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Saharan Hunter-Gatherers

This book explores the archaeology of the Acacus massif and

surrounding areas in southwestern Libya over approximately 2500
years of the Early Holocene, utilising fresh theoretical approaches
and new explanations of the social and cultural processes of the
area.
Archaeological and rock art evidence, much of which is
unpublished until now, is used to explore the crucial period that
encompasses the onset of the “Green Sahara” to the introduction of
domestic livestock. It provides a basis for understanding the original
cultural and social developments of hunter-gatherers and foragers of
the central ranges of the Sahara. The work also bears upon the
wider area informing the reconstruction of the environment and
cultural dynamics and stands as key reference point for the larger
Sahara and North Africa. The book, rich in illustrations, provides a
critical synthesis and overview of the developments of central
Saharan archaeology within the broader African framework.
The book is invaluable to archaeologists, palaeoenvironmental
scientists, and rock art researchers working on the Sahara and North
Africa and as comparative work for researchers in African
archaeology in general.

Savino di Lernia (PhD, 1997) is an Africanist archaeologist based

at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, where he teaches African
Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology. His research interests focus on
the study of hunter-­gatherer-fishers in northern and eastern Africa
and on the analysis of pastoral societies in the Sahara, with
particular focus on rock art. He is the director of the “Archaeological
Mission in the Sahara” (southern Tunisia and southwestern Libya)
and the “Archeological Mission in the Kenyan Rift Valley” (eastern
Turkana). He has written and edited nine books and published in
peer-­reviewed journals such as Nature, Journal of African
Archaeology, Science, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology,
Journal of Archaeological Science, Antiquity, African Archaeological
Review, Journal of World Prehistory. In 2012, he was awarded the
“Sangiorgi Prize for the History of Africa” by the Accademia
Nazionale dei Lincei, the world’s oldest scientific academy.
Routledge Studies in African Archaeology and
Cultural Heritage
Series editor: Paul Lane

The following list includes only the most recent titles to publish
within the series. A list of the full catalogue of titles is available at:
http://www.routledge.com/​Routledge-Studies-in-African-
Archaeology-and-Cultural-Heritage/​book-series/​RSAACH

Remembering Turkana
Material Histories and Contemporary Livelihoods in North-Western
Kenya
Samuel F. Derbyshire

Great Zimbabwe
Reclaiming a ‘Confiscated’ Past
Shadreck Chirikure

African Islands
A Comparative Archaeology
Peter Mitchell

Saharan Hunter-Gatherers
Specialization and diversification in Holocene southwestern Libya
Savino di Lernia
Saharan Hunter-Gatherers
Specialization and Diversification in
Holocene Southwestern Libya

Savino di Lernia
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2023 Savino di Lernia

The right of Savino di Lernia to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered

trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-367-53870-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-53879-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-08358-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003083580

Typeset in Times New Roman

by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To Eva and Mary Anne
Contents

List of figures
List of tables
Notes
Acknowledgements

Introduction
A sort of premise
Book structure
A new key to interpretation

1 Southwestern Libya and the central

Sahara
Geography and environment
Climate: Past and present
History of research
Recent trends in Saharan archaeology

2 Colonisation and consolidation: Early

Acacus hunter-gatherers
The beginning of the African Humid Period
The human reoccupation of the Sahara
Resource exploitation and food security
 Land use and regional connections

3 Diversification and experimentation: Late

Acacus foragers
The expansion of grasslands
Foragers born or made?
A “broad” dietary recipe
Territorial organisation and network dynamics

4 People, identity, and art

Palaeobiology and funerary practices
A sophisticated material culture
An early Holocene art?
A colourful world

5 A changing world
Cold and dry: local effects of the “8.2 ka event”
The interplay between foragers and herders
Encapsulation, space, and landscape
A view beyond: the larger Sahara and North Africa

