Sand,
Stones, and Bones: The Archaeology of Death in the Wadi Tanezzuft Valley
(5000-2000 BP), ed. SAVINO DI LERNIA & GIORGIO MANZI
Arid Zone Archaeology Monographs, Vol. 3.
Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”. 2002.
356 pages. ISBN 88-7814-281-6. (€60)
This book forms the first of a series of three planned
volumes devoted to “The Archaeology of [the] Libyan Sahara”.
The project is directed by Mario Liverani and focuses upon Wadi Tanezzuft
during the early Holocene in order to better understand marginal environments.
The period studied covers the transition between the Late Pastoral
(c. 5000-3500 BP) and the Garamantian (c. 500 BC – AD
500) phases of North African prehistory. The book consists of fourteen
chapters following a relatively traditional scheme of introductory chapters
(Chapters 1-3), field and laboratory research type papers (Chapter 4-13)
and ending with a concluding report summarising the entire project (Chapter
14). The editors describe the project as being an attempt to merge varying
subfields, such as relatively traditional archaeology, geology, anthropology,
palaeobiology, zooarchaeology and molecular genetics.
The first chapter, written by the volume editors, evaluates a variety
of topics within the archaeology of death in the Saharan region. Special
focus is placed upon the rituals and beliefs of the later Prehistoric
populations of south-western Fezzan in Libya, with evidence also being
collected for neighbouring regions such as Niger, Algeria and Egypt.
The choice of research region is said to be the result of the nature
of the archaeological record, as the area is characterised by strong
erosion associated with increasingly arid conditions, associated with
disturbed and otherwise altered settlement features. The authors also
note that the position of Acacus massif corresponds to a crossing point
between modern genetic boundaries related to human gene flow across
the Sahara. This chapter provides a valuable introduction to the aim
of volume, which is to take a combined approach interlinking physical
anthropology and archaeology, in order to reconstruct cultural and micro-evolutionary
trajectories of the past populations / societies. Prior to this research
project, the knowledge of the history of the Sahara consisted only of
survey data, with some archaeological excavation of settlements and
rock art studies and information upon the palaeobiology, and the funerary
practices and rituals associated with death was very limited.
In the second chapter, Mauro Cremaschi and Savino
di Lernia provide a summary of regional approaches to mortuary archaeology
and attempt to insert the current study into a theoretical framework.
Attention is drawn to the important relationship in the study area between
climate, environment and “cultures”, as analysis is undertaken
of the fragmentation of the Late Pastoral communities and the
different adaptations employed to cope with increasingly arid environments.
In this chapter, in contrast to the first, the authors state that the
choice of research area (the Wadi Tanezzuft west of the Acacus scarp)
was due to this area escaping the aridification of the neighbouring
areas for several millennia. The authors note problems of representative
sampling within the study as sampling was undertaken by covering the
area by 4WD vehicle in 2km wide strips, and employing fieldwalking when
areas of interest were noted from the vehicle. This approach seems a
sensible method to use in such a harsh and vast environment. The authors
recommend using a regional approach, integrated with high resolution
studies in certain sample areas associated with selective excavation.
As a result, the surveyed area covers 2500 km2, in which 119 funerary
sites and 560 stone structures were located.
Chapter 3, by Sandra Sivilli, is a synopsis of the history of studies
relating to North African megalithic architecture and mortuary archaeology.
This is a distinct chapter from rest of volume, and is described as
an exploration of the links between the political contexts of archaeology,
colonialism and the nature of early archaeological studies in the region.
The chapter certainly describes the history of research into both North
Saharan and North African tumuli, bringing in mention of past diffusionist
thinking and concluding with some discussion of more recent research
employing 14C dates as evidence for population movement.
Chapters 4 and 5, written by many members of the project,
describe the systematic fieldwork in the Tanezzuft Valley. The authors
hope that the exhaustive publication of field data through appendices
and a complete graphic and photographic documentation may aid future
research. These chapters also include a discussion of the relationship
between the representativeness of the sampling and the type of archaeological
evidence.
The first of these chapters includes a discussion of the term “megalithic
architecture” as it has different interpretations in other studies
and may encompass tumuli that are little more than heaps of stones.
Within the study area, large boulders are very rare, and neither quarries
nor transported rocks were found. There follows a useful and thorough
description of a method in which to categorise megalithic stone structures
into eleven types, ranging from simple stone alignments and tumuli to
crescents and bazinas. This chapter may therefore become a valuable
resource to others working upon similar features.
A minor error is found here as the western edge of
the study area is the Algerian border (and not the eastern edge as written).
This issue highlights a major problem with the volume. Mapping is relatively
poor throughout. A simple map is required that clearly locates the area
subdivisions used in the text, as regions are referred to but cannot
be clearly located without some indication of their relationship to
each other. The reader is often left unsure as to whether sample areas
are immediately proximate or at vast distance.
