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| Adrar Bous | |
|---|---|
  Adrar Bous Adrar Bous in Niger | |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 20°22′16″N 9°01′27″E / 20.37122°N 9.024196°E |
Adrar Bous is an archaeological and geological site on the western edge of the Ténéré Desert in Niger. Adrar Bous is a massif located within the northern Aïr Mountains that is roughly 16 km long and 12 km wide with an elevation of a little over 1000 m[1]. Humans inhabited the site in moister periods throughout the Quaternary when the valleys of Adrar Bous hosted permanent bodies of water and semiarid flora and fauna[1]. The site was occupied intermittently as far back as 400,000 years ago to as recently as 3,000 years ago[2]. The site is now unoccupied and uninhabitable due to the desiccation of the Sahara.
Adrar Bous is well-known as a site with evidence of early indigenous cattle domestication in Africa.
Geology
[edit]Adrar Bous is a ring-complex located in the northern Aïr Mountains that consists of a central granite massif with outlying valleys and a ring of low-lying hills and ridges[1]. The mountain is surrounded by sand plains. During wetter climactic phases throughout the Quaternary, the valleys filled with runoff water to create permanent lakes and swamps that sustained human and animal habitation. The oldest rock formations in Adrar Bous date to the Precambrian era with further deposits of sandstones, shales, and tillites from the Palaeozoic. Adrar Bous' ring complex is an example of an early Silurian structure breaching through the Precambrian basement rocks[1].
There are a wide variety of rocks at Adrar Bous, such as microgranite, quartzite, hornfels, chalcedony, and jasper, that humans used to make stone tools[1].
Habitation
[edit]Adrar Bous was inhabited by groups of hunters-and-gatherers and pastoralists between possibly 400,000 years ago to 3,000 years ago[2]. Faunal remains uncovered at the site revealed that Adrar Bous once hosted a wide variety of animals, including dikdiks, gazelles, African buffalo, sheep and goats, African cattle, zebras, hippopotamuses, rhinos, elephants, and aquatic fauna such as catfish, perch, turtles, and crocodiles[3]. Human burials were also found at the site[4]. The inhabitants of Adrar Bous crafted stone tools and ceramics that have been separated into four distinct chronological industries by archaeologists.
Acheulian
[edit]The Acheulian lithic industry found at Adrar Bous is similar to Acheulian assemblages found in the Masek Beds at Olduvai Gorge, later sequences from Olorgesailie, Kapthurin, and the Bouri Formation[5]. The Acheulian lithics were found in soil dating from 250,00±50,000 B.P. to possibly as far back as 400,000 B.P and corresponds in style to the Upper Acheulian specifically[6]. Adrar Bous' Acheulian assemblage includes bifacial tools such as handaxes, cleavers, picks and knives, discoids, and spheroids, with handaxes being the most numerous[5]. No faunal remains have been definitively linked to the Acheulian assemblages[3].
Aterian
[edit]The Aterian is a late Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age industry found widely across the Maghreb, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and the Sahara. Lower Middle Paleolithic Mousterian assemblages were found underlying Aterian lithics at Adrar Bous; the Aterian is interpreted as a direct descendant of the Mousterian industry[7]. The Adrar Bous Aterian lithic industry is dated between 45,000 and 150,000 B.P.[6] and is associated with anatomically modern humans[7]. Adrar Bous' Aterian assemblage has distinctive tanged tools, that may have been hafted[7], and is characterized by "finely retouched bifacial lanceolates and core axes that strongly recall those of the equatorial Lupemban"[6]. The people who crafted Aterian lithics were likely mobile, seasonal hunter-gatherer groups[7] that exploited aquatic fauna, such as perch, catfish, and hippopotamuses, at Adrar Bous[3].
Kiffian
[edit]The Kiffian industry, named after the site Adrar n'Kiffi, is a largely microlithic industry that is also associated with rare collections of bone points and harpoons and pottery[6]. Kiffian lithics include blades, drills, awls, scrapers, and projectile points. Bone harpoons, and a few bone points, were also excavated at Adrar Bous in association with aquatic faunal remains[8]. The Kiffian industry possibly dates between c. 9550±100 and 8565±100 B.P. based off of chronology from other Saharan sites[8]. The Kiffian economy was likely a mixture of large-game hunting, fishing, and grain gathering[8].
There are also ceramics associated with Kiffian deposits. These ceramics were locally made using coiling techniques. The containers were generally large thick-walled bowls and were decorated with dotted zigzags and wavy lines[9]. There were also a very limited number of amazonite beads recovered at Adrar Bous that were associated with microlithic assemblages[8].
