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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Lakeside cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 years of holocene population and environmental change
PLoS ONE, Volume 3, No. 8, Article e2995, Year 2008
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Description
Background: Approximately two hundred human burials were discovered on the edge of a paleolake in Niger that provide a uniquely preserved record of human occupation in the Sahara during the Holocene (∼8000 B.C.E. to the present). Called Gobero, this suite of closely spaced sites chronicles the rapid pace of biosocial change in the southern Sahara in response to severe climatic fluctuation. Methodology/Principal Findings: Two main occupational phases are identified that correspond with humid intervals in the early and mid-Holocene, based on 78 direct AMS radiocarbon dates on human remains, fauna and artifacts, as well as 9 OSL dates on paleodune sand. The older occupants have craniofacial dimensions that demonstrate similarities with mid-Holocene occupants of the southern Sahara and Late Pleistocene to early Holocene inhabitants of the Maghreb. Their hyperflexed burials compose the earliest cemetery in the Sahara dating to ∼7500 B.C.E. These early occupants abandon the area under arid conditions and, when humid conditions return ∼4600 B.C.E., are replaced by a more gracile people with elaborated grave goods including animal bone and ivory ornaments. Conclusions/Significance: The principal significance of Gobero lies in its extraordinary human, faunal, and archaeological record, from which we conclude the following: (1) The early Holocene occupants at Gobrero (7700-6200 B.C.E.) were largely sedentary hunter-fishers-gatherers with lakeside funerary sites that include the earliest recorded cemetery in the Sahara. (2) Principal components analasis of craniometric variables closely allies the early Holocene occupants at Gobrero with a skeletally robust, trans-Saharan assemblage of Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene human populations from the Maghreb and suothern Sahara. (3) Gobero was abandoned during a period of severe aridification possibly as long as one millenium (6200-5200 B.C.E). (4) More gracile humans arrived in the mid-Holocene (5200-2500 B.C.E) employing a diversed subsistence economy based on clams, fish, and savanna vertebrates as well as some cattle husbandry. (5) Population replacement after a harsh arid hiatus is the most likely explanation for the occupational sequence at Gobrero. (6) We are just beginning to understand the anatomical and cultural diversity that existed within the Sahara during the Holocene. © 2008, Sereno et al.
Authors & Co-Authors
Sereno, Paul C.
United States, Chicago
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, the University of Chicago
Garcea, Elena A.A.
Italy, Cassino
Universita Di Cassino e Del Lazio Meridionale
Jousse, Hélène
Austria, Vienna
Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna
Stojanowski, Christopher M.
United States, Tempe
Arizona State University
Saliége, Jean François
France, Paris
Laboratoire D'océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques
Maga, Abdoulaye
Nigeria, Asokoro
Economic Community of West African States, Nigeria
Niger, Niamey
Universite Abdou Moumouni
Idé, Oumarou Amadou
Niger, Niamey
Universite Abdou Moumouni
Knudson, Kelly J.
United States, Tempe
Arizona State University
Mercuri, Anna Maria
Italy, Modena
Università Degli Studi Di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Stafford, Thomas W.
United States, Lafayette
Stafford Research Laboratories
Kaye, T.
United States, Seattle
University of Washington
Giraudi, Carlo
Italy, Rome
Ente Per le Nuove Tecnologie, L'energia e L'ambiente
N'siala, Isabella Massamba
Italy, Modena
Università Degli Studi Di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Cocca, Enzo
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Moots, Hannah M.
United States, Chicago
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, the University of Chicago
Dutheil, Didier B.
France, Paris
Museum National D'histoire Naturelle
Stivers, Jeffrey P.
Unknown Affiliation
Statistics
Citations: 247
Authors: 17
Affiliations: 13
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0002995
e-ISSN:
19326203
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Niger