Qualla: Gueldaman Caves https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:30 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Gueldaman Caves https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves Gueldaman Caves: Introduction https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves/ Gueldaman is a Numidian water deity. That the caves on this mountain ridge bear a god's name suggests how long people have been coming here for what the landscape provides: water, shelter, and a view down the Soummam valley. The Gueldaman caves -- Adrar Gueldaman in Berber, where adrar means mountain -- sit on a karst ridge near the town of Akbou in Algeria's Bejaia Province, within the western Babor Mountains of the Tell Atlas range. Inside these caves, archaeologists have found evidence of continuous human occupation spanning more than 17,000 years, from Paleolithic hunters to Neolithic herders. And then, roughly 4,200 years ago, the people left. Climate may explain why.

Read more: Gueldaman Caves on Qualla

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/7/p/gueldaman-caves-wp/sn7p-gueldaman-caves-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gueldaman Caves: Seventeen Millennia Underground https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves/ The ridge stretches over seven kilometers at altitudes between 556 and 898 meters, with six caves on its southeastern face. The main cave, GLD1, is 80 meters long and sits 507 meters above sea level. French researchers de Beaumais and Royer first excavated it in the 1920s, discov...

Read more: Gueldaman Caves on Qualla

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/7/p/gueldaman-caves-wp/sn7p-gueldaman-caves-seventeen-millennia-underground.mp3 0:06 2 full Gueldaman Caves: When Hunters Became Herders https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves/ The caves' most significant contribution to North African prehistory lies in what they reveal about the transition from hunting and gathering to herding and cultivation -- the process archaeologists call Neolithisation. The introduction of domesticated sheep and goats at Gueldama...

Read more: Gueldaman Caves on Qualla

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/7/p/gueldaman-caves-wp/sn7p-gueldaman-caves-when-hunters-became-herders.mp3 0:06 3 full Gueldaman Caves: The Drought That Emptied the Caves https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves/ In 2015, an international consortium of geologic and meteorological institutes published a study that examined a prolonged drought in the Mediterranean and northern Africa approximately 4,200 years ago. The evidence from Gueldaman supported a striking hypothesis: this climate ano...

Read more: Gueldaman Caves on Qualla

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/7/p/gueldaman-caves-wp/sn7p-gueldaman-caves-the-drought-that-emptied-the-caves.mp3 0:06 4 full Gueldaman Caves: What Remains to Be Found https://qualla.com/gueldaman-caves/ Caves GLD2 and GLD3 were investigated for the first time between 2010 and 2012, yielding indices of human occupation similar to those in GLD1. Excavations in Sector 2 and Sector 3 progressed slowly due to the firmness of the deposits and clay floors, and bedrock was not reached. ...

Read more: Gueldaman Caves on Qualla

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/7/p/gueldaman-caves-wp/sn7p-gueldaman-caves-what-remains-to-be-found.mp3 0:06 5 full