65th century BCE – 10th century BCE
Northern Sahara, Algeria
The Saharan Epi-Palaeolithic, more recently called Mellalian, is represented by bladelet industries found around the chotts of northern Algeria, including Hassi Mouillah and El-Hadjar. Present by at least 6500 BC, these communities used backed bladelets, grinding stones, and worked ostrich eggshell, and may have fished seasonally. The tradition persisted into the fifth or fourth millennium BC, with hunting and gathering continuing in some northern Saharan zones as late as 1000 BC.
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The Story
In the northern Sahara of Algeria, sites around the chotts preserve a bladelet-based tradition often called the Saharan Epi-Palaeolithic or Mellalian. Hassi Mouillah and El-Hadjar are among the named locations. The assemblages were present by at least 6500 BC, when the climate was sub-arid or arid and the lakes were undergoing increasing desiccation.
The toolkits contain many backed bladelets, few or no geometric microliths, grinding stones, and worked pieces of ostrich eggshell. The economic foundations of these communities are poorly understood, although some may have included seasonal fishing. The archaeological remains therefore point to flexible exploitation of shrinking wetland environments rather than to a securely reconstructed subsistence system.
Related bladelet industries appear to have persisted until the fifth or fourth millennium BC, when pottery and bifacially flaked points entered the assemblages under somewhat more favourable, temporarily moister conditions. Even then, the economy remained essentially based on hunting and gathering, and the excerpt allows that this way of life continued in parts of the northern Sahara as late as 1000 BC.
65th century BCE – 10th century BCE
Northern Sahara, Algeria
The Saharan Epi-Palaeolithic, more recently called Mellalian, is represented by bladelet industries found around the chotts of northern Algeria, including Hassi Mouillah and El-Hadjar. Present by at least 6500 BC, these communities used backed bladelets, grinding stones, and worked ostrich eggshell, and may have fished seasonally. The tradition persisted into the fifth or fourth millennium BC, with hunting and gathering continuing in some northern Saharan zones as late as 1000 BC.
Continue exploring
The Story
In the northern Sahara of Algeria, sites around the chotts preserve a bladelet-based tradition often called the Saharan Epi-Palaeolithic or Mellalian. Hassi Mouillah and El-Hadjar are among the named locations. The assemblages were present by at least 6500 BC, when the climate was sub-arid or arid and the lakes were undergoing increasing desiccation.
The toolkits contain many backed bladelets, few or no geometric microliths, grinding stones, and worked pieces of ostrich eggshell. The economic foundations of these communities are poorly understood, although some may have included seasonal fishing. The archaeological remains therefore point to flexible exploitation of shrinking wetland environments rather than to a securely reconstructed subsistence system.
Related bladelet industries appear to have persisted until the fifth or fourth millennium BC, when pottery and bifacially flaked points entered the assemblages under somewhat more favourable, temporarily moister conditions. Even then, the economy remained essentially based on hunting and gathering, and the excerpt allows that this way of life continued in parts of the northern Sahara as late as 1000 BC.
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