References
Index
Figures

0.1 View of Takarkori rock shelter, southern Tadrart Acacus.

1.1 Map of the Sahara showing the principal geomorphological
features and location of principal sites discussed in the book.
1.2 Map of the central Saharan massifs (a); dashed insert
indicates the study area in southewestern Libya. The
polygons delimited by short white dashes indicate the areas
surveyed between 1990 and 2011 (b).
1.3 The dissected western scarp of the Tadrart Acacus. In the
background, the Wadi Tanezzuft valley.
1.4 Wadi Bedis in the central Messak Settafet, after brief rainfall.
1.5 Remains of a lake in an interdune corridor of the Edeyen of
Murzuq.
1.6 Vegetation around a small water hole (guelta in Arabic), in
the southern Tadrart Acacus.
1.7 Flooding along Wadi Tanezzuft in (a) 2020 and (b) ca. 1930.
1.8 Mandara, the largest lake north of Germa, Edeyen of Ubari.
1.9 Wadi Al Ajal seen from the Garamantian citadel of Zinchecra.
1.10 Rain-fed cultivation is practised in the Tadrart Acacus by the
kel Tadrart Tuareg: cultivation holes are still visible in the
etaghas of Lancusi.
2.1 A reconstruction of the North African palaeo-hydrographic
network.
2.2 Macrolithic elements and blades from different contexts.
2.3 Map of Early Acacus sites in the Tadrart Acacus, Messak and
surrounding areas.
2.4 View of Wadi Ti-n-Torha.
2.5 The painted wall at Uan Tabu, with the excavation trench in
the foreground.
2.6 Different types of Early Acacus contexts: stone structure at
Uan Afuda (a), interpreted as a windbreak and dated to
∼11,400 calBP, and scatters of lithics tools in the Edeyen of
Murzuq (b), and (c).
2.7 Tools and armatures from Early Acacus contexts at various
sites in the Erg Titersin, Erg Uan Kasa and Edeyen of Murzuq.
2.8 Barbary sheep remains from the Iberomaurusian burial S10
at Taforalt, Morocco.
2.9 The box plots of raw material percentages (“Local”, “Exotic”
and “Exchange”).
2.10 Settlement organisation of Early Acacus sites and major
density clusters.
3.1 View of the site of Amekni, in a photo by G. Camps.
3.2 Map of Late Acacus sites.
3.3 The extraordinary state of preservation of plant remains from
Late Acacus contexts at Takarkori: (a) SEM image of a
sorghum spikelet; (b) wooden frame element; (c) stems of
wild cereals; (d) charred and uncharred wood on the hearth
top.
3.4 View of A1186, a Late Acacus camp/processing site in the
Edeyen of Murzuq.
3.5 The remains of a Late Acacus stone structure at Takarkori:
(a) view from the south. Dashed lines indicate the detail
shown in (b).
3.6 Fragments of locust hind legs from the Late Acacus
occupation at Takarkori (scale 2 mm).
3.7 Late Acacus pottery: Rocker packed zigzags (a), (b), (c);
“Dotted Wavy Line” (d), (e), (f), and (g); Dotted Wavy Line
combined with “wolf-tooth” pattern (h) and (i). Provenance:
 (a) from Wadi Teshuinat (TH15); (b) and (d) from the Edeyen
of Murzuq (respectively A106 and A1150); (c), (e), (f), (h)
and (i) from Takarkori; (g) from Uan Afuda.
3.8 Late Acacus contexts in the Edeyen of Murzuq: site A1150,
with scatters of archaeological material intermixed with
stones (a); site A1134, processing area with the remains of
baked clay and burnt bone splinters (b); site A1186, a
deflated but still recognisable fireplace (c).
3.9 Settlement organisation of Late Acacus sites and major
density clusters.
4.1 The Late Acacus burial of H2, an adult male from Uan
Muhuggiag, central Tadrart Acacus.
4.2 The poorly preserved remains of H8, a child from Takarkori,
southern Tadrart Acacus, dated to the Late Acacus.
4.3 Skull of an Early Holocene adult male from Gobero Site G3.
4.4 Late Acacus containers: a sandstone bowl from site A1186
(a), Edeyen of Murzuq (width 15 cm); (b) a ceramic pot with
Dotted Wavy Line decoration from Takarkori (width 30 cm).
4.5 Wooden and bone artefacts from Late Acacus sites. Wood:
(a) spatula with traces of red colour; (b) pointed stick; (c)
hook; (d) perforator (modified after Garcea, 2001a); (e) stick
made of Acacia wood with remains of red pigment. Bone: (f)
pendant; (g) plaque; (h–i) ornaments; (j) spatula; (k) point;
(l) point on fish bone; (m) point/knife on warthog tusk.
Provenance: (a–c): Uan Afuda; (d): Uan Tabu; (e, f–h, j–l):
Takarkori; (i, m): Ti-n-Torha East.
4.6 This rock wall in the southern Tadrart Acacus presents a rich
repertoire of pastoral and historical rock art located in the
shelter opening onto the wadi floor (a), whereas the
engraved elephant is located 3 metres above (b), partially
covered and hidden by a carbonate concretion (c): (digital
tracing courtesy of S. Dan).
4.7 A finely carved elephant at Bir Miji near Tarhuna, 70 km
south of Tripoli, Libya.
4.8 A petroglyph of an ichthyomorph from the Tadrart Acacus
(height 80 cm).
4.9 A rare engraved human figure in the Round Heads style from
Sughd, Tadrart Acacus, as hypothesised by Mori (1965).
4.10 A series of barely visible Round Heads anthropomorphs from
Wadi Imha, Tadrart Acacus.
5.1 Calcareous tufa outcropping along a wadi in the upper range
of the Tadrart Acacus.
5.2 The dried paleolake of Takarkori, southern Tadrart Acacus.
5.3 Map of the principal North African sites with the earliest
presence of cattle (dot) and sheep/goat (triangle).
5.4 Map of Early Pastoral sites.
5.5 Contrasting worlds: the Round Heads art of Late Acacus
foragers (a) and (early?) Pastoral art (b).
5.6 Takarkori rock shelter: a protruding Early Pastoral stone
structure seen from north (a), with the detail of the standing
stone (b).
5.7 Deflated fireplaces in the area of Kufra, southeastern Libya.
5.8 The small dunes of the Tunisian Eastern Erg, south of the
Chott el Jerid, host lithics’ clusters of Iberomaurusian sites.
Tables

1.1 Main features of Holocene prehistoric cultures and

environments in the Tadrart Acacus and surrounding regions
2.1 Radiocarbon chronology of Early Acacus contexts
2.2 Early Acacus sites, by areas and physiographic contexts
3.1 Selection of 14C dates from Late Acacus contexts in
southwestern Libya
3.2 Late Acacus sites by areas and physiographic contexts
3.3 Early pottery in North Africa and the Sahara
5.1 Selection of 14C dates from Early Pastoral contexts in
southwestern Libya
5.2 Early Pastoral sites, by areas and physiographic contexts
Notes

Note on transliteration
There is no unanimous consensus on the transliteration of Arabic
terms. Here, the names of places and local terms are given using the
transliteration proposed in: Barbato, L. 2008. Traslitterazione,
conversione e concordanza di luoghi e nomi. In: di Lernia, S. &
Zampetti, D. (eds.) La memoria dell’arte. Le pitture rupestri
dell’Acacus tra passato e futuro. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, pp.
373–379.

Note on chronology
Chronological references in this book are standardised, calibrated,
and expressed as “calBP” (calibrated years Before Present). In
selected cases, the original dates with their standard deviation are
expressed as “bp” (uncalibrated years before present). In some
cases, for comparative purposes, the acronym “ka” has been used: it
stands for “kilo annum” (1000 years) and expresses calibrated years
before present. All dates have been calibrated specifically for this
book using the most recent calibration curve and the software
provided by the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of
Oxford (OxCal 4.4), available at: https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/​oxcal/​
OxCal.html.
Illustrations
Unless otherwise specified, all photographs are by the Author and
are part of the “Archive of the Archaeological Mission in the Sahara”,
Sapienza University of Rome.

