UNDP's mitigation strategy in Africa

1
Cultural Heritage in the Sahara I
Archaeological environmental contexts
Nick Brooks Tyndall Centre for Climate Change
Research University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4
7TJ. Email nick.brooks_at_uea.ac.uk Web
http//www.cru.uea.ac.uk/e118/welcome.htm
Western Sahara Project
2
Why the Sahara?

• Archaeology
• Rich archaeological record - palaeolithic into
  historical period
• Area of pristine state formation (Fezzan,
  Libya)
• Environmental change
• Subject to dramatic changes in environment (e.g.
  3000 BCE)
• A theoretically ideal training ground for the
  analysis of social responses to major
  environmental alterations. (di Lernia, 2006)
• Heritage
• the worlds largest collection of prehistoric
  art (Lhote, 19591)
• Millions of paintings engravings, rich funerary
  landscapes
• Threats from development, tourism, urbanisation,
  resource extraction, coupled with generally low
  awareness poor protection of heritage

1Cited in Keenan (2007)
3
Context Past Saharan Environments
4
Framing archaeology environmental change

• Successive arid-humid episodes driven by orbital
  changes monsoons
• Humid 10,000-5000 yrs before present (BP)
  desiccation 5000 BP
• Early - Middle Holocene period (Holocene past
  10,000 yrs)

For review of linked Holocene environmental
cultural change in the Sahara elsewhere see
Brooks et al. (2005) Brooks (2006)
5
Holocene Climatic Optimum 10,000-5000 BCE
6
Large humid climate fauna
Photos from Wadi Mathandoush, Fezzan, Libya
7
Abrupt Desertification
Dust input in eastern tropical Atlantic
sediments. Note reversal of vertical scale

• Gradual trend towards aridity with short arid
  phases after 8000 BP
• Abrupt desertification after 5700 BP
• Aridification stabilizes after 5200 BP
• 6th millennium BP time of profound environmental
  cultural change globally

See also Brooks (2006)
8
Archaeological Heritage A Few Examples
9
Past Human Occupation
Images from Western Sahara
10
Uan Tabu rockshelter, Acacus, Libya
11
Hunting with dogs, Uan Tabu
12
One of a group of elephants, el-Greifa, Fezzan,
Libya
13
Tiffinagh scrip, Taglit, Wadi al-Ajal, Libya
14
The Sahara Museum and Laboratory
Museum of prehistory - window on Early-Middle
Holocene Laboratory - of human adaptation to
climatic environmental change
15
Human-Environment Interaction in the Prehistoric
Sahara
16
Cattle Cults the Saharan Megalithic

• Rapid spread of cattle cult after 7000 BP,
  with drier conditions
• Cattle themes in rock art , Ritual slaughtering
  and burial
• Earliest Saharan monumental architecture
• Initially only animal burials
• Later monuments also contain human burials
• Increased territoriality and social stratification

Anticlockwise from top left Cattle engraving,
Wadi Mathandoush, Libya funerary monument, Area
177, southern Libya cattle engraving, wadi Erni,
Western Sahara cattle paintings, Rekeiz
Lemgassem, Western Sahara
17
Population responses to aridification 6000-5000
BP
Carbon 14 dates from 1040 archaeological sites in
the Sahara between 13 and 34 N. From Vernet and
Faure, 2000. Southward shift in occupation after
5000 BP 5000 BP represents hinge between humid
arid conditions (di Lernia Manzi, 1998)
18
Saharan Refugia
Palaeolake deposits with associated stone tools
and monuments, southern Libya
19
The Libyan Fezzan

• Region represented refuge for central Saharan
  populations after sub-continental scale
  desiccation accelerated around 5000 BP
• Subject to extensive geo-archaeological research
  (Fezzan Project, Italian-Libyan Joint Mission in
  the Acacus)
• Key region for studying state formation,
  human-environment interaction

LIBYA

• For detailed discussion of archaeological
  environmental research in Fezzan see
• di Lernia et al. 2002
• Mattingly 2003
• Mattingly et al. 2003

ALGERIA
NIGER
20
Aridity Cultural Change in the Fezzan

• Early Holocene
• Hunting gathering relative sedentism

• 7th millennium BP
• Cattle herding introduced
• Shift from semi-permanent lowland settlements to
  transhumance as conditions become drier in late
  7th mil.
• Monumental funerary architecture

