North African Sites Research Articles

New Horizons in the Study of Early African Christianity

Teaching early Christianity in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa since 2002, has convinced this author how important it is for African Christians to know of the deep roots of Christianity in Africa, and recognize the important early African theologians, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius and Augustine, just to name a few. This argument has a significant precedent among 19th century African Christians encouraged by the unbroken presence of Christianity from antiquity in Ethiopia. In the US, Thomas Oden promoted the study of pre-Islamic Christian Africa through the Centre for Early African Christianity, and publications like the series, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. This Centre has also encouraged universities in Africa to get involved in deciphering archeological materials and documents from North African sites as evidence for Christianity from its earliest days; the study of such documents has recently been established at the University of Jos (Plateau State, Nigeria). These initiatives are doubly significant because Christianity is growing phenomenally throughout Africa and is often accused of being “mile wide and an inch deep”.

Zooarchaeological evidence for meat consumption at Zita, Tunisia, during the Punic to Roman occupations (2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE)

AbstractAlthough Roman North Africa is known for its production of cereals, faunal evidence from the Neo‐Punic urban mound of Zita in South East Tunisia shows that meat was an important part of the diet. Similarly to other North African sites, sheep and goat contributed the most to meat consumption in all time periods. The proportions of cattle, sheep/goat, and pig (the most common sources of meat in most Roman influenced sites) are closer to the nearby site of Meninx than to Carthage. This research uses the complete collection of faunal material from one feature at Zita to analyse pre‐Roman and Roman meat consumption. Because data from few comparable sites are available, this analysis adds new understanding to diet over time in the region, but further studies at Zita and in the region more broadly would help confirm these findings. Zooarchaeological remains show a diet heavily dependent on sheep and goat, with fish, molluscs, cattle, pig, and chicken also commonly consumed. Wild animals in the diet include hare and birds. Other fauna recovered were indirectly related to human activities; small terrestrial animals like amphibians, snakes, and rodents were likely attracted to refuse and increased as the site became more industrialised in the Roman period. The data show that the diet at Zita remains consistent across time, indicating a strong and ongoing local influence on cuisine despite transitions in the political infrastructure from Carthaginian to Neo‐Punic/Roman periods.

Orientalist reveries: The imaginary creative constructions of the Moroccan space and place by the figures of the non-Muslim male traveller and female tourist − from travel literature to photography and contemporary fashion imagery

Abstract In this body of research and original photographic work to which it responds, I examine the position and connotation of Morocco as a site for artistic inspiration in travel literature, photography and fashion photography in the context of three main themes relating to its imaginary constructions: Orientalism; the western male traveller in contradistinction to the female tourist; and the figure of the cultured flâneur. These themes became associated with European industrialization and imperialism towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the research draws links between this particular period of culture and its values, and our present day, romantic fascination with Morocco, and the revival of such themes and their popular reincarnation in contemporary fashion editorials. The article investigates the role that photography has played in the development of twenty-first century Orientalism and its manifestation in visual fashion storytelling, and the interplay between artist-subject-location: how does the western traveller/photographer view both himself and others in the process of picturing the Maghreb and what are the kinds of relationships and tensions that develop between the traveller/photographer and the North African sites that he observes? The research focuses on the long association between travel and sexual adventure and explores the literary and visual narratives involving the figures of the contemporary traveller and tourist in the North African space and place, and how adventurer and location feed off one another. By examining the appropriation of such figures and motifs from art and literature into contemporary photography of travel and fashion photography, the article aims to consider the visual representation and specific propositions of locations such as Tangier, Marrakesh, Assilah and the Moroccan Sahara as chaotic, dangerous and alien, and understand the complex, post-Orientalist rendition of the North African space and visual culture within the context of fashion photography. More specifically this article poses the following questions: why does our western culture want or need to revisit condescending Orientalist fantasies and an imperialist mode of representation? And in what way are the tropes of Orientalist representation tied to the fantasies, desires and anxieties that the fashion industry and its consumer engage with? The article takes Morocco’s strong ties with western cultural figures as its starting point, and in times of intense political and social unrest in the Arab world – the continuing fascination with and promotion of this Muslim country as a sensual tourist destination by fashion editorial and ad campaign shoots. The article considers two photography monographs by western male travellers/photographers shooting photographic bodies of work in a foreign Islamic country: Paul Bowles’ How Could I Send a Picture into the Desert (Bowles and Bischoff 1994) and Harry Gruyaert’s Morocco (1990), in addition to several case studies from literature (Peter Mayne, Elias Canetti); photography (Irving Penn, Daido Moriyama); and contemporary fashion editorial work (William Klein, Jack Pierson, Azim Haidaryan, Inez Van Lamsweerde/Vinoodh Matadin, Mario Testino, Hans Feurer, Steven Meisel and Daniel Riera). It aims to establish links between the visual representation of travel and the context of gender, fashion, identity and sexuality and the psychological dimension of tourism.

