Marina Gallinaro

Inside the “African Cattle Complex”: Animal Burials in the Holocene Central Sahara

Cattle pastoralism is an important trait of African cultures. Ethnographic studies describe the central role played by domestic cattle within many societies, highlighting its social and ideological value well beyond its mere function as ‘walking larder’. Historical depth of this African legacy has been repeatedly assessed in an archaeological perspective, mostly emphasizing a continental vision. Nevertheless, in-depth site-specific studies, with a few exceptions, are lacking. Despite the long tradition of a multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of pastoral systems in Africa, rarely do early and middle Holocene archaeological contexts feature in the same area the combination of settlement, ceremonial and rock art features so as to be multi-dimensionally explored: the Messak plateau in the Libyan central Sahara represents an outstanding exception. Known for its rich Pleistocene occupation and abundant Holocene rock art, the region, through our research, has also shown to preserve the material evidence of a complex ritual dated to the Middle Pastoral (6080–5120 BP or 5200–3800 BC). This was centred on the frequent deposition in stone monuments of disarticulated animal remains, mostly cattle. Animal burials are known also from other African contexts, but regional extent of the phenomenon, state of preservation of monuments, and associated rock art make the Messak case unique. GIS analysis, excavation data, radiocarbon dating, zooarchaeological and isotopic (Sr, C, O) analyses of animal remains, and botanical information are used to explore this highly formalized ritual and the lifeways of a pastoral community in the Holocene Sahara.

The date and context of Neolithic rock art in the Sahara: engravings and ceremonial monuments from Messak Settafet (south-west Libya)

The authors find a context for the rock art of the central Sahara by excavating and recording examples of engraved stones from circular platforms used to sacrifice animals. The type of rock art known as the Pastoral style, featuring evocative outline drawings of cattle, appears on upright stones incorporated into the platforms in the period 5430–5150 BP, and probably earlier. Furthermore, they show that these places were part of a dense and extensive monumental landscape, occupying a harsh environment, supplying quartzite, but with little settlement, appearing to serve the spiritual needs of hundreds of Neolithic people.

Working in a UNESCO WH site: problems and practices on the rock art of Tadrart Akakus (SW Libya, Central Sahara)

Rock art contexts are a fragile aspect of the world’s cultural heritage and have always attracted the attention of scientists, institutions, stakeholders, and visitors. UNESCO gives due recognition to this significance by including many art sites on its World Heritage List. The Tadrart Akakus in SW Libya was awarded this status in 1985. However, over the past decade, given a series of threats (tourism, infrastructure, oil exploitation), these Holocene art sites have become increasingly endangered. The central authorities and local stakeholders have failed to reach a unanimous consensus on the best practices to be adopted to tackle the situation; proposed solutions range from the total closure of the area to self-regulation. The research presented here aims to demonstrate that simple measures at individual sites (information panels, fences), integrated in a comprehensive inter- and multi-disciplinary study of rock art contexts (in particular, statistical and GIS analysis), may represent the best way to help politicians and stakeholders to dynamically manage a cultural heritage site.

Plant behaviour from human imprints and the cultivation of wild cereals in Holocene Sahara

The human selection of food plants cannot always have been aimed exclusively at isolating the traits typical of domesticated species today. Each phase of global change must have obliged plants and humans to cope with and develop innovative adaptive strategies. Hundreds of thousands of wild cereal seeds from the Holocene ‘green Sahara’ tell a story of cultural trajectories and environmental instability revealing that a complex suite of weediness traits were preferred by both hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. The archaeobotanical record of the Takarkori rockshelter in southwest Libya covering four millennia of human occupation in the central Sahara gives us a unique insight into long-term plant manipulation and cultivation without domestication. The success of a number of millets was rooted in their invasive-opportunistic behaviour, rewarded during their coexistence with people in Africa. These wild plants were selected for features that were precious in the past but pernicious for agriculture today. Reconnecting past practices with modern farming strategies can help us to seek out the best resources for the future.Examination of wild cereal seed concentration at sites in Saharan Africa, and whether their traits of ‘weediness’ led to use and cultivation by humans from the eighth millennium bc.

Colour in context. Pigments and other coloured residues from the Early-Middle Holocene site of Takarkori (SW Libya)

We present the multidisciplinary investigation of pigments and artefacts with traces of colour from the Early-Middle Holocene site of Takarkori, located in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains (central Sahara, SW Libya). Here, geological, archaeological, taphonomic and chemical studies (Raman, Fourier-transform infrared, X-ray powder diffraction, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry) are used to examine a vast range of artefacts (raw materials, grinding stones, painted items, as well as lithic, bone, wooden and ceramic tools) equally distributed from Late Acacus contexts related to hunter-gatherers (ca. 8900–7400 uncal years bp) to pastoral groups (ca. 7400–4500 uncal years bp). The exploited minerals (goethite, hematite, kaolinite and jarosite, among others) are locally procured and processed using quartzarenite grinding stones of different shapes and sizes. Thermal treatment of the minerals is also suggested by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Raman studies. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses show the addition of a lipid binder to small lumps of pigments in order to obtain a sticky product. Their fatty acid distribution differs from the residues on grinding stones, pointing to a specific use of these lumps. The grinding stones have also been used to crush and pulverize the pigments and as base for colour preparation. A sample of colour from a fallen painted slab referable to late pastoral phases shows the presence of a binder, chemically identified as casein. Taken together, the evidence collected at Takarkori conveys to suggest an articulated chaîne opératoire, not only directed towards the preparation of pigments for the parietal rock art but also to other non-utilitarian functions, such as body care and ornamentation and decoration of artefacts.

Trapping or tethering stones (TS): A multifunctional device in the Pastoral Neolithic of the Sahara

The Pierres de Ben Barour, also known as trapping or tethering stones (TS), are stone artefacts with notches or grooves usually interpreted as hunting devices on the basis of rock art engravings. Though their presence is a peculiar feature of desert landscapes from the Sahara to the Arabian Peninsula, we know little about their age, context and function. Here we present a new approach to the study of these artefacts based on a large dataset (837 items) recorded in the Messak plateau (SW Libya). A statistically-based geoarchaeological survey carried out between 2007 and 2011 in Libya, alongside landscape and intra-site analyses of specific archaeological features (such as rock art, settlement and ceremonial contexts), reveal that these artefacts were used for a prolonged period, probably from the early Holocene. This was followed by a multifunctional use of these devices, particularly during the Pastoral Neolithic phase (ca. 6400–3000 cal BC), with the highest concentrations being found near ceremonial contexts related to cattle burials.

Libya Before and After the Conflict: What Future for Its Cultural Heritage?

Before the conflict in Libya (March 2011), the major threats to its cultural heritage were represented by oil exploitation, infrastructures and tourism. From a theoretical viewpoint there is a great difference on how to deal with Libyan cultural heritage, considering the site-oriented, more ‘northerner’ perspective or the landscape-oriented approach well attested in the South. Considering the dissimilarities between the North and the South, as well as the different impact(s) that the war had on their respective cultural heritages, it is easy to imagine a two-tier approach by local stakeholders and international organisations for handling the post-conflict situation. If in the North, funding will be invested for the restoration of damaged areas—very likely the coastal towns of classical age—the ‘cultural landscape’ in the South runs serious risks of remaining barely considered; it is necessary to define the potential of this heritage and to isolate the best practices to guarantee its future.