North at 18 000 BP

Eighteen thousand years ago saw the first florescence of the Late Palaeolithic backed-bladelet industries across the northern and eastern margins of North Africa; these industries lasted down to the Holocene. However, 18 000 BP also corresponds to the maximum of the Last Glaciation, which was a special period, climatically different from what went before and what came afterwards. In the following survey, we confine ourselves rather strictly to that part of the archaeological record dated to 18 000 BP. This minimalist approach means that much that is of interest in the North African Late Palaeolithic has been omitted. Fortunately, some of the finest North African data are precisely from 18 000 BP.