EVIDENCE FOR HOMININ USE OF SPRINGS ACROSS NORTH AFRICA DURING THE LATE QUATERNARY: A SYNTHESIS

Active springs provide the only available modern water resource across much of the arid to hyperarid Sahara. During humid climatic phases, however, springs would have been only one component of a landscape which may also have included active rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Thus while springs would have been attractive locations for hominins throughout the Pleistocene, their relative importance as localities within the landscape would have fluctuated with the climate. Thus interpreting the archaeological record associated with spring deposits may be complicated.

Controls on the timing of spring activity would have varied across North Africa; certainly enhanced recharge (i.e., rainfall) would allow for both the activation of new springs and increased discharge from extant springs. The extent to which a particular spring could have acted as a buffer, providing available water well beyond the cessation of local rainfall, would depend on aquifer size and flow rate. The presence of significant regional aquifers (e.g., the Nubian Aquifer) in the Sahara allows for the maintenance of oasis environments over millennia of arid conditions. Additionally, where spring activity occurs along active faults (e.g., parts of Morocco), tectonics may also play a role in the timing of spring discharge.

This talk will provide a synthesis of archaeological evidence for hominin use of spring localities across North Africa during the late Quaternary, and a discussion of the implications for understanding habitability of the region through time. Peculiarities of the taphonomy of spring deposits will also be discussed in this context.