Modern behaviour and cultural complexity in the Upper Pleistocene and Early Holocene in Western Libya

Two main aspects characterise the prehistory of North Africa: modern behaviour and cultural complexity. Both show peculiar and unique features that typify the African continent. In the Upper Pleistocene, North African populations had a fully modern behaviour, although they still produced Levallois stone technology. In the Early Holocene, their environmental adaptation and cultural complexity led to food production with no agriculture. This paper first considers broad considerations concerning North Africa in general and, then, analyses specific examples from north-western Libya, in the mountain range of the Jebel Gharbi, and from south-western Libya, in the mountain range of the Tadrart Acacus and the Messak Settafet plateau.