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Direct14C Dating of Early and Mid-Holocene Saharan Pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2016

Lamia Messili*
Affiliation:
BP 70bis, Saïd Hamdine, Hydra, 16000 Algiers, Algeria / CNRS, UMR 7194, Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Dép. Préhistoire, BP 140, 43 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
Jean-François Saliège
Affiliation:
CNRS, UMR 7209, Archéozoologie, archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Dép. EGB, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
Jean Broutin
Affiliation:
UPMC - Université Paris 06 Paléobotanique, CR2P - UMR 7207 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Bat. Géologie MNHN, 43 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
Erwan Messager
Affiliation:
CNRS, UMR 7264, CEPAM Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Pôle Universitaire de Saint Jean d'Angély, 24 Avenue des diables bleus, 06357 Nice Cedex 4, France
Christine Hatté
Affiliation:
LSCE UMR 8212 CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Domaine du CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Antoine Zazzo
Affiliation:
CNRS, UMR 7209, Archéozoologie, archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Dép. EGB, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
*
Corresponding author. Email:messili@mnhn.fr.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to directly radiocarbon date pottery from prehistoric rock-art shelters in the Tassili n'Ajjer (central Sahara). We used a combined geochemical and microscopic approach to determine plant material in the pottery prior to direct14C dating. The ages obtained range from 5270 ± 35 BP (6276–5948 cal BP) to 8160 ± 45 BP (9190–9015 cal BP), and correlate with the chronology derived from pottery typology. Our results document the transition from pre-Pastoral to Pastoral contexts, dated to the early-mid Holocene transition, and confirm that vegetal temper in pottery can provide reliable14C ages within Saharan contexts.

Type
Archaeology of Eurasia and Africa
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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