Excavation of the hill FA 10 (Banc d'Arguin) and its contribution to knowledge on the epipaleolithic culture of Foum Arguin, north-west Sahara

The epipaleolithic culture of Foum Arguin stretched from the Oued Draa, in southern Morocco, to the Banc d'Arguin and from the Atlantic shore to the lowlands of northwestern Sahara in Mauritania. Its chronology is vague, located between the eighth and the seventh lenniums BP It preceded a little the Neolithic, which followed it after 5500 BP oil almost all the numerous habitats of this region. Thanks to several sites of the Banc d'Arguin, less plundered than most others, eve have been able to define the lithic industry of this culture and to compare it with similar groups, notable; those located in southern Morocco. This industry; very varied, is unique and very distinct front other known traditions of that time - for instance the Iberomaurusian and the Caspian. Thus the place of the populations of Foum Arguin in the Saharian cultures of the early Holocene is an essential topic. In particular it is necessary to investigate the possible similarities wish central and eastern Sahara, where epipaleolithic or preneolithic cultures are known-yet badly understood and dated as shown by the con confusion surrounding the notion Of "Ounan point".