Land-use and cultivation in theetaghasof the Tadrart Acacus (south-west Libya): the dawn of Saharan agriculture?

Abstract

The hyperarid climate of the central Sahara precludes permanent agriculture, although occasional temporary ponds, oretaghas,as a result of rain-fed flooding of wadi beds in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of the Libyan Sahara allow the pastoral Kel Tadrart Tuareg to cultivate cereals. Geoarchaeological and archaeological data, along with radiocarbon dating and evidence from rock art, however, suggest a much greater antiquity for the exploitation of these etaghas. The authors propose that the present-day cultivation of etaghas mirrors attempts at flood-recession or rain-fed cultivation by late prehistoric Pastoral Neolithic groups, who first exploited residual water resources to supplement their pastoral subsistence practices.