This thesis examines the interplay between the palaeoenvironment and human population during the late Pleistocene in the Maghreb region (North Africa). Currently there is a lack of published palaeoenvironmental studies that cover the last 20-30,000 years and this prompted the work carried out in this thesis. Using a multi- proxy approach it is possible to improve our understanding of broad palaeoenvironmental changes throughout this period and their effects on humans in the area. The study site, Grotte des Pigeons (N 34° 48' 83.9" W 2° 24' 24.4"), is situated in northeast Morocco and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Maghreb. The depositional sequences at the site show that humans were present throughout most of the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the following phase which coincided with Heinrich Event 1 (c. 22-15 ka BP). This does not mean that the occupation was continuous, however the site was not abandoned for a very long time. Another matter that has become clearer during the course of this work is the contrast between the rapidity and the scale of climatic change in Europe and North Africa. In Northern Europe, for example, the LGM is typified by a major decline in temperature that had marked effects on the natural vegetation. In Northwest Africa, or at least in the Maghreb, the impact of the glacial advance seems to have been less marked. The sedimentological data from Taforalt show that the palaeoenvironment became increasingly variable from the LGM onwards, but there is no verification of a dramatic change of the kind seen in Europe.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:552774 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Oh, Yein Anna |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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