ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on increasing cultural complexity among Early Holocene hunter-gatherers, locally called Late Acacus. The ecological and environmental context is dominated by the expansion of grasslands, whose edible grains are heavily exploited as also indicated by the archaeobotanical record of southern and central Saharan sites. The emergence of pottery and the increase in grinding equipment are among the main changes that archaeologically differentiate the Late Acacus foragers from the previous Early Acacus hunter-gatherers. Also different is food security, now based on a “broad” spectrum of resources including terrestrial and aquatic foods, but especially plants. Experiments with the management of wild Barbary sheep and the early practice of cultivating wild cereals are recorded in some Tadrart Acacus sites. The features of the material culture and the settlement organisation of these Late Acacus foragers suggest a wide-ranging inter-regional network that connects the central Sahara with neighbouring regions to the south and east.
