Pub Date : 2021-12-03DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10009
E. E. Attia, C. Malleson, A. Fahmy, G. Lucarini
This article discusses archaeobotanical evidence from two Sheikh el-Obeiyid villages and the Bir el-Obeiyid playa, which are located along the course of the Wadi el-Obeiyid and on the top and escarpment of the Northern Plateau, at the northern edge of the Farafra Oasis, Egypt. The villages and playa are both part of a settlement system which developed from the top of the plateau, through its various erosion surfaces, down to the bottom of the wadi. The villages in particular can be considered as seasonal base camps, populated by semi-sedentary groups who engaged in intensive exploitation of the resources available in the surrounding environment during the early and mid-Holocene. These sites can be compared to the better-known Hidden Valley village site located only 20 km to the east, the remains from which were analysed during the early 2000s by Ahmed G. Fahmy. At all the sites investigated to date in Farafra there is clear evidence for gathering and use of sorghum and other species of small-seeded wild grasses, fitting the emerging patterns of intense wild grass exploitation in attractive ecological zones for the eastern Sahara during the 9th–6th millennia BP.
本文讨论了来自Sheikh el Obeiyid两个村庄和Bir el Obeieid playa的考古植物学证据，这两个村庄位于Wadi el Obeiyi河沿岸，位于埃及法拉夫拉绿洲北部边缘的北部高原顶部和悬崖上。村庄和普拉亚都是一个定居系统的一部分，这个系统从高原的顶部，经过各种侵蚀表面，一直发展到瓦迪河的底部。这些村庄尤其可以被视为季节性大本营，居住着半定居群体，他们在全新世早期和中期对周围环境中的可用资源进行了密集开发。这些遗址可以与位于东部仅20公里处的更著名的隐谷村庄遗址相比较，Ahmed G.Fahmy在21世纪初对其遗迹进行了分析。迄今为止，在Farafra调查的所有地点，都有明确的证据表明高粱和其他小籽野草的采集和使用，符合公元前9至6千年期间东撒哈拉有吸引力的生态区出现的大规模野草开发模式。
{"title":"New Data on Plant Use in the Eastern Sahara: The Macro-Remain Assemblage from Sheikh el-Obeiyid Villages and Bir el-Obeiyid Playa, Farafra Oasis, Egyptian Western Desert","authors":"E. E. Attia, C. Malleson, A. Fahmy, G. Lucarini","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article discusses archaeobotanical evidence from two Sheikh el-Obeiyid villages and the Bir el-Obeiyid playa, which are located along the course of the Wadi el-Obeiyid and on the top and escarpment of the Northern Plateau, at the northern edge of the Farafra Oasis, Egypt. The villages and playa are both part of a settlement system which developed from the top of the plateau, through its various erosion surfaces, down to the bottom of the wadi. The villages in particular can be considered as seasonal base camps, populated by semi-sedentary groups who engaged in intensive exploitation of the resources available in the surrounding environment during the early and mid-Holocene. These sites can be compared to the better-known Hidden Valley village site located only 20 km to the east, the remains from which were analysed during the early 2000s by Ahmed G. Fahmy. At all the sites investigated to date in Farafra there is clear evidence for gathering and use of sorghum and other species of small-seeded wild grasses, fitting the emerging patterns of intense wild grass exploitation in attractive ecological zones for the eastern Sahara during the 9th–6th millennia BP.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42752767","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 : 2021-11-09DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10006
Ashenafi G. Zena, A. Duff, Addisalem Melesse, J. Wolff, Alemseged Beldados, M. Shackley
This paper reports the results of an archaeological survey and test excavation conducted in one of the ancient megalithic stele sites in south Ethiopia, Sakaro Sodo. The Sakaro Sodo stele site is situated in Gedeo zone, which is known to have the largest number and highest concentration of megalithic stele monuments in Africa, with an estimate of more than 10,000 stelae in sixty or more sites. Prior to our work, only one absolute date was available (850 ± 40 BP) (Joussaume 2012) from a stele site in the Gedeo zone, suggesting stele sites began to be constructed in the region approximately a millennium ago. We report here new AMS dates suggesting that stelae were being emplaced about 2000 BP, pushing the creation of these monuments back at least a millennium. Additionally, we report preliminary findings from characterizing the geochemical properties of obsidian artifacts recovered from stele sites, and stone used to make stelae. While compositional analysis of obsidian suggests long-distance movement of material from sources located in northern Kenya, petrographic microscopy and electron microprobe analyses show a strong connection of stelae to local geological tuff exposures/sources.
