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Fig. 1 - Excavations at Uan Muhuggiag
Fig. 2 - Early Pastoral pottery |
From his earliest research, Fabrizio Mori turned his
attention to the origins of pastoralism in these Saharan regions. Discoveries
in around 1960, especially during excavations in the Uan Muhuggiag rock
shelter, showed the existence of a pastoral society dependent on the
rearing of domestic cattle in a much earlier period than had hitherto
been thought (Fig. 1). Since then other sites, such as Uan Telokat and
Uan Tabu, have yielded remains of domestic cattle dated to more than
6000 years ago. |
On the one hand, there is obviously some sort of continuity between the last Late Acacus hunter-gatherer societies, and the first settlements showing evidence of a productive economy. However, we must also take into consideration important changes in material culture, especially the decorations on pottery vessels, but also the methods of production and their formal characteristics (Fig. 2). The manufacture of stone tools, too, sees some fundamental changes, especially as regards the ways in which raw materials were obtained and their circulation; here too, we seem to have evidence of a profound break between the first pastoralists and their predecessors. Interestingly, there seems to have been a brusque change in fauna too, with numerous species being introduced into the subsistence diet which were previously absent from it.
The picture which seems to emerge, then, is that of an introduction from neighbouring areas – probably the Egyptian Sahara – of domestic stock, as a result of the migrations of groups of shepherds, forced by increasingly arid conditions to move continually in search of water and pasture.
Fig. 3 - C14 curve from Acacus and
Fig. 4 - Intrasite organization of a Pastoral |
On the basis of hundreds of radiocarbon datings carried out over the past 15 years, we can observe the presence of a significant hiatus between ca. 6400 and 6100 years ago (Fig. 3). Palaeoenvironmental evidence suggests that during this interval there was a sudden change in climate, brief but extremely severe. Only from around 6000 years ago do we find widespread evidence of an improvement in climate, which encourages the establishment of an extraordinary pastoral civilization, to which its wonderful rock art is the most important witness. The organization of these groups differs considerably from previous phases, and is characterized by a more complex subsistence basis, a different settlement system, a richer material culture, and, finally, by funerary rituals. These groups seem to have lived in a semi-permanent way in the lowlands, along the banks of the ancient lakes, in large and complex settlements (Fig. 4). Mountain sites are used during the dry season (winter-spring), usually as specialized shelters for animals, especially sheep and goats. |
This type of organization has parallels in anthropological models, and can be interpreted as a form of seasonal vertical transhumance (mountain-plains), oriented in an east-west direction (the dune areas of Uan Kasa to the mountain valleys of the Acacus). It is likely that during the dry season only one part of the group and some of the animals moved to the mountains. Cattle, of which substantial remains have been found in lowland sites, and only few traces in mountain sites, were probably exploited for their secondary products, especially blood and milk. This is the birth of African pastoralism as we know it today, showing the rationale behind this excellent form of adaptation to a savannah environment, originating in remote prehistory and lasting for millennia.
Fig. 5 - Uan Muhuggiag H1 skull, 5400 years bp
Fig. 6 - Pastoral human figures at Uan Amil |
There is no doubt that the Middle Pastoral is a period of extraordinary ‘richness’: we see a considerable increase in the number of sites, plausibly resulting from a corresponding demographic increase; complex forms of economic organization, as shown by the ways in which raw materials are obtained, sometimes travelling for tens or hundreds of kilometres; a multi-faceted series of funerary rituals, which range from individual to multiple burials, and the first experiments in intentional mummification, such as the extraordinary mummy of a child found by Mori at Uan Muhuggiag in 1959 (Fig. 5). All these elements combine to describe a composite society, probably the result of mixing and interaction with neighbouring regions. Even rock art seems to indicate a mingling of different races, portraying individuals with ‘Negroid’ characteristics, but also ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘Nilotic’ types (Fig. 6).
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Geoarchaeological and palaeoclimatic research indicates that around 5100 years ago there was a dramatic increase in aridity. In this case too, the phenomenon takes place on a global scale, but its local effects are clearly visible in the sudden drop of the water level of the lakes, which eventually dry up completely. In these conditions, an adequate food supply cannot be guaranteed by cattle herding , which need to drink every day (in critical circumstances they may drink as little as once every 3 days, but with drastic consequences for milk yields), but by more resistant animals. This explains an enormous increase in the numbers of sheep and goats, which become the main food resource.
