Asselar man is a Neolithic (Later Stone Age) skeleton found at Adrar des Ifoghas, Mali, [1] which has been dated to between 9500 BP and 7000 BP, amid the early Holocene Wet Phase. [2] The Asselar skeleton was likely intentionally buried. [3]
Asselar man is a Neolithic (Later Stone Age) skeleton found at Adrar des Ifoghas, Mali, [1] which has been dated to between 9500 BP and 7000 BP, amid the early Holocene Wet Phase. [2] The Asselar skeleton was likely intentionally buried. [3]
Adrar des Ifoghas is a massif is located, near Essouk, in the Kidal Region of Mali.
The Asselar skeleton was discovered by Theodore Monod and Wladimir Besnard during an expedition in 1927. [4] [lower-alpha 1] Wickliffe Draper funded the expedition.
The Asselar skeleton has been dated to around 6,400 BP, making it no older than the Holocene. Along with fossils such as those found at Iwo Eleru (11,000 BP) and Ishango (8,000 BP), which were excavated from archaeological sites in West Africa and Central Africa, the Asselar skeleton is one of the earliest known anatomically modern human skeletons, with a phenotype that is characteristic of later Sub-Saharan African populations, located in Sub-Saharan Africa. [5] Older fossils with a similar morphology have also been found near Khartoum, Sudan, which has been dated to between 8000 BCE and 5000 BCE. [5]
Due there being no specific publication or reference found in and among existing academic literature, beyond simple mention (e.g., Cheikh Anta Diop in 1968), which provides contextualizing explanation for the dating of the Asselar skeleton at 6390 BP, as well as the absence of data on the femur used to generate the date and the degree of error that 1960s-era carbon-14 dating methods can produce, the date of 6390 BP provided for the Asselar skeleton is regarded as meriting caution in its consideration and use. [2] More recently, in the 1980s, geological dating from the Asselar site in the Saharan region of northern Mali has produced a date for the Asselar skeleton as being between 9500 BP and 7000 BP, amid the early Holocene Wet Phase. [2]
The Asselar skeleton was found near what, during the time of the African Humid Period, was likely a lake. [3] Medical imaging techniques of the skeleton and surrounding matrix show that the Asselar individual was likely intentionally buried, rather than having been drowned and subsequently buried by accident as originally thought. [3] Human remains found buried in similar anatomical positions have been found at other early Holocene sites such as Hassi-el-Abiod in Mali. [3]
The prehistory of North Africa spans the period of earliest human presence in the region to gradual onset of historicity in the Maghreb during classical antiquity. Early anatomically modern humans are known to have been present at Jebel Irhoud, in what is now Morocco, approximately 300,000 years ago. The Nile Valley region, via ancient Egypt, contributed to the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age periods of the Old World, along with the ancient Near East.
The Sahara is a desert spanning North Africa. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic.
Saharan rock art is a significant area of archaeological study focusing on artwork carved or painted on the natural rocks of the central Sahara desert. The rock art dates from numerous periods starting c. 12,000 years ago, and is significant because it shows the culture of ancient African societies.
Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1927.
The Adrar des Ifoghas is a massif located in the Kidal Region of Mali, reaching into Algeria. It has an area of around 250,000 square kilometers.
The Azawagh is a dry basin covering what is today the northwestern Niger, as well as parts of northeastern Mali and southern Algeria. The Azawagh is mainly made up of Sahelian and Saharan flatlands and has a population that is predominantly Tuareg, with some Arabic-speaking and Wodaabe minorities and a recent influx of Hausa and Zarma.
Balangoda Man refers to hominins from Sri Lanka's late Quaternary period. The term was initially coined to refer to anatomically modern Homo sapiens from sites near Balangoda that were responsible for the island's Mesolithic 'Balangoda Culture'. The earliest evidence of Balangoda Man from archaeological sequences at caves and other sites dates back to 38,000 BCE, and from excavated skeletal remains to 30,000 BC, which is also the earliest reliably dated record of anatomically modern humans in South Asia. Cultural remains discovered alongside the skeletal fragments include geometric microliths dating to 28,500 BC, which together with some sites in Africa is the earliest record of such stone tools.
The Tenerian culture is a prehistoric industry that existed between the 5th millennium BC and mid-3rd millennium BC in the Sahara Desert. This spans the Neolithic Subpluvial and later desiccation, during the middle Holocene.
The archaeological site of Shum Laka is the most prominent rockshelter site in the Grasslands region of the Laka Valley, northwest Cameroon. Occupations at this rockshelter date to the Later Stone Age. This region is important to investigations of the development and subsequent diffusion of Bantu-speaking peoples. The site of Shum Laka is located approximately 15 kilometers from the town of Bamenda, and it resides on the inner wall of the Bafochu Mbu caldera. The deposits at Shum Laka include each phase of cultural development in the Grasslands.
Mechta-Afalou, also known as Mechtoid or Paleo-Berber, are a population that inhabited parts of North Africa during the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic. They are associated with the Iberomaurusian archaeological culture.
