Undated
Mediterranean Africa and the North African littoral
African Homo sapiens neanderthalensis remains are a small and disputed fossil record concentrated in Mediterranean and coastal North Africa. The principal localities are Haua Fteah in Libya, Jebel Irhoud, Mugharet el-'Aliya, Dar es-Soltan, and Contrebandiers Cave in Morocco. The remains are associated with Mousterian or Aterian industries and show varying combinations of Neanderthal-like and anatomically modern features. Their chronology ranges broadly across the later Middle and Upper Pleistocene, but the contexts and dates are unevenly established.
Continue exploring
The Story
Skeletal remains attributed to Neanderthal peoples are uncommon in Mediterranean Africa. The excerpt places them at several cave sites in Libya and Morocco, while emphasizing that comparable remains and the Mousterian industry are not known south of the Sahara. The principal evidence consists of fragmentary skull parts, mandibles, facial pieces, and teeth whose taxonomic affinities are evaluated through morphology and archaeological association.
At Haua Fteah in Cyrenaican Libya, two mandibular fragments from a young adult and an adolescent were recovered between cave levels 32 and 33 with a Mousterian industry of Levallois facies. Radiocarbon determinations suggest an age of 47,000 years BP, and the fragments show similarities to Neanderthal populations from Tabun, the Mud Cave, and Shanidar. At Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, two calvaria and a juvenile mandible came from a cave infilling associated with a rich Upper Pleistocene vertebrate assemblage, traces of fire, and a finely made Mousterian industry.
Other North African finds complicate the picture. Mugharet el-'Aliya near Tangier yielded facial and dental remains associated with the Aterian industry, including features considered non-modern and closest to Neanderthal morphology. Dar es-Soltan near Rabat produced remains of at least two individuals in lower cave levels associated with Aterian artifacts, while the Temara mandible and additional fragments from Contrebandiers Cave derive from an Upper Aterian occupation. These discoveries suggest a varied human population history in the Maghrib, but the excerpt stresses that morphology and contextual evidence remain incomplete.
Undated
Mediterranean Africa and the North African littoral
African Homo sapiens neanderthalensis remains are a small and disputed fossil record concentrated in Mediterranean and coastal North Africa. The principal localities are Haua Fteah in Libya, Jebel Irhoud, Mugharet el-'Aliya, Dar es-Soltan, and Contrebandiers Cave in Morocco. The remains are associated with Mousterian or Aterian industries and show varying combinations of Neanderthal-like and anatomically modern features. Their chronology ranges broadly across the later Middle and Upper Pleistocene, but the contexts and dates are unevenly established.
Continue exploring
The Story
Skeletal remains attributed to Neanderthal peoples are uncommon in Mediterranean Africa. The excerpt places them at several cave sites in Libya and Morocco, while emphasizing that comparable remains and the Mousterian industry are not known south of the Sahara. The principal evidence consists of fragmentary skull parts, mandibles, facial pieces, and teeth whose taxonomic affinities are evaluated through morphology and archaeological association.
At Haua Fteah in Cyrenaican Libya, two mandibular fragments from a young adult and an adolescent were recovered between cave levels 32 and 33 with a Mousterian industry of Levallois facies. Radiocarbon determinations suggest an age of 47,000 years BP, and the fragments show similarities to Neanderthal populations from Tabun, the Mud Cave, and Shanidar. At Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, two calvaria and a juvenile mandible came from a cave infilling associated with a rich Upper Pleistocene vertebrate assemblage, traces of fire, and a finely made Mousterian industry.
Other North African finds complicate the picture. Mugharet el-'Aliya near Tangier yielded facial and dental remains associated with the Aterian industry, including features considered non-modern and closest to Neanderthal morphology. Dar es-Soltan near Rabat produced remains of at least two individuals in lower cave levels associated with Aterian artifacts, while the Temara mandible and additional fragments from Contrebandiers Cave derive from an Upper Aterian occupation. These discoveries suggest a varied human population history in the Maghrib, but the excerpt stresses that morphology and contextual evidence remain incomplete.