The authors compare the quantity of funerary monuments
with the ethnohistoric record of the local population size and hypothesise
that 500-1000 people lived in the Wadi Tanezzuft in late prehistory.
From the number of funerary monuments in the region and this estimate
of population size, they predict that about 14 individuals should be
buried in each structure. In reality only about 1 to 4 people are found
buried per structure, and hence the project’s research question
changes to ask where the rest are buried.
The fifth chapter consists of descriptions of the
excavations undertaken. Some clear accounts are given of the tumulus
excavations, such as the sequence of burials in tumuli 1 & 2 at
site 96/129 near Tahalla. The burials consist of a vast range of biologically
aged individuals, from neonates, through children and juveniles, to
mature adults. These skeletons are found in association with grave goods,
including beads (stone, ostrich egg-shell and faience), carinated scrapers
and bifacial arrowheads etc. Detail is provided as to the phasing of
the construction of the tumuli through analysis of the changing tumuli
complex shapes. The authors suggest, with little evidence provided,
that this is associated with a change from kinship linkage to the assertion
of social ranking in groups. There is much interpretation of the archaeological
evidence, and potentially some over-interpretation of the data, such
as hypothesising over potential sacrifice of the female in Tumulus 3bis
(H1) and its presumed association with the male in Tumulus 3 (H2) at
site 96/129, or of the potential mother and child in Tumulus 10 (H2
and H4 respectively) again at site 96/129. When site 96/129 was selected
for excavation it was believed to represent a single middle to large
cemetery of Late Pastoral phase. Excavation indicated that it dated
to the start of the 4th millennium BP and ended around 2500 BP (and
thus overlapped with the start of the Garamantian phase). In the following
chapter however, describing the textiles and leather, the same site
is simply described as a Late Pastoral cemetery, radiocarbon
dated to 3800-2700 BP.
Chapter six was outline by Alfio Maspero, who died
shortly before completion of the volume, and hence it was finished by
other members of the project. It consists of a survey of the organic
matter, including leather and other textiles. These studies employed
morphological, histological, chemical an immunological methods. The
material found was mostly animal leather, with some wool textile being
found in the so-called “Royal Tumulus” (of Garamantian
period), but no true textiles being found in Late Pastoral phase
graves. Dyed textiles and blue dyes were also only found in the “Royal
Tumulus”.
The study of the plant macrofossils in Chapter 7,
by Michela Cottini and Mauro Rottoli, suggests that the vegetation during
the Late Pastoral and Garamantian periods was very
similar to today, in comprising of arid adapted species. Wooden sandals
made from Faidherbia albida (previously known as Acacia
albida of the Mimosa family) were found in a burial at site 00/195.
Wild Sorghum was found in a Late Pastoral context. Palm dates
are also noted as having been used as funerary offerings in tombs dating
to the Garamantian period (approx. 3000BP), which the authors
imply suggests some date palm cultivation.
Chapter 8, by Francesca Alhaique, comprises a zooarchaeological
study and includes a discussion of the meaning of faunal remains in
funerary contexts. The faunal sample from the tumuli is small for the
Late Pastoral period, but large for the Garamantian period
despite having excavated many more Late Pastoral tumuli.
The faunal material was all weathered and poorly preserved, and therefore
species attributions were not always possible. A tentative identification
was made of Orycteropus afer (aardvark) from Tumulus 10 at
site 96/129. This is important as currently aardvarks are only found
south of the Sahara. An equid bone was found in 00/195bis. Alhaique
notes that this probably originates from Equus africanus (wild
ass), but suggests that, as the bone was found in association with a
human burial, it may represent E. caballus (domestic horse).
The later funerary structures from the Garamantian are described
as indicating complex burial rituals, through their interment of Gazella
dorcas and ovicaprines. Bones from these species,
comprising mainly humeri and metapodials, are found with cutmarks and
burning, which Alhaique interprets as indicating use as part of the
burial ritual as either a meal or offering. The inclusion of dorcas
gazelle, a wild species, amongst small livestock raises questions about
the importance of hunting during the Garamantian.
The ninth chapter, by Emanuela Cristiani and Cristina
Lemorini, consists of a functional study of the funerary material, considering
the deposition with the deceased of unused tools and evidence for particular
relationships between the buried individual and the objects, such as
of beads and pendants. The deposition with the dead of intact unused
projectile points is argued to imply ritual behaviour.
