Pub Date : 2022-08-11DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10019
M. Wozniak, Z. Belka
Late antique and medieval cotton and wool textiles found in the middle Nile Valley (Nubia, northern Sudan) were analysed for their technical characteristics and strontium (Sr) isotope composition. All wool textiles exhibit Sr isotope signatures consistent with the isotopic background of the region studied and are considered to be of local origin. However, a medieval wool kilim from Meinarti shows technical and aesthetic features suggesting its foreign Maghreb provenance. As this fabric dates back to the occupation of Meinarti by the Beni Ikrima tribe, it is suggested that the kilim was woven by the Beni Ikrima people from local Nubian raw material. The cotton samples tested come from abroad and document trade with the oases of the Egyptian Western Desert, the west coast of India, and perhaps also with the Arabian Peninsula or Pakistan.
{"title":"The Provenance of Ancient Cotton and Wool Textiles from Nubia: Insights from Technical Textile Analysis and Strontium Isotopes","authors":"M. Wozniak, Z. Belka","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Late antique and medieval cotton and wool textiles found in the middle Nile Valley (Nubia, northern Sudan) were analysed for their technical characteristics and strontium (Sr) isotope composition. All wool textiles exhibit Sr isotope signatures consistent with the isotopic background of the region studied and are considered to be of local origin. However, a medieval wool kilim from Meinarti shows technical and aesthetic features suggesting its foreign Maghreb provenance. As this fabric dates back to the occupation of Meinarti by the Beni Ikrima tribe, it is suggested that the kilim was woven by the Beni Ikrima people from local Nubian raw material. The cotton samples tested come from abroad and document trade with the oases of the Egyptian Western Desert, the west coast of India, and perhaps also with the Arabian Peninsula or Pakistan.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48749910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-09DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10018
Abigail Desmond
Bone tools from Taforalt Cave constitute the largest North African Later Stone Age (LSA) bone tool technocomplex recovered to-date. Use-trace analyses show that the small, pointed forms which dominate the assemblage show microtopographic patterning consistent with ethnographic bone tools used to make coiled basketry. The presence of coiled basketry likely scaffolded emergent cultural forms reflected in increased sedentism, resource intensification, and greater population density at Taforalt. This study explores the relationship between coiled basketry and archaeologically co-occurring technologies. Ethnographic analogies derived from Indigenous Californian groups provide a model for how resource-specific collection, processing, storage, and preparation requirements may have been supported technologically.
{"title":"Bone Tool Proxy Evidence for Coiled Basketry Production in the North African Palaeolithic","authors":"Abigail Desmond","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10018","url":null,"abstract":"Bone tools from Taforalt Cave constitute the largest North African Later Stone Age (<jats:sc>LSA</jats:sc>) bone tool technocomplex recovered to-date. Use-trace analyses show that the small, pointed forms which dominate the assemblage show microtopographic patterning consistent with ethnographic bone tools used to make coiled basketry. The presence of coiled basketry likely scaffolded emergent cultural forms reflected in increased sedentism, resource intensification, and greater population density at Taforalt. This study explores the relationship between coiled basketry and archaeologically co-occurring technologies. Ethnographic analogies derived from Indigenous Californian groups provide a model for how resource-specific collection, processing, storage, and preparation requirements may have been supported technologically.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138534072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-08DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10017
L. Mallen, D. Pearce, Charles Arthur, P. Mitchell
Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive documentation of rock paintings in the area threatened with inundation, as well as pigment characterisation and direct dating. This paper gives an overview of the rock arts found and their key features. Four traditions are present. Most paintings belong to the fine-line San tradition, but there are also examples of Type 3 images previously only recognised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Two other traditions are identified as being made by local Basotho communities. Contextual evidence suggests that they relate to male identity and, in the case of ochre smears and handprints, specifically to male initiation rituals. Some of the rock art sites identified are, in fact, used today by male and female initiation schools. The importance of comprehensively documenting rock art in other locations where it is at risk of being lost via development projects is stressed. Metolong sets a standard for rock art recording in cultural resource management work in the wider region.
