Takarkori
Takarkori is an archaeological site and rock shelter located in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of southwestern Libya. During the Holocene, humans occupied the site between 10,170 cal BP and 4650 cal BP. Takarkori rockshelter is one of two sites where the earliest evidence of plant processing in pottery has been found, is the first Saharan site where ancient DNA was able to be extracted, particularly from two interred individuals, and is also a site with artifacts which include bone tools, stone tools, wooden tools, pottery, fiber goods, and carved figurines.
Geography
The Takarkori rockshelter is located in a valley within the Tadrart Acacus Mountains. To the west of the rockshelter lies the Erg Takarkori, a stretch of sand dunes. The valley that the rockshelter is situated in is called Wadi Takarkori, which separates the Algerian and Libyan Acacus Mountains and is also the central point between two basins. Takarkori rockshelter lies near Libya's border with Algeria, within the Fezzan region. This area is part of the Libyan Desert, an area of the Sahara. Today, the Acacus Mountains are hyperarid.Climate
Wadi Takarkori most likely had flowing water from the Late Acacus period until the end of the Middle Pastoral period, with wetlands nearby. This was the wadi Tanezzuft, and two notable lakes that would have existed near Takarkori were Takarkori Lake and Garat Ouda. These lakes, along with a series of other small lakes in the nearby dunes, supported diverse populations of aquatic flora and fauna. A high density of fish remains at Takarkori associated with this period indicate that people were routinely fishing near the rock shelter. Additionally, the presence of residues from plants such as potamogeton on potsherds show that humans at Takarkori were processing aquatic flora as well.In the Early Pastoral period, the small lakes may have suffered due to a climatic shift. However, Takarkori Lake and Garat Ouda persisted throughout the Middle Pastoral period and well into the Late Pastoral period. During the Late Pastoral period, the Sahara was becoming increasingly arid. This led to the total loss of both lakes by around 5000 BP. Archaeological evidence shows that the frequency of fish remains decreased as aridity increased. Scholars infer that the people living at Takarkori moved to pastoralism as fish became less available as a food source. Within pastoralism, food sources also changed; herders moved from cattle to smaller domesticates. Nevertheless, an analysis of pottery excavated from the rock shelter indicates water was generally present when people lived at Takarkori, even in times of aridity.
Archaeology
There are many archaeological sites in the Wadi Takarkori area, including cairns, rock art, and rockshelters. The Acacus Mountains are famous for their rock art, which includes both petroglyphs and pictographs showing human and faunal figures. Rockshelters in this region have long been recognized for their stratigraphic sequences; archaeological sites within rockshelters are generally more protected from the harsh Saharan environment than open-air sites. Sites similar to Takarkori rockshelter have been excavated since the mid 20th century.Takarkori rockshelter has been researched by multiple archaeological teams. Notably, Stefano Biagetti and Savino di Lernia excavated Takarkori for multiple field seasons in 2003, 2004, and 2006 as part of the Wadi Takarkori Project. More recent work by Julie Dunne and Stefania Vai and their teams led to new plant processing and ancient DNA discoveries respectively. Sediment deposits within the rockshelter contain evidence that humans occupied the Takarkori rockshelter for thousands of years, gradually changing their food pathways. During the Holocene in Northern Africa, humans generally began transitioning from hunting and gathering to pastoralism; Takarkori is one of few sites that has the detailed stratigraphy to preserve evidence for this transition in the archaeological record. The enclosed environment and aridity of the site has also preserved a high density of biological remains, including flora, fauna, and human remains. The four archaeological periods in which humans occupied Takarkori are the Late Acacus period, Early Pastoral period, Middle Pastoral period, and Late Pastoral period.
Baskets
There have been a wide variety of artifacts found in the rockshelter including different types of tools, pottery, and baskets. Various artifacts were also found in and around the burial area in the back of the rockshelter. These artifacts included an animal figurine, an ostrich egg shell bead head cap, and a necklace.The presence of baskets and woven goods at the site are unique, as fiber goods do not typically preserve well in the archaeological record. These remains show at least eight different weaving techniques, though all are twined. Twining is a process where strands are moved horizontally through fixed vertical strands. Most of the woven goods were constructed from plants stems and fibers, though some had animal fibers as well. The majority of the basket remains date to the Late Acacus period, and may have been used to gather wild plants.
Pottery
A diverse assemblage of pottery has been found at Takarkori. Pottery dating to the beginning of the Late Acacus is coeval with the introduction of pottery to the Libyan Desert. This indicates that the hunter-gatherers at Takarkori may have been among the first people in the region to use pottery. A pottery analysis was conducted using Caneva's methodology. Surface colors are different for each period of occupation, showing different heating and cooling processes. Five different fabrics are present from a scale of course to fine. Coarser fabrics and thicker walls are associated with earlier phases of occupation and finer fabrics and thinner walls are present through the later phases. There are two main types of pottery decoration: impressed and incised. It is likely that individual families manufactured their own pottery with raw materials procured from the surrounding area.Pigments
Pigments are present at Takarkori. Pigment artifacts fall into three main categories: pigments, pigmented items, and painted items. Color pigments may have been processed at the rockshelter in order to produce pictographs in the Tadrart Acacus. Multiple lower and upper grinding stones from the rockshelter have different colored pigment stains including red and yellow. Most of these stones date to the first phases of occupation. Other types of artifacts with pigment found at Takarkori include flakes and stone tools, bone tools, pottery, and a wooden stick. One broken pebble showed signs of being painted, and poorly preserved zoomorphic pictographs may be present on rocks in the shelter. The pigments were likely sourced from within the Tadrart Acacus.Plants
Takarkori and Uan Afuda have yielded potsherds with the earliest evidence of processed plant remains in the world. The plant remains found within the pots are consistent with the flora that would have been present in the Sahara during the Holocene, and include both terrestrial and aquatic species. These remains date to 8200–6400 BC, and coincide with the period in which people were hunting and gathering at Takarkori.However, there is also evidence that pastoral peoples at Takarkori continued to process wild plants in cooking vessels even after the introduction of domesticated animals. Potsherds with plant remains were found in stratigraphic layers coinciding with the Late Acacus period, Early Pastoral period, and Middle Pastoral period, with the majority uncovered from the Middle Pastoral period. Both animal and plant residues were extracted from the cooking vessels, but at Takarkori, over half of the potsherds contained plants remains. Some of the species of plants that were discovered include cattails and potamogeton, an aquatic plant. Plant remains unassociated with pottery have also been found in abundance at Takarkori.