The Archaeological Mission in the Sahara will carry out field activities in Tunisia in the Chott el Jerid, the Grand Erg Oriental, the Dahar (governorates of Kebili and Tataouine) and in the Wadi Serrat (el Kef). Laboratory activities, dissemination and publications are integral part of the research.
The project continues the study on past environmental and cultural trajectories at late Quaternary contexts in the Northern Sahara and the pre-desert to understand key evolutive and population dynamics: the appearance of the earliest H. sapiens and their material correlates (c. 300 ka); the introduction of food production economies and the interactions with the last hunter-gatherers in the early Holocene (c. 11,000 calBP); the network of contacts revealed by late prehistoric funerary traditions; the genetic composition and ethno-history of sedentary and mobile communities.
To achieve the objectives of the project, we shall excavate: i) the middle/late Pleistocene sequence of Wadi Lazalim; ii) the early Holocene contexts of Tembaine and Wadi Serrat; iii) the Neolithic funerary monuments in the Chott and the Erg.
Field activities are carefully scheduled in the framework of an organically conceived territorial project, but could shift from area to area after the security advice of the Italian Embassy in Tunis.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the fieldwork is flexibly scheduled in a long mission in autumn 2020 (October-November) or early 2021. Around 30 Tunisian and Italian scientists and students will compose the team: archaeologists, geologists, botanists and biologists. The fieldwork will also focus on the training of Tunisian and Italian students. We shall also continue the analyses on archaeological materials from the missions 2015-2019, plus the 2020 campaign. Other laboratory analyses will be conducted on biological and skeletal material from SW Libya currently curated at the Museum of Anthropology of Sapienza University of Rome (DNA, stable isotopes, C14).
The rapid alternation of different environmental contexts along the mainly latitudinal development of Tunisia makes it possible to set up a multiregional research modeled on the specificity of this landscape. The operational success, the consolidation of the Mission in Tunisia and the scientific results achieved so far represent the prerequisites for intensive and long-term research from the mountainous areas to the Saharan ergs. The multiplicity of contexts to be investigated also responds to the need of a flexibly remodulation of fieldwork on the basis of security conditions, still as fragile as to prevent from sticking to single archaeological contexts (see Cancellieri and Ben Nasr 2019).
As outlined in the previous sections, the northern Saharan area has an exceptional potential for the understanding of the cultural dynamics rooting as deep as the middle Pleistocene and for catching the connections of a complex landscape like the one here presented. The interactions between the human groups and the changing environments of the late Quaternary will be studied with a comprehensive approach including surveys at a different scale, soundings and extensive excavations and laboratory analyses.
The project heavily relies on inter- and multi-disciplinary approach and on a long-lasting and effective research team that achieved relevant results in similar projects strongly characterized by a territorial approach in other African contexts (Libya and Kenya). The continuously updated theoretical and methodological assets and the implementation of cutting edge-methods of analyses retain a decisive role on the research design and strategies. Different approaches in the field of archaeological, paleoenvironmental and geomorphological research (e.g., remote sensing, geomorphological survey, spatial analysis of geomorphic markers in GIS environment, numerical landscape evolution modeling, digital recording, absolute dating) as well as in anthropological and genetic studies (skeletal and dental biology, isotope investigation, analysis of faunal and botanical remains, aDNA etc) will be adopted.
In-depth analyses of the different contexts analysed will allow the reconstruction of the economic and socio-cultural dynamics of hunter-gatherers from the middle Pleistocene to the early Holocene, as well as of the first herders. A landscape approach and the study of mobility (geochemical/petrological and archaeological analysis of lithic and pottery artefacts; isotope analyses of osteological remains; and the genetic investigation) will open new perspectives on the patterns of occupation of the region and the interactions between human communities.
In a North African scenario that remains fragile, still shaken by the outcome of the Arab Spring, the project also has the cultural mission to support the capacity building and the knowledge transfer between the African and European shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The project strongly aims to engage the local communities to preserve and enhance their cultural and natural heritage, in particular promoting and helping to raise the awareness in very remote areas of the country. After the Arab Spring, we are asked to work for the construction of an academic network that could contribute to advancing the knowledge in countries torn by social and economic tensions. In this context, Tunisia - winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015, the only Arab country to have adopted a new democratic constitution - is an ideal place in which to implement this strategy. Not coincidentally, Tunisia is one of the very few North African countries in which academic research and international cooperation are making important progress, albeit with difficulty. Tunisia is ready to take off: cultural and academic development, which also entails a study of its socio-cultural roots, may act as a driver for a new relaunch of the national system.
Outreach regarding the progress of our research and the results obtained, in Italy, Tunisia and internationally, constitutes an integral part of the project. For this, it is intended to continue the training program (field research methodologies; main aspects of North African prehistory) for Tunisian students and young researchers to be carried out both locally and in Italy. Dissemination activities will be intensified in the territories of the communities where the Mission operates, and publicity activities will be launched in Tunisian and Italian institutions.