Tenerian
[edit]The Tenerian is a macrolithic industry that has a focus on retouching flakes to produce projectile points, drills, awls, axes, blades, disc knives, grindstones, and adzes[10]. The Tenerian industry at Adrar Bous is dated roughly between 5500-3850 B.P.. The people who produced Tenerian tools exploited Adrar Bous in a similar manner as previous periods by gathering and processing grains and hunting. Additionally, it is likely the Tenerian people were cattle-herding pastoralists, based off remains of domesticated cattle found at Adrar Bous[10].
The Tenerian industry is also linked to stone arm rings recovered at the site as well as stone, ostritch shell, and crystalline rock beads. A complete ostrich egg shell necklace was found on a skeleton between Adrar Bous and Adrar Sirret[10]. Elena Garcea, who analyzed the ceramics at Adrar Bous, split Tenerian ceramics further into three distinct stylistic periods: Early Tenerian, Tenerian, and Late Tenerian[9]. These three periods were mainly differentiated by decoration types. Early Tenerian vessels feature deeply impressed plain zig-zags and a characteristic fine textured paste[6]. Tenerian ceramics are quite diverse in shape, including bowls and globular jars with necks or flared rims decorated with spaced zigzags or stamped dots and occasional surface burnishing. Late Tenerian ceramics have similar forms as Tenerian ones although they represent fewer types and have a higher degree of burnished decoration[9].
African Cattle
[edit]A complete Bos africanus skeleton was found at Adrar Bous, which became known as the Adrar Bous cow. This skeleton was found in the western valley of Adrar Bous where there is a high concentration of Tenerian materials and there were also Tenerian ceramic potsherds approximately 60 cm from the skeleton.[11]. The skeleton was dated directly through a bone collagen sample to 5760±500 B.P. with further dates from other Tenerian cattle teeth ranging between 5400 B.P. and 4910 B.P.[12]. It appears the Adrar Bous cow died of natural causes when it was about 3.5 years of age[11].
The Adrar Bous cow is significant in the debate over early cattle domestication in Africa. There are two views on how domestic cattle emerged in North Africa: one theory posits that Africans independently domesticated wild Bos primigenius c. 9300-9000 years ago and the other theory suggests that Near Eastern cattle were introduced to North Africa at the same time as Near Eastern ovicaprids. Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that African cattle were indeed independently domesticated and distinct from European and Middle Eastern cattle[13], although some scholars still disagree. There is evidence of domesticated cattle from the Nabta Playa as early as c. 8840±90 B.P., although there is ongoing debate over whether these bones truly belonged to domesticated cattle[14].
The Adrar Bous cow confirms that pastoral groups inhabited the Adrar Bous site and fits the characteristics of small, humpless, and possible trypanotolerant West African cattle breeds[12]. Dating the cattle remains also suggests that Adrar Bous was abandoned by pastoralists by 4000 B.P. due to the desiccation of the Sahara[6].
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Williams, Martin A.J. (2008). "Geology, Geomorphology, and Prehistoric Environments". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 25–54.
- ^ a b Clark, Desmond J. and Andrew B. Smith (2008). "Introduction". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 17–24.
- ^ a b c Gifford-Gonzalez, Diane, and James F. Parham (2008). "Fauna from Adrar Bous and Surrounding Areas". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 313–353.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Agrilla, Elizabeth J, Andrew B. Smith, and Alison Galloway (2008). "Burials and Human Skeletal Remains of Adrar Bous". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 369–387.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Clark, J. Desmond; et al. (2008). "The Late Acheulian Assemblages". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 55–90.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|first=(help) - ^ a b c d e f Gifford-Gonzalez, Diane (2008). "The Significance of Adrar Bous in Human Prehistory". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 399–403.
- ^ a b c d Clark, Desmond; et al. (2008). "The Aterian of Adrar Bous and the Central Sahara". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 91–162.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|first=(help) - ^ a b c d Smith, Andrew B. (2008). "The Kiffian". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 179–199.
- ^ a b c Garcea, Elena A.A. (2008). "The Ceramics from Adrar Bous and Surroundings". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 245–289.
- ^ a b c Smith, Andrew B. (2008). "The Tenerian". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 201–243.
- ^ a b Clark, Desmond; et al. (2008). "The Adrar Bous Cow and African Cattle". Adrar Bous: Archaeology of a Central Saharan Granitic Ring Complex in Niger: 355–368.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|first=(help) - ^ a b MacDonald, Kevin C., and Rachel Hutton MacDonald (2000). "The origins and development of domesticated animals in arid West Africa". The Origins and Development of African Livestock: archaeology, genetics, linguistics, and ethnography: 127–162.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Smith, Andrew B. (2005). African Herders: Emergence of Pastoral Traditions. Oxford: AltaMira Press. p. 85.
- ^ MacDonald, Kevin C. (2000). "The origins of African livestock:indigenous or imported?". The Origins and Development of African Livestock: archaeology, genetics, linguistics, and ethnography: 2–17.