Assessing the subsistence strategies of the earliest North African inhabitants: evidence from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (Algeria).

The archaeological data on the earliest hominin behavioral subsistence activities in North Africa are derived primarily from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (northeastern Algeria). Ain Boucherit consists of two archaeological layers, Ain Boucherit Upper (AB-Up) and Ain Boucherit Lower (AB-Lw), estimated to ~ 1.9 Ma and ~ 2.4 Ma, respectively. Cutmarked and hammerstone percussed bones associated with Oldowan stone tools were found in both layers, with AB-Lw yielding the oldest in North Africa. The faunal assemblages from both deposits are dominated by small-sized bovids and equids. Evidence of cutmarks and percussion marks in both assemblages shows that hominins exploited animal carcasses, involving skinning, evisceration and defleshing activities. The evidence of meat and marrow acquisition is more abundant at AB-Lw with carnivore activity being scarce. However, the AB-Up assemblage shows more carnivore damage and less hominin-induced tool marks. Ain Boucherit evidence, is similar, in type and chronology, to that provided by the Early Pleistocene sites in East Africa (e.g., the Gona sites), where the oldest evidence of stone tools used in faunal exploitation have been discovered. This paper reports on the ability of early North African Oldowans to compete successfully for accessing animal resources with other predators.

1.9-million- and 2.4-million-year-old artifacts and stone tool-cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria.

East Africa has provided the earliest known evidence for Oldowan stone artifacts and hominin-induced stone tool cutmarks dated to ~2.6 million years (Ma) ago. The ~1.8-million-year-old stone artifacts from Ain Hanech (Algeria) were considered to represent the oldest archaeological materials in North Africa. Here we report older stone artifacts and cutmarked bones excavated from two nearby deposits at Ain Boucherit estimated to ~1.9 Ma ago, and the older to ~2.4 Ma ago. Hence, the Ain Boucherit evidence shows that ancestral hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in northern Africa much earlier than previously thought. The evidence strongly argues for early dispersal of stone tool manufacture and use from East Africa or a possible multiple-origin scenario of stone technology in both East and North Africa.

The first evidence of cut marks and usewear traces from the Plio-Pleistocene locality of El-Kherba (Ain Hanech), Algeria: implications for early hominin subsistence activities circa 1.8 Ma.

The current archaeological data on early hominin subsistence activities in Africa are derived chiefly from Sub-Saharan Plio-Pleistocene sites. The recent studies at El-Kherba (Ain Hanech) in northeastern Algeria expand the geographic range of evidence of hominin subsistence patterns to include the earliest known archaeological sites documented in North Africa. Dated to 1.78 million years ago (Ma), excavations from El-Kherba yielded an Oldowan industry associated with a savanna-like fauna contained in floodplain deposits. The faunal assemblage is dominated by large and medium-sized animals (mainly adults), especially equids, which are represented by at least 11 individuals. The mammalian archaeofauna preserves numerous cut-marked and hammerstone-percussed bones. Made of primarily limestone and flint, the stone assemblage consists of core forms, débitage, and retouched pieces. Evidence of usewear traces is found on several of the flint artifacts, indicating meat processing by early hominins. Overall, our subsistence analysis indicates that early hominins were largely responsible for bone modification at the site, which is also corroborated by other relevant taphonomic evidence. Moreover, at 1.78 Ma, the cutmarked bones recovered from El-Kherba represent the earliest known evidence for ancestral hominin butchery activities and large animal foraging capabilities in northern Africa.

Human skull from the Taza locality, Jijel, Algeria.

Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1990 in prehistorically inhabited caves sites in the Taza locality along the eastern Algerian coast. Recovered materials included stone and bone artifacts, faunal remains and a single human skull (Taza 1). A radiocarbon date for the upper cave level from which the skull was found was 16,100 B.P. While the skull, which is likely female, is very small overall, its shape compared closely with other North African cranial series. The obtained date and archaeological materials are characteristic of the Iberomaurusian industry of the Late Paleolithic period of North Africa.

Further research at the Oldowan site of Ain Hanech, North-eastern Algeria.

Further investigations were carried out at Ain Hanech, Algeria in 1998 and 1999 to explore its potential for investigating early hominid behavioral patterns and adaptation. Research concentrated on the stratigraphy and dating, identifying new archaeological deposits, and excavating the Ain Hanech and El-Kherba localities. To enhance the chronological control within a biostratigraphic framework, the Ain Boucherit fossil-bearing stratum, yielding a Plio-Pleistocene fauna, is correlated with the regional stratigraphy. In the stratigraphic sequence, the Ain Boucherit stratum, located 13m below the Ain Hanech Oldowan occurrences, is found in Unit Q of the Ain Hanech Formation. Unit Q shows a paleomagnetically reversed polarity, which may be correlated with an age earlier than the Olduvai normal subchron (1.95-1.77Ma). Based on test trenches and stratigraphic analyses, additional Oldowan deposits A, B, and C are identified at Ain Hanech. All three deposits and the El-Kherba site contain Mode I technology artefacts associated with an Early Pleistocene fauna. El-Kherba is stratigraphically equivalent to Ain Hanech. These two archaeological sites are estimated to be dated to about 1.8Ma.