• 5000 BP onwards
• Monsoon collapse, aridity
• Winter rains persist in highlands - hunting
• Congregation in oasis areas
• Increasing sedentism (cattle) AND increasing
  mobility (sheep goats)
• In-migration, population increase
• Human burials completely replace faunal
• Denser concentration of burial monuments

Images from top hunter, Wadi Mathandoush
hunting barbary sheep, Acacus monument, Wadi
al-Ajal
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Final desiccation of the Fezzan

• Early 3rd millennium BP
• Soil moisture reserves depleted by 3500 BP
  (Wadi Tannezuft)1
• Fluvial activity until 2700 BP (Wadi
  Tannezuft)1
• Last lakes in Murzuq Sand Sea desiccated around
  or soon after 3 ka1
• Springs dry up along foot of Messak Settafet,
  Wadi al-Hayat 3100 225 BP2

Cultural changes in the Fezzan - emergence of
Garamantes

• 1st permanent settlement structure - Zinchechra
  hill fort, Wadi al-Ajal3
• Establishment of Garama, principle Garamantian
  settlement, at edge of drying Germa Playa, last
  permanent water source3
• Introduction of irrigated agriculture in early
  3rd millennium BP3

• Emergence of Garamantian Tribal Confederation in
  desiccating refugia
• Latest pastoral pottery in early Garamantian
  settlements4

For a review, see Brooks et al. 2005 Brooks 2006
1di Lernia et al. 2002 2Drake et al. 2006
Mattingly 2006 Mattingly 2003
22
In a certain sense, Late Pastoral people became
the Garamantesdi Lernia et al., 2002
Settlements, 900 BC - 500 AD
Zinchechra hill fort, 3ka BP
23
The Garamantes
Clockwise from above Garamantian warriors, Wadi
al-Hayat Garamantian chariot, Acacus mountains
Libyans from ancient Egyptian depictions.
24
The First Central Saharan State

• Garamantian Tribal Confederation, early 3rd - mid
  2nd millennium BP
• Large population centres, political control over
  large area, complex social organisation
• Heartland in Wadi al-Ajal/al-Hayat surrounding
  areas

25
The Wadi al-Hayat Today
26
Irrigating the desert
Foggara spoil heaps
Modern Foggara, Algeria
See Wilson 2006
27
Summary The importance of the Sahara

• Sub-continental scale repository of prehistoric
  cultural heritage
• Rich heritage of funerary monuments comparable in
  diversity and exceeding in geographical extent
  those of megalithic Europe
• Millions of prehistoric engravings paintings
  spanning millennia
• Record of human occupation - lithics, ceramics
• Environmental sites help us reconstruct past
  changes
• Record of human responses to large climatic
  environmental change
• Lessons about human adaptation relationship to
  cultural changes
• Resource scarcity, territoriality, social
  stratification complexity
• Instructive in terms of models of state formation

• BUT
• This heritage and valuable scientific information
  faces a variety of threats
• Epitomised by situation in Fezzan, where
  development, oil exploration tourism are
  placing heritage at risk

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Threats to Archaeological Heritage
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I. Urbanisation development
Escarpment between modern towns of Germa and
Twesh, Fezzan, Libya
30
Garama/Old Germa
Germa
Garamantian cemeteries cut by road
31

• Escarpment south of Germa - encroaching
  development threatens
• Engravings from early-middle Holocene to
  Garamantian period
• Prehistoric Garamantian funerary sites
  monuments
• Garamantian quarries
• Foggara

