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2026-03-28 10:08:30   •   ID: 2412

News from the Paleolithic of Algeria, Part I: The MSA

Figure 1


Figure 2


Figure 3


Figure 1 shows a classic „Mousterian“ or „MSA“ point from the western Sahara in Algeria, and Figure 2 a tanged „Aterian“ point with bifacial retouch from the same region. Some non-tanged, non-Levallois artefacts are additionally added in Figure 3 and the following figures.

Together, these characteristic Paleolithic artifacts illustrate important aspects of the Maghrebinian Paleolithic between 300 -40 k.a..

Figure 4
The designation „Aterian“ and „Mousterian“, much like the terms “Mousterian” and “Micoquian-KMG” in Central Europe, reflect a dichotomy that erroneously divides the local Middle Palaeolithic into separate traditions, when in fact they are merely options within a continuum of possibilities (in Jürgen Richter's sense).

In addition, earlier assumptions regarding an unilinear progression from Arterian to Mousterian during the MSA appeared to be incorrect, as excavations—particularly in Morocco—have demonstrated in recent years.

A few years ago, I was heavily criticized in an archaeological forum for assigning stone tools from North Africa to the „Middle Paleolithic“ rather than to the „MSA“; this is because a popular ideology assumes that language is the decisive instrument for establishing power relations, and that my formulation therefore revealed a deeply colonial mindset.

Is this not a trivialization of philosophical theories such as those of Wittgenstein and Foucault? Doesn't this view encourage simplistic thinking, leading people to believe that everything will be better if we just change the "wording"?

I suggest that Foucault would not be pleased with the dogmatic narrowness of such esoteric ideas.

So, should we call the „Middle Paleolithic“ in North Africa "Mousterian" (prioritisation of the first description / politically incorrect) or the Middle Stone Age (because this designation is common in postcolonial subsaharian Africa / politically correct)?

For purely practical reasons, this blog has used the term "MSA" from the beginning in 2012 without any ideological agenda.

Many entries in this Blog are dealing with the Paleolithic of Algeria-see here: 1275 , here: 1235 , here: 2361 , here: 2048 , here: 2022 and here: 1327 .

Following a period of dynamism in the 1950s and 1960s, research on the Paleolithic in Algeria was neglected for a long time. In recent years, however, important excavations using up-to-date methodology have been successfully initiated.

Figure 5
The most notable outcome of these efforts was the discovery of an early Acheulian in the Boucherit region of northeastern Algeria.

Remarkably, these tools date back approximately 1.7 million years, making them nearly as old as the earliest Acheulian tools found in East Africa. More information on this topic will be provided in a later post. ...

The early work of French researchers on the MSA during the colonial era in the Maghreb was primarily based on typology and relative chronology, as well as biased data from caves, beach terraces, and surface sites.

Recent studies, although only a few, however are based on carefully excavated sites and focus primarily on technology and absolute dating methods.

The Tébessa region contains important MSA sites with extraordinary rich deposits. The region's potential was recognised in the first half of the twentieth century, primarily through the work of Maurice Reygasse. Unfortunately, the majority of the sites have been disturbed or 'excavated' decades ago, and only a few are undisturbed and stratified.

The general lithic inventory consists of side scrapers, end scrapers, retouched points and bifacial foliates on Levallois or non-Levallois blanks. Notched and denticulate pieces, as well as tanged tools, are present to varying percentages at most sites.

The rock shelter Oued Bousmane (Djebel Dyr) in the eastern highlands revealed a Middle Stone Age (MSA) stratigraphic sequence dated to MIS 3.

Figure 6
Technological analysis of the stone tools showed various reduction techniques, primarily Levallois, as well as discoid and laminar (pyramidal!) techniques.

The assemblage included a high percentage of sidescrapers (42%) and notched pieces (38%) typologically.

These findings differ significantly from the "classical Aterian," indicating a high degree of variability within and between sites in the context of the Algerian MSA (Bahra et al., 2020).

These results resemble observations on classic „Mousterian“ sites in the Périgord, where selection bias and inadequate stratigraphic control of earlier excavations also produced distorted results. Le Moustier and Roc de Combe Capelle, re- excavated by Gravina and Discamps and Dibble et al. respectively are good examples.

Recent studies have challenged the simplified model of linear cultural development in Africa. Researchers now advocate a more complex and geographically variable model of the MSA, emphasising regional characteristics. The increased use of uranium-thorium dating on teeth and speleothems, as well as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), enables more precise chronological classification of MSA layers throughout North Africa; see here: 1273 .

Suggested Readings:

Henriette Alimen: Prehistory of Africa by Alimen, London; 1957.

Ginette Aumassip avec la collaboration de Yasmina Chaïd-Saoudi: Préhistoire du Sahara et de ses abords Tome 1. Le Paléolithique ou le temps des chasseurs, Paris; 2019.

Nadia Bahra, Abderrezak Djerrab, Murielle Ruault-Djerrabet al.: Middle Stone Age technology in Algeria: A techno-economic approach case study of the Oued Bousmane site (Djebel Dyr), Quaternary International, Volume 555, 2020; Pages 33-46.

Amanuel Beyin, D.K. Wright, J. Wilkins and D.I. Olszewski (Eds): Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa, Berlin Heidelberg New York 2023

Sacha C. Jones and Brian A. Stewart (Edsr): Africa from MIS 6-2: Population Dynamics and Paleoenvironments (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology), Berlin Heidelberg New York 2018.