Adrar Bous is a massif in the Aïr Mountains on the western edge of the Ténéré Desert, Niger. Archaeological research at Adrar Bous, conducted by J. Desmond Clark, has produced finds spanning the Late Acheulean through the Neolithic. The massif contains a number of sites where microlithic tools are present, along with faunal and human remains. Most notable are extensive remains of ritualized feasting by specialized Tenerian cattle pastoralists. Its name is written in the Tamasheq language. The massif itself has been dated to be about 487 million years old.
Iho Eleru, formerly known as Iwo Eleru, is an archaeological site and rock shelter that features Later Stone Age artifacts from during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition, which is located in the forest–savanna village of Isarun in Ondo State, Nigeria. The site was initially by Chief Officer J. Akeredolu, in 1961. The name was formerly and commonly known as Iwo Eleru, but the correct name is now regarded as Ihò Eléérú, or Iho Eleru, meaning "Cave of Ashes." The Iho Eleru skull is a notable archaeological discovery from the site which dates to approximately 13,000 years old. It may be evidence of modern humans possessing possible archaic human admixture or of a late-persisting early modern human.
The genetic history of Africa is composed of the overall genetic history of African populations in Africa, including the regional genetic histories of North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa, as well as the recent origin of modern humans in Africa. The Sahara served as a trans-regional passageway and place of dwelling for people in Africa during various humid phases and periods throughout the history of Africa.
Pastoral rock art is the most common form of Central Saharan rock art, created in painted and engraved styles depicting pastoralists and bow-wielding hunters in scenes of animal husbandry, along with various animals, spanning from 6300 BCE to 700 BCE. The Pastoral Period is preceded by the Round Head Period and followed by the Caballine Period. The Early Pastoral Period spanned from 6300 BCE to 5400 BCE. Domesticated cattle were brought to the Central Sahara, and given the opportunity for becoming socially distinguished, to develop food surplus, as well as to acquire and aggregate wealth, led to the adoption of a cattle pastoral economy by some Central Saharan hunter-gatherers of the Late Acacus. In exchange, cultural information regarding utilization of vegetation in the Central Sahara was shared by Late Acacus hunter-gatherers with incoming Early Pastoral peoples.
Round Head rock art is the earliest painted, monumental form of Central Saharan rock art, which was largely created from 9500 BP to 7500 BP and ceased being created by 3000 BP. The Round Head Period is preceded by the Kel Essuf Period and followed by the Pastoral Period. Round Head rock art number up to several thousand depictions in the Central Sahara. Human and undomesticated animal artforms are usually portrayed, with a variety of details, in painted Round Head rock art. Painted Round Head rock art and engraved Kel Essuf rock art usually share the same region and occasionally the same rockshelters. The Round Head rock art of Tassili and the surrounding mountainous areas bear considerable similarity with traditional Sub-Saharan African cultures.
West African hunter-gatherers, West African foragers, or West African pygmies dwelled in western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP and dwelled in West Africa between 16,000 BP and 12,000 BP until as late as 1000 BP or some period of time after 1500 CE. West African hunter-gatherers are archaeologically associated with the West African Microlithic Technocomplex. Despite its significance in the prehistory of West Africa, the peopling of various parts of Western Africa from the Sub-Saharan regions of coastal West Africa and the forests of western Central Africa often goes overlooked.
The prehistory of West Africa spans from the earliest human presence in the region until the emergence of the Iron Age in West Africa. West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the population history of West Africa. Acheulean tool-using archaic humans may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP. During the Pleistocene, Middle Stone Age peoples, who dwelled throughout West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2, were gradually replaced by incoming Late Stone Age peoples, who migrated into West Africa as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the West African forest. West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania.
The population history of West Africa is composed of West African populations that were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the history of West Africa. Acheulean tool-using archaic humans may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP. During the Pleistocene, Middle Stone Age peoples, who dwelled throughout West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2, were gradually replaced by incoming Late Stone Age peoples, who migrated into West Africa as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the West African forest. West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania.
The prehistory of Central Africa spans from the earliest human presence in the region until the emergence of the Iron Age in Central Africa. By at least 2,000,000 BP, Central Africa was occupied by early hominins. West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. Prehistoric West Africans may have diverged into distinct ancestral groups of modern West Africans and Bantu-speaking peoples in Cameroon, and, subsequently, around 5000 BP, the Bantu-speaking peoples migrated into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The prehistory of East Africa spans from the earliest human presence in the region until the emergence of the Iron Age in East Africa. Between 1,600,000 BP and 1,500,000 BP, the Homo ergaster known as Nariokotome Boy resided near Nariokotome River, Kenya. Modern humans, who left behind remains, resided at Omo Kibish in 233,000 BP. Afro-Asiatic speakers and Nilo-Saharan speakers expanded in East Africa, resulting in transformation of food systems of East Africa. Prehistoric West Africans may have diverged into distinct ancestral groups of modern West Africans and Bantu-speaking peoples in Cameroon, and, subsequently, around 5000 BP, the Bantu-speaking peoples migrated into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
