Reevaluating the Age of the Iberomaurusian in Morocco

• Published in: African Archaeological Review
• Main Authors: Bouzouggar, A, Barton, R, Blockley, S, Ramsey, C, Collcutt, SN, Gale, R, Higham, T, Humphrey, LT, Parfitt, S, Turner, E, Ward, S
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer US 2016
• Subjects: Greenland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-008-9023-3; https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c5c9b0b8-443a-40b6-b975-f64c641bdd47

Chronological evidence for the Iberomaurusian is currently very limited and there are problems with some of the published radiocarbon dates. In this paper we present new AMS dating results from well-stratified cave sequences at Ghar Cahal, Kehf el Hammar and Taforalt in northern and eastern Morocco. The longest of these sequences, from Taforalt, shows an intermittent occupation history spanning the period ca. 18,000-11,000 bp (radiocarbon determinations presented in this paper are expressed as ka bp or bp, whilst approximate calendar ages are expressed as Cal bp) with a marked intensification of cave use soon after ca. 13,000 bp. Using calibrated AMS ages in comparison to sea surface temperature evidence from the Alboran Sea core MD95-2043 and more generally to Greenland ice δ18O core records, we suggest that there may have been a relationship, albeit a complex one, between climatic events and cave activity on the part of Iberomaurusian populations. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008.