Taxonomy
Scientific names of animal species have been cross-checked using
the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), available at:
www.itis.gov, CC0, https://doi.org/​10.5066/​F7KH0KBK.
Acknowledgements

This book was devised, planned, and agreed with Routledge a few
weeks before the outbreak of COVID-19. So there is perhaps no
need to explain the uncertainties and doubts that assailed me, or the
lack of motivation to write the book I really wanted to write, once I,
like everyone else, was plunged into a dismal pandemic winter.
If it is true that every book owes something to someone, this one
owes much to many. I must first thank Paul Lane, the Series Editor,
who believed in this project and had the patience, together with the
Routledge staff, to persevere in the very difficult times that followed.
A small team of informal and friendly reviewers helped to at least
reduce errors and inaccuracies: Emanuele Cancellieri, Martina Di
Matteo, Marina Gallinaro, Anna Maria Mercuri, Rocco Rotunno.
Emanuele and Rocco creatively contributed to the GIS platform, from
which most of the maps illustrating this book were generated. Mary
Anne Tafuri reviewed each chapter and suggested improvements. To
all of them go my sincere thanks and gratitude. Of course, all
mistakes are my own, as are any shortcomings and omissions.
This book stems from my long-term scientific research in
southwestern Libya: it is hard to recall all the people who have
helped, assisted, advised, and encouraged me over the decades. In
rough chronological order, I wish to thank and remember Fabrizio
Mori, Ebrahim Azzebi, Habib ‘Ali Awn, Mauro Cremaschi, Amor Jmali,
Salem Wadawi, Giorgio Manzi, Anna Maria Mercuri, Elena Garcea,
Mario Liverani, Lucia Mori, Andrea Zerboni, Ali Khalfalla. I am also
grateful to all the colleagues, students, drivers, guides, and workers
who have participated in our expeditions in the Acacus and
surroundings over the years (according to an approximate
calculation: several hundreds of people, for a total of over four years
spent in the Acacus and the nearby area between 1990 and 2011).
Diplomatic staff, in Libya and Italy, played a crucial role in supporting
myself and my mission even in the most critical moments, especially
in the last turbulent years: my sincere gratitude goes without saying.
Needless to say, I am very happy to thank my alma mater,
Sapienza University of Rome, for providing continuous support over
the years. First a place of education and then a place of work, I
would like to express my gratitude to the governing body, to my
department, my colleagues, and the administrative staff. I cannot
individually thank all my students – many of whom are now
colleagues – and apologise in advance to each one of them, thinking
of them all.
I do not have the space to thank all the people, in Italy and
abroad, who accompanied my professional experiences over the
years and made crucial contributions to my work. Although not all
are directly linked to this book, they have been inextricably involved
in my critical and scientific education. Here I wish to thank and
remember Nabiha Aouadi, Barbara Barich, Grame Barker, Nick
Brooks, Giovanni Boccardi, Peter Breunig, Isabella Caneva, Desmond
Clark, David Coulson, Nicholas David, Nicholas Drake, Sliman Hachi,
Malika Hachid, Fekri Hassan, Dirk Huyge, Stefan Kröpelin, Rudolph
Kuper, Elena Garcea, Pietro Laureano, David Lubell, Scott
McEachern, Peter Mitchell, Emmanuel Ndiema, Katharina Neumann,
François Paris, Colette Roubet, Karim Sadr, Romuald Schild, Roberta
Simonis, Paul Sinclair, Andrew Smith, and Fred Wendorf.
I also thank the two anonymous reviewers who assessed the
publication proposal: one enthusiastic and supportive; the other
puzzled and even a little sceptical about the usefulness of a book like
this. The former motivated me to go ahead, and the latter forced me
to critically rethink the original proposal and reformulate it more
concisely, favouring unpublished or lesser-­known aspects.
Finally, I thank my wife Mary Anne and my daughter Eva: in a
world plunged into a dark lockdown, they put up with my long hours
in front of the computer, always smiling, supportive and cheerful.
Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/​9781003083580-1

A sort of premise
Roughly speaking, 99.7% of the history of this planet – placing the
start of lithic technology at around 3,300,000 years ago (Harmand et
al., 2015) – has been characterised by groups of hunter-gatherer-
fishers, whose impact on Earth’s resources was far lesser than that
of the remaining 0.3% (e.g., Stephens et al., 2019). The study of
hunter-gatherers in archaeology has a long and complex history,
marked by repeated and radical paradigm shifts (e.g., Barnard,
2014). The interface between ethnographic, ethnoarchaeological,
and archaeological studies has undoubtedly contributed to redefining
numerous theoretical approaches, which have gradually become
increasingly sophisticated (e.g., Lane, 2014). Recent studies on
hunter-­gatherers comprise a wide array of previously little explored
topics, such as longevity, foraging children, or the intimacy of space
(e.g., Hawkes et al., 2018, Hewlett et al., 2019). In this book, the
focus is on the “last” hunter-gatherers of the central Sahara, before
the definitive emergence of a food production economy based on
pastoralism, limited to cattle and caprines in its earliest stages in
Africa (Marshall and Hildebrand, 2002).
The study of hunter-gatherers in the Sahara, and in North Africa
as a whole, has contributed in various ways to advancing our
anthropological knowledge and, more generally, to dispelling
prejudices or more effectively refining our set of interpretations. As
such, the research undertaken in the southcentral and eastern
Sahara since the 1960s – repeatedly cited throughout the book –
has made it possible to identify acquisitive societies with highly
original features compared to the dominant Near Eastern paradigm,
including marked sedentism and ceramic production (e.g., Mori,
1965, Barich, 1974, Roset, 1974, Wendorf et al., 1976, Aumassip,
1980, Wendorf and Schild, 1980). Within the anti-diffusionist
framework typical of the second half of the last century, various
researchers also have hypothesised autonomous processes of cattle
domestication, both in the Tadrart Acacus, in southwestern Libya
(Mori, 1961, Gautier and Van Neer, 1977), and in the oases of the
Egyptian desert (Close et al., 1984). Appreciation of the enormous
sophistication of Saharan hunter-gatherers at the turn of the
Pleistocene and Early Holocene was further enhanced by the
richness of their artistic production, especially the magnificent rock
art engraved and painted on the walls of mountain massifs. This
repertoire has gradually been enriched with new discoveries (e.g.,
Hachid, 1998, Mori, 1998, Soleilhavoup, 2007), culminating in the
definitive identification along the Nile Valley of naturalistic figurative
art dated to the end of the Pleistocene (Huyge et al., 2011).
The increasing number of international projects in North Africa,
and the decisive establishment of interdisciplinary studies adopting a
territorial perspective over the past three decades, have ensured a
further advancement of our knowledge, thanks in part to the
application of innovative and increasingly sophisticated
methodologies and novel approaches (e.g., Sereno et al., 2008,
Messili et al., 2013, Manning and Timpson, 2014, Dunne et al., 2016,
Lucarini and Radini, 2020). In this context, research on the
relationships between climate variations, environmental changes,
and cultural trajectories certainly holds a special place: it is no
coincidence that still today the most widely cited paper with the
term “Sahara” in its title is “Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation
in the Sahara: Motor of Africa’s Evolution” (Kuper and Kröpelin,
2006).
Book structure
In the overall context of studies on the interface between climate,
environment, and hunter-gatherer societies that so significantly
characterises the history of Saharan archaeology, this book attempts
to offer an overview of current knowledge and a critical
reassessment of a substantial portion of the central Sahara, in
southwestern Libya. This region, geomorphologically diverse and rich
in archaeological and artistic evidence, has benefited from a long
and virtually uninterrupted research tradition since the 1950s (for an
overview, see Biagetti and di Lernia, 2013) and is thus an ideal
milieu to explore acquisitive societies in a way not always possible in
other regions of Africa. Although the results of decades of research
have been published extensively in scientific articles, collective
volumes, and excavation reports, a unified reading of the
environmental and cultural phenomena characterising this portion of
the Sahara between approximately 13,000 and 8000 calBP has
hitherto been lacking. Like any general treatment, this book is also
flawed and partial: it is impossible to include everything and any
given selection is more or less unconsciously biased, starting with
the choice of topics and their organisation.
In the first chapter I present the geographical and environmental
characteristics of the study area, within the context of past and
present climate. Ideally juxtaposing past and future, I summarise
the history of research in the Tadrart Acacus and its surrounding
areas – one of the hotspots of North African archaeology – the most
innovative trends in Saharan research and, above all, its contribution
to international scientific debate. The second and third chapters
focus on the two principal cultural phases of Early Holocene hunter-
gatherer-fishers: the Early Acacus “specialised hunters” and the Late
Acacus “diversified foragers”. The structure of these two chapters is
similar to facilitate comparison between the different phases and
allow readers to appreciate their originality, the elements of
continuity, and their profound differences. Here, too, the climate
framework is essential for contextualising the peopling, food security,
and regional and inter-regional connections of the area. Chapter 4
addresses the palaeobiological and mortuary evidence on these Early
Holocene Saharans, before going on to examine aspects of socio-
cultural identity as expressed by material culture and the artistic
realm. The final chapter again opens with an analysis of climate and
environmental changes related to the so-called “8.2 ka event” and
their connections with the emergence of pastoralism. The interplay
between “local” hunter-gatherers and “foreign” pastoralists is
explored, defining the mechanisms of the appropriation of space and
the construction and maintenance of social and ideological
boundaries until the definitive disappearance of hunters from the
study area around 7000 years ago.