Taphonomy of Small Predators multi-taxa accumulations: palaeoecological implications

Most small terrestrial vertebrate accumulations in archaeological and palaeontological sites result from predation but we are far from having an exhaustive knowledge of modern predators’ diet, ecological niches and bone modification patterns especially in North African sites. The few neotaphonomic referentials available result from taxon-specialized palaeontologists’ initiatives. A survey of the literature on North Africa predators shows that their prey diversity is high and not only include rodent and shrews but also amphibians, squamates, bats and insects. We performed here a pilot taphonomic study of a Moroccan Tyto alba nest pellets including the whole taxa consumed (birds, rodents, shrews, amphibians, insects). We analyzed bone representation, fragmentation and digestion for each taxa and then compared the results. We observe differences between the taxa but on the whole find higher modification levels for this assemblage compared to roost sites of barn owls from other sites. We used for the comparisons homologous bones like the femur and the humerus and also found differences between the taxa. For example, digestion was lower on amphibians and birds than on micromammals. We discuss here some methodological issues as well as archaeological and palaeoenviromental ones by comparison with the Pleisto-Holocene site of El Harhoura II (Morocco).

The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age.

The timing and location of the emergence of our species and of associated behavioural changes are crucial for our understanding of human evolution. The earliest fossil attributed to a modern form of Homo sapiens comes from eastern Africa and is approximately 195 thousand years old, therefore the emergence of modern human biology is commonly placed at around 200 thousand years ago. The earliest Middle Stone Age assemblages come from eastern and southern Africa but date much earlier. Here we report the ages, determined by thermoluminescence dating, of fire-heated flint artefacts obtained from new excavations at the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, which are directly associated with newly discovered remains of H. sapiens. A weighted average age places these Middle Stone Age artefacts and fossils at 315 ± 34 thousand years ago. Support is obtained through the recalculated uranium series with electron spin resonance date of 286 ± 32 thousand years ago for a tooth from the Irhoud 3 hominin mandible. These ages are also consistent with the faunal and microfaunal assemblages and almost double the previous age estimates for the lower part of the deposits. The north African site of Jebel Irhoud contains one of the earliest directly dated Middle Stone Age assemblages, and its associated human remains are the oldest reported for H. sapiens. The emergence of our species and of the Middle Stone Age appear to be close in time, and these data suggest a larger scale, potentially pan-African, origin for both.