{"title":"The Rock Arts of Metolong: Paintings, Archaeology and Cultural Resource Management in Western Lesotho","authors":"L. Mallen, D. Pearce, Charles Arthur, P. Mitchell","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10017","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive documentation of rock paintings in the area threatened with inundation, as well as pigment characterisation and direct dating. This paper gives an overview of the rock arts found and their key features. Four traditions are present. Most paintings belong to the fine-line San tradition, but there are also examples of Type 3 images previously only recognised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Two other traditions are identified as being made by local Basotho communities. Contextual evidence suggests that they relate to male identity and, in the case of ochre smears and handprints, specifically to male initiation rituals. Some of the rock art sites identified are, in fact, used today by male and female initiation schools. The importance of comprehensively documenting rock art in other locations where it is at risk of being lost via development projects is stressed. Metolong sets a standard for rock art recording in cultural resource management work in the wider region.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49462680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-13DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10013
Akshay Sarathi, J. Kenoyer, J. Walz
Archaeological excavations at Unguja Ukuu recovered a rock crystal cabochon seal with the word lillāh (“for God”) inscribed in the Kufic script on its domed surface. The artifact is an intaglio amulet seal engraved in the negative. Microscopic examination of the seal surfaces reveals that a rotary tool was used to make the initial inscription. At some later point, a diagonal spall was removed across part of the inscription. The diagonal spall appears to be along a natural crystal plane. It is impossible to determine if this was the result of intentional defacement or an accidental process that might have resulted in the eventual deposition of the seal. Strata dated by radiometric and relative methods coupled with the style of the Kufic script date the seal to the late-8th to 9th centuries CE. This artifact is the earliest known example of an Islamic amulet seal and of writing in the Zanzibar Archipelago.
{"title":"An Early Islamic Rock Crystal Amulet Seal from Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar","authors":"Akshay Sarathi, J. Kenoyer, J. Walz","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Archaeological excavations at Unguja Ukuu recovered a rock crystal cabochon seal with the word lillāh (“for God”) inscribed in the Kufic script on its domed surface. The artifact is an intaglio amulet seal engraved in the negative. Microscopic examination of the seal surfaces reveals that a rotary tool was used to make the initial inscription. At some later point, a diagonal spall was removed across part of the inscription. The diagonal spall appears to be along a natural crystal plane. It is impossible to determine if this was the result of intentional defacement or an accidental process that might have resulted in the eventual deposition of the seal. Strata dated by radiometric and relative methods coupled with the style of the Kufic script date the seal to the late-8th to 9th centuries CE. This artifact is the earliest known example of an Islamic amulet seal and of writing in the Zanzibar Archipelago.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44388417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-05DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10016
P. Chudzik, Urszula Iwaszczuk
The recent discovery of Nile crocodile remains in the mortuary complexes of two high-ranking courtiers of Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II, located in the early Middle Kingdom necropolis in the valley of North Asasif, opened the way to an exploration of the role of reptile remains in funerary contexts. The skeletal remains, which were not mummified, consisted of fragments of the skull and mandible, loose teeth, and osteoderms. This paper explores the association that may have existed between the deceased and the crocodile god Sobek, whom the ancient Egyptians identified with pharaonic power, inundation and fertility. From the Middle Kingdom, Sobek, who was believed to have risen from the Primeval Waters, was merged with the sun-god Ra, and in the solar form of Sobek-Ra was made part of the eternal journey of the sun from the east to the west. This association was also reflected in the Spells of the Coffin Texts, in which the deceased became Sobek.
