Taforalt
Epipalaeolithic | |
Cultures | pre-Mousterian, Aterian, Iberomaurusian |
---|---|
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1944–1947, 1950–1955, 1969-1977, 2003-2018, 2022 |
Archaeologists | Ruhlmann, Roche, Bouzouggar, Barton, Humphrey |
Public access | No |
Taforalt, or Grotte des Pigeons, is a cave in the province of Berkane, Aït Iznasen region, Morocco, possibly the oldest cemetery in North Africa.[1] It contained at least 34[2]: 347 Iberomaurusian adolescent and adult human skeletons, as well as younger ones, from the Upper Palaeolithic between 15,100 and 14,000 calendar years ago. There is archaeological evidence for Iberomaurusian occupation at the site between 23,200 and 12,600 calendar years ago, as well as evidence for Aterian occupation as old as 85,000 years.[3][4]
Site description
La Grotte des Pigeons is a cave in eastern
Geography
The site is located around steep hills, rocky mountains, and the natural vegetation of the thermo-Mediterranean biozone including
Culture
The earliest layers of human habitation in the cave, dating from 85,000 to 82,000 years ago, contain evidence of a
Excavation history
The cave was discovered in 1908 and was excavated in 1944–1947, 1950–1955, 1969–1977, and 2003–2018. Much of the field records from the early excavations have been lost.[4] In 1951, Roche's team discovered human remains associated with the Iberomaurusian.[7] The Roche excavation encountered 10 metres of archaeological deposits with the Iberomaurusian occupying the top 2 to 3 m (6.6 to 9.8 ft). This same stratification has been encountered in the subsequent excavations in other parts of the cave. Because of the dozens of skeletons located by Roche in the 1950s and the burials located during the Bouzouggar, Barton, and Humphrey excavations taking place since 2003, Grotte des Pigeons represents what is likely the earliest and most extensively used known prehistoric cemetery in North Africa.[1]
Stratigraphy
The stratigraphy in Grotte des Pigeons, going as deep as 10 m (32.8 ft) as in the case of Roche's excavations, differs slightly throughout the cave but follows a simple pattern based on their colour: the Grey Series overlies the Yellow Series.[4] The Yellow series goes from the beginning of the occupation of the cave about 85,000 years ago to c. 15,000 cal BP. The overlying Grey Series dates from c. 15,000 to 12,500 cal BP ago, and hence accumulated rapidly in some 2500 years. The Grey Series, associated with the later Iberomaurusian, is characterized by extensive hearths and charcoal deposits (hence its colour), along with all of the site's burials. The Yellow Series is associated with the earlier Iberomaurusian, as well as with Levallois[citation needed] artefacts of the Aterian industry. The increased density of artefacts and evidence of food production in the Grey Series is seen as a sign of year-round occupation at the site whereas the Yellow Series is seen as evidence of seasonal habitation with occasional periods without humans.[7] There is a theorized 2,000 year gap of habitation between 18,000 and 20,000 uncal BP with this sterile layer being noted in Sector 8 of Barton's excavations,[7] though other excavations near the mouth of the cave challenge this finding.[4]
Dating
With 67 radiocarbon dates, Taforalt is the most extensively dated site of the North African Later Stone Age. Starting in the 1960s, it has been dated with both conventional and
Archaeological finds
Artefacts
The lithic collections recovered from the excavations at Grotte des Pigeons reflect a wide range of technologies and include unretouched and retouched flakes and bladelets, single and opposed platform bladelet cores, river cobbles, microburins, La Mouillah points, backed bladelets, Ouchtata bladelets, obtuse-ended backed bladelets, side scrapers, large bifacial tools, shell beads associated with bifacial foliates and tanged tools associated with the Aterian culture, and potential rock palettes.[3][4][1][7][11]
Faunal remains
Animal remains found at the site largely appear to be
Floral remains
The vegetation species found inside the cave provide an idea what the environment was like during periods of human habitation with the charred remains of Holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) acorns, Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) pine nuts, Juniper (Juniperus phoenicea L.), Terebinth pistachio (Pistacia terebinthus L.), and wild oat (Avena sp.) being recovered after likely being collected and processed by the previous inhabitants.[4][12]
Human remains
