Getting a handle on tangs, defining the Dakhleh Unit of the Aterian Technocomplex : a study in surface archaeology from Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

grantor: University of TorontoThe Aterian is a later Middle Stone Age (MSA) Technocomplex of northern Africa. Associated human skeletal remains are classified as anatomically modern and chronometric determinations indicate the Aterian may encompass 90,000 to 20,000 B.P. Many sites are found in surface context. Levallois technology is the predominant method for reduction of stone, and other methods are also known. The Aterian is problematic for models of the origin of behaviourally modern humans because of the late dates and the use of technology elsewhere associated with behavioural "archaism". In this work, I define the Dakhleh Unit (DU) of the Aterian, based on material from Dakhleh Oasis and I compare the DU to Aterian material recovered from other Western Desert locations. DU artefacts were recovered from fifty localities in the Dakhleh Oasis. These occur in association with different geomorphic features, and in several geographic clusters. Material was recovered from surface contexts but analysis of the degree of abrasion and typology suggests that most aggregates examined can be assigned predominantly to the DU. Analysis of artefact raw materials indicates that local materials were favoured, but that chert was transported some distance for reduction. The composition of different aggregates within the oasis leads me to conclude that aggregates can be classified as workshops, occupation locations or special-use areas. Workshops are found in different geographic regions than occupation localities. Technological analysis confirmed that a variety of different methods were used to produce blanks. Examination of retouched tools showed that some were modified only on the edges, while others were extensively modified. Many retouched tools were modified to aid in hafting, either through basal-thinning or tanging. Comparison with published accounts of older MSA material from the eastern Sahara shows that there are similarities in reduction strategies and raw material preferences, but that there are many more formed retouched tools in the DU, particularly tools modified for hafting. This is interpreted to indicate that there is continuity in northeast Africa, that there are indications of modernity in the Aterian, and that trait lists descriptive of the change to modernity in Europe are not useful in northern Africa.Ph.D