From art to context: Holocene roots of an Initial Neolithic Pastoralism (INP) in the Atlas Ouled Naïl, Algeria

The Algerian Highlands and their surroundings attracted Holocene communities by 7000–4000 cal BC. Co-existence of hunter-gatherers and shepherds of an Initial Neolithic Pastoralism phase (INP) is documented by cultural contexts from foothill settlements and rock engravings/paintings sites (game and domestic flocks), in the Ouled Naïl and Ouled Djellal areas. Shepherds' signatures on cliffs dated from optimum climatic conditions showed a mosaic of behaviours within a cultural diversity. They add their semantic contributions to a mid-Holocene framework. Further pastoral development lasted until late settlement of an agro-pastoral tribal system in these Highlands, “Country of the Sheep”.