Joaquim Soler, Helena Ventura, Maria Saña, Isaac Rufí, Narcís Soler
{"title":"The Age and Graphic Attributes of the First Potteries of the Western Sahara","authors":"Joaquim Soler, Helena Ventura, Maria Saña, Isaac Rufí, Narcís Soler","doi":"10.1007/s10437-024-09588-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Direct <sup>14</sup>C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates obtained on a selection of pottery sherds recovered from surface sites in the Western Sahara have confirmed that the first potteries of this region appeared at the middle of the seventh millennium cal. BP. From the geographical point of view, these early results are detected all along the latitudinal gradient and from the Atlantic to the inland regions, which indicates that adoption of the new ware was fast and uniform in the entire territory. The decorative motifs are dominated by herringbones and series of short segments, always impressed with combs. These graphisms do not correspond with the abundant and widely distributed rock art motifs of the same region. However, they do appear incised on the surfaces of the pierced ostrich eggs used as containers since the Epipaleolithic. This may indicate a certain degree of symbolic continuity between the Epipaleolithic and the Neolithic in this region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46493,"journal":{"name":"African Archaeological Review","volume":"41 3","pages":"405 - 416"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"African Archaeological Review","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-024-09588-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Direct 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates obtained on a selection of pottery sherds recovered from surface sites in the Western Sahara have confirmed that the first potteries of this region appeared at the middle of the seventh millennium cal. BP. From the geographical point of view, these early results are detected all along the latitudinal gradient and from the Atlantic to the inland regions, which indicates that adoption of the new ware was fast and uniform in the entire territory. The decorative motifs are dominated by herringbones and series of short segments, always impressed with combs. These graphisms do not correspond with the abundant and widely distributed rock art motifs of the same region. However, they do appear incised on the surfaces of the pierced ostrich eggs used as containers since the Epipaleolithic. This may indicate a certain degree of symbolic continuity between the Epipaleolithic and the Neolithic in this region.
期刊介绍:
African Archaeological Review publishes original research articles, review essays, reports, book/media reviews, and forums/commentaries on African archaeology, highlighting the contributions of the African continent to critical global issues in the past and present. Relevant topics include the emergence of modern humans and earliest manifestations of human culture; subsistence, agricultural, and technological innovations; and social complexity, as well as topical issues on heritage. The journal features timely continental and subcontinental studies covering cultural and historical processes; interregional interactions; biocultural evolution; cultural dynamics and ecology; the role of cultural materials in politics, ideology, and religion; different dimensions of economic life; the application of historical, textual, ethnoarchaeological, and archaeometric data in archaeological interpretation; and the intersections of cultural heritage, information technology, and community/public archaeology.