# Asselar man

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{{Short description|Later Stone Age Malian skeleton}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Kidal topographic map-fr.svg|thumb|300px|[Adrar des Ifoghas](/source/Adrar_des_Ifoghas) and the [Kidal Region](/source/Kidal_Region)]]

'''Asselar man''' is a [Neolithic](/source/Neolithic) ([Later Stone Age](/source/Later_Stone_Age)) [skeleton](/source/skeleton) found at [Adrar des Ifoghas](/source/Adrar_des_Ifoghas), [Mali](/source/Mali),<ref name="Dotti">{{cite book |last1=Dotti |first1=Waddington de Carvalho |title=Homenagem aos mestres: esculturas na USP |date=2002 |publisher=EdUSP |isbn=9788570601506 |oclc=57966075 |pages=185–190 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QX-C8WlvzpsC&dq=%22Wladimir+Besnard%22+asselar&pg=PA188 |chapter=Homenagem A Wladimir Besnard}}</ref> which has been dated to between 9500 BP and 7000 BP, amid the early [Holocene Wet Phase](/source/Holocene_Wet_Phase).<ref name="Vialet" /> The Asselar skeleton was likely intentionally [buried](/source/Burial).<ref name="Dumesnil" />

==Geography==

[Adrar des Ifoghas](/source/Adrar_des_Ifoghas) is a [massif](/source/massif) is located, near [Essouk](/source/Essouk), in the [Kidal Region](/source/Kidal_Region) of [Mali](/source/Mali).

==Archaeology==

===Discovery===

The Asselar skeleton was discovered by [Theodore Monod](/source/Theodore_Monod) and [Wladimir Besnard](/source/Wladimir_Besnard) during an expedition in 1927.<ref name="Pallardy">{{cite web |last1=Pallardy |first1=Richard |title=Asselar man |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Asselar-man |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=18 November 2023}}</ref>{{Efn|Various sources incorrectly name as M.M. Besnard or M.V. Besnard.}} [Wickliffe Draper](/source/Wickliffe_Draper) funded the expedition.

===Dating===

The Asselar skeleton has been dated to around 6,400 BP, making it no older than the [Holocene](/source/Holocene). Along with fossils such as those found at [Iwo Eleru](/source/Iwo_Eleru_skull) (11,000 BP) and [Ishango](/source/Ishango) (8,000 BP), which were excavated from archaeological sites in [West Africa](/source/West_Africa) and [Central Africa](/source/Central_Africa), the Asselar skeleton is one of the earliest known [anatomically modern human](/source/anatomically_modern_human) skeletons, with a [phenotype](/source/phenotype) that is characteristic of later [Sub-Saharan African](/source/Sub-Saharan_African) populations, located in Sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name="Okpoko">{{cite book |editor1-last=Okpoko |editor1-first=Alex Ikechukwu |editor2-last=Andah |editor2-first=Bassey W. |title=Foundations of Civilization in Tropical Africa |date=1987 |publisher=West African Journal of Archaeology (University of Ibadan) |isbn=9789783002104 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz87AQAAIAAJ&q=Asselar |oclc=22414083 |s2cid=129271603}}</ref> Older fossils with a similar morphology have also been found near [Khartoum](/source/Khartoum), [Sudan](/source/Sudan), which has been dated to between 8000 BCE and 5000 BCE.<ref name="Okpoko" />

Due to there being no specific publication or reference found in and among existing academic literature, beyond simple mention (e.g., [Cheikh Anta Diop](/source/Cheikh_Anta_Diop) in 1968), which provides contextualizing explanation for the dating of the Asselar skeleton at 6390 BP, as well as the absence of data on the femur used to generate the date and the degree of error that 1960s-era [carbon-14 dating](/source/carbon-14_dating) methods can produce, the date of 6390 BP provided for the Asselar skeleton is regarded as meriting caution in its consideration and use.<ref name="Vialet">{{cite journal |last1=Vialet |first1=Amélie |last2=André |first2=Lucile |last3=Aoudia |first3=Louiza |title=Fossil Man from Asselar (current Mali). Critical study, historical perspective and new interpretations |journal=L'Anthropologie |date=June–August 2013 |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=345–361 |doi=10.1016/j.anthro.2013.06.002 |url=https://c-coek-info.translate.goog/pdf-lhomme-fossile-dasselar-actuel-mali-etude-critique-mise-en-perspective-historiqu.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US#blocktranscript |issn=0003-5521 |oclc=5866508531 |s2cid=129102995|url-access=subscription }}</ref> More recently, in the 1980s, geological dating from the Asselar site in the [Saharan](/source/Sahara_desert) region of northern [Mali](/source/Mali) has produced a date for the Asselar skeleton as being between 9500 BP and 7000 BP, amid the early [Holocene Wet Phase](/source/Holocene_Wet_Phase).<ref name="Vialet" />

===Burial===

The Asselar skeleton was found near what, during the time of the [African Humid Period](/source/African_Humid_Period), was likely a lake.<ref name="Dumesnil">{{cite journal |last1=Dumesnil |first1=Justine |last2=Valentin |first2=Frédérique |last3=Vialet |first3=Amélie |title=Le squelette de l'homme fossile d'Asselar (Mali, Holocene ancien) : premières réflexions archéothanatologiques |journal=Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris |date=March 2018 |volume=30 |pages=102–106 |doi=10.3166/S13219-017-0199-4 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328225386 |s2cid=202851961|doi-access=free }}</ref> Medical imaging techniques of the skeleton and surrounding matrix show that the Asselar individual was likely intentionally [buried](/source/Burial), rather than having been drowned and subsequently buried by accident as originally thought.<ref name="Dumesnil" /> Human remains found buried in similar anatomical positions have been found at other early Holocene sites such as Hassi-el-Abiod in Mali.<ref name="Dumesnil" />

==See also==

* [List of human evolution fossils](/source/List_of_human_evolution_fossils)

==Notes==

{{Notelist}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

* This article began as a translation of the corresponding [article](/source/%3Afr%3AL'homme_d'Asselar) in the French Wikipedia, Retrieved 17 December 2005.

==External links==

* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9000539 Encyclopædia Britannica: Asselar man entry]
* [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Human Timeline (Interactive)] – [Smithsonian](/source/Smithsonian_Institution), [National Museum of Natural History](/source/National_Museum_of_Natural_History) (August 2016).
{{portal bar|Evolutionary biology|Science}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Peopling of Africa
Category:Human remains (archaeological)
Category:History of Mali

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Asselar man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asselar_man) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asselar_man?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.