{"title":"“A Crocodile Spirit, Crocodile-Faced”: Discovery of Crocodile Remains in the Early Middle Kingdom Tombs of the North Asasif Necropolis in Western Thebes (Egypt)","authors":"P. Chudzik, Urszula Iwaszczuk","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10016","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The recent discovery of Nile crocodile remains in the mortuary complexes of two high-ranking courtiers of Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II, located in the early Middle Kingdom necropolis in the valley of North Asasif, opened the way to an exploration of the role of reptile remains in funerary contexts. The skeletal remains, which were not mummified, consisted of fragments of the skull and mandible, loose teeth, and osteoderms. This paper explores the association that may have existed between the deceased and the crocodile god Sobek, whom the ancient Egyptians identified with pharaonic power, inundation and fertility. From the Middle Kingdom, Sobek, who was believed to have risen from the Primeval Waters, was merged with the sun-god Ra, and in the solar form of Sobek-Ra was made part of the eternal journey of the sun from the east to the west. This association was also reflected in the Spells of the Coffin Texts, in which the deceased became Sobek.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41561566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-04DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10015
B. Fagan
This brief report describes the animal bones from the first millennium BC discovered during Graham Connah’s excavations at Daima Mound in northeastern Nigeria in 1965–66. The faunal research was completed by the author in 1973, but, owing to various circumstances, it has not been possible to publish the report until now. Eighty percent of the 657 positively identified bones come from domestic cattle, probably a small-statured breed. They were mostly slaughtered while young adults, which suggests they were surplus males. Small stock, probably goats, and also hunting were less important. The inhabitants consumed shallow water fish, mainly Clariidae (catfish), easily trapped in shallow pools. The small Daima collection confirms faunal data from other Lake Chad sites, which show that cattle herding was an important activity during the first millennium BC.
{"title":"Research in Retrospect: The Animal Bones from Daima, Northeast Nigeria","authors":"B. Fagan","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This brief report describes the animal bones from the first millennium BC discovered during Graham Connah’s excavations at Daima Mound in northeastern Nigeria in 1965–66. The faunal research was completed by the author in 1973, but, owing to various circumstances, it has not been possible to publish the report until now. Eighty percent of the 657 positively identified bones come from domestic cattle, probably a small-statured breed. They were mostly slaughtered while young adults, which suggests they were surplus males. Small stock, probably goats, and also hunting were less important. The inhabitants consumed shallow water fish, mainly Clariidae (catfish), easily trapped in shallow pools. The small Daima collection confirms faunal data from other Lake Chad sites, which show that cattle herding was an important activity during the first millennium BC.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41587932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-08DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10014
Mica B. Jones, Ruth Tibesasa
Kansyore pottery-using groups of the northeastern Lake Victoria Basin represent one of only a few examples of ‘complex’ hunter-gatherers in Africa. Archaeologists link evidence of specialized fishing, a seasonal land-use cycle between lake and riverine sites, and intensive investment in ceramic production to behavioral complexity after 9 thousand years ago (ka). However, a gap in the Kansyore radiocarbon record of the region between ~7 and 4.4 cal ka limits explanations of when and why social and economic changes occurred. This study provides the first evidence of lakeshore occupation during this temporal break at the only well-studied Kansyore site in eastern Uganda, Namundiri A. Within the context of other sites in nearby western Kenya, radiometric and faunal data from the site indicate a move from the lake to a greater reliance on riverine habitats with middle Holocene aridity ~5–4 cal ka and the arrival of food producers to the region after ~3 cal ka.
维多利亚湖盆地东北部使用陶器的坎西奥尔人是非洲少数几个“复杂”狩猎采集者的例子之一。考古学家将专门捕鱼、湖泊和河流遗址之间的季节性土地利用循环、陶瓷生产的密集投资等证据与9000年前的行为复杂性联系起来。然而，Kansyore放射性碳记录在~7和4.4 cal ka之间的差距限制了对社会和经济变化发生的时间和原因的解释。这项研究在乌干达东部唯一一个被充分研究过的Kansyore遗址Namundiri a提供了在这个时间中断期间湖岸被占领的第一个证据。在肯尼亚西部附近的其他遗址的背景下，该遗址的辐射测量和动物数据表明，在全新世中期干旱~ 5-4 cal ka和~3 cal ka之后粮食生产者到达该地区，从湖泊转移到更依赖河流栖息地。
