These include Arambourg’s monograph Mammifères fossiles du Maroc (1938), Bourcart’s article “La géologie du quaternaire au Maroc” (1943), and especially a publication by Neuville and Ruhlmann, La Place du Paléolithique Ancien dans le Quaternaire Marocain (1941). An account of the history of research on earlier Maghreb prehistory is given by Pierre Biberson in two volumes published in 1961: Le Cadre paléogéographique de la préhistoire du Maroc Atlantique and Le Paléolithique inférieur du Maroc Atlantique. Biberson took over the research of Neuville and Ruhlmann at the Casablanca quarries following World War II, and there he was responsible for excavation of the Acheulean levels at Sidi-Abderrahman Extension.

Little systematic research other than Biberson’s has been done on Lower Paleolithic materials in the Maghreb. The state of knowledge in the early 1970s is reviewed by Freeman (1975).

Other than the Moroccan sites, significant localities include Aïn Hanech (Arambourg 1947; Sahnouni 1987, 1991) and Ternifine (Arambourg 1963; Balout, Biberson, and Tixier 1967; Geraads, Hublin, Jaeger, Tong, Sen, and Toubeau 1986) in Algeria; Sidi Zin in Tunisia (Gobert 1950; Gragueb 1980); Erg Tihodaine in the Algerian Sahara, where Reygasse began work in the 1930s (Reygasse 1935), followed by Arambourg in the 1940s and 1950s (e.g., Arambourg and Balout 1955), and more recently by Thomas (1977). desmond clark (1992) provides a brief, more recent overview.

The Middle Paleolithic is even less well documented. The classic Maghreb industry of this period is the Aterian, first identified by Pallary in 1911 but named by Reygasse in 1922 and then defined by him in 1930 (Debénath 1994; Ferring 1975). Characterized by the use of the Levallois technique and the presence of stemmed (pedunculate) artifacts, Aterian assemblages date between 40,000 and 20,000 years ago and are found from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the Nile Valley. Although a Mousterian origin is almost certain, Mousterian sites are rare. Wengler’s doctoral thesis, “Cultures préhistoriques et formations quaternaires du Maroc Oriental: Relations entre comportements et paléoenvironnements du Paléolithique Moyen” (1993), provides some clarification. It is now generally accepted that there are no known examples of Homo sapiens neandertalensis in the Maghreb (or elsewhere in North Africa). Even though the makers of the North African Mousterian are unknown, all fossils found in association with Aterian assemblages are accepted as anatomically modern Homo sapiens (Debénath 1994). Unresolved are questions of the affinity and origins of later (Iberomaurusian and Capsian) populations, a point discussed at length in Lubell, Sheppard, and Jackes (1984) and in a series of articles and monographs by Chamla (e.g., 1968, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1978; see also Briggs 1955).

David Lubell

and Peter Sheppard

See also

Africa, Francophone; Lithic Analysis; Rock Art

References

Arambourg, C. 1938. Mammifères fossiles du Maroc. Mémoires de la Société des Sciences Naturelles du Maroc, 46.

———. 1947. “Les vertébrés fossiles des formations continentales des plateaux constantinois (note préliminaire).” Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire Naturelle de l’Afrique du Nord 38: 45–48.

———. 1963. Le gisement de Ternifine: L’Atlanthropus de Ternifine. Archives de L’Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 32.

Arambourg, C., and L. Balout. 1955. “L’ancien lac de Tihodaïne et ses gisements préhistoriques.” In Congrès Panafricain de Préhistoire. Actes de la IIe Session, Alger, 1952, pp. 281–295. Ed. L. Balout.

Aumassip, G. 1973. Néolithique sans poterie de la région de l’Oued Mya (Bas-Sahara). Mémoires du crape, 20. Algiers: SNED.

———. 1980–1981. “Ti-n-Hanakaten, Tassili-n-Ajer, Algérie. Bilan de 6 campagnes de fouilles.” Libyca 28–29: 115–127.

Balout, L. 1952. Actes du Congrès Panafricain de Préhistoire. Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques.

———. 1955. Préhistoire de l’Afrique du Nord, essai de chronologie. Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques.

———. 1967. “Procédés d’analyse et questions de terminologie concernant l’études des ensembles industriels du Paléolithique inférieur en Afrique du Nord.” In Background to Evolution in Africa, pp. 701–735. Ed. W.W. Bishop and J.D. Clark. Chicago: University of Chicago.