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2018-09-09 09:52:05   •   ID: 2022

A Serrated / Denticulated Levallois Point from Erg Tit / Algeria

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Tit (Arabic: ﺗﻴﺖ ) is a town and commune in Aoulef District, Adrar Province, south- central Algeria.

Erg Tit was introduced into the literature by Henri-Jean Hugot (1916 -2014), who was originally directeur d’école à Aoulef, in the Tidikelt during the early 50ies. Later, already attached to the CNRS Hugot became an extraordinary professor for Prehistory and deputy director at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris.

He wrote the influential “Essai sur les armatures de pointes de flèches du Sahara (1957)“ which is still the the basic work for the description of neolithic arrowheads in the Sahara.

In 1957 he published a monograph about l’Ahaggar nord-occidental, also discussing findings from the Aoulef District. He reported a poorly characterized Acheulean, while the MSA was rich in tanged pieces ("Aterien“). Epipaleolithic findings also include "Ounanian" points (see: 2020 )

Ounanian Points were found in stratigraphic context by the late J.D Clark at Adrar Bous (Niger) ca 400 km South-East to Tit. See also 1541

The denticulated Mousterian point (7,5x0,3x3 cm) from Erg Tit shown here was made on a slightly curved Levallois Point on Quartzite. Its perimeters could qualify the artifact as an dart-point.

The artifact from Erg Tit has some structural resemblance to the serrated MSA points, which were reported in 2017 by Rots from the Sibudu, a large rock shelter in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa.

At Sibudu there was strong evidence for the use of serrated points as projectiles in a layer with an OSL age at least 77.3 ± 2.7 k.a.

Suggested Readings:

Hugot H.-J. (1963) – Recherches préhistoriques dans ­l’Ahaggar nord-occidental, 1950-1957. Mémoire du CRAPE, I. Arts et métiers graphiques, Paris.

Hugot H.-J., Roubet C. & Souville G. (1981) – Préhistoire africaine. Mélanges offerts au doyen L. Balout. Éditions A.D.P.F., Paris.

Clark, J.D., M.A.J. Williams and A.B. Smith. 1973. The geomorphology and archaeology of Adrar Bous, Central Sahara: a preliminary report. Quaternaria 17: 245 - 297.