Neolithics from The Maghreb – The Archeology African Invasn

[djoser-xyyman]

Several points I made earlier in other therads has been discussed here. Eg that leap Frog Neolithization is absolute nonsense. I told you so.


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The Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in southern Iberia - Miguel Cortés Sánchez a, Francisco(2012)

The rapid expansion and area of dispersal of the early Neolithic traits suggest the use of marine technology. DIFFERENT evidences for a Maghrebian origin for the FIRST colonists have been summarized. The recognition of an early North-African Neolithic influence in Southern Iberia and the Maghreb is vital for understanding the appearance and development of the Neolithic in Western Europe. Our review suggests links between climate change, resource allocation, and population turnover



Recently, the occurrence of well dated non-cardial Neolithic sites has called into question such paradigm (Fig. 1). Examples include a number of Italian settlements, with impressa pottery, the French Languedoc (Pont de Roque-Haute, Peiro Signado, Guilaine et al., 2007) and the Spanish Levant (El Barranquet and Mas d'Is/“lower hut” Bernabeu et al., 2009). All of these sites provide evidence for neolithisation in the western Mediterranean ****PRIOR**** to the Cardial expansion. Within such context, the neolithization of the Iberian peninsula (Fig. 1) is of particular interest (e.g. Manen et al., 2007; Ramos et al., 2008; Carvalho, 2010) due to its strategic location on the confluence of Atlantic, African and Mediterranean Neolithic traditions. The study of this region may additionally provide data to test models of Neolithic migration paths and migration rates through the different continents. Interestingly, this southern Iberian early Neolithic population was established in enclaves located in areas previously occupied by Mesolithic populations that depended on a broad range of coastal resources, and appear to decline for unknown reasons at this time. What seems clear at this point is that the vestiges of this Mesolithic settlement vanished soon after the arrival of the Neolithic populations. Ourmain goal in this paper is to integrate archeological and climatic records, in particular paleoceanographical data, in order to characterize

[djoser-xyyman]

Maghreb
The Mesolithic to Neolithic transition on the north-African coast of the Strait of Gibraltar (Fig. 1) is NOT WELL DOCUMENTED although work along the Atlantic and Mediterranean sectors is starting to produce interesting results (e.g. Mikdad and Eiwanger, 1999; Daugas et al., 2008; López Sáez and López Merino, 2008; Rojo et al., 2010; on-going projects from the authors of this paper). At Hassi Ouenzga (Eastern Morocco), the existence of an Epipaleolithic occupation featuring ceramics of the Oran typology alongwith an economy based on hunting has been already suggested (e.g. Linstädter, 2003, 2010). As in Nerja, Cardial ceramics in the region appear later on in the sequence, (i.e., around the mid-8th millennium at Ifri Oudadane and Kaf Taht el Ghar), becoming frequent from the Eastern Rif to the Atlantic between 6.1 and 5.6 cal ka BP (Linstädter, 2008). Their conic bag-shaped bottoms and the heavy and extensive decoration, occasionally associated with the “Almagra” slip, exhibit parallels with forms found in the Algarve, and suggest contacts between both regions (Manen, 2000). Lithic assemblages, scarce for the most part, were characterized by the production of blades, although no evidences of sickles for cereal harvesting have been documented. These data suggest that the emergence of agriculture in the Western Maghreb was a mosaic process, APPARENTLY DIFFERENT from that of the Eastern Magreb (i.e., the Oran region). The earliest Neolithic of Oran featured impressed, incised and grooved ceramics. The decoration was light, often restricted to the upper portions of pots without necks and conic bases. Sometimes there


existed mammillated shaped pegs, often perforated. All of these features resemble materials found in Andalusia (e.g. Nerja,Murciélagos, Carigüela, etc.) more than those deriving from the Neolithic of the Sahara.


Neolithic in the Algarve may have taken place at around 7.4± 0.1 cal ka BP (Table 3, Fig. 4). On other southern Iberian regions (e.g., Huelva, Cadiz, Almería and the coast of Murcia) neither radiocarbon dates on short-lived Neolithic elements nor the bibliography detect settlements prior to 7.0 cal ka BP. For the western Maghreb, Neolithic radiometric dates are fairly abundant, although only one of these was obtained on a clear item of the Neolithic economy: this is the wheat sample from Kaf Taht el Ghar (7.2±0.1 cal ka BP) (Ballouche and Marinval, 2003). Its age fits well with those recorded on the coast of Malaga (Table 3, Fig. 4).

