Northwest Libya from the early to late Holocene: New data on environment and subsistence from the Jebel Gharbi

Abstract

The area of Jebel Gharbi, west of Cyrenaica province and the research area of the Italian–Libyan Joint Project (Sapienza University of Rome and Cassino), showed a continuity of occupation even during the most difficult periods of the Last Glaciation, marked by the abandonment of much of North Africa. One of the main research subjects of the project concerns the transformation of hunting societies during the Holocene, with the gradual transition to a food production economy, and the type of Neolithic organization on the coastal Libyan territory.This paper emphasizes this theme and takes into account especially the areas that have allowed for palaeoclimatic and geo-archaeological reconstruction in a broader perspective, including changes in the settlement pattern and the economic system. These conditions were recognized in the Jefara, the plain which begins at the slopes of the Jebel Gharbi plateau and reaches the coast.I describe the principal characteristics of the sites investigated along a belt that runs from Shakshūk to El Jawsh, where a long period of climate stability in the mid-Holocene and particularly between 6.7 and 5.4 ka cal BP, was recognized through the presence of large ponds and marshes that became an important focus for human occupation. Taking into account the palaeoenvironmental context, the paper suggests a model of economic change in the Jebel Gharbi/Jefara region through three different phases of development (Jefara A, B, C), that can be compared with the most recent results of research in other areas of Libya and the Maghreb.