Aterians in Libya

This paper aims at pointing out the existence of different chronological, technological and typological Aterian horizons in Libya, which represent various cultural groups adapted to different environmental conditions in northern and southern Libya. Even though some general techniques and tool-kits appear over a large territory, they are separated by tens of millennia. It is suggested that Aterian peoples adopted isolated forms of social organisation. Such a system could explain the conservative duration of technical traditions from the early MSA to the late North African Aterian and could justify their spread, at a very slow pace, over such a vast territory.