A new key to interpretation

As already noted above, and as stressed repeatedly throughout this
book, the archaeological record of southwestern Libya is exceptional
for its preservation, density, richness, and diversity. This has
certainly favoured continued interest on the part of researchers, who
have been rewarded by numerous major discoveries over the years.
In the early 2000s, after 15 years of intensive surveys, test
excavations, and incessant laboratory analyses by the Libyan-Italian
Mission in the Acacus and Messak, Mauro Cremaschi – a geologist
with whom I shared much of my work in the Sahara – when faced
with the opening of a new excavation in the Takarkori shelter, asked
me “Are you digging again Savino? The picture is clear by now…”. In
light of Mauro’s vast experience, I was afraid of wasting time and
resources. However, I thought it worthwhile to continue
investigations at a site whose apparently unique characteristics held
enormous promise (Figure 0.1).
Figure 0.1 View of Takarkori rock shelter, southern Tadrart Acacus.

In fact, the archaeological record of Takarkori – exceptionally

well-­preserved and extensively excavated – provided crucial
evidence allowing us to contextualise and interpret social
phenomena that had in part emerged from previous research, but
could only then, and with the methodologies now finally available,
be truly understood. Takarkori has overturned most of our previous
assumptions and suggested new ones. The war in Libya – that since
2011 has been tragically affecting the country – has also prevented
us from drawing further scientific benefit from the prospects offered
by excavations at this site, though it has already allowed us to clarify
the formidable variety of Early Holocene food security (Van Neer et
al., 2020), the first evidence of wild cereal cultivation in Africa
(Mercuri et al., 2018a), the capture and corralling of Barbary sheep
(Rotunno et al., 2019), storage and conservation activities, the
reconstruction of local and regional networks (Eramo et al., 2020).
And, moving further forward in time to the Pastoral occupation, not
covered in this book, it has provided information on a specific
funerary ritual (finally understood at Takarkori, but actually practised
throughout the Acacus: di Lernia and Tafuri, 2013), Africa’s earliest
dairying (Dunne et al., 2012), the management of paint (di Lernia et
al. 2016), and the specialisation in the use of space (Scancarello et
al., 2022). These outstanding findings are not, in my view, the
consequence of lucky excavation campaigns, or of appropriate field
strategies and innovative methodologies, or exclusively linked to the
astonishingly good conservation of the archaeological deposit
(though of course this does help). Rather, they represent the
outcome of a long and cumulative process that began with the first
excavations carried out starting over 50 years ago by Angelo Pasa,
Fabrizio Mori and then Barbara Barich – to whom I am hugely
indebted – and that was forcibly ended by the outbreak of war in
Libya in 2011. Takarkori tells us that research is a complex process,
fully immersed in the theoretical and historical setting in which it is
conceived, planned, and carried out. I have been lucky enough to
excavate two contexts critical to understanding historical processes
in Early Holocene southwestern Libya (and in some respects the
central Sahara as a whole). One is Uan Afuda, where the distinctions
within “pre-pastoral” hunter-gatherers were first established:
specialised first, diversified later. The other is Takarkori, which
revolutionised our knowledge of the recent prehistory of the Tadrart
Acacus. The picture we see today, thanks to the research
accumulated over the years, is more comprehensible and, in some
respects, more credible in its details.
1 Southwestern Libya and
the central Sahara

DOI: 10.4324/​9781003083580-2

Geography and environment

This book is about a small part – roughly 60,000 of 9,000,000 km2 –
of the Sahara, the largest hot desert in the world. Given its
extraordinary physiographic and environmental diversity, this remote
region of present-day southwestern Libya, which includes the Tadrart
Acacus and Messak mountain ranges, the dune fields of the Erg
Titersin, Edeyen of Murzuq and Erg Uan Kasa, together with the
Wadi el Ajal, Wadi Tanezzuft, and Wadi Barjuj river valleys, can be
considered representative of the entire desert.
The Sahara extends 5500 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red
Sea, with an average length from north to south of over 1700 km,
occupying almost a third of the African continent (Figure 1.1), and
still expanding and warming (Thomas and Nigam, 2018).
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 insincerity of the plank in the Republican national platform
for an Isthmian canal, in the face of the failure of the
Republican majority to pass the bill pending in Congress.

