Crossing Disciplines in the Study of Archaeology and Prehistoric Art: Insights from the Sahara and Mediterranean Africa
Proceedings of the XX UISPP World Congress (5–9 September 2023, Timișoara, Romania) Volume / Session 18
Edited by Barbara E. Barich
Paperback (Published)
(August 2026)
ISBN: 9781805833505
8.07 x 11.46 inches
Price: $49.00
In stock
This volume presents interdisciplinary research on North African prehistoric art and Saharan archaeology, covering rock art, ostrich eggshell ornamentation, cave excavations and protohistoric chariot technology. Together, the studies reveal insights into ancient Saharan societies, environments, beliefs and cultural connections.
This volume publishes part of the scientific contributions presented at the XX UISPP World Congress in Timișoara, combining studies on North African prehistoric art – both parietal and portable – with field investigation results. Emerging from the session organised by the Commission ‘Art and Civilizations of the Sahara during Prehistoric Times’, this book demonstrates how Saharan research offers a comprehensive representation of the society, environment, and intellectual world of past human groups. In doing so, it embraces the inspiration of the congress organisers, who established interdisciplinarity as the central theme of the event.
The volume opens with an overview of research on the rock art corpus, spanning from historical chronological classifications to studies focused on the meaning of the artworks. The crisis of these traditional approaches has given rise to the current trend, which focuses on digital recording and image-enhancement technologies to facilitate interpretation. Beyond parietal art, two chapters present valuable studies on the ornamentation of ostrich eggshells, an ancient tradition originating in the late Pleistocene and developing throughout the Holocene. The Capsian environment of the Eastern Maghreb forms the focus of these analyses, geographically centred between Tunisia and Algeria.
The illustration of excavations in two recently discovered, significant caves leads into the Sahara – specifically the Saharan Atlas and the Ahaggar region – presenting unpublished data from ongoing research. The volume concludes with a fascinating topic in Saharan protohistory: the ‘Chariot Peoples’ who introduced horse-drawn vehicles to the Sahara. The author demonstrates how the technical features of the Saharan harness replicate identical technological solutions used in Pharaonic Egypt.
List of Figures and Tables
Foreword to the XX World Congress Proceedings Series by the UISPP President and General Secretary
Avant-propos à la collection des Actes du XXe Congrès mondial par le Président et le Secrétaire général de l’UISPP
Foreword to the Proceedings of the XX UISPP World Congress, Timișoara, 5–9 September 2023
Avant-propos aux Actes du XXe Congrès mondial de l’UISPP à Timișoara, 5–9 septembre 2023
Foreword to the Volume / Avant-propos du volume
Authors / Auteurs
Searching for Meanings and Connections – Past and Current Trends in Saharan Rock Art Research – Barbara E. Barich
Données paléoenvironnementales et culturelles dans la Tassili-Tan-Ahaggar (Sahara central, Algérie) : premières observations dans la grotte de Telem Fezza – Yasmina Damouche, Hayette Berkani et Iddir Amara
L’autruche Holocène dans les Sociétés de l’Afrique du Nord – Lotfi Belhouchet et Colette Roubet
L’art préhistorique à travers les gravures et incisions sur l’oeuf d’autruche : étude des représentations géométriques et zoomorphes à Bir Oum Ali durant l’Iberomaurusien – Khansa Hannachi
Exploitation de la grotte de Kheneg el-Ghar (Montagnes des Ksour, Atlas saharien) par les derniers chasseurs-cueilleurs durant l’Holocène – Saida Kasri, Ilham Bentaleb et Iddir Amara
L’Homme Capsien : semi-nomade à travers ses outils en silex et la céramique – Khansa Hannachi
Quelle retenue pour les attelages de chevaux de la protohistoire saharienne au regard de celle du Nouvel Empire égyptien ? – Christian Dupuy
Barbara E. Barich was formerly professor of African Ethnography and Prehistory at La Sapienza University in Rome (1994-2012). She has led long-term archaeological projects in Libya (Tadrart Akakus, Jebel Gharbi-Nefusa) and Egypt (Farafra Oasis), with fieldwork in Sudan, Gilf El Kebir in Egypt, and Ivory Coast. Her multi-disciplinary research focuses on early ceramic societies of North Africa and the Sahara, the origins of food production, and Saharan Neolithic development. She has held prominent international leadership roles, including President of the International Academy of Prehistory and Protohistory (elected May 2025) and interim President of the UISPP (2023-2024), where she also chaired the Saharan Art and Civilisation Commission for many years.
- Edited by Barbara E. Barich
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Monumental Earthen Architecture in Early Societies: Technology and power display
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Materials, Productions, Exchange Network and their Impact on the Societies of Neolithic Europe
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Historiographie des préhistoriens et paléontologues d’Afrique du Nord
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Studies on the Palaeolithic of Western Eurasia
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Big Data and Archaeology
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Archaeological Heritage Policies and Management Structures
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Demography and Migration Population trajectories from the Neolithic to the Iron Age
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Stone in Metal Ages
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New Advances in the History of Archaeology
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Quality Management of Cultural Heritage: problems and best practices
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Use of Space and Domestic Areas: Functional Organisation and Social Strategies
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Networks and Monumentality in the Pacific
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Historiographie de préhistoriens et de protohistoriens français du XX° siècle
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Public Images, Private Readings: Multi-Perspective Approaches to the Post-Palaeolithic Rock Art
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Mobility and Exchange across Borders: Exploring Social Processes in Europe during the First Millennium BCE – Theoretical and Methodological Approaches
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