Late Quaternary human settlement patterning in the Jebel Gharbi, northwestern Libya

This paper presents the latest results of the geoarchaeological research on the Upper Pleistocene evidence in the Jebel Gharbi (previously called Jebel Nafusah), a mountain range located in Tripolitania, north-western Libya. Numerous archaeological sites dating to various periods are adjacent to water springs formed as a consequence of tectonic activities. The origin of these springs is due to tectonic faults that produced ground displacement and fissures during Late Pleistocene earthquakes, creating water outlets that, in many cases, are still presently active. Water springs in the Jebel Gharbi are spread all along the mountain range, both on the massif and at the foot of the mountains, and they must have offered attractive resources, particularly during dry periods, to populations coming from drier parts of North Africa or the near-by Sahara. The earliest sites associated with the water springs include Aterian lithic techno-complexes, that have been dated with various methods and show ages belonging to the Late Pleistocene, spanning between 80,000 and 40,000 years BP. Since then, these water springs attracted many populations, as settlements belonging to the Later Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic), Iberomaurusian (Late Upper Palaeolithic or Epipalaeolithic), Neolithic, Roman period, and present time indicate.