"We condemn the Hay-Pauncefote treaty as a surrender of

American rights and interests, not to be tolerated by the
American people.

"We denounce the failure of the Republican party to carry out

its pledges to grant statehood to the territories of Arizona,
New Mexico and Oklahoma, and we promise the people of those
territories immediate statehood, and home rule during their
condition as territories; and we favor home rule and a
territorial form of government for Alaska and Porto Rico.

"We favor an intelligent system of improving the arid lands of

the West, storing the waters for the purposes of irrigation,
and the holding of such lands for actual settlers.

{656}

"We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the

Chinese exclusion law and its application to the same classes
of all Asiatic races.

"Jefferson said: 'Peace, commerce and honest friendship with

all nations, entangling alliances with none.' We approve this
wholesome doctrine and earnestly protest against the
Republican departure which has involved us in so-called world
politics, including the diplomacy of Europe and the intrigue
and land-grabbing in Asia, and we especially condemn the
ill-concealed Republican alliance with England, which must
mean discrimination against other friendly nations, and which
has already stifled the nation's voice while liberty is being
strangled in Africa.

"Believing in the principles of self-government and rejecting,

 as did our forefathers, the claims of monarchy, we view with
indignation the purpose of England to overwhelm with force the
South African Republics. Speaking, as we believe, for the
entire American nation, except its Republican officeholders,
and for all free men everywhere, we extend our sympathy to the
heroic Burghers in their unequal struggle to maintain their
liberty and independence.

"We denounce the lavish appropriations of recent Republican

congresses, which have kept taxes high and which threaten the
perpetuation of the oppressive war levies. We oppose the
accumulation of a surplus to be squandered in such barefaced
frauds upon the taxpayers as the shipping subsidy bill, which,
under the false pretense of fostering American ship-building,
would put unearned millions into the pockets of favorite
contributors to the Republican campaign fund.

"We favor the reduction and speedy repeal of the war taxes,
and a return to the time-honored Democratic policy of strict
economy in governmental expenditures.

"Believing that our most cherished institutions are in great

peril, that the very existence of our constitutional Republic
is at stake, and that the decision now to be rendered will
determine whether or not our children are to enjoy those
blessed privileges of free government which have made the
United States great, prosperous and honored, we earnestly ask
for the foregoing declaration of principles the hearty support
of the liberty-loving American people, regardless of previous
party affiliations."

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.

Silver Republican Platform and Nominations.

The Republicans who broke from their party in 1896 on the

silver question, and supported Mr. Bryan for the presidency,
were still in affiliation with him and his party, but
preserving a distinct organization, assuming the name of
Lincoln Republicans. Simultaneously with that of the Democrats
(July 6), they held a convention at Kansas City, and named Mr.
Bryan as their candidate for President. The nomination for
Vice President was referred to the national committee, which
ultimately placed Mr. Stevenson's name on the Silver
Republican ticket. The platform adopted differed little in
leading principles from that of the Democratic party, except
in the greater emphasis put on the monetary doctrines that
were common to both. It was as follows:

"We, the Silver Republican party, in National Convention

assembled, declare these as our principles and invite the
cooperation of all who agree therewith:

"We recognize that the principles set forth in the Declaration

of Independence are fundamental and everlastingly true in
their applications of governments among men. We believe the
patriotic words of Washington's farewell to be the words of
soberness and wisdom, inspired by the spirit of right and
truth. We treasure the words of Jefferson as priceless gems of
American statesmanship.

"We hold in sacred remembrance the broad philanthropy and

patriotism of Lincoln, who was the great interpreter of
American history and the great apostle of human rights and of
industrial freedom, and we declare, as was declared by the
convention that nominated the great emancipator, that the
maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration
of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution,
'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,'
is essential to the preservation of our republican
institutions.
"We declare our adherence to the principle of bimetallism as
the right basis of a monetary system under our National
Constitution, a principle that found place repeatedly in
Republican platforms from the demonetization of silver in 1873
to the St. Louis Republican Convention of 1896. Since that
convention a Republican Congress and a Republican President,
at the dictation of the trusts and money power, have passed
and approved a currency bill which in itself is a repudiation
of the doctrine of bimetallism advocated theretofore by the
President and every great leader of his party.

"This currency law destroys the full money power of the silver
dollar, provides for the payment of all government obligations
and the redemption of all forms of paper money in gold alone;
retires the time-honored and patriotic greenbacks,
constituting one-sixth of the money in circulation, and
surrenders to banking corporations a sovereign function of
issuing all paper money, thus enabling these corporations to
control the prices of labor and property by increasing or
diminishing the volume of money in circulation, thus giving
the banks power to create panics and bring disaster upon
business enterprises. The provisions of this currency law
making the bonded debt of the Republic payable in gold alone
change the contract between the Government and the bondholders
to the advantage of the latter, and is in direct opposition to
the declaration of the Matthews resolution passed by Congress
in 1878, for which resolution the present Republican
President, then a member of Congress, voted, as did also all
leading Republicans, both in the House and Senate. We declare
it to be our intention to lend our efforts to the repeal of
this currency law, which not only repudiates the ancient and
time-honored principles of the American people before the
Constitution was adopted, but is violative of the principles
of the Constitution itself, and we shall not cease our efforts
until there has been established in its place a monetary
system based upon the free and unlimited coinage of silver and
 gold into money at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 by the
independent action of the United States, under which system
all paper money shall be issued by the Government and all such
money coined or issued shall be a full legal tender in payment
of all debts, public and private, without exception.

{657}

"We are in favor of a graduated tax upon incomes, and if

necessary to accomplish this we favor an amendment to the
Constitution.

"We believe that United States Senators ought to be elected by

direct vote of the people, and we favor such amendment of the
Constitution and such legislation as may be necessary to that
end.

"We favor the maintenance and the extension wherever

practicable of the merit system in the public service,
appointments to be made according to fitness, competitively
ascertained, and public servants to be retained in office only
so long as shall be compatible with the efficiency of the
service.

