This paper focuses on a reassessment of the emergence of herding in Africa seen from the Tadrart Acacus and neighbouring regions in the Libyan central Sahara. The paper examines whether the presence of wild animals in the Early Holocene ‘green’ Sahara could have represented a ‘disease challenge’ to the spread of domestic livestock, as proposed for sub-Saharan Africa. Analysis of the zooarchaeological record and Saharan rock art highlights this potential threat also in North Africa, where it has hitherto been disregarded. Old and new data from the study area in SW Libya, with a focus on Takarkori rock shelter, highlight the presence of herding activity at a very early stage. Direct dating on bones of sheep/goat and cattle secures this chronology, providing evidence of a rapid ingression of small groups of herders who crossed Africa’s north-eastern quadrant around ~ 8300 years cal BP. This rapidity defies the ‘disease challenge’ hypothesis and suggests alternative scenarios. In the central Sahara, the cultural complexity of local Early Holocene hunter-gatherers and their delayed return system of resource exploitation could have facilitated the incorporation of new practices, including the herding of small numbers of domestic animals. The societal implications of the transition from hunting and gathering to herding are archaeologically better visible in the funerary record and in rock art. By contrast, both material culture and the subsistence basis seem to demonstrate continuity with the former foraging groups’ phase. Taken together, the Saharan evidence suggests a punctuated process of acculturation for the inception of food production in North Africa.

本文重点重新评估从塔德拉特阿卡库斯和利比亚中部撒哈拉邻近地区看到的非洲畜牧业的出现。该论文研究了全新世早期“绿色”撒哈拉沙漠中野生动物的存在是否可能代表对家畜传播的“疾病挑战”，正如针对撒哈拉以南非洲地区的建议。对动物考古记录和撒哈拉岩石艺术的分析也强调了北非的这一潜在威胁，但迄今为止，这一威胁一直被忽视。来自利比亚西南部研究区的新旧数据，重点是塔科里岩石庇护所，强调了在很早阶段就存在放牧活动。对绵羊/山羊和牛骨头的直接年代测定证实了这一年代顺序，提供了大约距今 8300 年左右穿过非洲东北象限的小群牧民快速入侵的证据。这种速度违背了“疾病挑战”假设，并提出了替代方案。在撒哈拉中部，当地全新世早期狩猎采集者的文化复杂性及其资源开发的延迟回归系统可能促进了新做法的结合，包括放牧少量家畜。从考古学角度来说，从狩猎采集到放牧的转变所产生的社会影响在丧葬记录和岩石艺术中更为明显。相比之下，物质文化和生存基础似乎都表现出与以前的采集群体阶段的连续性。总而言之，撒哈拉的证据表明北非粮食生产的开始经历了一个间断的文化适应过程。