The shepherds withstand these difficult climatic conditions by adopting a different economic organization and different settlement systems; in archaeological terms, we can observe how the basically unitary Middle Pastoral culture breaks up into a series of regional adaptations. It is tempting to interpret this as evidence of an initial ‘ethnic’ fragmentation. There is archaeological evidence for the appearance of a specialized form of nomadic pastoralism, based almost exclusively on goat herding. The settlements of these nomadic shepherds are modest camps in the lowlands (probably used during the summer), spread out over a vast area: the dune expanses of the Erg Uan Kasa of the Edeyen of Murzuq. In the mountains, both the Acacus and the Messak, we have registered hundreds of sites characterized by the presence of thick layers of dung: geoarchaeological, pedological and palaeobotanical analyses indicate that these layers are evidence for goat sheds, used during the winter (Fig. 7).
This system as a whole can thus be considered a form of nomadism based on year-round migrations, linked to continual movement in search of pasture and water. The enormous scale of this mono-specific nomadism – which will later become desert nomadism as we know it today – is evident in the archaeological record from the analysis of artefacts of exotic origin, such as pre-dynastic knives, some forms of pottery vessels not present in previous periods, the use of raw materials coming from distant areas. |
Fig. 7 - Late Pastoral dung at Takarkori |
Fig. 8 - Late Pastoral stone tumuli
Fig. 9 - Cultivation related lithic tools |
Remaining water resources concentrate in the large river valleys, such as the Wadi Tanezzuft, giving birth to true oases. In these regions, where access to and control over resources is clearly of critical importance, pastoral societies develop in a different way, with the first forms of social stratification, shown particularly by the ‘birth’ of a funerary architecture of megalithic type. Tumuli, platforms and other dry stone monuments represent a clear way of indicating hierarchy in the social organization of these oasis communities (Fig. 8). These settlements, mainly concentrated in the central and northern Tanezzuft, show a high population density, but no substantial modifications in their organization. The settlements are large, with tens and sometimes hundreds of fireplaces, and fragments of undecorated pottery (or with decorations on the upper part of the vase only, generally incised). In these sites we register a clear predominance of stone tools which can in some way be linked to cultivation (Fig. 9); pedological and micromorphological studies of soils show that during this phase there were some forms of land use. Palaeobotanical research, however, has not yet supplied conclusive evidence to demonstrate the existence of agricultural activities proper. |
It should be stressed, however, that this phase is only superficially understood from the point of view of settlements; its funerary dimension is much better known.
High settlement density, overexploitation of pastures, and the limited availability of water are elements which should be considered as possible sources of competition and stress within human groups. As already noted, funerary archaeology provides evidence for some clear forms of social stratification; it is interesting to observe, however, that the beginning of this process is characterized, around 4500 years ago, by individual burials of adult males (Fig. 10), probably a sign of an ongoing segmentation of social structure. |
Fig. 10 - 4300 years old burial at In Aghelachem |
During the Final Pastoral, still vague as regards the archaeological record,
we see a considerable increase in the number of funerary monuments, and of
the individuals buried in them: these are no longer individual tombs, but collective
burial places, not reserved for single individuals belonging to the society,
but for a part of the society as a whole, probably the élite groups
in a stratified social system.
This process would explain the presence of adult males and females, but also
youths and children, within a specific funerary ritual only aimed at one portion
of the oases’ social groups. Palaeodemographic estimates and ethnohistorical
studies have shown that the extraordinary number of funerary monuments mapped
in the Tanezzuft cannot have sufficed to bury the dead of the entire population
present in the area during the Final Pastoral.
Funerary archaeology, through the study of grave goods buried with individuals, also shows that around 3100-3000 years ago some particularly precious objects began to appear: these include carnelian beads (Fig. 11) and offerings of food of exotic origins, such as dates. This fact supports the hypothesis of families, or élites, able to negotiate with other groups for luxury goods and specialized artefacts, and explains in archaeological terms the appearance of date palms in this region, probably imported from the east. |
Fig. 11 - Carnelian beads from Tahalan necropolis |
The complex, and unfortunately still insufficiently understood Final Pastoral culture, with its hierarchical organization and social complexity, able to ‘talk’ to other groups from distant regions lies at the historical roots of another civilization which will develop along the same lines to form the first state: the Garamantes. The Garamantes inherit from the last prehistoric pastoralists an already fragmented landscape, composed of small oases and vast desert spaces, politically ‘managed’ through an organization based on trade and the exchange of goods, probably already begun by the human groups of the Final Pastoral.
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Italian-Libyan Archaeological Mission in the Acacus and Messak - Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
Via Palestro 63, 00185 Rome - Italy | Tel/Fax: [+39] 06.4467661 E-mail: info@acacus.it
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Missione Italiana nell'Acacus e Messak Università di Roma La Sapienza
