La faune prédynastique est-elle « africaine » ?

Abstract

Natural remnants of cultural practices, the animal bones of Predynastic Egypt illustrate the complex relationships between man and its environment during this period of great change. The reduction in the proportion of African wildlife, in the diet as well as the introduction of domestic animals from the Middle East thus testify of the evolution of landscapes but also of the external influences in the new modes of production that are then emerging. The place of animals in the symbolic and social spheres are also changing. Depicted or sacrificed, some wild species may be seen as symbols of a disappearing African world while herding of some exogenous animals, including probably cattle, takes on an importance that goes far beyond the food framework.