Adrar Bous is a
massif
In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
in the
Aïr Mountains
The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif ( tmh, Ayăr; Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion, the ...
on the western edge of the
Ténéré Desert
The Ténéré (Tuareg: Tenere, literally: "desert") is a desert region in the south central Sahara. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over . The Ténéré's boundaries a ...
,
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[J. Desmond Clark
John Desmond Clark (10 April 1916 – 14 February 2002) was a British archaeologist noted particularly for his work on prehistoric Africa.
Early life
Clark was born in London, but his childhood was spent in a hamlet in the Chiltern Hills of B ...](_blank)
, has produced finds spanning the Late
Acheulean
Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...
(1.76 – 0.13
Ma) through the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
(11,950 – 6,450 BP). The massif contains a number of sites where
microlithic
A microlith is a small Rock (geology), stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia an ...
tools are present, along with
faunal and human remains. Most notable are extensive remains of ritualized feasting by specialized
Tenerian cattle
pastoralists
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...
.
Its name is written in the
Tamasheq
Tamashek or Tamasheq is a variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Tamasheq is one of the three main varieties of Tuareg, the others being Ta ...
language.
The massif itself has been dated to be about 487 million years old.
Geology
While the oldest formations in Adrar Bous date to the
Precambrian period (~4600 – 541.0 ± 1.0 Ma), much of the
ring-dike formation originated during the early
Silurian period (443.8 ± 1.5 – 419.2 ± 3.2 Ma), likely due to the melting of the Saharan ice caps at that time. The massif is composed primarily of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
, and is host to a number of workable rocks:
jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...
,
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...
,
chalcedony
Chalcedony ( , or ) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monocli ...
, and others.
Microlithic sites at Adrar Bous
Surrounding the Adrar Bous Massif, several occurrences of
diatomites yielded small stone tools and other artifacts, as well as the remains of aquatic and amphibious animals. Among the stone tools, scraper-type utensils were the most frequently found.
Adrar Bous III ( Missions Berliet)
A site lying to the southeast of the main massif yielding a larger amount of
truncated blades and crescent-shaped microlithic tools than other nearby sites. Whether or not it was inhabited at the same time as the other Tenerian formations is under debate, as its tools appear to be slightly older than those found at other sites nearby.
Adrar n'Kiffi (The Mountain of Fish)
A site lying south of the main massif, Adrar n'Kiffi, shows the remnants of a lake, with a number of tools made of bone and stone including a stone harpoon and some
dotted wavy-line pottery, as well as amphibious and fish-like remains. It is the namesake of the Kiffian
technocomplex.
Agorass n'Tast (Valley of the Cow)
A site lying to the west of the main massif, Agorass n'Tast, did not contain as many Kiffian remains as the other sites but boasts a spate of Tenerian artifacts and fauna, including many pieces of pottery, and the later noted Adrar Bous cow. There is a measurable point in this area where the frequency of artifacts lessens significantly, possibly delineating the outskirts of a settlement. There are also stone circles within this settlement, thought to be used for wind shelter.
Agorass n'Tchissikian (Valley of Tombs)
A site lying to the north of the main massif, Agorass n'Tchissikian, is south of the Well Area. This site contains a number of
potsherds
This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains.
A
B
C
D
E
F
...
, as well as a number of
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...
. Two of the burials located there have been recovered. They were discovered to have been relocated to Cambridge, England, where all of their skulls were found to be missing and have not yet been located.
Diatomite 1/Gisement 10
A small site southeast of the main massif, Diatomite 1/Gisement 10, is dated to about 9130-9030
BP.
This site contained several terrestrial Kiffian fauna, as well as some aquatic specimens from the same time period.
Well Area
Lying to the north of the main massif, the Well Area site yielded similar tools to Diatomite 1/Gisement 10, without indication of a lake. It contains many similar artifacts to Diatomite 1 and Adrar n'Kiffi.
Pastoral Neolithic
The Pastoral Neolithic (5000 BP - 1200 BP) refers to a period in Africa's prehistory, specifically Tanzania and Kenya, marking the beginning of food production, livestock domestication, and pottery use in the region following the Later Stone Age. ...
herders at Adrar Bous
A number of Late Acheulean,
Tenerian (~6950 – 4450 BP), and
Kiffian (~9950 – 7950 BP) artifacts were discovered at Adrar Bous. Hand axes, found in highest number, were found among cleavers,
adzes
An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing o ...
, and other objects.
Adrar Bous also contains a number of faunal and human remains, dated to about 6,000 to 4,000
BP.
The remains are diverse in terms of
taxonomy
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
and time period.
Faunal remains
A number of
faunal remains were found at Adrar Bous, ranging from the Aterian to the Tenerian, and into the Neolithic. The Aterian specimens showed aging and
mineralization most frequently, followed by the Kiffian and Tenerian specimens, respectively. Of the Aterian faunal remains, there are mostly indeterminate mammalian fossils and members of the ''
Clariidae'' taxa, as well as four
hippopotamus
The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
specimens and one indeterminate large mammal. The Kiffian remains (derived from Adrar n'Kiffi and Diatomite 1) include a larger variety of both Mammalian and fish-like fossils, including members of the genera ''
Bovini
The tribe Bovini, or wild cattle, are medium to massive bovines that are native to North America, Eurasia, and Africa. These include the enigmatic, antelope-like saola, the African and Asiatic buffalos, and a clade that consists of bison and t ...
'' (cows), ''
Syondontis'' (tigerfish), and ''
Sus'' (wild boar), among other native African fauna. The boar specimen extracted from Diatomite 1 had significantly longer teeth than its modern counterpart. The Tenerian faunal remains showed by far the most taxonomic diversity, with the bulk of researched specimens being mammals. Nearly half of the cataloged remains belonged to domestic cattle specifically of the ''
Bos
''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including these last three divisions within the gen ...
'' genus, some of whose bones were burnt likely by human cohabitants.
The Adrar Bous cow
A notable find in Adrar Bous is that of a young, fully articulated cow skeleton, discovered in 1976 on an exploration by Carter and Clark.
The cow skeleton has been dated to 4145±45 BP, a time when there was a concentrated focus on pastoralism in the area.
Its bone structure describes it as a small, short-horned West African cow. Its presence at Adrar Bous helps to delineate the adaptation of pastoral practices to African climates.
Human remains
There were four human burials recovered from Adrar Bous, two of which were discovered at Agorass n'Tast. Several burials were found with ornamentation, such as shells and beaded necklaces. One burial is represented only by a fragment of the skull. One of the individuals excavated from Adrar Bous shows
spina bifida
Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...
of indeterminate type, as well as
osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of degenerative joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone which affects 1 in 7 adults in the United States. It is believed to be the fourth leading cause of disability in the w ...
in the knees and back.
See also
*
Gobero
References
{{Authority control
Archaeological sites in Niger
Mountains of Niger
Archaeology of Western Africa
Archaeological sites of Western Africa