Caractéristiques techno-morphologiques des industries lithiques de la séquence stratigraphique −50/−100 cm de l’abri-sous-roche de Maadaga (sud-est du Burkina Faso)

Abstract

The Maadaga rock shelter is located in the Gobnangou massif, in the south-east of Burkina Faso. At the end of the 1980s, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Frankfurt carried out excavations there which made it possible to identify five stratigraphic levels covering the (0/−190 cm) grid. The remains of the transition between the level 4 and level 5 as well as those of the level 5 (−100/−190 cm), studied by the authors of the excavations showed two techno-cultural complexes characteristic of the Middle Stone Age. As part of our doctoral thesis, we conducted a techno-morphological study of the lithic artefacts of the four remaining levels and which cover the (0/−100 cm) stratigraphic framework. We were thus able to identify three others homogeneous techno-cultural complexes. In the context of this reflection, we have chosen to dwell on the layers presenting the best stratigraphic integrity (−50/−100 cm) according to the authors of the excavations. It covers the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene. Put in parallel with the sequence (−100/−190 cm) previously studied, it reveals that with the exception of the behavioural variabilities observed in the use of raw materials as well as in certain debitage purposes, the sequence (−50/−100 cm) presents the same characteristics in the use of techniques and methods.