{"title":"Kansyore Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers Abandoned the Northeastern Lake Victoria Shoreline during an Arid Period in the Middle Holocene: A Reconsideration of Dates from Western Kenya with New Radiometric and Faunal Evidence from the Namundiri A Shell Midden, Eastern Uganda","authors":"Mica B. Jones, Ruth Tibesasa","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Kansyore pottery-using groups of the northeastern Lake Victoria Basin represent one of only a few examples of ‘complex’ hunter-gatherers in Africa. Archaeologists link evidence of specialized fishing, a seasonal land-use cycle between lake and riverine sites, and intensive investment in ceramic production to behavioral complexity after 9 thousand years ago (ka). However, a gap in the Kansyore radiocarbon record of the region between ~7 and 4.4 cal ka limits explanations of when and why social and economic changes occurred. This study provides the first evidence of lakeshore occupation during this temporal break at the only well-studied Kansyore site in eastern Uganda, Namundiri A. Within the context of other sites in nearby western Kenya, radiometric and faunal data from the site indicate a move from the lake to a greater reliance on riverine habitats with middle Holocene aridity ~5–4 cal ka and the arrival of food producers to the region after ~3 cal ka.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44963295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-02DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10010
A. G. Oni, M. Olorunfemi, B. A. Ogunfolakan, M. O. Okunubi
Ile-Ife in southwestern Nigeria is rich in art and craft traditions, most especially iron smelting. The town hosts hundreds of smelting sites with little or no archaeological record. Archaeo-geophysical prospection of a suspected smelting site in Ile-Ife involved the magnetic and electrical resistivity geophysical methods and archaeological excavation with the aim to identify its buried artefacts/features and date the site. The geophysical investigations located a circular/oval-shaped dipolar magnetic anomaly that coincided with a high resistivity zone, typical of a heat-impacted furnace or a slag trench. Iron slag, tuyere, fired clay furnace fragments, and charcoal were recovered from the pits excavated at the locations of the geophysical anomalies. Smelting activity at the site, from dated charcoal, took place at some point between the 13th-15th centuries AD, a middle to late age in Africa’s history of iron smelting. This study, therefore, validated the examined site as an ancient iron smelting site and situated its place in the archaeological history of iron smelting.
{"title":"Archaeo-Geophysical Investigation of Ife City Grand Resort Iron Smelting Site at Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria","authors":"A. G. Oni, M. Olorunfemi, B. A. Ogunfolakan, M. O. Okunubi","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Ile-Ife in southwestern Nigeria is rich in art and craft traditions, most especially iron smelting. The town hosts hundreds of smelting sites with little or no archaeological record. Archaeo-geophysical prospection of a suspected smelting site in Ile-Ife involved the magnetic and electrical resistivity geophysical methods and archaeological excavation with the aim to identify its buried artefacts/features and date the site. The geophysical investigations located a circular/oval-shaped dipolar magnetic anomaly that coincided with a high resistivity zone, typical of a heat-impacted furnace or a slag trench. Iron slag, tuyere, fired clay furnace fragments, and charcoal were recovered from the pits excavated at the locations of the geophysical anomalies. Smelting activity at the site, from dated charcoal, took place at some point between the 13th-15th centuries AD, a middle to late age in Africa’s history of iron smelting. This study, therefore, validated the examined site as an ancient iron smelting site and situated its place in the archaeological history of iron smelting.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46115180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-12DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10012
Steven T. Goldstein, J. Farr, Martha Kayuni, M. Katongo, R. Fernandes, Anneke Janzen, Brooke Markham, Andrea U. Kay, Alison Crowther, N. Boivin
The period from c. AD 900 to AD 1300 in southern Africa is characterized by transitions from small-scale Iron Age mixed economy communities to the beginnings of more intensive food production and eventually the emergence of complex polities. In Zambia, this coincides with the appearance of larger and more permanent agro-pastoralist villages that began participating in Indian Ocean trade networks. Unlike other parts of southern Africa where stone architecture became common, the predominance of wattle-and-daub type construction methods across Zambia have often impeded preservation of Iron Age activity areas. It has therefore been difficult to reconstruct how economic and land-use changes between the Early and Later Iron Ages impacted family and community relationships reflected in intra-site and intra-household spatial organization. Fibobe II, in the Mulungushi River Basin of Central Zambia, is a rare example of an Early-to-Mid Iron Age village site where these spatial patterns may be discernable due to preservation of activity spaces and vitrified remains of wattle-and-daub structures. This paper reports on new investigations following original testing of the site in 1979, confirming preservation of an Iron Age hut with distinct patterning of features, artifacts, and charcoal. These results reaffirm the unique nature of Fibobe II and indicate the potential for programs of household archaeology aimed at studying this important and understudied period in Zambian prehistory.
{"title":"Excavations at the Iron Age Village Site of Fibobe II, Central Zambia","authors":"Steven T. Goldstein, J. Farr, Martha Kayuni, M. Katongo, R. Fernandes, Anneke Janzen, Brooke Markham, Andrea U. Kay, Alison Crowther, N. Boivin","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10012","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The period from c. AD 900 to AD 1300 in southern Africa is characterized by transitions from small-scale Iron Age mixed economy communities to the beginnings of more intensive food production and eventually the emergence of complex polities. In Zambia, this coincides with the appearance of larger and more permanent agro-pastoralist villages that began participating in Indian Ocean trade networks. Unlike other parts of southern Africa where stone architecture became common, the predominance of wattle-and-daub type construction methods across Zambia have often impeded preservation of Iron Age activity areas. It has therefore been difficult to reconstruct how economic and land-use changes between the Early and Later Iron Ages impacted family and community relationships reflected in intra-site and intra-household spatial organization. Fibobe II, in the Mulungushi River Basin of Central Zambia, is a rare example of an Early-to-Mid Iron Age village site where these spatial patterns may be discernable due to preservation of activity spaces and vitrified remains of wattle-and-daub structures. This paper reports on new investigations following original testing of the site in 1979, confirming preservation of an Iron Age hut with distinct patterning of features, artifacts, and charcoal. These results reaffirm the unique nature of Fibobe II and indicate the potential for programs of household archaeology aimed at studying this important and understudied period in Zambian prehistory.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45737750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-11DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10011
A. Jerardino
After the Last Glacial Maximum, important yet milder climatic trends continued to characterise the Holocene. None of them was more challenging to forager groups in the central west coast of South Africa than the mid-Holocene Altithermal (8200–4200 cal BP). Hot and dry weather and 1–3 m higher sea levels were thought once to have barred local foragers from this region because of a lack of sites dating to this period. Instead, this initial scenario reflected largely a sampling problem. Steenbokfontein Cave is one of a few sites with some of the largest mid-Holocene deposits, allowing insights into forager adaptations during this period. Results show high mobility over large distances and a terrestrial diet mostly dependant on small bovids, complemented with fewer coastal resources. Stone tool kits and lithic raw materials among various sites suggest that much evidence for mid-Holocene occupation is actually found near the local riparian systems.
在上一次冰川盛期之后，重要但温和的气候趋势继续成为全新世的特征。对于南非中西部海岸的觅食群体来说，它们中没有一个比全新世中期的Altithhermal（8200–4200 cal BP）更具挑战性。炎热干燥的天气和高出1-3米的海平面一度被认为是当地觅食者无法进入该地区的原因，因为缺乏可追溯到这一时期的地点。相反，这个最初的场景在很大程度上反映了一个抽样问题。Steenbokfontein洞穴是少数几个拥有全新世中期最大沉积物的遗址之一，可以深入了解这一时期的觅食者适应情况。研究结果表明，在大距离上有很高的机动性，陆地饮食主要依赖小型牛，沿海资源较少。各种遗址中的石器工具包和石器原材料表明，在当地河岸系统附近实际上发现了许多全新世中期占领的证据。
{"title":"Human Resilience in the Face of Mid-Holocene Climate Change on the Central West Coast of South Africa","authors":"A. Jerardino","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000After the Last Glacial Maximum, important yet milder climatic trends continued to characterise the Holocene. None of them was more challenging to forager groups in the central west coast of South Africa than the mid-Holocene Altithermal (8200–4200 cal BP). Hot and dry weather and 1–3 m higher sea levels were thought once to have barred local foragers from this region because of a lack of sites dating to this period. Instead, this initial scenario reflected largely a sampling problem. Steenbokfontein Cave is one of a few sites with some of the largest mid-Holocene deposits, allowing insights into forager adaptations during this period. Results show high mobility over large distances and a terrestrial diet mostly dependant on small bovids, complemented with fewer coastal resources. Stone tool kits and lithic raw materials among various sites suggest that much evidence for mid-Holocene occupation is actually found near the local riparian systems.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43501797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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