32
Quarrying in the Wadi al-Ajal
Escarpment at centre houses only recently
recorded rock engravings Ancient shoreline
features destroyed
33
Examples of engravings at risk
See Barnett 2006
34
II. Oil Exploration resource extraction
MESSAK SETTAFET, FEZZAN, LIBYA Seismic lines,
camps tracks, Messak Settafet Results of survey
by LASMO Grand Maghreb (subsequently bought by
AGIP) in late 1990s early 2000s
35
Seismic damage at Wadi Mathandoush, Messak
Settafet
Photos taken in 2004 after seismic survey by
LASMO Grand Maghreb See also http//www.cesmap.it
/ifrao/27.htm
See also http//www.dur.ac.uk/prehistoric.art/res
earch/2002_Libya/libya_index.htm
36
Cracking due to natural weathering exacerbated by
seismic prospecting - damage to unique scene of
rhino butchering by people with jackal masks,
Wadi Mathandoush, Fezzan, Libya
37
(No Transcript)
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Verdict of International Federation of Rock Art
Organisations tracks were bulldozed which
completely destroyed the landscape, wadi flanks
were cut by machines, water points (gueltas)
filled up and rubble piled up against rock faces
with petroglyphs (Anonymous 1999 2001 Liverani
et al. 2000). In scale, this damage is
com-parable to the work of the Taliban who
destroyed an ancient statue in Afghanistan. IFRAO
Report No. 27 http//www.cesmap.it/ifrao/27.htm
Damage also confirmed by UNESCO after visit to
Messak Settafet in 1999 New roads seismic lines
make travel across Messak easier, making
vulnerable sites more accessible Damage occurred
at time when regulation of exploration activities
was weak - no EIA etc. Oil gas personnel also
responsible for removal of artefacts for private
collections
40
Current situation in Libya with regard to oil
exploration Oil exploration accompanied by
archaeological environmental impact assessment,
often in cooperation with foreign institutions
engaged in research

• However,
• Explosion in oil exploration since lifting of
  sanctions in 2004
• Some resistance to foreigners conducting impact
  assessments
• Limited capacity among national institutions to
  carry out assessment
• Limited scope for foreign research teams
  researching new discoveries outside existing
  areas of work due to priorities, resources

• Exploration in previously closed areas means many
  new finds
• Lack of professionalism among national
  consultancies engaged in impact assessment means
  new sites vulnerable to looting

41
Some sites recorded along proposed seismic lines
in Area 177, Chevron concession, Jan. 2006,
far south of Libya
42
III. Looting of artefacts
Geomorphologically convenient - strongly
deflationary environment Little or no
stratigraphy - wind erosion of surface sediments
means portable artefacts from all periods exposed
on surface easy to locate and collect

• Exploration in previously closed areas means many
  new finds
• Lack of professionalism among national
  consultancies engaged in impact assessment means
  new sites vulnerable to looting

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Looting in the Sahara II
There is scarcely a corner of the Sahara that
has not been looted or vandalised, while in some
areas, such as Morocco, it is estimated that as
much as 40 per cent of the known rock art
patrimony has been lost to looting or vandalism.
The looting is not limited to rock art. Lithics
and potsherds have been collected in their
millions. Extensive areas of the Sahara have been
subjected to what can best be described as
systematic vacuuming by professional looters to
such an extent that the archaeological landscape
of much of the Sahara has not simply been
damaged, but sterlised. (Keenan, 2007, p.215)

• Damage caused by
• Tourists, sometimes encouraged by tour guides
• Local people, for sale to tourists
• Oil/gas military personnel
• Organised looting parties, for private
  collections sale on international markets
• Archaeologists (especially during colonial period)

See Keenan (2007) for a fuller discussion more
examples
44
III. Tourism
Damage in the Acacus, Libya For many years,
archaeological sites protected by isolation
(physical remoteness political isolation of
Libyan state)

• Large increase in tourism since late 1990s
• Estimated 45,000 tourists in Acacus between Dec.
  1999 Apr. 2000 (di Lernia, 2005)

• Significant damage to decorated rock-shelters -
  up to 40 shelters irreversibly damaged (Keenan,
  2005)
• Paintings rapidly degraded, with major factor
  being washing of rock surfaces to enhance
  colours, e.g. for photographs (promoted by Lhote
  in Algeria, 1950s)
• Better regulation of tourism today - entry and
  access more strictly controlled, tourists must be
  accompanied by guides have invitation

• Exploration in previously closed areas means many
  new finds
• Lack of professionalism among national
  consultancies engaged in impact assessment means
  new sites vulnerable to looting

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Tourism heritage in southern Algeria (Ahaggar
region) Since 1960s, tourism associated with
Tuareg, vital income means of sustaining
traditional culture and (to some extent)
lifestyles (mobility, local knowledge,
camels) without tourism there is no nomadism,
and without nomadism there is no tourism (from
Keenan, 2004)

