Ifri N’Ammar

Description

The rockshelter Ifri N’Ammar, located 470 m above sea level in the Rif Oriental, is among the few archaeological sites in Morocco providing both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic (Iberomaurusian) layers (Kehl et al., 2014). A section of almost 7 m was excavated by a cooperative field project of the Institute National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP) and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) between 1997 and 2005 (Richter et al., 2012). The Iberomaurusian deposit, dated between ca. 20 and 12 ka cal BP, is subdivided into an upper unit rich in shell fragments (Escagotiére) and a lower unit with sediments of light red-brown colour (Couche rouge) (Linstädter et al., 2012). Below the Iberomaurusian, which occurred after a severe erosion, the sequence shows an alternating double sequence of ‘‘Aterian” and ‘‘Middle Palaeolithic" layers, based on the presence/absence of tanged items (Richter et al., 2010, 2012). The uppermost part of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence has been radiocarbon dated between 51.5 ± 1.3 ka BP and 38.9 ± 2.0 ka BP while the lower part is dated from 171 ± 12 ka to 83 ± 6 ka by TL dating of heated flint (Richter et al., 2010; Bartz et al., 2015). A new phase of work started in 2009 and is still ongoing.