"The Aterian is the name given to a distinctive stone tool industry made by anatomically modern humans between about 80,000 and 40,000 years ago. The tools are found on sites in northern Africa between the Atlantic coast to the Kharga Oasis and the western edge of the Nile river basin. As first described by Caton-Thompson in the 1940s, the tools of the Aterian include distinctive tanged projectile points-triangular blades with skinny, squared-off hafting elements-and foliates or leaf-shaped projectile points. Other tools exhibit typical Levallois technology, and include endscrapers, perforators and burins. Like the similarly-dated Howiesons Poort in South Africa, Aterian assemblages often include perforated Nassarian shell beads. Nassarius gibbosulus (marine tick) shell beads were found at Oued Djebbana in Algeria, and Grotte des Pigeons in Taforalt, Morocco, at about 80,000 years BP."
Dating the Aterian "The Aterian was originally thought to be dated between 40,000-20,000 bp, in part because of the similarity of some of the point styles to the much-later Solutrean, and in part because 40,000 is about as far back as radiocarbon dating can go. New dates using new methods such as electric spin resonance, Uranium/Thorium, OSL and thermoluminescence on sites such as Grotte des Pigeons and Rhafas Cave suggest the Aterian reaches well into the Middle Paleolithic, perhaps as much as 82-90,000 years ago, and probably ended about 40,000 years ago, similar in age and complexity to that of Howiesons Poort/Stille Bay in South Africa, and a good 25,000 years before the Solutrean."
The Aterian Culture appeared to stretch from Morocco to Egypt.
My question is, do some modern day North Africans have Aterian ancestry? What clades did these people carry? And what was their morphological features? Were they of Nubian complex?
Posts: 1135 | From: Top secret | Registered: Jun 2012
| IP: Logged |
posted
The Aterian and its place in the North African Middle Stone Age
Eleanor M.L. Scerri Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO), 65A Avenue Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BF, UK
Abstract
quote: The Aterian is a frequently cited manifestation of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of North Africa, yet its character and meaning have remained largely opaque, as attention has focused almost exclusively on the typology of ‘tanged’, or ‘pedunculated’, lithics. Observations of technological similarities between the Aterian and other regional technocomplexes suggest that the Aterian should be considered within the wider context of the North African MSA and not as an isolated phenomenon. This paper critically reviews the meaning and history of research of the Aterian. This highlights a number of serious issues with definitions and interpretations of this technocomplex, ranging from a lack of definitional consensus to problems with the common view of the Aterian as a ‘desert adaptation’. Following this review, the paper presents the results of a quantitative study of six North African MSA assemblages (Aterian, Nubian Complex and ‘MSA’). Correspondence and Principal Components Analyses are applied, which suggest that the patterns of similarity and difference demonstrated do not simplistically correlate with traditional divisions between named industries. These similarity patterns are instead structured geographically and it is suggested that they reflect a population differentiation that cannot be explained by isolation and distance alone. Particular results include the apparent uniqueness of Haua Fteah compared to all the other assemblages and the observation that the Aterian in northeast Africa is more similar to the Nubian in that region than to the Aterian in the Maghreb. The study demonstrates the existence of population structure in the North African MSA, which has important implications for the evolutionary dynamics of modern human dispersals.
quote:Originally posted by KingMichael777: Thanks Troll Patrol!
I appreciate it.
You're welcome,
Libya and the Maghreb:
quote:
If the archaeology of the Sahara’s southern margins remains rela- tively poorly understood, the Maghreb has long been the focus of sustained activity focused on the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (Lubell 2000, 2005). Here and at Haua Fteah in northeastern Libya, the Iberomaurusian industry introduced in Chapter 7 continued to be made into the terminal Pleistocene (McBurney 1967; Close and Wendorf 1990). Several unusual features are of interest, including evidence, rare at this time depth, for sculpture. This takes the form of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic ceramic figurines from Afalou, Algeria, baked from locally available clay to temperatures of 500◦–800◦C (Hachi 1996, Hachi et al. 2002). Dating 15–11 kya, they are complemented by an earlier fragmentary figurine from the nearby site of Tamar Hat (Saxon 1976). Distinctive, too, are the many burials known from these later Iberomaurusian contexts, including apparent cemeteries at Afalou (Hachi 1996) and Taforalt, Morocco (almost 200 individuals; Ferembach et al. 1962). Analysis of these remains (see inset) raises issues of territoriality, limited mobility, and group identity that economic data are still too few to explore further.
