A Later Stone Age quartz knapping workshop and fireplace dated to the Early Holocene in Senegal: The Ravin Blanc X site (RBX)

Abstract

Well-dated and well-preserved Later Stone Age sites are unfortunately scarce in West Africa. The few known ones exhibit significant typo-technical variability, reflecting diverse socio-cultural behaviors that remain poorly understood. The Ravin Blanc X (RBX) site in eastern Senegal provides new insights into this period. Excavations at one of the sectors of the site (RBX-1) have revealed a well-preserved Early Holocene occupation, featuring a quartz knapping workshop associated with a fireplace. This site is the latest known LSA occupation in the Falémé valley and bridges a critical gap in the region’s prehistoric sequence. The lithic industry at RBX-1 is dominated by a very homogeneous quartz, which was specifically selected for its high-quality knapping properties. Two main categories of sought blanks were produced: broad, thick, and rectilinear blanks, and elongated, thin and narrow blanks with an oblique distal termination forming a natural asymmetric point. The strong investment in blank standardization from the extraction stage significantly reduced the need for subsequent retouching, which was rarely observed in the RBX-1 lithic assemblage. Comparisons with other LSA sites in West Africa suggest that RBX-1 shares technological similarities with the sites of Fatandi V (Falémé valley, Senegal) and Damatoumou 1 (Ounjougou, Mali), possibly indicating a West African Late LSA Sahelo-Sudanian facies. In contrast, sites located in Guineo-Congolian forest contexts exhibit different knapping strategies and typological choices. The discovery of RBX-1 enhances our understanding of the LSA in West Africa by providing a rare, well-dated stratigraphic context (around 9100 calBP/7100 calBCE) which highlights the complexity of regional lithic traditions and raises new hypotheses about cultural transitions during the Pleistocene-Holocene shift.