Before Hercules: The Forgotten Prehistory of Northwest Africa, ca. 3800– 500 BC

Abstract

Northwest Africa has long been portrayed as passive and peripheral within broader narratives of exchange, mobility and transformation in later Mediterranean prehistory. Drawing on archaeological, radiocarbon and genetic data, this paper reconsiders the region between ca. 3800 and 500 BC as an active and dynamic crossroads bridging the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Sahara. It traces long-term changes in the social landscape, settlement patterns, material culture, architecture and agricultural practices. From the emergence of large open-air farming settlements during the Final Neolithic (ca. 3800-2900 BC) to northwest Africa's integration into Atlantic Beaker exchange networks in the Copper Age (ca. 2900-2200 BC), the study challenges older diffusionist models by highlighting local agency and innovation. The Bronze Age (ca. 2200-800 BC) is shown to be characterised by a mosaic of burial traditions, metal use and mobility, while the Mauretanian 1 period (ca. 800-500 BC) witnessed sustained interactions with Phoenician communities. Yet rather than a narrative of cultural imposition, the evidence points to selective adaptation and hybridisation, revealing how local communities actively shaped the region's socioeconomic and cultural dynamics.