Context of modern human occupations in North Africa: Contribution of the Témara caves data

Abstract

El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra caves are located in the region of Témara, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, which was occupied by human populations since the beginning of the Late Pleistocene (around 120 ka BP) until the Middle Holocene (around 6 ka BP). Recent excavations yielded human and faunal remains, as well as exceptional archaeological objects (Middle, Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic industries; ceramics; ornaments in Nassarius sp. shells; bone tools; pigments) associated with anthropic structures. The continuous sedimentary sequence of these sites covers the last climatic cycle (from the Eemian interglacial to the present one), and is studied in a renewed context from several points of view: geology, stratigraphy, chronology, cultures, anthropology, palaeontology, taphonomy, and zooarchaeology. Today, there is no equivalent of such regional data for the whole Late Pleistocene in North Africa. The study of small and large faunal remains, associated with chronological data, allowed us to obtain significant data on palaeoenvironments and human/carnivore occupations of the Témara caves. These data are included in a broader view of human occupations and their environmental context throughout North Africa during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.