Updating the Europe–Africa small mammal exchange during the late Messinian

AbstractAimThe Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) was an extraordinary geological event that affected the whole Mediterranean region as well as the global marine circulation between 5.97 and c. 5.33 Ma. One of its most direct effects was the emersion of land masses and the subsequent establishment of land bridges that led to common terrestrial faunal exchanges. However, the details of the onset of these exchanges have been a matter of controversy. New findings from southern Iberia of small mammal remains with African similarities have enabled us to review the Messinian faunal exchanges in the Mediterranean region.LocationMediterranean region.MethodsSmall mammal remains with African similarities from two new southern Iberian sites were studied. The small mammal associations of eight Miocene–Pliocene North African sites were also reviewed.ResultsTwo taxa with African similarities were identified at the Iberian study sites: Debruijnimys almenarensis and a Ruscinomys‐like form (cf. Ruscinomys) with a strong spur in the lingual lobe of the anterocone in the M1, a feature observed in North African Ruscinomys and eastern Mediterranean Byzantinia. The taxonomic status of some North African species and/or genera, such as Castillomys, Occitanomys and Prolagus, should be revised according to the new phylogenetic relationships established in European faunas.Main conclusionsTwo hypotheses can be proposed for the origin of the African Ruscinomys: (1) among the Iberian Ruscinomys or (2) from the eastern Mediterranean Byzantinia. Our data, currently from only a few, albeit significant, taxa, tend to support an Iberian origin. The discussion presented in this paper suggests an age near the closure of the last Betic Gateway (c. 6.18 Ma) for the first small mammal exchange between Africa and Europe, as well as a single migratory wave of small mammals, filtered by their ecological preferences from this point until the end of the MSC.

North African archaeological collections at the Logan Museum of Anthropology: Overview and research potential

From 1925 through 1930, the Logan Museum of Anthropology conducted extensive archaeological work in North Africa, principally Algeria. The museum houses nearly 120,000 specimens from 200 site locations. However, with a few notable exceptions, scholars have made little use of this material. Here, we summarize the collections and highlight two of the many research topics they can address. First, techno-typological review of Iberomaurusian assemblages from the cave of Ali Bacha, near Bejaia (Bougie) on the Mediterranean coast of Algeria, will constitute an important regional contribution in light of new research at other North African sites. Second, site distribution analysis via GIS of numerous Capsian escargotières, surveyed and excavated by the Logan Museum team, can provide insights on Capsian settlement patterns in northeastern Algeria. In view of the growing interest in studying extant collections, scholars should consider employing Logan Museum collections as resources for Maghreb-region Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic research.

Geographical patterns of Kaposi’s sarcoma, nonHodgkin lymphomas, and cervical cancer associated with HIV infection in five African populations

The objective of this study is to describe the most recent geographical patterns of incidence of AIDS-related cancers, Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and cervical cancer in North African and subSaharan African populations. Data were extracted for the period 1998-2002 from five African population-based cancer registries: Kyadondo, Harare, Setif, Sousse, and Gharbiah. Age-standardized rates were calculated using the African standard population; a comparison was made between these populations by computing the standardized incidence ratio and 95% confidence intervals. The KS rate was found to be significantly higher in men than in women, and higher in Harare (women: 26.3/100,000; men: 50.4/100,000) and Kyadondo (women: 23.6/100,000; men: 30.2/100,000) than in the North African sites for both sexes (<0.3/100,000). In addition, the KS rate in women from Harare was similar to that for Kyadondo. Gharbiah presented the highest rates for NHL (women: 7 per 100,000; men: 11.9/100,000) for both sexes. We observed that Harare and Kyadondo had similar age-specific incidence in the high-risk age group for HIV/AIDS (15-49 years), and these rates were 4.5-fold higher in subSaharan populations than those in the North African sites. Thus, it was observed that the pattern of HIV prevalence is variable with the lowest prevalence in North African countries, intermediate prevalence in Uganda, and the highest prevalence in Zimbabwe. Our findings show that the incidence of NHL and cervical cancer, considered to be HIV/AIDS-related cancers, does not follow the pattern of HIV prevalence in the five studied African populations. Thus, the highest NHL incidence rate in both sexes in Gambia may be explained, at least in great part, by the highest hepatitis C virus prevalence observed there. Indeed, factors other than HIV infection likely contribute to their geographical patterns.

