Preliminary results from excavations at Gueldaman Cave GLD1 (Akbou, Algeria)

The limestone Adrar Gueldaman ridges of the northwestern Babors Mountains of the Tellian region (Northern Algeria) contain a large karst network with several caves. Inside one of them (GLD 1), first excavated in the 1920s, an Early Neolithic episode was identified. Since 2010, new investigations by the Centre National de Recherches Prehistoriques, Anthropologiques et Historiques, Algeria (CNRPAH), at GLD 1 and other newly discovered caves have revealed well-preserved anthropogenic deposits. The GLD1 deposits are more than 5 m deep. Four sectors (S1-S4) have been spatially defined, of which two (S2 and S3) were partially investigated. Eight samples of wood charcoal from these sectors were radiocarbon dated by AMS giving median dates ranging from 1484 cal BP to 17,031 cal BP. The main human occupation sequence at GLD1 is situated around the VI and VII millennia BP with virtually all of the archaeological deposits coming from these layers. Deeper occupation levels have not yet been investigated. Bio-archaeological remains are well preserved (mammal bones, mollusc shells and plant-remains) and linked with cultural material (ceramics, ornaments, lithic and bone tools). Multi-disciplinary analysis of this material is underway and here we report on the preliminary findings, which already bring new insights into the neolithisation process of this region. Evidence of sheep and goat domestication at more than 6 ka cal BP is particularly significant. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.