
This paper aims to explore the presence of macro-botanical remains and to assess the role of food plants in sites from the Capsian culture (ca. 10,000–7500BP). Previous research on the Capsian diet has emphasized the role of land snails and animal resources, but little attention has been paid to the consumption of plants. Here we present the results from the first systematic analysis of charred macro-botanical remains (other than wood charcoal) from a Capsian site. As a case study we have used the data from El Mekta in Tunisia occupied during both the Typical and Upper Capsian periods. Macro-botanical remains were scarce and the evidence of plant use is limited. We identified three taxa including Pinus halepensis, Quercus sp., and Stipa tenacissima. Archaeobotanical and ethnographic evidence suggests that P. halepensis and Quercus sp. could have been used for human consumption while S. tenacissima may have been utilized as a source of fiber for basketry. Decreasing frequencies of Quercus sp. from the Typical to the Upper Capsian levels match well with paleoclimatic proxies pointing to a slow process of desiccation in the region. Capsian populations could have adapted to this environmental change by focusing on the gathering of P. halepensis. We propose that both acorns and pine nuts could have played an important role in the Capsian diet, providing a highly nutritious food source which could also be stored. Archaeobotanical data is limited and definitive conclusions are still at an early stage but we encourage the application of systematic and complete sampling at other Capsian sites in order to test this hypothesis.
•A non-essential role in the diet of Medjez I populations.•Traces of burning and regular perforations confirm human intervention (consumption).•The diversity of techniques and perforating tools in ...the extraction of the snail's body from its shell.•The piercing of terrestrial shells could play other roles (e.g. production of necklaces).•Varied collection periods according to species abundance.
The rammadiya of Medjez I, located near El Eulma (eastern Algeria), is one of the best known sites of the Upper Capsian. The discovered terrestrial malacofauna comes from two excavations (2013 and 2017). The majority of the shells belong to two species: Helix melanostoma and Xerosecta sp. (more than 90% of the total malacofauna). The high proportion of young individuals of Xerosecta sp., the small size of its shell and the presence of faunal remains highlight the negligible - secondary or complementary - role of the terrestrial malacofauna in the diet of the occupants of Medjez I. The molluscs could be cooked on heated stones, a technique that will preserve the structure of the shell. The presence of systematic (or regular) anthropogenic perforations is due, for a large part, to the methods of extraction of the animal from its shell for consumption: piercing by human canines and/or by a flint or bone tool. However, certain types of perforation, located just behind the peristome at the level of the last whorl of the shell, could have had the objective of manufacturing collars or other ornamental objects. The collection season for the land snail species identified in the site could have taken place during several periods of the year depending on the adaptation of each species to climate change.
This paper is focused on cultural and subsistence changes in North African societies during the Early and Middle Holocene, with a special emphasis on the emergence of a productive economy in the ...Eastern Maghreb. An overview of Western Mediterranean Neolithic spread is first given in order to verify the trajectories evinced in European and North African contexts as well as the different models for neolithisation recently proposed in both contexts. A chrono-stratigraphical, economical and technological analysis carried out from coastal (SHM-1) and inland (Doukanet el Khoutifa and Kef Hamda) Tunisian sites is then proposed. New AMS dates offer insights on Upper Capsian development as well as on the Neolithic transition during the 9th and 8th millennium cal BP. Information gathered at SHM-1 and Kef Hamda indicates the acquisition of some specific Neolithic features such as decorated pottery in a hunter–gatherer context dated to 8000 cal BP. Data from Doukanet el Khoutifa hint at a Neolithic productive economy from 7400 cal BP based on pastoral activities and integrating the consumption of wild animals and plants, with no evidence for agriculture. These data confirm the specific North African pathways identified in other local contexts, where an active role of Epipalaeolithic groups is at the basis of the Neolithic transition through an acculturation process.
L’approche géoarchéologique a pour objectif de discuter l’intérêt des archives sédimentaires des rammadiyat pour appréhender les dynamiques d’occupation des sols au Capsien et Néolithique. Les ...rammadiyat se présentent sous forme de monticules dont la stratigraphie est peu exprimée. Les fouilles récentes ont mis en évidence des sols d’occupation renouvelant les questionnements sur les modes d’occupation de ces populations capsiennes. L’approche géoarchéologique repose sur la micromorphologie des sols. Elle a été menée sur 5 sites capsiens de Tunisie et d’Algérie. Elle a permis de caractériser les modes de formation de ces rammadiyat. Les informations recueillies montrent que les rammadiyat relèvent principalement des processus liés aux activités humaines, qui ont interagi à des degrés variables avec les processus naturels. Elles ont permis de construire un modèle qualitatif de la dynamique de formation des rammadiyat, exprimé par une classification des faciès sédimentaires identifiés, selon les pratiques d’aménagement, selon les activités et selon le degré de fréquentation. Ce modèle met en évidence un premier schéma de l’organisation spatiale des sols d’occupation, matérialisant trois types espaces : un espace construit (bâtiment), un espace de cour segmenté avec des aires domestiques, voies de passage et zones de rejets et un espace peu fréquenté, en marge de l’occupation principale. L’enregistrement sédimentaire témoigne d’un mode d’occupation continu, localement rythmé par des variations dans le degré de fréquentation. Des épisodes d’abandon temporaire ou de très faible fréquentation sont ainsi observés. Cependant, leur généralisation à l’ensemble du site reste à préciser.
