Our selected publications
Lucarini, G., Wilkinson, T., Crema, E.R., Palombini, A., Bevan, A., Broodbank, C. 2020. The MedAfriCarbon Radiocarbon Database and Web Application. Archaeological Dynamics in Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC. Journal of Open Archaeology Data.
The MedAfriCarbon radiocarbon database and its accompanying web application are outcomes of the MedAfrica project —Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC. The dataset presented here in Version 1.0 of the database includes 1587 archaeological 14C dates from 368 sites in Mediterranean Africa. The database is unusual because the majority of the dates within it have been annotated with further cultural and environmental variables, notably the presence/absence of different domestic/wild species and particular material culture traits. MedAfriCarbon also includes a publicly-accessible web application that facilitates data exploration and informal analysis.
Broodbank, C., Lucarini, G. 2019. The Dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–1000 bc: An Interpretative Synthesis of Knowns and Unknowns. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 32, 2: 195-267.
Mediterranean Africa forms a crucial junction between the wider Saharan zone and the rest of the Mediterranean. In contrast to its well-investigated history from the first millennium BC onward, its antecedent dynamics are very poorly understood, and deeper archaeological histories of the Mediterranean therefore remain unbalanced and incomplete. This paper draws on a new surge in data to present the first up-to-date interpretative synthesis of this region’s archaeology from the start of the Holocene until the threshold of the Iron Age (9600–1000 BC). It presents the evidence for climatic, environmental and sea-level change, followed by analysis of the chronological and spatial patterning of all radiocarbon dates from Mediterranean Africa, brought together for the first time. The principal exploration then divides into three phases. During Phase 1 (9600–6200 BC) diverse forms of hunting, gathering and foraging were ubiquitous. Phase 2 (6200 BC–4000 BC) witnessed more continuity than elsewhere in the Mediterranean, but also the widespread uptake of domesticated livestock and gradual evolution of herding societies, as well as limited enclaves of farming. Phase 3 (4000–1000 BC) is least explored, outside developments in Egypt; in the east this phase witnessed the emergence of fully nomadic and transhumant pastoralism, with political superstructures, while trajectories in the west remain obscure, but in parts of the Maghreb suggest complex possibilities. Contacts with the Mediterranean maritime world grew during the third and second millennia BC, while interaction to the south was transformed by desertification. Understanding how the southern Mediterranean shore was drawn into Iron Age networks will require much better knowledge of its indigenous societies. The present constitutes a pivotal moment, in terms of accumulated knowledge, pathways for future investigation and engagement with a challenging current geopolitical situation.
Broodbank, C. 2013. The Making of the Middle Sea. A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World. Thames and Hudson
The Mediterranean has been for millennia one of the global cockpits of human endeavour. World-class interpretations exist of its Classical and subsequent history, but there has been remarkably little holistic exploration of how its societies, culture and economies first came into being, despite the fact that almost all the fundamental developments originated well before 500 bc . This book is the first full, interpretive synthesis for a generation on the rise of the Mediterranean world from its beginning, before the emergence of our own species, up to the threshold of Classical times. Extensively illustrated and ranging across disciplines, subject matter and chronology from early humans and the origins of farming and metallurgy to the rise of civilizations Egyptian, Levantine, Hispanic, Minoan, Mycenaean, Phoenician, Etruscan, early Greek the book is a masterpiece of archaeological and historical writing.
Lucarini, G. (ed.), 2016. The Neolithic from the Sahara to the Southern Mediterranean coast: A review of the most recent research. Quaternary International, vol. 410, Part A
Lucarini, G., Radini, A., Barton, H., Barker, G. 2016. The exploitation of wild plants in Neolithic North Africa. Use-wear and residue analysis on non-knapped stone tools from the Haua Fteah cave, Cyrenaica, Libya. Quaternary International 410, Part A: 77-92.
Lucarini, G., Mutri, G. 2014. Microlithism and Landscape Exploitation along the Cyrenaican Coast between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene: A Matter of Continuity In: Boyle, K., Ryan, R.J., Hunt, C.O. (eds.), Living in the Landscape. Essays in Honour of Graeme Barker. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: 109-120.
Lucarini, G. 2013. Was a transition to food production homogeneous along the circum-Mediterranean littoral? A perspective on Neolithization research from the Libyan coast. In: Shirai, N. (ed.), Neolithisation of Northeastern Africa. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 16. Berlin, ex oriente: 149-173.
