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.

本文的重点是重新评估从 Tadrart Acacus 和利比亚中部撒哈拉的邻近地区看到的非洲放牧的出现。该论文研究了早期全新世“绿色”撒哈拉沙漠中野生动物的存在是否代表了对撒哈拉以南非洲地区家畜传播的“疾病挑战”。对动物考古记录和撒哈拉岩石艺术的分析突出了北非的这种潜在威胁，迄今为止它一直被忽视。来自利比亚西南部研究区的新旧数据，重点是 Takarkori 岩石庇护所，突出了早期放牧活动的存在。对绵羊/山羊和牛骨头的直接测年确保了这一年表，提供证据证明在约 8300 年 cal BP 左右穿越非洲东北象限的小群牧民迅速进入。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，当地早期全新世狩猎采集者的文化复杂性及其资源开发延迟返回系统可能促进了新做法的纳入，包括放牧少量家畜。从狩猎和采集过渡到放牧的社会影响在考古学上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前觅食群体阶段的连续性。综合起来，