"Combinations, trusts, and monopolies contrived and arranged

for the purpose of controlling the prices and quantity of
articles supplied to the public are unjust, unlawful, and
oppressive. Not only do these unlawful conspiracies fix the
prices of commodities in many cases, but they invade every
branch of the State and National Government with their
polluting influence and control the actions of their employés
and dependents in private life until their influence actually
imperils society and the liberty of the citizen. We declare
against them. We demand the most stringent laws for their
destruction and the most severe punishment of their promoters
and maintainers and the energetic enforcement of such laws by
the courts.
"We believe the Monroe doctrine to be sound in principle and a
wise National policy, and we demand a firm adherence thereto.
We condemn acts inconsistent with it and that tend to make us
parties to the interests and to involve us in the
controversies of European nations and to recognition by
pending treaty of the right of England to be considered in the
construction of an interoceanic canal. We declare that such
canal, when constructed, ought to be controlled by the United
States in the interests of American nations.

"We observe with anxiety and regard with disapproval the

increasing ownership of American lands by aliens and their
growing control over our international transportation, natural
resources, and public utilities. We demand legislation to
protect our public domain, our natural resources, our
franchises, and our internal commerce and to keep them free
and maintain their independence of all foreign monopolies,
institutions, and influences, and we declare our opposition to
the leasing of the public lands of the United States whereby
corporations and syndicates will be able to secure control
thereof and thus monopolize the public domain, the heritage of
the people.

"We are in favor of the principles of direct legislation. In

view of the great sacrifice made and patriotic services
rendered we are in favor of liberal pensions to deserving
soldiers, their widows, orphans, and other dependents. We
believe that enlistment and service should be accepted as
conclusive proof that the soldier was free from disease and
disability at the time of his enlistment. We condemn the
present administration of the pension laws.

"We tender to the patriotic people of the South African

Republics our sympathy and express our admiration for them in
their heroic attempts to preserve their political freedom and
maintain their national independence. We declare the
destruction of these republics and the subjugation of their
people to be a crime against civilization. We believe this
sympathy should have been voiced by the American Congress, as
was done in the case of the French, the Greeks, the
Hungarians, the Poles, the Armenians, and the Cubans, and as
the traditions of this country would have dictated. We declare
the Porto Rican Tariff law to be not only a serious but a
dangerous departure from the principles of our form of
government. We believe in a republican form of government and
are opposed to monarchy and to the whole theory of
imperialistic control.

"We believe in self-government—a government by the consent of

the governed—and are unalterably opposed to a government based
upon force. It is clear and certain that the inhabitants of
the Philippine Archipelago cannot be made citizens of the
United States without endangering our civilization. We are,
therefore, in favor of applying to the Philippine Archipelago
the principle we are solemnly and publicly pledged to observe
in the case of Cuba.

"There no longer being any necessity for collecting war taxes,

we demand the repeal of the war taxes levied to carry on the
war with Spain.

"We favor the immediate admission into the union of States the
Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

"We demand that our nation's promises to Cuba shall be

fulfilled in every particular.

"We believe the National Government should lend every aid,

encouragement, and assistance toward the reclamation of the
arid lands of the United States, and to that end we are in
favor of a comprehensive survey thereof and an immediate
ascertainment of the water supply available for such
reclamation, and we believe it to be the duty of the General
 Government to provide for the construction of storage
reservoirs and irrigation works so that the water supply of
the arid region may be utilized to the greatest possible
extent in the interests of the people, while preserving all
rights of the State.

"Transportation is a public necessity and the means and

methods of it are matters of public concern. Railway companies
exercise a power over industries, business, and commerce which
they ought not to do, and should be made to serve the public
interests without making unreasonable charges or unjust
discriminations.

"We observe with satisfaction the growing sentiment among the

people in favor of the public ownership and operation of
public utilities.

"We are in favor of expanding our commerce in the interests of

American labor and for the benefit of all our people by every
honest and peaceful means. Our creed and our history justify
the nations of the earth in expecting that wherever the
American flag is unfurled in authority human liberty and
political liberty will be found. We protest against the
adoption of any policy that will change in the thought of the
world the meaning of our flag.

"We are opposed to the importation of Asiatic laborers in

competition with American labor, and favor a more rigid
enforcement of the laws relating thereto.

"The Silver Republican party of the United States, in the

foregoing principles, seeks to perpetuate the spirit and to
adhere to the teachings of Abraham Lincoln."

{658}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.

Platform of the American League of Anti-Imperialists.

Republicans and others opposed to a policy of conquest, and to

the government of people, not as citizens, but as subjects of
the Republic of the United States, and who wished to make that
opposition distinct and emphatic in the presidential canvass,
met in convention at Indianapolis, on the 16th of August, as
the "Liberty Congress of the American League of
Anti-Imperialists." One party among them thought the best
demonstration of public opinion on this issue could be
obtained by the nomination of a third ticket; while another
and larger party deemed it expedient to indorse the candidacy
of William J. Bryan, as a pronounced opponent of the imperial
policy. The views of the latter prevailed, and the indorsement
of Mr. Bryan was carried in the convention; but many of the
former refused submission to the vote of the majority, and
subsequently held a Third Party convention at New York (see
below). The Indianapolis Declaration was as follows:

"This Liberty Congress of Anti-Imperialists recognizes a great

National crisis, which menaces the Republic, upon whose future
depends in such large measure the hope of freedom throughout
the world. For the first time in our country's history the
President has undertaken to subjugate a foreign people and to
rule them by despotic power. He has thrown the protection of
the flag over slavery and polygamy in the Sulu Islands. He has
arrogated to himself the power to impose upon the inhabitants
of the Philippines government without their consent and
taxation without representation. He is waging war upon them
for asserting the very principles for the maintenance of which
our forefathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor. He claims for himself and Congress authority to
govern the territories of the United States without
constitutional restraint.

"We believe in the Declaration of Independence. Its truths,

not less self-evident to-day than when first announced by our
fathers, are of universal application and cannot be abandoned
while government by the people endures.

"We believe in the Constitution of the United States. It gives

the President and Congress certain limited powers and secures
to every man within the jurisdiction of our Government certain
essential rights. We deny that either the President or
Congress can govern any person anywhere outside the
Constitution.

