North Africa, Sahara, Northeast Africa, Arabia?, Oman?, Thar Desert?
Period
Middle Palaeolithic – Upper Palaeolithic
Dates
c. 150,000 – c. 20,000 BP[1]
Type site
Bir el Ater
Major sites
Taforalt, Ifri n'Ammar, Kharga Oasis, Dar es Soltan I & II, Grotte des Contrebandiers, Mugharet el Aliya, Uan Tabu, Adrar Bous, Bir Tarfawi
Preceded by
Mousterian
Followed by
Emiran, Ahmarian, Khormusan, Iberomaurusian
Selected Aterian sites from the ROAD database (CC BY-SA 4.0 ROCEEH)
The Aterian is a Middle Stone Age (or Middle Palaeolithic) stone tool industry centered in North Africa, from Mauritania to Egypt, but also possibly found in Oman and the Thar Desert.[2][3] The earliest Aterian dates to c. 150,000 years ago, at the site of Ifri n'Ammar in Morocco.[4] However, most of the early dates cluster around the beginning of the Last Interglacial, around 150,000 to 130,000 years ago, when the environment of North Africa began to ameliorate.[5] The Aterian disappeared around 20,000 years ago.
The Aterian is primarily distinguished through the presence of tanged or pedunculated tools,[6] and is named after the type site of Bir el Ater, south of Tébessa.[7] Bifacially-worked, leaf-shaped tools are also a common artefact type in Aterian assemblages, and so are racloirs and Levallois flakes and cores. Items of personal adornment (pierced and ochred Nassarius shell beads) are known from at least one Aterian site, with an age of 82,000 years.[8] The Aterian is one of the oldest examples of regional technological diversification, evidencing significant differentiation to older stone tool industries in the area, frequently described as Mousterian. The appropriateness of the term Mousterian is contested in a North African context, however.
^Hardesty, Donald L. (2010-06-15). ARCHAEOLOGY – Volume II. EOLSS Publications. p. 38. ISBN 9781848260030.
^Vermeersch, Pierre (2000). "The Nubian Complex and the Dispersal of Modern Humans in North Africa". In Krzyżaniak, Lech; Kroeper, Karla; Kobusiewicz, Michał (eds.). Recent Research into the Stone Age of Northeastern Africa. ISBN 83-907529-6-4 – via ResearchGate.
^Cite error: The named reference Schug was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Richter, Daniel; Moser, Johannes; Nami, Mustapha; Eiwanger, Josef; Mikdad, Abdeslam (2010-12-01). "New chronometric data from Ifri n'Ammar (Morocco) and the chronostratigraphy of the Middle Palaeolithic in the Western Maghreb". Journal of Human Evolution. 59 (6): 672–679. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.024. PMID 20880568.
^"Stone Tools Suggest Modern Humans Lingered in Arabia - Archaeology Magazine".
^Scerri, Eleanor M. L. (2013-06-25). "The Aterian and its place in the North African Middle Stone Age" (PDF). Quaternary International. The Middle Palaeolithic in the Desert. 300: 111–130. Bibcode:2013QuInt.300..111S. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.09.008.
^Langer, William L., ed. (1972). An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 9. ISBN 978-0-395-13592-1.
^Bouzouggar, Abdeljalil; Barton, Nick; Vanhaeren, Marian; d'Errico, Francesco; Collcutt, Simon; Higham, Tom; Hodge, Edward; Parfitt, Simon; Rhodes, Edward (2007-06-12). "82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (24): 9964–9969. doi:10.1073/pnas.0703877104. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1891266. PMID 17548808.
The Aterian is a Middle Stone Age (or Middle Palaeolithic) stone tool industry centered in North Africa, from Mauritania to Egypt, but also possibly found...
Jebel Irhoud specimens originally were noted to have been similar to later Aterian and Iberomaurusian specimens, further examinations revealed that the Jebel...
include pre-Mousterian, Aterian, and Iberomaurusian lithic industries, plus an unusual non-Levallois industry between the Aterian and the Iberomaurusian...
reported as an Egyptian version of Mousterian. An Egyptian version of the Aterian technology was also located. The Fakhurian late Paleolithic industry in...
point Susquehanna broad projectile point Plano point Kimberley points Aterian points Stillbay Klasies River Caves Porc Epic Pre-historic projectile point...
contrast to its modern arid landscape. Twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian culture was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities...
tool techniques. Tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian (after the archaeological site of Bir el Ater, south of Tebessa). The earliest...
of all the “Eurasian-ancestry” enriched groups". Afroasiatic Urheimat Aterian Mushabian Taforalt Ifri N'Ammar Mechta-Afalou Haua Fteah The "Western Oranian"...
Arabia Period Upper Paleolithic Dates about 60,000–40,000 cal B.P. Preceded by Mousterian, Aterian Followed by Bohunician, Ahmarian, Levantine Aurignacian...
weathering of rocks in the region. Lithic tools belonging to the prehistoric Aterian culture of the Maghreb have been discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits...
Part of a series on the History of Algeria Prehistory Aterian Culture (80,000 BC) Iberomaurusian Culture (20,000 BC) Capsian culture (10,000 BC) Rock...
of a series on the History of Morocco Prehistory Acheulean Mousterian Aterian Iberomaurusian Capsian Classical to Late Antiquity (8th century BC – 7th...
more complex Middle Paleolithic tool kits such as the Mousterian and the Aterian industries. Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including...
Pleistocene, Middle Stone Age peoples (e.g., Iwo Eleru people, possibly Aterians), who dwelled throughout West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2, were gradually...
northern Agadez Region. Some of these finds have been linked with the Aterian and Mousterian tool cultures of the Middle Paleolithic period, which flourished...
France—see also Mousterian Neandertal (valley), Germany Petralona, Greece Aterian, North Africa Bisitun Cave, Iran Daş Salahlı, Azerbaijan Wezmeh, Iran Biache-Saint-Vaast...
000–10,000 BC: Inhabited by Iberomaurusians 80,000–20,000 BC: Inhabited by Aterians Since 1.8 Million BC, humans have been settled in Algeria as demonstrated...
Part of a series on the History of Algeria Prehistory Aterian Culture (80,000 BC) Iberomaurusian Culture (20,000 BC) Capsian culture (10,000 BC) Rock...
of a series on the History of Morocco Prehistory Acheulean Mousterian Aterian Iberomaurusian Capsian Classical to Late Antiquity (8th century BC – 7th...
Levant Period Upper Paleolithic Dates c. 46,000 – c. 42,000 BP Preceded by Aterian, Emiran, Bohunician Followed by Levantine Aurignacian Châtelperronian Aurignacian...
the Abbassia Pluvial. Stone Age cultures (notably the Mousterian and the Aterian[citation needed] industries) flourished in North Africa during the Abbassia...
the end of the Upper Paleolithic period coincides with the end of the Aterian tradition of producing laminar microliths, and deposits can be dated by...
Part of a series on the History of Algeria Prehistory Aterian Culture (80,000 BC) Iberomaurusian Culture (20,000 BC) Capsian culture (10,000 BC) Rock...
Part of a series on the History of Algeria Prehistory Aterian Culture (80,000 BC) Iberomaurusian Culture (20,000 BC) Capsian culture (10,000 BC) Rock...
of a series on the History of Morocco Prehistory Acheulean Mousterian Aterian Iberomaurusian Capsian Classical to Late Antiquity (8th century BC – 7th...
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