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2026-04-02 07:26:46   •   ID: 2413

News from the Paleolithic of Algeria, Part II: Early Acheulean at Oued Boucherit

Plate I
Figure 1
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Plates and Figures show late Acheulean Handaxes of North Africa spanning a time frame from the early to late middle Pleistocene.

Our understanding of the Palaeolithic in North Africa is biased, largely due to the difficulty of finding stratified in-situ sites and dating them accurately.

Obviously, intact Palaeolithic surfaces are much more easier to detect along the great Rift Valley than in the deserts of North Africa due to the region’s unique geological activity and erosion patterns-see: 1474 .

The Rift Valley is characterised by a unique tectonic environment that preserves and re-exposes archaeological findings.

Of overall importance is the geological process of rifting, which leads to rapid sedimentation, as the process creates deep, tectonically active rift basins that efficiently trap sediment eroding from adjacent uplifted rift shoulders.

As a result, Paleolithic remains are also quickly embedded, and the likelihood of an in-situ scenario increases. In addition, Volcanism leads to the sealing of archeological layers that can be precisely dated using isotopic methods.

In North Africa, however, environmental conditions make it much more difficult to find in situ sites. Without rifting, deep, protective basins are lacking.

The result of desertification is obvious: massive amounts of sand now cover ancient land surfaces, which are overlooked during surface explorations.

It is certain that strong winds will carry away sediments and mix artifacts on non-sealed surfaces. Consequently, tools from different millennia may be mixed together in an indistinguishable way.

It is also crucial to consider the distinct preservation conditions in North Africa as compared to the Rift Valley. The chemical composition of the soil plays a key role in preserving organic remains. While alkaline lakes and ash in East Africa often preserve bones exceptionally well, more acidic or extremely dry soils in the north can decompose fossils.

Note that researchers at East African sites such as Olduvai Gorge use highly accurate argon-argon (Ar/Ar) dating. However, Oued Boucherit and other North African sites lack volcanic layers, meaning scientists have had to rely on a combination of other tools. These include magnetostratigraphy, sediment rates, electron spin resonance (ESR) and biochronology.

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Despite the prevailing belief that all African innovations during the ESA/MSA period originated in the Great Rift Valley, sites in North Africa, among them the well known Oldowan sites of Ain Hanech and El Kherba (see: 2111 ), are equally important if they have been protected by favourable geological features.

The Beni Fouda intramontane basin, located in the High Plateaus of north-eastern Algeria near Sétif, is renowned for its favourable conditions for preserving Plio-Early Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological remains.

The basin is a significant archive of very old human activity due to its specific geological setting. Its low-lying location between mountainous uplifts allowed the undisturbed accumulation of sediment, which trapped materials in their original, undisturbed location.

Archaeological deposits were formed in fluvio-lacustrine environments (shallow lakes, swamps, and river floodplains) and fine–grained sediments were deposited quietly in these wet, low-energy settings, allowing delicate items to settle without being washed away. Rapid sedimentation also ensured that artefacts and bones were quickly buried under fresh layers of sediment.

The combination of these factors, along with a lack of high-energy disturbance, carbonate preservation, and tectonic stability, led to favourable conditions that ensured the layers remained nearly undisturbed for millions of years.

Oued Boucherit is a significant archaeological and paleontological site in the Beni Fouda Basin in north-eastern Algeria, approximately 10 km north-east of El-Eulma (Sétif Province). Located close to the famous El Khebara and El Hanech sites, it contains the oldest Oldowan and Acheulean assemblages identified in North Africa to date.

Oued Boucherit comprises six palaeontological and four archaeological levels. Three Oldowan layers have been dated to approximately 2,44 million years ago, 1,92 million years ago and 1,77 million years ago, respectively.

Figure 5
The fourth level provides evidence of the oldest Acheulean finds in North Africa to thus far, dating to around 1,67 million years ago. Tools and fossilised animal bones, mostly from antelopes and horses, showed cut marks from stone tools. This unequivocally proves that early hominins used the meat and marrow from animal carcasses at this site and had primary access to them.

The bifaces that characterise the Acheulean level are of medium size (11.4 cm) and are made from local limestone using the hard hammer technique. They have a characteristic zigzag pattern, are relatively thick, asymmetric and were created using only a few removals. Trihedrals are common.

The cores are of a considerable size (up to 22.6 cm long) and were moderately exploited (an average of seven removed scars per core) using the hard hammerstone technique.

The stratified early Acheulean from Oued Boucherit is almost contemporaneous with East African sites (1,8–1,6 Ma) and slightly earlier than South African sites (>1.0–1,.6 Ma). This finding suggests either very rapid dissemination of Mode 2 technologies or even an independent invention in North Africa.

Suggested Readings::

Mathieu Duval, Mohamed Sahnouni et al. The Plio-Pleistocene sequence of Oued Boucherit (Algeria): A unique chronologically-constrained archaeological and palaeontological record in North Africa, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 271, 2021, 107116.

Manuel 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.



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