Knowing that people hunted Barbary sheep and other large mammals and that they collected molluscs, both terrestrial and marine, is very different from being able to develop this checklist of ingredients into a meaningful set of recipes or menus that could illuminate the details of Iberomaurusian subsistence-settlement strategies.
WHAT BONES CAN TELL: BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE HUNTER-GATHERERS OF THE MAGHREB:
quote: The extremely large skeletal samples that come from sites such as Taforalt (Fig. 8.13) and Afalou constitute an invaluable resource for understanding the makers of Iberomaurusian artefacts, and their number is unparalleled elsewhere in Africa for the early Holocene. Frequently termed Mechta-Afalou or Mechtoid, these were a skeletally robust people and definitely African in origin, though attempts, such as those of Ferembach (1985), to establish similarities with much older and rarer Aterian skeletal remains are tenuous given the immense temporal separation between the two (Close and Wendorf 1990). At the opposite end of the chronological spectrum, dental morphology does suggest connections with later Africans, including those responsible for the Capsian Industry (Irish 2000) and early mid-Holocene human remains from the western half of the Sahara (Dutour 1989), something that points to the Maghreb as one of the regions from which people recolonised the desert (MacDonald 1998).
Turning to what can be learned about cultural practices and disease, the individuals from Taforalt, the largest sample by far, display little evidence of trauma, though they do suggest a high incidence of infant mortality, with evidence for dental caries, arthritis, and rheumatism among other degenerative conditions. Interestingly, Taforalt also provides one of the oldest known instances of the practice of trepanation, the surgical removal of a portion of the cranium; the patient evidently survived for some time, as there are signs of bone regrowth in the affected area. Another form of body modification was much more widespread and, indeed, a distinctive feature of the Iberomaurusian skeletal sample as a whole. This was the practice of removing two or more of the upper incisors, usually around puberty and from both males and females, something that probably served as both a rite of passage and an ethnic marker (Close and Wendorf 1990), just as it does in parts of sub-Saharan Africa today (e.g., van Reenen 1987). Cranial and postcranial malformations are also apparent and may indicate pronounced endogamy at a much more localised level (Hadjouis 2002), perhaps supported by the degree of variability between different site samples noted by Irish (2000).
--Lawrence Barham The First Africans: African Archaeology from the Earliest Toolmakers to Most Recent Foragers (Cambridge World Archaeology)
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by TrollPatrol The Aterian and its place in the North African Middle Stone Age
Eleanor M.L. Scerri Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO), 65A Avenue Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BF, UK
Abstract
Here's an interesting quote:
quote:At the level of core reduction, it is clear that differences between both Aterian and Nubian Complex sites are marked, reflecting different environments and different raw material characteristics. Although these groups reduced cores differently, adapting them- selves to the fracture mechanics of the various raw materials, the resulting blanks are not significantly different in terms of overall size and proportion. Whilst Haua Fteah remains consistently different on these terms,blank production largely see no significant differences between Aterian and NubianComplex sites. It is difficult at this stage to claim that the lack of differences is evidence for a shared tradition. Whilst these groups are speculated to have sub-Saharan African roots this is not necessarily related to a single source. It is the consistent differences shown byHaua Fteah that are more noteworthy at this point. The clear and statistical differences strongly suggest a completely separate population
They end up concluding that the assembly of tanged tools show significant differences across Africa possibly reflecting different histories and origins and that it isn't likely to represent a shared tradition but attribute it to technological convergence (that is independent development of the technologies) especially since there would have been similar environment, selective pressures, and resources. But they also note similarities within the geographical clusters that could make it possible to make "technological groupings such as Aterian in a Northwest African/Nubian complex". Also: "a third perspective in terms of the possibility of structured groups both to expand and push less structured groups into new territories. In both cases such pushes may have extended out of Africa."
