The Holocene engraved ornate ram in Algeria: A behavioral and cultural chronometer for the Initial Neolithic Pastoralism (INP) IX-V millennia cal BP [La gravure Holocène du bélier orné en Algérie: Chronomètre de l'évolution comportementale du Pastoralisme Néolithique Initial (PNI) IX-Vème millénaires cal BP]

Throughout the saharan atlas and the central tellian atlas of algeria,the engraved wild fauna with the ornate ram lead by his herder is the first holocene symbolic witness of an initial neolithic pastoralism (inp). a total of 66 engravings were recorded in the area of ksour-amour-ouled naïl-tiaret. chrono-climatic and environmental data allowed favourable conditions for the fauna development and cultural settlements (ix-v millennia cal bp),on particular in the messad region. this emblematic ram (naturalistic period,black patina) evokes a pastoral root which initiated a symbolic and a socioeconomic behavior going from the myth to the engraving,since the beginning of holocene. even when a cultural context is not clearly evident,this engraving visibility is a marker of the early pastoral project. after the mid-holocene times (subnaturalistic/ bovidian period,red brown patina) the resign of the cephalic attribute on the ram's head and its position among domestic animal engravings,suggests a new flock perception,based on the exchange having an economic value. used as a behavioral and a cultural chronometer this engraved ornate ram also gives a territorial pastoral expression,whatever was the cultural context in which breeding was adopted and grafted.