• Tourism based to large extent on cultural
  heritage (especially rock art) helped sustain
  Tuareg communities facing loss of other
  livelihood pillars - now major pillar of
  nomadic-pastoral economy
• Tuareg mobilised to protect heritage in response
  to widespread damage to sites environment
• Association des Agences de Tourisme Wilaya de
  Tamanrasset (ATAWT)
• Union Nationale des Associations des Agences de
  Toursime Alternatif (UNATA)
• Tamanrasset Conference with World Tourism
  Organisation (1989)
• Shift from view of archaeological heritage as
  being associated with Issebeten (people before
  them) to being key part of local cultural
  heritage as (tourism) value realised - awareness
  ownership
• Arrival of internet important in allowing local
  people to access academic work on heritage, and
  to respond to sale of looted artefacts on world
  wide web (2002)
• Tension between opportunistic sustainable
  tourism remains - actors are local people tour
  companies, developers, foreign tour operators
  airlines, foreign donors
• Concerns about mass tourism, distrust of state,
  tensions between locals and incomers (gens du
  nord) feed into regional political tensions

• Exploration in previously closed areas means many
  new finds
• Lack of professionalism among national
  consultancies engaged in impact assessment means
  new sites vulnerable to looting

See Keenan 2004, on which above is based
46
Conclusions

• Sahara has a vital role to play in our
  understanding of the human past, climatic
  environmental change, and human-environment
  interaction
• Relevant archaeological environmental evidence
  is being lost at a rapid rate
• Development (e.g. urbanisation, agriculture), oil
  exploration, tourism organised looting all
  contribute, and are intensifying
• Archaeology often seen as obstacle to development
• Tourism is mixed blessing - can place economic
  value on heritage raise awareness, but also
  associated with physical damage, market in
  artefacts, environmental impacts
• Some progress in terms of regulation of tourism,
  organisation of local people to protect heritage,
  requirements for impact assessment, but long
  way to go
• Association of archaeological heritage with
  people before us (I.e. pre-Islamic) persists -
  can lead to indifference or disrespect to
  heritage
• Best way of safeguarding heritage is to encourage
  sense of ownership among local people
  government, backed up by effective regulation of
  potential destructive activities
• Archaeological heritage often best protected when
  it becomes political !

• Exploration in previously closed areas means many
  new finds
• Lack of professionalism among national
  consultancies engaged in impact assessment means
  new sites vulnerable to looting

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References I

• Texts dealing most directly with cultural
  heritage issues highlighted in blue.
• Barnett, T. 2006. Libyan rock art as a cultural
  heritage resource. In Mattingly et al. (eds.) The
  Libyan Desert Natural Resources and Cultural
  Heritage, pp.95-110. Society for Libyan Studies,
  London.
• Brooks, N. 2006. Cultural responses to aridity in
  the Middle Holocene and increased social
  complexity. Quaternary International 151, 29-49
• Brooks, N., Di Lernia, S., Drake, N. Chiapello,
  I., Legrand, M., Moulin, C. and Prospero, J.
  2007. The environment-society nexus in the Sahara
  from prehistoric times to the present day. In
  Keenan (ed.) The Sahara Past, Present and
  Future1, pp. 1-40. Routledge.
• de Menocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T.,
  Adkins, J., Sarnthein., M, Barker, L. and
  Yarusinsky, M. 2000. Abrupt onset and termination
  of the African Humid Period rapid climate
  responses to gradual insolation forcing.
  Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 347-361
• di Lernia, S. 2002. Dry climatic events and
  cultural trajectories adjusting Middle Holocene
  Pastoral economy of the Libyan Sahara, in
  Hassan, F.A. (Ed.), Droughts, Food and Culture,
  pp. 225250. New York Kluwer Academic/Plenum
  Publishers.
• di Lernia, S. 2006. Building monuments, creating
  identity Cattle cult as a social response to
  rapid environmental changes in the Holocene
  Sahara. Quaternary International 151, 50-62
• di Lernia, S. 2007. Incoming tourism, outgoing
  culture tourism, development and cultural
  heritage in the Libyan Sahara. In Keenan (ed.)
  The Sahara Past, Present and Future1, pp.
  185-201. Routledge.
• di Lernia, S., Manzi, G., Merighi, F., 2002.
  Cultural variability and human trajectories in
  later prehistory of the Wadi Tenezzuft. In di
  Lernia, S., Manzi, G. (Eds.), Sand, Stones and
  Bones The Archaeology of Death in the Wadi
  Tannezzuft Valley (5000ñ2000 BP). Centro
  Interuniversitario di Ricerca per le Civilta e
  líAmbiente del Sahara Antico e Delle Zone Aride,
  Universita Degli Studi di Roma and Department of
  Antiquities, Libya, pp. 281-302.