Chapter 10, by Francesca Ricci and others, consists
of an inventory of the entire human skeletal sample discovered in the
Tannezuft Valley from 1999 onwards. The chapter represents a traditional
descriptive approach to skeletal biology. Generally the authors are
to be praised for making their sample means data fully available to
other researchers, although some researchers may raise eyebrows at the
claimed accuracies. There is some unrealistic age determination, with
certain adults being placed into 5 year age bands, and some rather meaningless
accuracy being claimed, such as measuring long bones to 0.1mm. The latter
is complicated by lack of detail as to how certain measurements were
taken and thus what they actually consist of, e.g. the medial maximum
humerus diameter. Stature estimates are given to 1mm despite the chapter
containing a detailed section describing the potential use of a variety
of prediction methodologies. The authors also compare two individuals
to Howells’ global data set of cranial measurements, but, earlier
in the chapter, provide craniometric sample means using slightly different
measurements. They do not provide the equivalent Howells measurement
data for the sample, hence it is possible that the earlier measurements
have been taken as proxies for Howells measurements despite not being
collected in the same manner.
Chapter 11, by Emiliano Bruner, Francesca Ricci and
Giorgo Manzi, consists of geometric morphometric study of the shape
of a sub-sample of the material described in the previous chapter. The
sub-sample consists of two individual skulls (H1 from Tumulus 10 at
96/129 and H1 from 00/195). These individuals are compared with material
including Somalian, Ethiopian, Canary Islander and Eastern Libyan Oases
crania. Morphological continuity is implied in association with interaction
with sub-Saharan populations. It would have been useful if this same
comparative sample had been employed in the analysis in the preceding
chapter.
A study of the skeletal stress markers at site 96/129,
in chapter 12, was undertaken by Belinda Arrighetti, Bruna Reale, Francesca
Ricci and Silvana Borgognini Tarli. These musculo-skeletal stress-markers
are linked to repetitive movements and hence may be linked to occupation
and labour. The research is based upon the premise that the duration
and amount of mechanical stress placed upon the bone, through repeated
action, is linked to the degree of bone resorption or formation in that
region. The results indicate that the degree of stress increased by
age band of the sample, and the location of the greatest stress, within
the vertebral column, changed by age from the thoracic region, through
the lumbar region, to the cervical region, and potentially some sexual
division of labour.
Preliminary results obtained from ancient DNA studies
are presented in Chapter 13, by Carla Babalini and co-workers. Mitochondrial
DNA extraction was attempted upon a sub-sample of human teeth from ten
individuals. The mtDNA locus was selected due to its maternal inheritance
pattern, high copy number, simple structure and relatively fast rate
of mutational change. Analysis was undertaken upon the two hypervariable
regions and region V. The authors report that the mtDNA from the individuals
from site 96/129 was reasonably distinct from that obtained from the
other sampled material. Only one individual was fully characterised,
and was found to be a member of an African haplotype (L3).
The final chapter, written by the editors and Francesca
Merighi, acts as a synthetic assessment of the preceding studies. The
authors believe that “in a certain sense, Late Pastoral people
became Garamantes,” (p. 281) through population continuity,
as little evidence was found in the current study of population replacement.
This research project has clearly demonstrated heterogeneity of mortuary
practice. In the initial phase of the Late Pastoral stone tumuli
are rare, are set in restricted areas and can best be described as isolated
tombs, potentially being reserved for special individuals within the
group. By contrast, the second phase, at the start of the 4th millennium
bp, is characterised by generalised use of cemeteries with an increase
in the heterogeneity of tumuli type. Most of the excavated structures
described in chapter 5 date from the third phase, at the end of the
Late Pastoral. This last phase has even greater heterogeneity
in terms of megalithic architecture and deposition, with the development
of large burial grounds.
The chapter also includes an outward view towards
the rest of the Sahara. This section highlights the importance of megalithic
architecture and the development of African cattle cults, in view of
no cattle burials being found during the 1999-2001 fieldwork. These
reviewing sections are excellent in placing this region into a greater
geographic context and link in to previous studies of population diversity
and movement. The authors conclude that there is a degree of local population
continuity from the Middle Pastoral up to the Garamantes.
A hypothesis is also developed of major population shifts through oasis
contraction, on the basis of funerary site and settlement distribution,
which is then linked to the emergence of social hierarchy. This final
chapter can therefore be recommended to all working in North Africa
as a valuable resource for the development of future research design.
The book forms a good preliminary report upon the
study of this Libyan material. Throughout the volume, specific attention
has been drawn to ritual behaviours and practices. The inclusion of
the detailed abstracts at the start of each chapter is very useful.
The volume would have been improved by giving clearer captions for the
keys to shading in the various figures. The volume has occasional strange
choices of phraseology, which is linked to the publication not being
in the authors’ native tongue. For example, in Chapter 5, all
the skeletons are described as “lied” rather than lay, such
as at the base of a tumulus. The volume is recommended for all those
working within North African contexts and provides a good grounding
in the theoretical debate surrounding mortuary analysis. The authors
are commended for their fine work on the project and one hopes that
the future volumes in the series will be as thorough.
Sonia Zakrzewski
Dept of Archaeology
University of Southampton
Review Submitted: March 2004
The views expressed in this review are not
necessarily those of the Society or the Reviews Editor.
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