title: The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya).
abstract: The 1950s excavations by Charles McBurney in the Haua Fteah, a large karstic cave on the coast of northeast Libya, revealed a deep sequence of human occupation. Most subsequent research on North African prehistory refers to his discoveries and interpretations, but the chronology of its archaeological and geological sequences has been based on very early age determinations. This paper reports on the initial results of a comprehensive multi-method dating program undertaken as part of new work at the site, involving radiocarbon dating of charcoal, land snails and marine shell, cryptotephra investigations, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments, and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of tooth enamel. The dating samples were collected from the newly exposed and cleaned faces of the upper 7.5 m of the ∼14.0 m-deep McBurney trench, which contain six of the seven major cultural phases that he identified. Despite problems of sediment transport and reworking, using a Bayesian statistical model the new dating program establishes a robust framework for the five major lithostratigraphic units identified in the stratigraphic succession, and for the major cultural units. The age of two anatomically modern human mandibles found by McBurney in Layer XXXIII near the base of his Levalloiso-Mousterian phase can now be estimated to between 73 and 65 ka (thousands of years ago) at the 95.4% confidence level, within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. McBurney's Layer XXV, associated with Upper Palaeolithic Dabban blade industries, has a clear stratigraphic relationship with Campanian Ignimbrite tephra. Microlithic Oranian technologies developed following the climax of the Last Glacial Maximum and the more microlithic Capsian in the Younger Dryas. Neolithic pottery and perhaps domestic livestock were used in the cave from the mid Holocene but there is no certain evidence for plant cultivation until the Graeco-Roman period.
authors: Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK. Electronic address: katerina.douka@rlaha.ox.ac.uk.
authors: Katerina
authors: K
authors: Douka
authors: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address: zenobia@uow.edu.au.
authors: Zenobia
authors: Z
authors: Jacobs
authors: Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK. Electronic address: Christine.lane@rlaha.ox.ac.uk.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Lane
authors: Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia. Electronic address: rainer.grun@anu.edu.au.
authors: Rainer
authors: R
authors: Grün
authors: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK. Electronic address: lrf24@cam.ac.uk.
authors: Lucy
authors: L
authors: Farr
authors: School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Ireland. Electronic address: c.hunt@qub.ac.uk.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Hunt
authors: Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK. Electronic address: robyn.inglis@york.ac.uk.
authors: Robyn H
authors: RH
authors: Inglis
authors: Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birkbeck College, University of London, 26 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ, UK. Electronic address: te.reynolds@bbk.ac.uk.
authors: Tim
authors: T
authors: Reynolds
authors: Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK. Electronic address: pgalbert17@googlemail.com.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Albert
authors: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address: maubert@uow.edu.au.
authors: Maxime
authors: M
authors: Aubert
authors: Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK. Electronic address: victoria.cullen@keble.ox.ac.uk.
authors: Victoria
authors: V
authors: Cullen
authors: School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Ireland. Electronic address: ehill08@qub.ac.uk.
authors: Evan
authors: E
authors: Hill
authors: Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia. Electronic address: leslie.kinsley@anu.edu.au.
authors: Leslie
authors: L
authors: Kinsley
authors: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address: rgrob@uow.edu.au.
authors: Richard G
authors: RG
authors: Roberts
authors: Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK. Electronic address: tomlinse@tcd.ie.
authors: Emma L
authors: EL
authors: Tomlinson
authors: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2 - Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany. Electronic address: swulf@gfz-potsdam.de.
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Wulf
authors: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK. Electronic address: gb314@cam.ac.uk.
authors: Graeme
authors: G
authors: Barker
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D059552:Caves; D002910:Chronology as Topic; D004578:Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D055110:Radiometric Dating
keywords: Dating; Hominin dispersals; Neolithisation; North Africa