Evidence of artificial cranial deformation from the later prehistory of the Acacus Mts. (southwestern Libya, central Sahara)

The 1999-2001 Italian-Libyan Archaeological Mission in the Acacus and Messak, southwestern Libya, resulted in the discovery of human specimens from the Wadi Tanezzuft Valley belonging to the Final Pastoral horizon (i.e. late Neolithic, about 3000 years bp). Some of these show clear traces of artificial cranial deformation. This practice, hitherto unrecorded in the central Sahara, is described and analysed in this paper. It represents an additional source of information about population movements and cultural connections in the area. It does not appear to be gender-related, and neither does it involve all individuals in the sample, suggesting some kind of social and/or cultural differentiation within the group. The pattern of cranial deformation described here is not directly related to types most commonly encountered among recent African populations and elsewhere. It may be considered a combination of antero-posterior and circumferential deformation and thus is referred to as a 'pseudo-circular type'. Archaeological and ethnographic literature related to Africa and southwestern Asia is investigated in order to identify a possible origin of such a custom and its pattern of diffusion, The evidence, according to other sources of information, contributes to interpret this area at the centre of the Sahara as a focal point of population movements and circulation of cultural traditions across North Africa in the latest phases of the Pastoral Neolithic. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.