Content uploaded by Pierre M Vermeersch
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Pierre M Vermeersch on May 06, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
The Nubian Complex and the Dispersal of Modern Humans in North Africa
... Most broad discussion of the occurrence of NLCs in certain assemblages has been framed in terms of a widespread shared 'Nubian Complex', spanning Northern Africa during MIS 5, and potentially even earlier and later (Van Peer, 1998Van Peer & Vermeersch, 2000). However, in spite of recent attention, there are currently no studies that quantitatively examine inter-regional patterning in the distribution of NLCs. ...
... This generated a sample of 81 sites attributed to MIS 5 or 3 where NLCs are absent, or where their claimed presence has not been securely demonstrated (e.g. Bir Tarfawi (Van Peer & Vermeersch, 2000), Skhul , 'Ain Difla (Demidenko & Usik, 1993;Groucutt, 2020), Umm al Sha'al (Crassard et al., 2019), Jebel Katefeh , Aduma (Yellen et al., 2005) and Mochena Borego (Brandt et al., 2017); see discussion in Hallinan (2024)). A number of sites from Sudan were not included in the analysis due to concerns related both to the identification of NLCs and associated very old or very young ages, some of which may be problematic (Masojć, 2018;Masojć et al., 2017;Osypińska & Osypiński, 2015;Osypiński & Osypińska, 2016;Osypiński et al., 2021;Van Peer et al., 2003). ...
... While study bias may account for the density of reported sites in this area, the sporadic but persistent presence of NLCs across the Saharan region, and their conspicuous absence from well-dated rock shelters of the Northern African coastline, suggest some underlying behavioural and ecological patterns of Nubian technology. This distribution has been interpreted as a pan-Northern-African Nubian technocomplex that subsumes various regional industries (Van Peer, 1998;Van Peer & Vermeersch, 2000), but there is considerable variation in both the number of NLCs and their assemblage context across this vast area. Currently, there is insufficient chronological, spatial and assemblage-level resolution to evaluate this further. ...
Nubian Levallois cores are currently one of the most debated artefact types in Palaeolithic archaeology. Previous work has focused mainly on the definition and technological characteristics of these cores, with discussion of their distribution framed only in qualitative terms. Here, we present the first quantitative spatial analysis of sites with Nubian Levallois cores across the five global regions where they occur. Using modelled Pleistocene conditions for various bioclimatic and topographic variables, we compare the environmental context of 84 sites featuring Nubian cores with 81 contemporaneous sites where they are absent. Metric analysis of cores from 14 new and previously published sites offers further insights into technological and behavioural patterns at an inter-regional scale. Our results show that Nubian cores during MIS 5 are present in areas characterised by aridity, complex topography, and high biomass, whereas for MIS 3, only temperature was a significant predictor. Metric results reveal distinct patterns in both space and time, finding the largest and most standardised cores in Southern Arabia during MIS 5, with the smallest cores in MIS 3 Eastern and Southern Africa. We propose that environmental factors were a more significant driver behind the adoption of the Nubian Levallois method than previously acknowledged. Our results provide essential environmental context for future model-testing of Late Pleistocene demography and cultural connectivity during this critical phase of human evolution.
... The nature of the Nubian complex, as well as the Nubian Levallois technology itself, occurring not only in northeastern but also in southern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, are hotly debated issues in the literature on the subject (Blinkhorn et al. 2021;Hallinan and Marks 2023;Hallinan et al. 2022;Masojć et al. 2017;Rose et al. 2011;Usik et al. 2013;Van Peer 1998). The Nubian complex was originally defined by Van Peer (1998) and includes local technological units previously identified in Sudan and Egypt (Van Peer 1998;Van Peer and Vermeersch 2000), including the Denticulate Mousterian (Marks 1968a), Khormusan (Marks 1968b), and Nubian Middle Paleolithic (Guichard and Guichard 1965). So far, two development phases of this complex have been distinguished: Early Nubian, characterized by bifacial foliates and predominance of Nubian Levallois cores, and Late Nubian, with Nubian core reduction methods (type I) focused on the production of Nubian points and no bifacial foliates (Van Peer 1998Van Peer and Vermeersch 2000). ...
