Simon J. Holdaway & Willeke Wendrich (ed.). The Desert Fayum reinvestigated—the Early to Mid-Holocene landscape archaeology of the Fayum north shore, Egypt (Monumenta Archaeologica 39). Los Angeles (CA): UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology; 978-938770-09-8 hardback $98. - Volume 92 Issue 361

edited by Barbara E. Barich, Giulio Lucarini, Mohamed A. Hamdan and Fekri A. Hassan, Sapienza University of Rome, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità; Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt; Firenze, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2014, 503 pp., €60.00 (paperback), isbn 978-887814-520-7. Cartagine. Studi e Ricerche, 3 (2018) Rivista della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Cartagine http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/caster/index doi: 10.13125/caster/3302 Sezione: Recensioni Recensione presentata il 16/04/2018 Accettato in data 16/04/2018 Pubblicato in data 03/05/2018

The dynamics affecting coastal areas of North Africa, especially the rise of Neolithic economies, remained largely unexplored until a few years ago. There are no definitive answers for questions about how groups belonging to a very well-documented late Palaeolithic tradition developed locally, and if and how these changes resulted from outside influences that may have affected the region during the middle and late Holocene. This is especially true of the provenance and success of the main domesticates, in other words the plant (wheat, barley, pulses) and animal species (sheep/goat, cattle, pigs) which constitute the North African Neolithic complex. The obvious intrusion of the domesticates from outside has prompted various authors to seek their exotic locations, but reasons and circumstances that led to the displacement of groups were rarely discussed in trying to reconstruct modalities and routes of diffusion. To understand and study these problems, a trans-regional perspective including North Africa and the Levant seems necessary, but is very rarely adopted. This paper tries to answer these questions, starting from the data on the central-eastern portion of Mediterranean North Africa–Egypt and Libya – which are closer to the Levantine territories. In particular, it focuses on what has recently emerged from important investigations in Egypt (Western Desert) and northwest Libya (Jebel Gharbi and Jefara plain). Through a comparative approach combining chronology, the characteristics of plant and animal resources used, and technology, both of these areas may help to understand the ways and paths followed in the introduction and propagation of food production towards northeastern Africa. In an attempt to trace the routes followed in the transfer from the Levantine towards the western regions, the paper deals also with the main theoretical and problematic issues related to the domestication of plants and animals in the Near East. It shows that, contrary to past claims, the domestication of plants and animals does not seem to have taken a short time and that instead a protracted process of domestication seems to be the more realistic model. Therefore, the search for a core area where everything must have begun seems really complicated. Finally it reconsiders some specific comparisons between Levant and North Africa, chronologically and geographically plausible, that have been suggested for some time. They concern the material culture repertoires, within which the importance of the main component, lithic production, is obvious.

In 2010 the Italian-Egyptian Environmental Cooperation launched a safeguarding project for the preservation of the caves with prehistoric rock art located in the Gilf Kebir plateau in southwestern Egypt. The project was part of the cooperation program developed to establish the Egyptian Gilf Kebir National Park (GKNP) protected area. Given their bad state of preservation, the Italian conservation project focused on the Caves of Swimmers and Archers, located along the Wadi Sura. Although only very few studies of this kind have been carried out in the Saharan region, our work in the Gilf Kebir can be considered a pilot study, the results of which should be evaluated in the long term. Results obtained to date and reported in this paper provide analytical petrographic studies of the bedrock, a complete photographic and geodetic survey of the two sites, data from climate monitoring, along with a preliminary consolidation of some of the most at-risk areas of the two caves. Finally, laboratory experimentation led us to select the most suitable materials for the consolidation of the rock, shifting in the direction of nano-technology instead of ethyl silicate use because of the longer cross-linking process of the latter in hyper-arid environments; the use of the latter can in fact result in extremely long and expensive field seasons. These results will be valuable for the continuation and extension of the project, which is currently suspended due to safety concerns in the region.

Sylvain Ozainne. Un Néolithique Ouest-Africain: cadre chrono-culturel, économique et environnemental de l'Holocene récent en Pays dogon (Mali) (Journal of African Archaeology Monographs 8). xi+293 pages, 92 colour and b&w illustrations. 2013. Frankfurt: Africa Magna; 978-3-937248-33-2 hardback €35.90. - Volume 88 Issue 341

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 Shakshuk to EI 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. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

The work by scholars from the University of Cologne undertaken for over two decades in desert areas from Sudan to Egypt and up to the border with Libya represents the foundation of this large volum...

Chapter 14 Gender in North African Prehistory Barbara E. Barich, Barbara E. BarichSearch for more papers by this author Barbara E. Barich, Barbara E. BarichSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Diane Bolger, Diane BolgerSearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 December 2012 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118294291.ch14 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary This chapter contains section titles: Antroduction Archaeological Context Rediscovering the "Site" Settlement Patterns and Activity Organization Agricultural vs. Pastoral Societies Gender and Specialized Manufacture: Stone Technology and Pottery Interpreting Gender Through Rock Art Gender and Funerary Ritual Conclusion Notes References A Companion to Gender Prehistory RelatedInformation

Le terme “Neolithique saharien” comprend en general un complexe de traits culturels qui se sont manifestes entre 10 000 et 5 000 ans dans la partie centrale du Sahara comprise entre 15° et 25° Lat. Nord. Parmi les aspects novateurs qui caracterisent ces cultures – differents elements technologiques, aspects artistiques et modeles d’etablissements – ce sont l’apparition de la ceramique et la production de nourriture, avec une economie pastorale qui representent indubitablement les aspects les ...

Italian Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis – Egypt - The archaeologicalresearch in desert areas has long employed multidisciplinary fi eld and laboratorymethods. The Italian Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis – Egyptof the Sapienza University of Rome benefi ts from three decades of experienceduring which it has kept pace with the latest developments in fi eldwork techniques.Geomatic techniques, as used by the Geodesy and Geomatic Area ofthe same university, are particularly important for archaeological research concernedwith large geographical areas. The paper shows how survey was organisedthrough several stages, from the creation of accurate maps, to photoplansof signifi cant structures and to DEMs of the different fi nd locations. Processingthe cartographic data from the Wadi el Obeiyid, moreover, made it possible tohypothesize which areas would have been suitable for human settlement, andthese will be the focus of future surveys.