Abstract
Tamar Hat rockshelter (36.639° N, 5.363° N) is a deep stratified Iberomaurusian site in the city of Melbou, on the eastern coast of Bejaia Bay, Northeastern Algeria. The first excavations at the rockshelter took place in 1928–1930 by a team led by Camille Arambourg and led to the discovery of rich faunal and lithic remains. The C14 dates indicate a timespan of at least 5,000 years, beginning near the base at 25,85-25,27 ka Cal PB after the conclusion of the Heinrich Event 2 cold and arid climate and ending at around 20,12-19,63 ka Cal BP at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Access to preferred lithic raw material sources and greater diversity in the range of predictable food resources were key variables in making the site appealing for prehistoric human habitation. Iberomaurusian populations frequented the site during autumn and winter seasons and their subsistence was characterized by hunting-foraging economy favored by the availability of grazing land for the Barbary sheep. During the Last Glacial Maximum, toolkits were characterized by the prominece of small and narrow pointed microliths with Ouchatata retouch and pointed backed bladelets with semi abrupt retouch produced using an elaborate core reduction strategy. Microburin technique was rare and not consistently used. With the end of the Late Glacial Maximim, the lithic assemblages became further characterized by the abundance of partially backed bladelets, mostly produced from cores with reduced preparation and frequently obtained by the microburin blow technique. This coincides with the adoption of a broader subsistence spectrum wich combines intensive manipulation of ungulates and marine resources as the coastal zone and then the sea shore was brought closer to the rockshelter due to the sea rises. Bone industry is not developped and includes few items such as punches and needles, while the occurence of a fragmentary modeled fired clay in the form of barbary sheep testifies of the oldest testimony on the emergence of the ceramic technology in the Iberomaurusian of the Maghreb.
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Sari, L. (2023). Tamar Hat Rockshelter, Algeria. In: Beyin, A., Wright, D.K., Wilkins, J., Olszewski, D.I. (eds) Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20290-2_6
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