[djoser-xyyman]

Southern Iberian Neolithic pioneers — a Maghrebian origin?
The arrival of the Neolithic innovations to the western Mediterranean can be interpreted in terms of demic diffusion, although not necessarily of the kind predicted by the wave of advance model (Ammermann and Cavalli-Sforza, 1984). According to available data, a maritime pioneer colonization model, analogous to that proposed by Zilhão (1993, 2001), seems to be the most viable explanation. AVAILABLE DATA indicate the initial establishment of an Early Neolithic in southernmost Iberia with a likely NORTHERN AFRICAN ORIGIN. The evidences for such hypothesis are MULTIFARIOUS: a) Ceramics—Formal and ornamental parallelisms among Neolithic sites in the Oran region, the eastern Rif and Andalusia (e.g. Manen et al., 2007; Linstädter, 2008; Ramos et al., 2008). b) Lithic industries—Presence of segments and absence of Valencian trapezes (Manen et al., 2007) as well as heat treatment of flint in the Early Neolithic levels from sites in Portugal, Andalusia, and North Africa (Manen et al., 2007; Carvalho, 2008), in the Spanish Levant there is no evidence for this technique (García, 2006). c) Presence of straighteners made on human bone in both the early non-Cardial Neolithic from Nerja (Adam, 1995) and in sites from Andalusia and the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya and Tunisia). d) Use of a large variety of plant species (Table 2) and many domesticated animals (Pereira et al., 2006), unlike the more restricted and specialized cereal use of other European regions during the Early Neolithic. e) The unique features of sickles in the Malaga sites (i.e., flint implements inserted in a slightly diagonal position in the handle during the Early Neolithic. This pattern contrasts with the style found in Northern Iberia, where whole flint blades are inserted parallel to the handle (Ibáñez et al., 2008; Gibaja et al., 2010). f) Preliminary paleogenetic data from an individual from the Middle Neolithic levels of Nerja (Simón et al., 2005) evidence a close genetic relationship with individuals of haplogroup L1b, commonly found in the West African tribes of ***Fulbe, Mandenka, and Yoruba*** (Watson et al., 1996) and, less frequently, in Central and North Africa (Salas et al., 2002). The presence of an African mitochondrial haplogroup at Nerja does not necessarily indicate a recent African origin for that individual. It may be consistent with the fact that African ancestry was present in the region during earlier periods but obviously more data will be required to confirm a Neolithic African ancestry through genetic tracers. Limits and implications of the Maghreb Neolithization wave The new dates on short lived samples, together with other relevant evidence presented here indicate an essentially synchronous development of the Neolithic for Andalusia, the Algarve and North Africa (Fig. 4). This would suggest that the process of Neolithic expansion in the region could have been faster than that predicted by Ammermann and Cavalli-Sforza (1984)wave of advance model. The same pre-Cardial French-Iberian Neolithic was found in the Spanish Levant and in the Gulf of Liguria and is similar to that seen in Malaga and eastern Morocco, making it possible to postulate a new territory as the origin of the Neolithic from southern Iberia, namely the Maghreb coast (Bernabeu et al., 2002, 2009). The rapid expansion of the Neolithic in the western Mediterranean was likely facilitated by the use of maritime technology and raw-material networks based on long established central and eastern Mediterranean centers (Broodbank, 2006). One such network is that of obsidian (Fig. 1), that originated in Mediterranean islands such as Panteleria, and was transported to Tunisia, Sicily, the French Provence and Catalonia since at least 9 cal ka BP (Guilaine, 1994; Lugliè, 2010). Within such context, a crucial question is why the African coastal populations moved to the western Mediterranean and Atlantic coast and why was this move so fast? A prime reason could have been the aridification of the Sahara that caused a rapid depletion of resources forcing people on a fast migration northwards to the western Mediterranean. The coastal regions are very sensitive to aridification (Combourieu Nebout et al., 2009) and major rivers in the Algerian coastal region are

[djoser-xyyman]

