Lithic industry of the Promontoire site. 1. Bifacial shaping armature. 2. Armature with bifacial retouv. Drawing S. Aeschlimann
During the first campaign of the project, in winter 1997-98, a site suggestive of the Neolithic in Saharan zones was inventoried on a promontory on the right bank of the Yamé River. This was a large surface concentration of armatures with bifacial retouch of quartzitic sandstone, comparable to the Neolithic facies of Tilemsi.
The site later named “Neolithic Promontory” and its lithic industry were the subject of a Master’ degree at the University of Geneva by Souad Kouti in 2004. In this framework, several test excavations were carried out on the Promontory in 2003 and 2004.
At the end of the study, the industry was found to be older than expected, since it was situated in the Middle Holocene on the basis of an OSL date and the general geomorphological analysis of the site, with a terminus ante quem of 3,500 BC (Kouti 2005; Kouti and Huysecom 2007).
Lithic industry of the Promontoire site. 1. Scraper. 2. Side-scraper. 3. Drill. Drawing S. Kouti.