... The Nubian complex was originally defined by Van Peer (1998) and includes local technological units previously identified in Sudan and Egypt (Van Peer 1998;Van Peer and Vermeersch 2000), including the Denticulate Mousterian (Marks 1968a), Khormusan (Marks 1968b), and Nubian Middle Paleolithic (Guichard and Guichard 1965). So far, two development phases of this complex have been distinguished: Early Nubian, characterized by bifacial foliates and predominance of Nubian Levallois cores, and Late Nubian, with Nubian core reduction methods (type I) focused on the production of Nubian points and no bifacial foliates (Van Peer 1998Van Peer and Vermeersch 2000). Nubian sites in the Nile Valley are found both in the main area of floodplain edges and deep in today's desert; the latter are interpreted as sites associated with special activities (Van Peer 1998, 2001. ...
This article presents the results of research carried out at two previously unreported Eastern Desert Atbara River project (EDAR) Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites-EDAR 134 and EDAR 155. Luminescence dating results indicate human activity in this area during the Marine Isotope Stage 5 period (MIS 5), approximately 90 kya. Discussion concerning the affiliation of both analyzed inventories will be provided, including another MSA site from the EDAR area, where an assemblage dated to MIS 6/5e does not have technological features known from other technocomplexes in the eastern Sahara region (EDAR 135). Microscopic analysis of traces of tool use for the EDAR 155 assemblage shows the high impact of post-depositional (aeolian) processes on the state of preservation of lithic material. Sites EDAR 134 and 155 provide evidence for hominin activity during the late Pleistocene within an area only episodically accessible, due to arid conditions prevailing in the Saharan deserts.
... Nubian Levallois technology was first recognized as a techno-typological component of several lithic industries in the Nile Valley and Nubia (Guichard & Guichard, 1965;Marks, 1968;Seligman, 1921;Van Peer, 1992). Later, it was suggested that these industries could be integrated into a single techno-complex named the Nubian Complex (Van Peer, 1998, 2001Van Peer & Vermeersch, 2000). The presence of Nubian cores was also reported from other areas in North and Eastern Africa (Foley et al., 2013;Tryon et al., 2012;Wendorf & Schild, 1974). ...
... Against this background, the Nubian Levallois techno-complex, where the Nubian Levallois technology is one typo-technological feature associated with several different industries (e.g. Nubian MSA, Nubian Mousterian, Khormusan and Aterian), was associated with the expansion of AMH out of Africa Rose et al., 2011;Usik et al., 2013;Van Peer & Vermeersch, 2000, 2007. Rose and Marks (2014) correlated the archaeological data with paleoclimatic evidence in order to explain the typo-technological similarities between the Arabian record and neighboring regions. ...
The site of Dimona South is a knapping locality in the Negev desert of Israel, situated at the raw material source. A test excavation followed by a salvage excavation conducted during 2020 revealed a partly buried archaeological layer that was exposed over an area of ~ 40 m² and yielded a well-preserved lithic assemblage. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of sediments within and above the archaeological layer fall within MIS 5. With a lithic assemblage dominated by Nubian Levallois technology, this site provides a rare opportunity for analysis of a well-dated, in situ Nubian assemblage. A refitting study in combination with an attribute analysis of the whole assemblage allowed the reconstruction of the Nubian reduction sequence. Our analyses indicate that a specifically pre-planned Nubian point production system existed at the site. It is characterized by the early preparation of an acute distal ridge and its careful maintenance throughout the reduction process until the cores were exhausted. These characteristics stand out from most Levantine Middle Paleolithic assemblages.
The discovery of Dimona South allows us to revisit some of the technological issues at the heart of debates about Levallois Nubian technology that could not be addressed from analyses of partial surface assemblages. These new data from a secure and dated context are crucial to the inter-site and regional technological comparisons, informing our views of the Nubian technology and its role in the Middle Paleolithic world of eastern Africa, Arabia and the Levant.