This first Neolithic wave, of plausibly Maghrebian origin, overlapped and was gradually replaced by Neolithic groups using Cardial ceramics or, perhaps, such kind of ceramic was simply ***adopted later***. On the other hand, heat-treated flint technology was widely spread in the rest of Europe after a few centuries. The role played by the pre- Neolithic indigenous populations in this process remains unknown and needs to be clarified. The available data indicate that the earliest Neolithic with such distinct traits occupied an area ranging from the easternmost limit of central Andalusia to the Tagus–Mondego estuaries in Portugal. That the contact with North Africa was MAINTAINED through time is evident in the retrieval of exotic items, such as ostrich eggshell and ivory elements, documented in megalithic funerary contexts (e.g. Los Millares: Arribas and Molina, 1991).

[djoser-xyyman]

Conclusions
Paleoenvironmental and archeological data suggest that a climatic and environmental crisis between 8.0 and 7.3 cal ka BP may have impacted negatively populations on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. In southern Iberia this crisis was recognized by an increase in climatic instability, hydrological changes, and a decrease in temperatures and marine productivity. As such, it affected the composition of the terrestrial and marine faunas that were available to the Mesolithic hunter gatherers. At the same time, in different areas of the Sahara, an increase in the aridity, forcing migrations and the abandonment of various Neolithic settlements, has been documented. New AMS dates on unequivocally Neolithic short-lived samples (i.e., cereals and sheep bones) and the associated elements of the material culture from sites located along the Malaga and Algarve coasts, document the earliest presence of Neolithic symbolism and the production economy (i.e., body ornaments, burials, agriculture and animal husbandry) by at least 7.5 cal ka BP. Despite the detailed sampling that has been undertaken, at this point one cannot exclude slightly OLDER DATES for the origin of this regional phenomenon. In fact, based on the timing of the paleoenvironmental changes reported, we postulate that this first arrival could have occurred anywhere in the time period ranging between 8.0 and 7.3 cal ka BP. The 7.4 cal ka BP crisis also affected the central and eastern Mediterranean area and could have been an important factor in determining the influences that appear to ***RADIATE ***from these areas during the earliest stages of the Neolithic. Still, the original Neolithic features of the Malaga region (i.e., mostly ceramics) differ from those of the Cardial style to the extent of suggesting a DISTINCT ORIGIN AND ARRIVAL ROUTE ON THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN, MOST LIKELY FROM THE MAGHREB. THE SPEED AND TIMING OF THIS SOUTHERN ROUTE OF NEOLITHIZATION SUGGEST THAT IT NOT ONLY INVOLVED MARITIME TECHNOLOGIES BUT ALSO ***PREVIOUSLY EXISTING NETWORKS.****



The data presented here are consistent with an AFRICAN ORIGIN model, proposed ORIGINALLY in the first half of the 20th century (Manen et al., 2007; Ramos et al., 2008). The present scenario, however, seems to be far more complex than a simple migration process; we should thus look for transfers, integration and reinterpretation of cultural traits among the cultural mosaic of coeval groups settled along the Western Mediterranean during the 8th millennium BP, from the Andalusian and Algarvian coasts to the northern African territories of Morocco and Algeria, in order to solve this issue. In this sense, more in-depth studies should be carried out before definitively accepting the described African origin for the Neolithic in South Iberia.

[djoser-xyyman]

What does this all mean…? The concise version? The Summary

1. The “Sahara pump” is evident.
2. There existed “roadways”/network TO Europe FROM Africa thousand of years in the past. Probably since the Paleolithic.
3. Sahara Africans entered Europe from at least 3 points. Iberia, Italy and Greece/Levant.
4. mtDNA L1b and other haplogroups re of African Origin eg Macro-group H. Enetred Europe during the Holecene/eNeolithic. The mtDNA of the Hunter-gatherers “meta-population” was hg-U
5. The newcomers from Africa quickly replaced/co-mingled with the older populations.

[anansi]

Xman could you post a link to these studied whenever possible,sometimes folks want to use the info for debate purposes but linking back here they get accused of linking to an "Afrocentric" site...great stuff btw.

[djoser-xyyman]

Yeah. It sad that "Afrocentric" sites are 2nd guessed. I try to quote the Title and Author. Googling that information should lead reader interested to the study.