Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Inside the "African Cattle Complex": Animal Burials in the Holocene Central Sahara
PLoS ONE, Volume 8, No. 2, Article e56879, Year 2013
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Cattle pastoralism is an important trait of African cultures. Ethnographic studies describe the central role played by domestic cattle within many societies, highlighting its social and ideological value well beyond its mere function as 'walking larder'. Historical depth of this African legacy has been repeatedly assessed in an archaeological perspective, mostly emphasizing a continental vision. Nevertheless, in-depth site-specific studies, with a few exceptions, are lacking. Despite the long tradition of a multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of pastoral systems in Africa, rarely do early and middle Holocene archaeological contexts feature in the same area the combination of settlement, ceremonial and rock art features so as to be multi-dimensionally explored: the Messak plateau in the Libyan central Sahara represents an outstanding exception. Known for its rich Pleistocene occupation and abundant Holocene rock art, the region, through our research, has also shown to preserve the material evidence of a complex ritual dated to the Middle Pastoral (6080-5120 BP or 5200-3800 BC). This was centred on the frequent deposition in stone monuments of disarticulated animal remains, mostly cattle. Animal burials are known also from other African contexts, but regional extent of the phenomenon, state of preservation of monuments, and associated rock art make the Messak case unique. GIS analysis, excavation data, radiocarbon dating, zooarchaeological and isotopic (Sr, C, O) analyses of animal remains, and botanical information are used to explore this highly formalized ritual and the lifeways of a pastoral community in the Holocene Sahara. © 2013 di Lernia et al.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s001.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s002.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s003.xls
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s004.xlsx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s005.xls
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s006.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s007.xlsx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3577651/bin/pone.0056879.s008.xlsx
Authors & Co-Authors
di Lernia, Savino
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
South Africa, Johannesburg
University of the Witwatersrand
Tafuri, Mary Anne
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Gallinaro, Marina
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Alhaique, Francesca
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
United States, St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Balasse, Marie
France, Paris
Museum National D'histoire Naturelle
Cavorsi, Lucia
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Fullagar, Paul D.
United States, Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mercuri, Anna Maria
Italy, Modena
Università Degli Studi Di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Monaco, Andrea
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Perego, Alessandro
Italy, Milan
Università Degli Studi Di Milano
Zerboni, Andrea
Italy, Milan
Università Degli Studi Di Milano
Statistics
Citations: 105
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 8
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0056879
e-ISSN:
19326203
Study Design
Ethnographic Study
Study Approach
Qualitative