... Crew's approach from the mid-1970s, primarily based on Levantine materials, suggests an absence of any post-Lower Palaeolithic industry encompassing both the Levant and Northern Africa. This observation was later supported by works starting in the 1980s by P. M. Vermeersch and P. Van Peer on North African materials, which noted limited similarities between Levantine and North African industries (e.g., Van Peer 1988;1992;1998;Van Peer & Vermeersch 2000;2007;Vermeersch 2002). As a result, from the MP and MSA archaeological record, the two geographically neighbouring regions of Africa and Asia appear to belong to two archaeologically distinct worlds. ...
This article focuses on the Nubian Levallois technology first recognized in northeastern Africa in the 1960s. Now, sites of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) Nubian Complex associated with Homo sapiens are known to occupy vast areas in northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Recently, proper Nubian Levallois
technology has been recognized at sites in southern Africa and the southern part of the Eastern Mediterranean Levant as well. Here we report several sites with Nubian Levallois artefacts from central Syria, a Levantine region geographically closer to Arabia than Africa, where such technology had not been identified previously. The
analyzed lithic assemblages share the same techno-typological characteristics. Technologically, they feature a
newly recognized “developed Nubian Type 2-method, single-platform unidirectional convergent, Jerf Ajla/Qaltatype core” or shortly, “Jerf Ajla/Qalta-type Nubian” cores and method. This method was geared towards the serial production of pointed blades and Levallois points on blades in a single core reduction cycle. This differs from other Nubian core reduction methods, which tend to focus on producing a single pointed flake or Levallois point on a flake in each reduction cycle of a core. Typologically, the investigated Syrian assemblages are dominated by Upper Palaeolithic tool classes and types, especially endscrapers and burins. Besides the lithic data, these assemblages are assumed to be older than 33–36 uncal ka BP measured at the sites Jerf al-Ajla and Umm el-Tlel. We argue that central Syrian assemblages with Nubian methods can be dated to the transitional period between the Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age and the Upper Palaeolithic, more precisely, to the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP). Thus, the developed character of the Jerf Ajla/Qalta-type Nubian cores does not only adds to the variability of the Nubian Levallois technology but also explains its absence in MSA locations in Africa and Arabia, and its presence in the IUP Levant. Accepting this, we propose the name “Jerf Ajla/Qalta industry” for
these particular Nubian-related IUP assemblages and sites in central Syria. In doing so, a second IUP industry is now recognized by us in the Levant, in addition to the Early Emiran, known for its improved Nubian 1 method with opposed-platform cores and a new hunting projectile type, the Emireh point. Both IUP industries appeared
in the Levant as a result of Homo sapiens migration with different Nubian-related knapping traditions from Africa and Arabia into the neighbouring Eastern Mediterranean Levant. The Early Emiran is considered to be a successful IUP industry in the Levant, as a predecessor of the IUP Late Emiran and Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) Early Ahmarian industries. Moreover, parts of the population carrying this industry even spread beyond southwestern Asia to other Eurasian regions, heralded by new IUP and EUP industries there. However, the Jerf
Ajla/Qalta industry and its makers did not continue to survive in the Levant.
... However, when talking to practitioners in MSA research and going through relevant literature of the last decades, a minimal agreement concerns the observation that specific types of 'diagnostic' artefacts and combinations of traits or objects can be perceived within this record. The most famous examples include tanged Aterian points in northern Africa (Caton-Thompson 1946;Clark 1982;Dibble et al. 2013;Scerri 2013; Spinapolice 2019), the Nubian cores of northeastern Africa (Guichard and Guichard 1965;Van Peer 1998;Van Peer and Vermeersch 2000;Hallinan and Marks 2023), large foliate Lupemban points of Central Africa (Clark 2001;Taylor 2011Taylor , 2016 and the microlithic backed pieces of southern Africa (Stapleton and Hewitt 1927;Singer and Wymer 1982;Lombard 2009). Assessments go beyond a simple 'type fossil' approaches though. ...
... The presence of prehistoric human settlement at and around Taramsa Hill is attested by different technologies within the MSA exploitation systems and by different artifact assemblages (Van Peer et al., 2010). Many Egyptian MSA assemblages can be attributed to the "Nubian Complex" as defined by Van Peer and Vermeersch (2000). This is also the case at Taramsa 1, where several phases of human activity have been documented (Table 1). ...