"We are absolutely opposed to the policy of President

McKinley, which proposes to govern millions of men without
their consent, which in Porto Rico establishes taxation
without representation, and government by the arbitrary will
of a legislature unfettered by constitutional restraint, and
in the Philippines prosecutes a war of conquest and demands
unconditional surrender from a people who are of right free
and independent. The struggle of men for freedom has ever been
a struggle for constitutional liberty. There is no liberty if
the citizen has no right which the Legislature may not invade,
if he may be taxed by the Legislature in which he is not
represented, or if he is not protected by fundamental law
against the arbitrary action of executive power. The policy of
the President offers the inhabitants of Porto Rico, Hawaii and
the Philippines no hope of independence, no prospect of
American citizenship, no constitutional protection, no
representation in the Congress which taxes them. This is the
government of men by arbitrary power without their consent.
This is imperialism. There is no room under the free flag of
America for subjects. The President and Congress, who derive
all their powers from the Constitution, can govern no man
without regard to its limitations.

"We believe the greatest safeguard of liberty is a free press,

and we demand that the censorship in the Philippines, which
keeps from the American people the knowledge of what is done
in their name, be abolished. We are entitled to know the
truth, and we insist that the powers which the President holds
in trust for us shall not be used to suppress it.

"Because we thus believe, we oppose the reelection of Mr.

McKinley. The supreme purpose of the people in this momentous
campaign should be to stamp with their final disapproval his
attempt to grasp imperial power. A self-governing people can
have no more imperative duty than to drive from public life a
Chief Magistrate who, whether in weakness or of wicked
purpose, has used his temporary authority to subvert the
character of their government and to destroy their National
ideals.

"We, therefore, in the belief that it is essential at this

crisis for the American people again to declare their faith in
the universal application of the Declaration of Independence
and to reassert their will that their servants shall not have
or exercise any powers whatever other than those conferred by
the Constitution, earnestly make the following recommendations
to our countrymen:

"First, that, without regard to their views on minor questions

of domestic policy, they withhold their votes from Mr.
McKinley, in order to stamp with their disapproval what he has
done.

"Second, that they vote for those candidates for Congress in

their respective districts who will oppose the policy of
imperialism.

"Third, while we welcome any other method of opposing the

re-election of Mr. McKinley we advise direct support of Mr.
Bryan as the most effective means of crushing imperialism. We
are convinced of Mr. Bryan's sincerity and of his earnest
purpose to secure to the Filipinos their independence. His
position and the declarations contained in the platform of his
party on the vital issue of the campaign meet our unqualified
 approval.

"We recommend that the Executive committees of the American

Anti-Imperialist League and its allied leagues continue and
extend their organizations, preserving the independence of the
movement; and that they take the most active part possible in
the pending political campaign.

"Until now the policy which has turned the Filipinos from warm
friends to bitter enemies, which has slaughtered thousands of
them and laid waste their country, has been the policy of the
President. After the next election it becomes the policy of
every man who votes to re-elect him and who thus becomes with
him responsible for every drop of blood thereafter shed.

"In declaring that the principles of the Declaration of

Independence apply to all men, this Congress means to include
the negro race in America as well as the Filipinos. We
deprecate all efforts, whether in the South or in the North,
to deprive the negro of his rights as a citizen under the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United
States."

{659}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.

The "Third Party" Anti-Imperialist Platform and Nominations.

The Anti-Imperialists who desired a Third Party ticket in the

field, called a convention which met in the city of New York,
September 5, and put in nomination for President and Vice
President Senator Donelson Caffery, of Louisiana, and
Archibald Murray Howe, of Massachusetts. The name "National
Party" was assumed, and its "aims and purposes" were thus
declared:

"We find our country threatened with alternative perils. On

 the one hand is a public opinion misled by organized forces of
commercialism, that have perverted a war intended by the
people to be a war of humanity into a war of conquest. On the
other is a public opinion swayed by demagogic appeals to
factional and class passions, the most fatal of diseases to a
republic. We believe that either of these influences, if
unchecked, would ultimately compass the downfall of our
country, but we also believe that neither represents the sober
conviction of our countrymen. Convinced that the extension of
the jurisdiction of the United States for the purpose of
holding foreign people as colonial dependents is an innovation
dangerous to our liberties and repugnant to the principles
upon which our Government is founded, we pledge our earnest
efforts through all constitutional means:

"First, to procure the renunciation of all imperial or

colonial pretensions with regard to foreign countries claimed
to have been acquired through or in consequence of military or
naval operations of the last two years.

"Second, we further pledge our efforts to secure a single gold

standard and a sound banking system.

"Third, to secure a public service based on merit only.

"Fourth, to secure the abolition of all corrupting special

privileges, whether under the guise of subsidies, bounties,
undeserved pensions or trust breeding tariffs."

Within a few weeks after the holding of this convention,

Senator Caffery and Mr. Howe withdrew their names from the
canvass, and it was decided to appoint electors-at-large in as
many states as possible, to receive the votes of those
supporting the movement.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.

Social Democratic Party Platform and Nominations.
The last distinct movement of organization for the
presidential election was that of a "Social Democratic Party,"
whose convention, at Chicago, September 29, placed Eugene V.
Debs, of Illinois, in nomination for President, and Job
Harriman, of California, for Vice President, on principles
declared as follows:

"The Social Democratic party of America declares that life,

liberty, and happiness depend upon equal political and
economic rights.

"In our economic development an industrial revolution has

taken place, the individual tool of former years having become
the social tool of the present. The individual tool was owned
by the worker, who employed himself and was master of his
product. The social tool, the machine, is owned by the
capitalist, and the worker is dependent upon him for
employment. The capitalist thus becomes the master of the
worker, and is able to appropriate to himself a large share of
the product of his labor.

"Capitalism, the private ownership of the means of production,

is responsible for the insecurity of subsistence, the poverty,
misery, and degradation of the ever-growing majority of our
people; but the same economic forces which have produced and
now intensify the capitalist system will necessitate the
adoption of Socialism, the collective ownership of the means
of production for the common good and welfare.

"The present system of social production and private ownership

is rapidly converting society into two antagonistic classes—i.
e., the capitalist class and the propertyless class. The
middle class, once the most powerful of this great nation, is
disappearing in the mill of competition. The issue is now
between the two classes first named. Our political liberty is
now of little value to the masses unless used to acquire
economic liberty. Independent political action and the
trade-union movement are the chief emancipating factors of the
working class, the one representing its political, the other
its economic wing, and both must cooperate to abolish the
capitalist system.

"Therefore, the Social Democratic party of America declares

its object to be:

"First—The organization of the working class into a political

party to conquer the public powers now controlled by
capitalists.

"Second—The abolition of wage-slavery by the establishment of

a National system of cooperative industry, based upon the
social or common ownership of the means of production and
distribution, to be administered by society in the common
interest of all its members, and the complete emancipation of
the socially useful classes from the domination of capitalism.

