Fuel and vegetation at Asa Koma (Republic of Djibouti) during the second millennium BC

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Periodical article

Title:	Fuel and vegetation at Asa Koma (Republic of Djibouti) during the second millennium BC
Author:	Newton, Claire
Year:	2008
Periodical:	Journal of African Archaeology
Volume:	6
Issue:	1
Pages:	87-102
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Djibouti
Subjects:	archaeology Stone Age prehistory charcoal
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/43135445
Abstract:	Charcoal analyses were performed on hearths and ash layers from a seasonally occupied Neolithic dwelling site in the eastern lowlands of the Horn of Africa, dated to the first half of the second millennium BC. It was suggested by an earlier study that the predominance of two taxa, Suaeda (seablite)/Chenopodiaceae and Salvadora persica (saltbush), could be an over-representation due to the selection of wood for specialized use, i.e. fish processing. In this study, the authors show that this can be ruled out, and that the characteristics of the charcoal spectra can be explained in terms of past vegetation composition. They suggest that arid steppe plant formations prevailed, from which most of the fauna was hunted, and that the nearby water channel was not active all year round. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French [Journal abstract]