Posts: 21 | From: Mars | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged |
posted
All pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall in the right place.
quote: Regular Middle Paleolithic inventories as well as Middle Paleolithic inventories of Aterian type have a long chronology in Morocco going back to MIS 6 and are interstratified in some sites. Their potential for detecting chrono-cultural patterns is low. The transition from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic, here termed Early Upper Paleolithic—at between 30 to 20 ka—remains a most enigmatic era. Scarce data from this period requires careful and fundamental reconsidering of human presence. By integrating environmental data in the reconstruction of population dynamics, clear correlations become obvious. High resolution data are lacking before 20 ka, and at some sites this period is characterized by the occurrence of sterile layers between Middle Paleolithic deposits, possibly indicative of a very low presence of humans in Morocco. After Heinrich Event 1, there is an enormous increase of data due to the prominent Late Iberomaurusian deposits that contrast strongly with the foregoing accumulations in terms of sedimentological features, fauna, and artifact composition. The Younger Dryas again shows a remarkable decline of data marking the end of the Paleolithic. Environmental improvements in the Holocene are associated with an extensive Epipaleolithic occupation. Therefore, the late glacial cultural sequence of Morocco is a good test case for analyzing the interrelationship of culture and climate change.
--Late Pleistocene Human Occupation of Northwest Africa: A Crosscheck of Chronology and Climate Change in Morocco Jörg Linstädter, Prehistoric Archaeology, Cologne University, GERMANY Josef Eiwanger, KAAK, German Archaeological Institute, GERMANY Abdessalam Mikdad, INSAP, MOROCCO Gerd-Christian Weniger, Neanderthal Museum, GERMANY
quote: North Africa is quickly emerging as one of the more important regions yielding information on the origins of modern Homo sapiens. Associated with significant fossil hominin remains are two stone tool industries, the Aterian and Mousterian, which have been differentiated, respectively, primarily on the basis of the presence and absence of tanged, or stemmed, stone tools. Largely because of historical reasons, these two industries have been attributed to the western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic rather than the African Middle Stone Age. In this paper, drawing on our recent excavation of Contrebandiers Cave and other published data, we show that, aside from the presence or absence of tanged pieces, there are no other distinctions between these two industries in terms of either lithic attributes or chronology. Together, these results demonstrate that these two ‘industries’ are instead variants of the same entity. Moreover, several additional characteristics of these assemblages, such as distinctive stone implements and the manufacture and use of bone tools and possible shell ornaments, suggest a closer affinity to other Late Pleistocene African Middle Stone Age industries rather than to the Middle Paleolithic of western Eurasia.
--On the industrial attributions of the Aterian and Mousterian of the Maghreb, Harold L. Dibble et al. Journal of Human Evolution, 2013 Elsevier.
posted
The only thing I know about the Aterians is that they were the earliest known culture of anatomically modern humans in North Africa. As to whether there are modern humans today at least in North Africa who are their direct descendants, I highly doubt it. I mean the predominant genetic lineages both maternal and paternal post-date the Aterian Industry.
Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: The only thing I know about the Aterians is that they were the earliest known culture of anatomically modern humans in North Africa. As to whether there are modern humans today at least in North Africa who are their direct descendants, I highly doubt it. I mean the predominant genetic lineages both maternal and paternal post-date the Aterian Industry.
Some population in Morocco still carry Y-DNA haplogroup A but at VERY LOW frequencies.
Posts: 1135 | From: Top secret | Registered: Jun 2012
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic