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Facial reconstruction of a 9,000-year-old man from Mechta-el-Arbi, Algeria At the boundary of the Holocene, the “Mechta” or “Mechta-Afalou” type predominated in western North Africa. It was also attributed to several eastern North African finds, including Wadi Kubbaniya, Jebel Sahaba, and Wadi Halfa, and to Saharan remains such as Asselar and Gobero. However, these assignments are questionable, as robustness is essentially their only shared trait and is better regarded as an archaic feature. The Mechta type is therefore best restricted to the Maghreb and northwestern Sahara. The type was defined from Taforalt (Morocco, 11.9–13.9 ka BP), Afalou-bou-Rhummel (Algeria, 11.5–13.1 ka BP), and Mechta-el-Arbi (Algeria, 7.5–10 ka BP), and was also termed Mechta-Arbi, Iberomaurusian, or Epipalaeolithic (Arambourg et al., 1934; Ferembach, 1962). Early Holocene climatic change drove coastal populations inland and coincided with rapid population growth, but anthropological homogeneity remained high. Later classifications distinguished a robust Mechta-Afalou and a more gracile Mechtoid variant among Iberomaurusians, with additional Mechta, Mechtoid, Capsian, and Proto-Mediterranean variants among Capsian populations (Chamla, 1978). It has been suggested that the people of Taforalt, compared with the slightly later Afalou-bou-Rhummel group, were more robust and less variable, perhaps due to greater isolation and endogamy (Lubell et al., 1984). However, multivariate analyses do not support this interpretation (Groves and Thorne, 1999). Taforalt individuals appear closer to Caucasoids - and, accounting for their robustness, to European Cro-Magnons - while Afalou-bou-Rhummel individuals show somewhat more Sub-Saharan African affinities, approaching Jebel Sahaba (Groves and Thorne, 1999). The Mechta-Afalou type was originally classified as Caucasoid largely because of jaw orthognathism and strong nasal projection (Arambourg et al., 1934; Vallois, 1952). However, its broad nose and interorbital region, together with prognathism in some individuals, led to comparisons with African Cro-Magnons. Similarities with Upper Paleolithic European Cro-Magnons have repeatedly been emphasized (Groves and Thorne, 1999). At the beginning of the Holocene, Mechta-Afalou people generally had robust, high, dolichocranic to occasionally mesocranic skulls, with very thick vault bones, sloping foreheads, prominent brow ridges, and usually rounded occipitals. The faces were broad, low, and generally orthognathic, with low rectangular orbits, a very broad interorbital region, and a strongly projecting but relatively broad nose. The zygomatics were robust, while some individuals displayed marked alveolar prognathism. The mandibles were exceptionally large, with high symphyses, strongly projecting chins, everted angles, and narrow, long ascending rami inclined backward. The postcranial skeleton was robust, with pronounced muscular markings. Stature was relatively tall, averaging about 1.74 m at Afalou-bou-Rhummel, and limb proportions broadly resembled those of Upper Paleolithic Europeans and some modern African populations. One of the distinctive features of Iberomaurusians is that the upper central incisors were removed from the men during their lifetime. The procedure was probably a ritual performed upon entering adulthood.