Sector 10, excavated by Humphrey, and the burial deposits excavated by Roche in the 1950s, form a contiguous and spatially demarcated collective burial area with dozens of closely spaced burials. The presence of both articulated and disarticulated bones indicates extensive use and reuse of the burial area with evidence of secondary burial and selective bone removal being practiced, often disturbing or truncating earlier burials. Some burials were covered by large stones preventing future disturbances by burials.[5][1] The Roche excavations originally estimated that they had recovered the remains of approximately 180 individuals, but subsequent research adjusted this estimate to between 35 and 40 individuals.[5] These remains were not directly dated by Roche but based on the stratigraphy they were from a greater depth, and therefore greater age, than those in Sector 10. The recent excavations taking place in Sector 10 have recovered thirteen partially articulated skeletons along with a sample of disarticulated bones. Seven bone samples from Sector 10 yielded age estimates between approximately 15,077 and 13,892 years ago, corresponding to the base of the Grey Series deposits seen in Sector 8 excavations.[1] Burials situated toward the front of the cave and those higher within the deposits are likely to be progressively younger, and hence contemporary with higher levels in the Grey Series deposits recorded in Sector 8. A range of funerary practices is apparent based on the grave excavations that have taken place. Some remains appear to have been primary inhumations while others appear to have sustained secondary inhumation after removal for potentially ritual practices.[6][1] Evidence of deliberate post-mortem modification include cut marks that are not indicative of cannibalism and extensive ochre colouring with one grave, Grave XII, containing Individual 1 with both cut marks and ochre colouring present on the majority of the nearly intact skeleton.[6] Roche's excavations in the 1950s yielded a single mandible from the Aterian levels.[1]
A 2003 analysis
A 2000 analysis of non-metric dental traits indicated genetic continuity from the terminal Pleistocene onward in the Iberomaurusian and Capsian areas.[10]
Occupation site utility
The inhabitants of Grotte des Pigeons were hunter-gathers equipped with the knowledge of harvesting plants and animals as the archaeological context suggests some of the burials contained evidence of baskets and grind stones which were used for food preparation.[1] Some of the foods harvested from their local environment included acorns, pine nuts, and land molluscs.[4][9][12] The site exhibits evidence that the people that lived in this area used the cave year round by the Grey Series while staying there seasonally during the Yellow Series.[4] The perforated marine shells present from the 85,000 – 82,000 year old level at Grotte des Pigeons and other sites in the nearby Maghreb dated from that period reflect an exchange network that likely existed in order to provide shells to communities 40 km from the coast (Taforalt) and further.[3] While the meaning behind the beads cannot be discerned, the presence of an apparently widespread exchange network to facilitate their transport as well as their being worked for apparent ornamentation indicate some significance behind them.[11]
World Heritage status
This site was added to the
Ancient DNA
In 2018, van de Loosdrecht et al. performed the first aDNA tests on the ancient Taforalt individuals, directly dated to between 15,100 and 13,900 cal BP.[15] The Taforalt samples are the oldest human DNA samples from Africa yet recovered.[16] DNA analysis was performed on seven individuals: six males and one female. Only five of the individuals, including four of the males, with higher coverage genomes were used in the nuclear DNA analysis. Nuclear DNA analysis reveals that the Taforalt individuals were all closely related to each other, showing evidence of a population bottleneck event in their past."[15] Loosdrecht found the Taforalt to be composed of three major components: a
When compared against modern populations, the Taforalt individuals form a distinct cluster and do not cluster genetically with any modern population; however, they were found to cluster between Middle Easterners or modern North Africans and West/East Africans. The Taforalt individuals also exhibited higher levels of indigenous African ("Sub-Saharan African") ancestry than do modern North Africans. The Sub-Saharan African DNA in Taforalt individuals has the closest affinity, most of all, to that of modern West Africans (e.g. Yoruba, or Mende).[15] In addition to having similarity with the remnant of a more basal Sub-Saharan African lineage (e.g., a basal West African lineage shared between Yoruba and Mende peoples), the Sub-Saharan African DNA in the Taforalt individuals of the Iberomaurusian culture may be best represented by modern West Africans.[17]