"The working class and all those in sympathy with their

historic mission to realize a higher civilization should sever
connection with all capitalist and reform parties and unite
with the Social Democratic party of America. The control of
political power by the Social Democratic party will be
tantamount to the abolition of all class rule. The solidarity
of labor connecting the millions of class-conscious
fellow-workers throughout the civilized world will lead to
international Socialism, the brotherhood of man.

"As steps in that direction, we make the following demands:

"First-Revision of our Federal Constitution, in order to

remove the obstacles to complete control of government by the
people irrespective of sex.
 "Second—The public ownership of all industries controlled by
monopolies, trusts, and combines.

"Third—The public ownership of all railroads, telegraphs, and

telephones; all means of transportation and communication; all
water-works, gas and electric plants, and other public
utilities.

"Fourth—The public ownership of all gold, silver, copper,

lead, iron, coal, and other mines, and all oil and gas wells.

"Fifth—The reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to

the increasing facilities of production.

{660}

"Sixth—The inauguration of a system of public works and

improvements for the employment of the unemployed, the public
credit to be utilized for that purpose.

"Seventh—Useful inventions to be free, the inventor to be

remunerated by the public.

"Eighth—Labor legislation to be National instead of local, and

international when possible.

"Ninth—National insurance of working people against

accidents, lack of employment, and want in old age.

"Tenth—Equal civil and political rights for men and women, and
the abolition of all laws discriminating against women.

"Eleventh—The adoption of the initiative and referendum,

proportional representation, and the right of recall of
representatives by the voters.

"Twelfth—Abolition of war and the introduction of

 international arbitration."

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.

The Canvass and Election.

The canvass preceding the election was much less excited than
that of 1896. The confusion of issues greatly lessened the
intensity with which they were discussed. Mr. Bryan again took
the field in person, travelling widely through all parts of
the country, making great numbers of speeches to immense
audiences everywhere; and Governor Roosevelt did the same on
the Republican side, to a somewhat less extent.

The election, which occurred on the 6th of November, was

conducted with the quiet order that is rarely broken at such
times in America. About fourteen millions of votes were cast,
of which, according to the returns compiled for the Tribune
Almanac,
President McKinley received 7,214,027,
and Bryan, 6,342,514.
For the Prohibition ticket, 197,112 votes were cast;
for the Socialist Labor ticket, 32,433;
for the Social Democratic ticket, 82,904;
and 78,444 votes were scuttered among other candidates.
The States carried for McKinley were:
California, giving 9 electoral votes;
Connecticut, 6;
Delaware, 3;
Illinois, 24;
Indiana, 15;
Iowa, 13;
Kansas, 10;
Maine, 6;
Maryland, 8;
Massachusetts, 15;
Michigan, 14;
Minnesota, 9;
Nebraska, 8;
New Hampshire, 4;
New Jersey, 10;
New York, 36;
North Dakota, 3;
Ohio, 23;
Oregon, 4;
Pennsylvania, 32;
Rhode Island, 4;
South Dakota, 4;
Utah, 3;
Vermont, 4;
Washington, 4;
West Virginia, 6;
Wisconsin, 12;
Wyoming, 3;

Total, 292.

For Bryan, the electoral votes of the following States

were given:
Alabama, 11;
Arkansas, 8;
Colorado, 4;
Florida, 4;
Georgia, 13;
Idaho, 3;
Kentucky, 13;
Louisiana, 8;
Mississippi, 9;
Missouri, 17;
Montana, 3;
Nevada, 3;
North Carolina, 11;
South Carolina, 9;
Tennessee, 12;
Texas, 15;
 Virginia, 12;

Total, 155.

President McKinley was re-elected by a majority of 137 votes

in the Electoral College, and by a majority of nearly half a
million of the popular vote.

" The popular vote for President shows three interesting

things:

"(1) Many men of each party abstained from voting, for the
total was only 45,132 greater than in 1896, whereas the
increase in population adds about a million to the electorate
every four years. The total vote last year was 13,970,234. Mr.
McKinley received only about 100,000 more than in 1896, and
Mr. Bryan 130,000 less. Many men in each party, then, were
dissatisfied with their candidate and platform.

"(2) Mr. Bryan's largest gains were in New England, because of

the anti-Imperialistic feeling, and in New York and New Jersey
and Illinois, because of a milder fear of financial
disturbance; and his losses were greatest in Utah, in
Colorado, and in the Pacific States, an indication of better
times and of less faith in free silver.

"(3) Twelve Southern States cast a smaller vote than in 1896,

partly because of the elimination of the Negroes, and partly
because many Gold Democrats abstained from voting."

The World's Work, February, 1901.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.

The Democratic candidate on "Imperialism."

The issue which ought to have been supreme in the Presidential

election, because fundamental principles of government and
lasting consequences of policy were bound up in it, but which
was unhappily confused by prevailing anxieties in the
sensitive region of commercial and industrial affairs, is more
broadly and adequately defined in the declarations of the two
leading candidates, on their formal acceptance of nominations
by the Democratic and Republican parties, than it is in the
party platforms quoted above. The first to speak was Mr.
Bryan. Responding to the committee which notified him of his
nomination, at Indianapolis, ou the 8th of August, he devoted
the greater part of his remarks to the policy of colonial
acquisition on which the government had been embarked. The
following passages are fairly representative of the view taken
by those who condemned what they termed "imperialism," in the
undertaking of the government of the American Republic to
impose its sovereignty upon the people of the Philippine
Islands, and to hold their country as a "possession:"

"When the president, supported by a practically unanimous vote

of the House and Senate, entered upon a war with Spain for the
purpose of aiding the struggling patriots of Cuba, the
country, without regard to party, applauded. Although the
Democrats realized that the administration would necessarily
gain a political advantage from the conduct of a war which in
the very nature of the case must soon end in a complete
victory, they vied with the Republicans in the support which
they gave to the President. When the war was over and the
Republican leaders began to suggest the propriety of a
colonial policy, opposition at once manifested itself.

"When the President finally laid before the Senate a treaty

which recognized the independence of Cuba, but provided for
the cession of the Philippine Islands to the United States,
the menace of imperialism became so apparent that many
preferred to reject the treaty and risk the ills that might
follow rather than take the chance of correcting the errors of
the treaty by the independent action of this country. I was
among the number of those who believed it better to ratify the