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Abstract: We describe in this paper a traditional charcoal making technology occasionally adopted by Tuareg people in the hyper-arid central Sahara (SW Libya). This methodology (called esed) has been identified thanks to ethnobotanic and ethnographic interviews with people living in the Tadrart Acacus massif (the kel Tadrart Tuareg) and confirmed by macroscopic and micromorphological analyses of residual field evidence. Esed consisted of burning in situ trunks of dead Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) Hayne; subsequently, small portions of collapsed and still-burning wood were buried with sand in an attempt to ensure combustion under anoxic conditions. Our interviews elucidated that the esed technology is well known by people living in the region and has possibly been practiced for a long time. Surprisingly, local informants highlighted that esed was employed to made charcoal only during years marked by abrupt reduction of precipitation and consequently of natural resources. The last employment of esed dates to the dry phase of the mid-1970s, when charcoal was used as an exchangeable good. The discovery of this charcoal making technology shed new light on the capability of Tuareg to manage the few natural resources available in marginal environments and to cope with rapid climate changes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper presents the large set of basketry and other worked fibre artefacts constituting the perishable artefacts assemblage from the Takarkori rock shelter. This site is located in southwestern Libya, central Sahara. Its well-preserved Holocene stratigraphy testifies to human occupations by foraging groups (Late Acacus culture; ca. 9000–7400 uncal years bp; ca. 8300–6100 BCE) and herders (Pastoral cultures; ca. 7400–4500 uncal years bp; ca. 6400–3000 BCE). The basketry collection includes 91 desiccated items. They have been divided into two distinct groups: basketry constructions and basketry elements (b-items: 53 fragments); ropes and other elements in the broad sense (r-items: 38 fragments). Stems were mostly used to make the b-items, while a fairly diversified set of materials was used for ropes and other elements. In a few cases, mixed animal and plant materials were also employed. SEM analyses showed some diagnostic characteristics such as epidermal stomata, phytoliths, hairs and vessels indicating monocotyledons. Many items were identified as Panicoideae, likely of the Setaria and Panicum types. Therefore, the main wild cereals collected for food and transported into the site also seem to have been the main plants used to make basketry. The only wooden item was attributed to Vitex. The majority of the basketry is made using the twined technique. Basketry remains were more common during the Late Acacus occupation of the site, possibly associated with wild cereal processing and storage, reinforcing the idea of a re-organization of food security towards a delayed use of resources. The basketry material could be interpreted as remains of large and open baskets to collect and store seeds. Decreasing availability of wild cereals, changes in resource exploitation and the nomadic mobility pattern may explain why a smaller number of basketry items was found in layers connected to the Pastoral phases of occupation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Palaeobotanical specimens in private or public historical collections include important fossils, and modern studies involving taxonomic revisions can renew the scientific value of forgotten records. In Italy, information on past floras can be also obtained through the re-examination of the published drawings and pictures, or survey of the original collections. This paper presents the taxonomic revision of the macrofossils in the palaeobotanical collection, originally from San Venanzio (Modena), collected by Francesco Coppi at the end of the 19th century. Fossils were taken from the Argille Azzurre formation (Lower Pliocene–Lower Pleistocene). Re-sampling was not carried out because the sampling point at present lies under the houses of a village, increasing the importance of the museological collection. Descriptions of 76 fossil leaves are reported. Sporomorphs were extracted from the clayey limestone where three macrofossils had fossilized. Though only scattered information on the past plant cover has been randomly preserved, the plant macro- and microfossils provide a contribution to the research on the Plio–Pleistocene flora of Northern Apennines, and add information which can be useful to improve knowledge on local palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Animal and plant fossils were deposited in a coastal or delta area. Pollen flora mainly reflected the vegetation distributed in the highest belts, far from the site of deposition, while macrofossils prevalently reflected local vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]