Sample ID | mtDNA | Y-DNA |
---|---|---|
TAF009 | U6a6b |
E1b1b1a1b1
|
TAF010 | U6a7b | E1b1b1a1 |
TAF011 | U6a7 | E1b1b1a1 |
TAF012 | U6a7 | N/A |
TAF013 | U6a7b | E1b1b1a1 |
TAF014 | M1b | E1b1b1a1 |
TAF015 | U6a1b | E1b1b |
A 2018 DNA analysis shows that the Taforalt individuals belonged to the
According to Loosdrecht, since the Natufian samples, which are chronologically younger than the Taforalt samples by several thousands of years, were inferred to lack substantial African ancestry, the researchers also hypothesized that a Maghreb center of evolution for the Natufian-related ancestry could only be plausible if the admixture that was inferred for the Taforalt individuals either occurred after the population ancestral to the Natufians had moved into the Levant or if that admixture event was a locally confined phenomenon at Taforalt.[15]
Iosif Lazaridis et al. (2018), as summarized by Rosa Fregel (2021), contested the conclusion of Loosdrecht (2018) and argued instead that the Iberomaurusian population of Upper Paleolithic North Africa, represented by the Taforalt sample, can be better modeled as an admixture between a Dzudzuana-like [West-Eurasian] component and an "Ancient North African" component, "that may represent an even earlier split than the Basal Eurasians." Iosif Lazaridis et al. (2018) also argued that an Iberomaurusian/Taforalt-like population contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians "and not the other way around", and that this Iberomaurusian/Taforalt lineage also contributed around 13% ancestry to modern West Africans "rather than Taforalt having ancestry from an unknown Sub-Saharan African source". Fregel (2021) summarized: "More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations."[18][19]
Phenotypic analysis was performed on four of the Taforalt individuals with higher genomic coverage. The Taforalt individuals tested did not carry either of the derived
See also
- Ifri n'Ammar
- Kelif el Boroud
- Mechta-Afalou
References
- ^ PMID 22154088.
- Minimum Number of Individuals] is given by the right femur, according to which there are at least 34 individuals. On the basis of cranial specimens (unmarked fragments were not considered), the MNI is 33. Therefore, the MNI of the whole necropolis can be plausibly estimated at 35-40 individuals. This is much less than the value given by Ferembach (1962) of 86 adults and adolescents, obtained simply by adding the individuals in each grave.
- ^ PMID 17548808.
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ PMID 20471665.
- ^ PMID 23891007.
- S2CID 128380684.
- ^ PMID 25141047.
- ^ PMID 11006048.
- ^ PMID 19717433.
- ^ PMID 24395774.
- ^ ISSN 1099-1212.
- ^ Grotte de Taforalt - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- ^ PMID 29545507.
- ^ Embury-Dennis, Tom (28 March 2018). "Scientists uncover ancient migration clues after studying oldest DNA ever from Africa". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
- )
- ISBN 978-90-04-50022-8.
However, a preprint from Lazaridis et al. (2018) has contested this conclusion based on new evidence from Paleolithic samples from the Dzudzuana site in Georgia (25,000 years BCE). When these samples are considered in the analysis, Taforalt can be better modeled as a mixture of a Dzudzuana component and a sub-Saharan African component. They also argue that it is the Taforalt people who contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians and not the other way around. More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations, but the presence of an ancestral U6 lineage in the Dzudzuana people is consistent with this population being related to the back migration to Africa.
- S2CID 91380277.)
Moreover, our model predicts that West Africans (represented by Yoruba) had 12.5±1.1% ancestry from a Taforalt related group rather than Taforalt having ancestry from an unknown Sub-Saharan African source; this may have mediated the limited Neanderthal admixture present in West Africans. An advantage of our model is that it allows for a local North African component in the ancestry of Taforalt, rather than deriving them exclusively from Levantine and Sub-Saharan sources. ... and Taforalt, can all be modeled as a mixture of Dzudzuana and additional 'Deep' ancestry that may represent an even earlier split than the Basal Eurasians.
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