Reflections on the Takarkori rockshelter (Fezzan, Libyan Sahara).

Rockshelters have hosted ancient Saharans since the Late Pleistocene. After a long hiatus, human occupation of such sites was remarkable during the Holocene, when hunter-gatherers and pastoralists exploited rockshelters in different manners. Italian scholars have been excavating these locations since the 1950s, shedding light on various aspects of the archaeology of the region. Fresh data have emerged from the excavation of the Takarkori rockshelter, located in the Acacus Mts. (southwestern Fezzan, Libya), which is presently under excavation. Shifts in the shelter’s use throughout the Holocene will be discussed and weighed against our current knowledge of the whole region, accumulated over decades of research.