Prehistory and Pleistocene Geology in Cyrenaican Libya

This is a record of two seasons' geological and archaeological fieldwork in the Gebel Akhdar hills, with a summary of prehistoric finds in neighbouring territories. Dr Hey has written the first part of the work, describing the geology of the terraces and other pleistocene deposits of the Cyrenaican coastal areas. Dr McBurney has written the second, on the prehistory of the area. The material described falls into two main parts: the first comprises palaeolithic finds of Pleistocene date, solidly dated on the result of Dr Hey's work and wholly free from the possibility of earlier or later inclusions; the second is a later group of finds bearing on the final period of the Stone Age in the area and the spread of the earliest agricultural and pastoral societies in the region. Read with the other available evidence, the findings of this book suggest unique conclusions about the diffusions of neolithic arts and crafts from their centres of origin in the Near East and bear on the origin and interconnection of the middle and upper palaeolithic hunting cultures in North Africa and the part they may have played in the development of the corresponding cultures in prehistoric Egypt.