Survey for Pliocene Stone Tools and Fossils in North Africa: Explorations into Ain Boucherit, Beni Foudha Basin, Northeastern Algeria

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Mohamed Sahnouni and his colleagues will carry out an exploratory survey at Ain Boucherit locality in northeastern Algeria. The team is comprised of international scientists in palaeolithic archaeology, vertebrate paleontology, and geology, and will conduct one field season of fieldwork to search for Late Pliocene stone tools and fossils. Paleoanthropological studies over the past decade have shown that early human emergence and dispersal out of Africa, as well as the beginnings of stone tools in Eurasia occurred much earlier than commonly assumed. Given the geographical location of North Africa as a crossroad between Europe and Western Asia, it is fairly reasonable to posit for an early human occupation of this part of the continent prior to 2.0 million years ago (Ma). Ain Hanech documents a wealth of archaeological and paleontological sites and has already yielded the oldest stone tools in North Africa dated to 1.8 Ma. Further fieldwork provides an opportunity to investigate the Late Pliocene deposits for stone tools and fossil fauna. Located 13m below the Ain Hanech and El-Kherba Oldowan deposits (ca. 1.8 Ma), the locality of Ain Boucherit has already produced fossil animal bones and a stone artifact. Based on the faunal evidence and its position, lower in the stratigraphy, Ain Boucherit is estimated between 2.4 and 2.0 Ma. The data required to achieve the proposed research will be gathered through systematic survey and mapping of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits at Ain Boucherit and its surrounding area. The team will delineate the fossil-bearing deposits, conduct preliminary test excavations at promising localities, study their stratigraphic profiles, analyze the fauna in terms of taxonomy and phylogeny; surface modifications; and paleoecological inferences, and study the stone tool assemblages. The research proposed at Ain Boucherit has intellectual merit, because it will address the central issue of early hominin occupation in North Africa and subsequent dispersal into Europe, can provide a better understanding of the larger picture of early human evolution in Africa and early hominin dispersal to diverse regions and habitats on the continent, and contribute to knowledge on human evolution in Algeria and North Africa. The project has broader impacts, because it will: 1) encourage future launching of successive paleoanthropological expeditions into Algeria from an American based academic institution; 2) foster international collaborations involving American, European, and Algerian institutions and scientists; 3) provide, in the near future, fieldwork training to US graduate students and local archaeology and natural sciences students; 4) contribute to developing modern paleoanthropological research infrastructure in Algeria; and 5) involve Algerians including female students, all underrepresented in this field of study. Finally, the project has broader impacts because it is the first of such projects to be directed by an African, a minority in human evolutionary studies.