100th century BCE – 60th century BCE
Cyrenaica and the Maghrib
The Ibero-Maurusian Industrial Complex was a North African late Palaeolithic tradition appearing after 14,000 BC in Cyrenaica and the Maghrib. It is characterized by backed forms, chisels, scrapers on small blades, and simple bone tools. Its communities exploited large and small mammals, with occasional fishing and shellfish collection, and occupied both coastal and inland environments until approximately 6000 BC.
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The Story
After 14,000 BC, the Ibero-Maurusian Industrial Complex appeared in Cyrenaica and the Maghrib. Its tool-kit included backed forms, chisels, and scrapers made on small blades, with regional variations occurring along the coast and on the plateau. The tradition lasted until about 6000 BC, making it one of the principal late Palaeolithic cultural developments described for North Africa.
The communities associated with this tradition exploited a broad but predominantly terrestrial range of resources. Sites contain remains of large mammals such as zebra and hartebeeste, together with small mammals, while fish and shellfish occur sporadically at coastal and inland locations. Giant deer are also represented in the refuse, and their disappearance may have been accelerated by human populations, in a pattern compared with the proposed human contribution to giant buffalo extinction in southern Africa.
Habitation and subsistence varied across the region. Coastal groups had access to marine resources, while inland groups relied more heavily on terrestrial hunting and gathering. The tradition’s regional diversity, together with its possible emergence through local development influenced by eastern technological diffusion, makes it an important case for understanding cultural change in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene Maghrib.
100th century BCE – 60th century BCE
Cyrenaica and the Maghrib
The Ibero-Maurusian Industrial Complex was a North African late Palaeolithic tradition appearing after 14,000 BC in Cyrenaica and the Maghrib. It is characterized by backed forms, chisels, scrapers on small blades, and simple bone tools. Its communities exploited large and small mammals, with occasional fishing and shellfish collection, and occupied both coastal and inland environments until approximately 6000 BC.
Continue exploring
The Story
After 14,000 BC, the Ibero-Maurusian Industrial Complex appeared in Cyrenaica and the Maghrib. Its tool-kit included backed forms, chisels, and scrapers made on small blades, with regional variations occurring along the coast and on the plateau. The tradition lasted until about 6000 BC, making it one of the principal late Palaeolithic cultural developments described for North Africa.
The communities associated with this tradition exploited a broad but predominantly terrestrial range of resources. Sites contain remains of large mammals such as zebra and hartebeeste, together with small mammals, while fish and shellfish occur sporadically at coastal and inland locations. Giant deer are also represented in the refuse, and their disappearance may have been accelerated by human populations, in a pattern compared with the proposed human contribution to giant buffalo extinction in southern Africa.
Habitation and subsistence varied across the region. Coastal groups had access to marine resources, while inland groups relied more heavily on terrestrial hunting and gathering. The tradition’s regional diversity, together with its possible emergence through local development influenced by eastern technological diffusion, makes it an important case for understanding cultural change in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene Maghrib.
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