1Originally published as special issue of The
Journal of North African Studies, vol. 304 (2005)
48
References II

• Drake, N., White, K. and McLaren, S. 2006.
  Quaternary climate change in the Jarmah region of
  Fazzan, Libya. In Mattingly et al. (eds.) The
  Libyan Desert Natural Resources and Cultural
  Heritage, pp.133-144. Society for Libyan Studies,
  London.
• Keenan, J. 2004. Contested terrain tourism,
  environment and security in Algerias extreme
  south. In Keenan The Lesser Gods of the Sahara,
  pp. 226-256. Frank Cass, London.
• Keenan, J. 2007. Looting the Sahara the
  material, intellectual and social implications of
  the destruction of cultural heritage (briefing).
  In Keenan (ed.) The Sahara Past, Present and
  Future1, pp. 214-232. Routledge.
• Leblanc, M., Favreau, G., Maley, J., Nazoumou, Y,
  Leduc, C., Stagnitti, F., van Oevelen, P. J.,
  Delclaux, F. and Lemoalle, J. 2006.
  Reconstruction of Megalake Chad using Shuttle
  Radar Topographic Mission data. Palaeogeography,
  Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 239, 16-27.
• Mattingly, D.J., 2003. Historical summary. In
  Mattingly, D.J. (Ed.), The Archaeology of Fazzan
  vol. 1, Synthesis. Department of Antiquities,
  Tripoli, and Society for Libyan Studies, London,
  pp. 75-106.
• Mattingly, D. J. 2006. The Garamantes the First
  Libyan state. In Mattingly et al. (eds.) The
  Libyan Desert Natural Resources and Cultural
  Heritage, pp.189-204. Society for Libyan Studies,
  London.
• Mattingly, D.J., Reynolds, T., Dore, J., 2003.
  Synthesis of human activities in Fazzan. In
  Mattingly, D.J. (Ed.), The Archaeology of Fazzan
  vol. 1, Synthesis. Department of Antiquities,
  Tripoli and Society for Libyan Studies, London,
  pp. 327ñ373.
• Vernet, R., Faure, H. 2000. Isotopic chronology
  of the Sahara and the Sahel during the late
  Pleistocene and the early and Mid-Holocene
  (15,0006000 BP). Quaternary International 6817
  385387.
• Wilson, A. 2006. The spread of foggara-based
  irrigation in the ancient Sahara. In Mattingly et
  al. (eds.) The Libyan Desert Natural Resources
  and Cultural Heritage, pp.205-216. Society for
  Libyan Studies, London.

1Originally published as special issue of The
Journal of North African Studies, vol. 304 (2005)
49
Additional, general reading

• di Lernia, S. 2007. Incoming tourism, outgoing
  culture. In Keenan (ed.) The Sahara Past,
  Present and Future1, pp. 185-201. Routledge.
• Giurovich, D. and Keenan, J. 2007. The UNDP, the
  World Bank and biodiversity in the Algerian
  Sahara. In Keenan (ed.) The Sahara Past, Present
  and Future1, pp. 332-343. Routledge.
• Keenan, J. 2007. Who Thought Rock Art Was About
  Archaeology? The Role of Prehistory in Algeria's
  Terror,Journal of Contemporary African Studies,
  25,119-140
• Mattingly et al. (eds.) The Libyan Desert
  Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage,
  pp.133-144. Society for Libyan Studies, London.
  Following chapters focus on heritage issues
• Mattingly et al. Resources and heritage of the
  Libyan Desert, pp. 3-8.
• Barker, G. The archaeology and heritage of the
  Sahara, pp. 9-28.
• Keenan, J. Tourism, development and conservation
  a Saharan perspective, pp. 241-252.
• Al-Rimayh, T. F. The national and human
  essentials for desert tourism in south-west
  Libya, pp. 253-260.
• Liverani, M. The archaeological park of the
  Acacus, pp. 261-270.
• Mattingly et al. Conference resolutions and a
  Sahara code for Libya, pp. 331-334.

1Originally published as special issue of The
Journal of North African Studies, vol. 304 (2005)