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The archaeology of Western Sahara: results of environmental and archaeological reconnaissance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Nick Brooks ,
Joanne Clarke ,
Salvatore Garfi  and
Anne Pirie
Nick Brooks*
Affiliation:
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK (Email: nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk)
Joanne Clarke
Affiliation:
School of World Art and Museology, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
Salvatore Garfi
Affiliation:
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Plas Crug, Aberystwyth SY23 1NJ, UK
Anne Pirie
Affiliation:
School of Human & Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, PO Box 227, Reading RG6 6AB, UK
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Abstract

Western Sahara has one of the last remaining unexplored prehistories on the planet. The new research reported here reveals a sequence of Holocene occupation beginning in a humid period around 9000 bp, superceded around 5000 bp by an arid phase in which the land was mainly given over to pastoralism and monumental burial. The authors summarise the flint and pottery assemblage and classify the monuments, looking to neighbouring cultures in Niger, Libya and Sudan.

Keywords

Western SaharaTifaritiHoloceneNeolithicPastoralclimateenvironmentfunerary monuments
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 322 , December 2009 , pp. 918 - 934
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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