Abstract
The article “Neolithisation process within the Alboran territory:Models and possible African impact” (Linstadter et al., 2012) is onecontribution from a special issue of “Quaternary International”dedicated to Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 806 “Our way toEurope”, a German research project financed by the “DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft” (DFG). The CRC, implemented by theUniversities of Aachen, Bonn and Cologne, was established in 2009and conceived for a run time of 12 years. The aim of the specialissue of “Quaternary International” was to summarise the state oftheartofresearchinthevariousworkingareascoveredbyCRC806.These include Northern Africa, the Near East and Europe. Withinthe frame of this undertaking, the article by Linstadter et al. (2012)focuses on southern Andalusia, Murcia and eastern Morocco, theworkingareaof the West Mediterranean branch of CRC 806. On thesouthern Iberian Peninsulaa PhD projectis currentlyconcentratingon Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic assemblages kept atmuseums in Malaga, Almeria, Granada and Murcia. Additionally,furtherfieldworkisalsobeingundertakenintheareaoftheeasternRif and the Moulouya valley.Duetothenatureofthespecialissue,withitsregionalandtopicallimitations, the sites of the Tangier Peninsula could not be incor-poratedingreatdetail.Nevertheless,theroleofthesitesatKafThatel-Ghar and Kaf Boussaria in the Neolithisation process in theWestern Mediterranean is undisputable, as are the seminal publi-cations mentioned in the commentary of Ballouche et al. (2012).Thesewerecertainlycitedinformerpapers(Linstadter,2008,2011).Furthermore I would like to take this opportunity to make somefurthercomments.Balloucheetal.(2012)mentionouridentificationof a “less favourable environment” in the semiarid zones of EasternMoroccoatthetimeofNeolithisation.Theauthorsarerightthatuptonow palaeo-environmentaldata,primarily from terrestrial archives,are still scarce and enhanced studies on this topic are urgentlyrequired.However,inourcaseweareactuallyreferringtogeographic(e.g. orographic) factors that have not changed over the lastmillennia.SoutheastSpainandNorthwestMoroccoarelocatedintherain shadow of the Betic Cordillera and the Rif Mountains, respec-tively. Therefore these areas are less humid then areas further west,i.e.whichprofitfromprecipitationfromAtlanticlowpressurefronts.Prehistoric inhabitants had to adapt to these conditions and ourarchaeological record shows that even when Neolithic innovationsbecameavailable,hunting,gatheringandtheuseofmarineresourceswere always a stable component of prevailing land use strategies.A second remark concerns the three periods of “Cardial occu-pation” presented by Ballouche et al. (2012). The authors postulatethat “according to radiocarbon data, the Neolithic of the TangierPeninsula began more or less at the same time as in the other Alboranregions.”Paralleltothistheyalsomentionaspartoftheinitialphase(Period 1) the presence of incised or shell-impressed pottery andpoorlydocumenteddomesticplants.Thisperiodisassignedbythemto the end of the 9th/beginning of the 8th millennia calBP. Thischronological attribution is probably based on radiocarbon agesfrom Kaf That el-Ghar: 8765 176
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