Iberomaurusian

Iberomaurusian
Geographical rangeMorocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (not shown on map).
PeriodLater Stone Age, Epipalaeolithic, or Upper Paleolithic
Datesc. 25/23,000 – c. 11,000 cal BP
Type siteLa Mouillah
Major sitesTaforalt, Afalou bou Rhummel, Haua Fteah, Tamar Hat, Columnata
Preceded byAterian
Followed byMushabian, Cardium pottery, Capsian
The Paleolithic
↑ Pliocene (before Homo)
Lower Paleolithic
 (c. 3.3 Ma – 300 ka)
Middle Paleolithic
 (c. 300–50 ka)
Upper Paleolithic
 (c. 50–12 ka)

Fertile Crescent:

Europe:

Africa:

Siberia:

↓ Mesolithic

The Iberomaurusian is a backed bladelet lithic industry found near the coasts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. It is also known from a single major site in Libya, the Haua Fteah, where the industry is locally known as the Eastern Oranian.[note 1] The Iberomaurusian seems to have appeared around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), somewhere between c. 25,000 and 23,000 cal BP. It would have lasted until the early Holocene c. 11,000 cal BP.[1]

The name of the Iberomaurusian means "of Iberia and Mauretania", the latter being a Latin name for Northwest Africa. Pallary (1909) coined this term[2] to describe assemblages from the site of La Mouillah in the belief that the industry extended over the strait of Gibraltar into the Iberian Peninsula. This theory is now generally discounted (Garrod 1938),[3] but the name has stuck.

In Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, but not in Morocco, the industry is succeeded by the Capsian industry, whose origins are unclear. The Capsian is believed either to have spread into North Africa from the Near East,[4] or to have evolved from the Iberomaurusian.[5][6] In Morocco and Western Algeria, the Iberomaurusian is succeeded by the Cardial culture after a long hiatus.[7]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Hogue, J.T.; Barton, R.N.E. (22 August 2016). "New radiocarbon dates for the earliest Later Stone Age microlithic technology in Northwest Africa". Quaternary International. 413: 62–75. Bibcode:2016QuInt.413...62H. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.144. ISSN 1040-6182.
  2. ^ Pallary, P., 1909. Instructions pour la recherche préhistorique dans le Nord-Ouest de l'Afrique, Algiers.
  3. ^ D.A.E Garrod (1938). "The Upper Palaeolithic in the light of recent discovery". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 4 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1017/S0079497X00021113. S2CID 4041425.
  4. ^ Camps, G., 1974. Les Civilisations Préhistoriques de l'Afrique du Nord et du Sahara, Paris: Doin
  5. ^ Lubell, D., Sheppard, P. & Jackes, M., 1984. Continuity in the Epipalaeolithic of North Africa with Emphasis on the Maghreb. Advances in World Archaeology, 3, pp.143–191
  6. ^ Irish, J.D., 2000. The Iberomaurusian enigma: North African progenitor or dead end? Journal of Human Evolution, 39(4), pp.393–410
  7. ^ mankind, International Commission for a History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind History of; Mankind, International Commission for the New Edition of the History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of (1994). History of Humanity: Prehistory and the beginnings of civilization. Taylor & Francis. p. 514. ISBN 9789231028106.