On the left bank of the Nile, south of the town of Qena in Upper Egypt, several chert extraction sites in the desert near the village of Taramsa have been the focus of archaeological explorations since the 1980s (Vermeersch et al., 1995). The site of Taramsa-1 is one of them. It was discovered in 1985 during a survey by the Belgian Middle Egypt Prehistoric Project of Leuven University (Vermeersch et al., 1987). It was registered as site E85/2. Excavations were carried out by the team in 1989, 1991, and 1994. In 2001, S. Stokes and R. Bailey from the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at Oxford (UK) performed sediment sampling and gamma spectrometry for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. A final report was published by the team in 2010 (Van Peer et al., 2010).
... The colouring of stone artefacts with pigment, particularly in the form of a continuous red ochre line, has been recorded outside Europe (P. Van Peer, P. Vermeersch, 2000). It should be emphasised, however, that the very principle of painting stone surfaces was also used by European Neanderthals (A. ...
This article presents eight pebbles with ochre residues from the context of the Middle Palaeolithic sites of Eastern Crimea. The finds come from different layers of the Ak-Kaya type Micoquian multilayered sites Zaskalnaya V, Zaskalnaya VI (Kolosovskaya) and Prolom II. Neanderthal bone remains were recovered in some of these layers. The age of finds is estimated between MIS 5d and MIS 3. The presented artefacts are dominated by red, orange, and yellow ochre; residuals of pigments of other colours are probably also present. One artefact presents the instance of accidental ochre stain; others relate to ochre treatment processes (grinding and crushing), while others (intentionally painted ochre items) may relate to as yet poorly known aspects of the Late Neanderthal symbolic behaviour.
The meaning of the word ‘Nubian’ in Middle Palaeolithic archaeology has changed markedly since its first published use in 1965 in the context of the Nubian rescue campaign in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Initially referring to two types of prepared point cores, ‘Nubian’ later became attached to a widespread technocomplex in the 1990s and in more recent research describes a specific Levallois reduction strategy. In this review, we situate ‘Nubian’ in its geographic and historical contexts, exploring how its terminology and concepts emerged, developed, and are now viewed in the frame of subsequent research. Whilst the taxonomic origin of the Nubian descriptor—as a technology or technocomplex—is associated with this region of northeastern Africa, its widespread distribution, as shown in the works presented in this collection, suggests that Nubian reduction played as complex a role in past human behaviour and cultural dynamics as it does in current archaeological debates.
Over the last two decades, red ochre has played a pivotal role in discussions about the cognitive and cultural evolution of early modern humans during the African Middle Stone Age. Given the importance of ochre for the scholarly debate about the emergence of ‘behavioral modernity’, the lack of long-term spatio-temporal analyses spanning large geographical areas represents a significant gap in knowledge. Here we take a continent-wide approach, rather than focusing on specific sites, regions or technocomplexes. We report the most comprehensive meta-analysis of ochre use to date, spanning Africa between 500 and 40 thousand years ago, to examine data from more than a hundred archaeological sites. Using methods based on time averaging, we identified three distinct phases of ochre use: the initial phase occurred from 500,000 to 330,000; the emergent phase from 330,000 to 160,000; and the habitual phase from 160,000 to 40,000 years ago. The number of sites with ochre increased with each subsequent phase. More importantly, the ratio of sites with ochre compared to those with only stone artifacts also followed this trend, indicating the increasing intensity of ochre use during the Middle Stone Age. While the geographical distribution expanded with time, the absolute number of ochre finds grew significantly as well, underlining the intensification of ochre use. We determine that ochre use established itself as a habitual cultural practice in southern, eastern and northern Africa starting about 160,000 years ago, when a third of archaeological sites contain ochre. We argue that this pattern is a likely material manifestation of intensifying ritual activity in early populations of Homo sapiens . Such ritual behavior may have facilitated the demographic expansion of early modern humans, first within and eventually beyond the African continent. We discuss the implications of our findings on two models of ritual evolution, the Female Cosmetic Coalitions Hypothesis and the Ecological Stress Hypothesis, as well as a model about the emergence of complex cultural capacities, the Eight-Grade Model for the Evolution and Expansion of Cultural Capacities .
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.