ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the environmental crisis at the end of the Early Holocene, focusing on its temporal duration and geographical variability across the Sahara, and its potential relations with the emergence of herding: Uan Muhuggiag and Takarkori in the Tadrart Acacus have yielded some of Africa’s earliest domestic caprines and cattle, firmly dated to between 8300 and 8000 calBP. This is followed by an exploration of the interplay between the last Late Acacus foragers and the first Early Pastoral groups, highlighting the role of the rock art produced by foragers in creating and maintaining social boundaries, contrasting with the herders’ custom of burying family members within shelters to emphasise belonging to (and ownership of) the land. The processes of encapsulation and the relations with space and the landscape reveal deep conceptual differences between Late Acacus foragers and early herders, a phenomenon visible in the larger Sahara. A rapid survey of current analyses of the transition from acquisitive societies to groups with a productive economy based on herding, from the Maghreb to the Egyptian oases, critically positions the contribution made by the central Sahara, despite the growing pressures exerted by the lack of security, social instability, and conflict.