The aim of the geoarchaeological approach is to discuss the interest of sedimentary archives of rammadiyat, in order to understand the dynamics of soil occupancy at the Capsian and Neolithic period. The rammadiyat present the shape of a small mound, whose stratigraphy is quite undifferentiated. Recent excavations show the presence of occupation surfaces, renewing the questions about the settlement strategies and of these capsian populations. The geoarchaeological approach is based on soil micromorphology .This research was conducted on 5 capsian sites in Tunisia and Algeria and allowed us to characterize the formation processes of these rammadiyat. The collected data show that rammadiyatis mainly formed by anthropic processes related to human activity interacting with natural processes on varying degrees. It’s then possible to construct a qualitative model relating to the formation dynamics of rammadiyat, expressed by a classification of the identified sedimentary facies, according to the building practices, the activities and the intensity of human occupation. This model highlights a first framework of the spatial organization of occupation surfaces, materializing three types of spaces: a built space (dwelling), a segmented yard space with domestic areas, passageways and dump areas, and a marginal area, showing a sporadic occupation. The sedimentary record shows a continuous occupancy, locally punctuated by variations in the intensity of human occupation. Episodes of temporary abandonment or very low occupation are observed. However, their generalization to the whole site remains to be clarified.
This paper is focused on cultural and subsistence changes in North African societies during the Early and Middle Holocene, with a special emphasis on the emergence of a productive economy in the ...Eastern Maghreb. An overview of Western Mediterranean Neolithic spread is first given in order to verify the trajectories evinced in European and North African contexts as well as the different models for neolithisation recently proposed in both contexts. A chrono-stratigraphical, economical and technological analysis carried out from coastal (SHM-1) and inland (Doukanet el Khoutifa and Kef Hamda) Tunisian sites is then proposed. New AMS dates offer insights on Upper Capsian development as well as on the Neolithic transition during the 9th and 8th millennium cal BP. Information gathered at SHM-1 and Kef Hamda indicates the acquisition of some specific Neolithic features such as decorated pottery in a hunter–gatherer context dated to 8000 cal BP. Data from Doukanet el Khoutifa hint at a Neolithic productive economy from 7400 cal BP based on pastoral activities and integrating the consumption of wild animals and plants, with no evidence for agriculture. These data confirm the specific North African pathways identified in other local contexts, where an active role of Epipalaeolithic groups is at the basis of the Neolithic transition through an acculturation process.
In the area of Bat, the fluvial terraces in the Wadi Sharsah are rich in Bronze Age archaeological remains, many still extant on the surface. Most are stone-built structures dating to the Umm an-Nar ...period, although excavations by the American team have uncovered areas of stone and mudbrick construction dated to the Hafit period (see Thornton and Schmidt 2015). As mentioned above, the Hafit period is particularly notable for the establishment of agricultural oases and villages in Oman and the UAE (e. g., al-Jahwari 2009; Méry 2013), but very few non-mortuary deposits from this period have ever been excavated.
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In the third millennium B.C.E., the Oman Peninsula was the site of an important kingdom known in Akkadian texts as "Magan," which traded extensively with the Indus Civilization, southern Iran, the ...Persian Gulf states, and southern Mesopotamia. Excavations have been carried out in this region since the 1970s, although the majority of studies have focused on mortuary monuments at the expense of settlement archaeology. While domestic structures of the Bronze Age have been found and are the focus of current research at Bat, most settlements dating from the third millennium B.C.E. in Oman and the U.A.E. are defined by the presence of large, circular monuments made of mudbrick or stone that are traditionally called "towers." Whether these so-called towers are defensive, agricultural, political, or ritual structures has long been debated, but very few comprehensive studies of these monuments have been attempted.
Between 2007 and 2012, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology conducted excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat in the Sultanate of Oman under the direction of the late Gregory L. Possehl. The focus of these years was on the monumental stone towers of the third millennium B.C.E., looking at the when, how, and why of their construction through large-scale excavation, GIS-aided survey, and the application of radiocarbon dates. This has been the most comprehensive study of nonmortuary Bronze Age monuments ever conducted on the Oman Peninsula, and the results provide new insight into the formation and function of these impressive structures that surely formed the social and political nexus of Magan's kingdom.
