The Uan Tabu rockshelter is located in the Tadrart Acacus mountain range of southwestern Libya. Discovered in the 1960s, the rockshelter is primarly known for its rock paintings, and an archaeologial deposits with occupations dated between 7,000 and 90,000 years of age. A well-stratified Aterian deposit is its most important feature.
Two meters of occupation include flakes, blades and bladelets, a few ostrich eggshell beads and fragments, and a few rocker-stamped potsherds. Grinding stones with ochres may have been pigment preparation for the rock art. Radiocarbon dates suggest this upper occupation dates to the 9th millenium BP.
Aterian at Uan Tabu
The lowest level in the cave dates to the Aterian, and includes two occupations. The upper layer, with an OSL date of ca 61,000 +/- 10,000 BP, contains Levallois flake cores, Levallois flakes, and blades, endscrapers, burins, truncated flakes and hachiors.
The lower level contains Levallois flakes and blades, backed knives, tanged points and tools and cleavers.
Sources
See the Prehistoric Archaeology section of the Acacus website
This glossary entry is part of the Guide to the Middle Stone Age and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Garcea, Elena A. A. 1995 New investigations in the Tadrart Acacus, Libyan Sahara. Nyame Akuma 4435-27. Free download