Connectivity between the Algerian population of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus and those of the Mediterranean basin

In the Mediterranean basin, Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus constitute a metapopulation with natal and breeding dispersal among colonies. However, the rate of exchange between European and North African colonies remains poorly known. In this paper, we document the wintering and breeding of European flamingos in Algeria and provide the first post-fledging dispersal data for flamingos born in Algeria. At breeding colonies in Algeria, most ringed birds (99.4% of 835 birds) originated from north-western Mediterranean colonies (397 individuals born in France, 369 in Spain, 57 in Sardinia and seven in continental Italy), but there were also four from Turkey (the first evidence of natal dispersal from a north-eastern Mediterranean colony to Algeria) and one from Algeria. Among the 860 fledglings ringed in Algeria in 2006 and 2009, 619 different individuals were resighted from August 2006 to September 2010 in a total of 980 resightings. A large proportion (73%) of these birds was observed at North African sites, while the remaining ones reached both north-western (168 birds) and north-eastern (three birds) Mediterranean wetlands, suggesting extensive interchange between colonies from both sides of the Mediterranean Sea.

Regional modeling of Saharan dust events using LM‐MUSCAT: Model description and case studies

A new regional model system was developed for simulation of emission, transport, deposition, and radiative effects of Saharan desert aerosol within the framework of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM). For this the mesoscale meteorological model LM, a dust emission scheme and a transport model were coupled. To test the model performance, two major Saharan dust outbreaks directed to Europe in August and October 2001 are simulated. Comparisons with sounding data and 10‐m wind speeds from north African sites show that the LM provides reliable meteorological fields to describe the emission and near‐source transport of dust. As shown by comparisons with satellite observations, lidar profiles, and Sun photometer measurements at selected stations, the spatiotemporal evolution of the dust plume is reasonably well reproduced by the model. The predicted dust interacts with the LM radiation at solar and thermal wavelengths. Saharan dust causes a negative effect on the net radiative budget at the top of the atmosphere in the source regions and accounts for a reduction in 10‐m wind speeds. Thus it is responsible for a reduction in the dust production of up to about 50% during the October 2001 event.

Middle Paleolithic Shell Beads in Israel and Algeria

Perforated marine gastropod shells at the western Asian site of Skhul and the North African site of Oued Djebbana indicate the early use of beads by modern humans in these regions. The remoteness of these sites from the seashore and a comparison of the shells to natural shell assemblages indicate deliberate selection and transport by humans for symbolic use. Elemental and chemical analyses of sediment matrix adhered to one Nassarius gibbosulus from Skhul indicate that the shell bead comes from a layer containing 10 human fossils and dating to 100,000 to 135,000 years ago, about 25,000 years earlier than previous evidence for personal decoration by modern humans in South Africa.

Sub-continental transport mechanisms and pathways during two ozone episodes in northern Spain

Abstract. Two ozone episodes (occurring in June 2001 and June 2003) in the air quality monitoring network of the Basque Country (BC) are analyzed. The population information threshold was exceeded in many stations (urban, urban-background and rural). During this type of episodes, forced by a blocking anticyclone over the British Isles, ozone background concentrations over the area increase after the import of pollution from both, the continental Europe and the western Mediterranean areas (Gangoiti et al., 2002). For the present analysis, emphasis is made in the search for transport mechanisms, pathways and area sources contributing to the build-up of the episodes. Contributions from a selection of 17 urban and industrial conglomerates in the western European Atlantic (WEA) and the western Mediterranean (WM) are shown after the results of a coupled RAMS-HYPACT modelling system. Meteorological simulations are tested against both the high-resolution wind data recorded at the BC coastal area by a boundary layer wind-profiler radar (Alonso et al., 1998) and the wind soundings reported by the National Centres of Meteorology at a selection of European and north-African sites. Results show that during the accumulation phase of the episodes, background ozone concentrations increase in the whole territory as a consequence of transport from the Atlantic coast of France and the British Channel. For the peak phase, intrusions from new sources, located at the Western Mediterranean, Southern France, Ebro Valley, and, occasionally, the area of Madrid are added, resulting in a further increase in the ozone concentrations. Direct day and night transport within the north-easterly winds over the sea from the WEA source region, and night-time transport within the residual layer over continental areas (southern France, the Ebro Valley, and central Iberia) modulate the import sequence of pollutants and the local increase of ozone concentrations. The alternative direct use of low resolution meteorological data for the estimation of back-trajectories shows a more simple transport scheme with no contributions neither from the Western Mediterranean nor from the Madrid area.

The earliest human occupation of North Africa: a reply to Sahnouni et al. (2002)

In a series of papers, Sahnouni et al. (1996, 2002) and Sahnouni and de Heinzelin (1998) have reported the results of their renewed excavations at the important Algerian localities of Ain Hanech and Ain Boucherit, first studied by Arambourg (e.g., Arambourg, 1970, 1979). According to the latest paper by Sahnouni and co-workers (Sahnouni et al., 2002), Ain Hanech would belong to the Olduvai subchron, dated to 1.77–1.95 Ma. This would make it by far the earliest North African site with evidence of hominid presence, and the time-equivalent of Olduvai Bed I, circum- KBS tuff levels at Koobi Fora, and Omo Shungura Member H. However, a review of the evidence put forward by Sahnouni et al. (2002) casts doubt on their conclusions. This evidence consists of 1) paleomagnetism, 2) biochronology, and 3) archaeology. They are discussed in this order below, preceded by a review of the more continuous Moroccan Atlantic sequence.

Annual variation in the net longshore sediment transport rate

The annual variation in the net longshore sediment transport rates at three South African and at one North African site is investigated. The net rates at these sites, given in the first table, show large variations. It was found that measurements of longshore transport rates should be conducted continuously for 5–8 years in order to obtain an accurate value (within 10%) of the true long-term mean net longshore transport rate. A second table was drawn up, which can be applied to determine the range in which the true mean rate will fall if measurements were done over a shorter period than the recommended 5–8 years. It is reasonable to expect that the conclusions are widely applicable, especially for exposed sites. It is recommended that an accurate assessment of the long-term mean net longshore transport rate at a site can best be made cost-effectively by doing limited site-specific measurements, calibrating the best longshore transport formula for the particular site, and predicting the transport rates using a representative wave climate.

The economic value of chaff and straw in arid and temperate zones

Chaff and straw is extensively used as a source of fuel, building material and fodder in arid zones, but this by-product of the cereal harvest is generally under-represented in the archaeobotanical record from north-west Europe. While this is partially a result of differential preservation, the evidence from a number of North African sites suggests that dissimilarities between the two regions in the availability of firewood, grazing and building material play an important role too. Differences in the way wheat and barley were used may represent an additional factor. Three types of use are distinguished: casual ‘use’, intentional local use and use as a commercial commodity, and these can be linked to scales of production and organization in the agricultural system.

‘Tripolitanian Sigillata’: North African or Campanian?

AbstractIn this article Campania is proposed as the provenance for a class of terra sigillata, somewhat frequent at Berenice and on other North-African sites, which was recently termed by Kenrick ‘Tripolitanian Sigillata’.Particularly frequent on Campanian sites, above all at Pompeii and Naples, it was present in this region from the end of the first century BC, occurring with high percentage values in assemblages of fine pottery from excavations. This new evidence for its distribution would appear to exclude a North African provenance. A Campanian origin, in the area of the Bay of Naples, is, moreover, supported both by the results of thin section analyses of the clay and by the discovery of possible kiln wasters at Naples.

New higher primates from the early Miocene of Buluk, Kenya

The important early Miocene site of Buluk, Northern Kenya1, was re-surveyed in 1983. As a result, the faunal list for this site has been expanded and, as we report here, now includes three hominoid and at least one cercopithecoid species. Some of the species were known previously only from North African sites, but others are typically East African. Only Proconsul species have been found before at other East African Miocene sites of equivalent age, but the largest hominoid species from Buluk is an early species of Sivapithecus.