{"title":"New Dates for Megalithic Stele Monuments of Gedeo, South Ethiopia","authors":"Ashenafi G. Zena, A. Duff, Addisalem Melesse, J. Wolff, Alemseged Beldados, M. Shackley","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper reports the results of an archaeological survey and test excavation conducted in one of the ancient megalithic stele sites in south Ethiopia, Sakaro Sodo. The Sakaro Sodo stele site is situated in Gedeo zone, which is known to have the largest number and highest concentration of megalithic stele monuments in Africa, with an estimate of more than 10,000 stelae in sixty or more sites. Prior to our work, only one absolute date was available (850 ± 40 BP) (Joussaume 2012) from a stele site in the Gedeo zone, suggesting stele sites began to be constructed in the region approximately a millennium ago. We report here new AMS dates suggesting that stelae were being emplaced about 2000 BP, pushing the creation of these monuments back at least a millennium. Additionally, we report preliminary findings from characterizing the geochemical properties of obsidian artifacts recovered from stele sites, and stone used to make stelae. While compositional analysis of obsidian suggests long-distance movement of material from sources located in northern Kenya, petrographic microscopy and electron microprobe analyses show a strong connection of stelae to local geological tuff exposures/sources.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42148802","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 : 2021-11-05DOI: 10.1163/21915784-bja10008
Y. Bokbot, Corisande Fenwick, D. Mattingly, N. Sheldrick, M. Sterry
The article presents important results from the Middle Draa Project (MDP) in southern Morocco related to two mid-1st millennium CE hilltop settlements (hillforts) that were associated with significant rock art assemblages. The combination of detailed survey and radiocarbon dating of these remarkable sites provides a unique window on the Saharan world in which the pecked engravings, predominantly of horses, were produced. As the horse imagery featured on the walls of buildings within the settlement, the radiocarbon dating around the mid-1st millennium CE can also be applied in this instance to the rock art. The rarity of rock art of this period within habitation sites is also discussed and it is argued that its occurrence at both these locations indicates that they had some special social or sacred significance for their occupants. While it is commonplace for rock art of this era, featuring horses and camels, to be attributed by modern scholars to mobile pastoralists, a further argument of the paper is that the desert societies were in a period of transformation at this time, with the development of oases. The association of the rock art imagery with sedentary settlements, where grain was certainly being processed and stored, is thus an additional new element of contextual information for the widespread Saharan images of horses and horse and riders.
{"title":"Horses and Habitations: Iron Age Rock Art from Fortified Hilltop Settlements in the Wadi Draa, Morocco","authors":"Y. Bokbot, Corisande Fenwick, D. Mattingly, N. Sheldrick, M. Sterry","doi":"10.1163/21915784-bja10008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The article presents important results from the Middle Draa Project (MDP) in southern Morocco related to two mid-1st millennium CE hilltop settlements (hillforts) that were associated with significant rock art assemblages. The combination of detailed survey and radiocarbon dating of these remarkable sites provides a unique window on the Saharan world in which the pecked engravings, predominantly of horses, were produced. As the horse imagery featured on the walls of buildings within the settlement, the radiocarbon dating around the mid-1st millennium CE can also be applied in this instance to the rock art. The rarity of rock art of this period within habitation sites is also discussed and it is argued that its occurrence at both these locations indicates that they had some special social or sacred significance for their occupants. While it is commonplace for rock art of this era, featuring horses and camels, to be attributed by modern scholars to mobile pastoralists, a further argument of the paper is that the desert societies were in a period of transformation at this time, with the development of oases. The association of the rock art imagery with sedentary settlements, where grain was certainly being processed and stored, is thus an additional new element of contextual information for the widespread Saharan images of horses and horse and riders.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49191568","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 : 2021-08-25DOI: 10.1163/21915784-BJA10007
J. K. Ugwuanyi, E. I. Itanyi, U. Obieluem
{"title":"Heritage Ontologies in Nigeria: An Analysis of How Heritage Connects and Disconnects People","authors":"J. K. Ugwuanyi, E. I. Itanyi, U. Obieluem","doi":"10.1163/21915784-BJA10007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-BJA10007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44912485","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 : 2021-07-27DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20210014
Artur Obłuski, Julia Maczuga
The aim of this paper is to present pictorial graffiti executed on the walls of the Northern Church of the Ghazali Monastery located in what is today the Northern Province of Sudan. The graffiti were recorded during research by the Polish-Sudanese mission at the monastic complex. This paper explores the symbolic meanings of the graffiti as well as possible rationales behind their locations. Some of the depictions have overt religious meanings and may be interpreted as “graphic” prayers. This category of graffiti includes representations of Christ, angels, saints, female figures and horse riders. Other depictions seem to refer to daily life in Nubia – the graffiti abound in motifs such as camels, horses, boats and human beings.
{"title":"Pictorial Graffiti from the Ghazali Northern Church, Sudan: An Overview","authors":"Artur Obłuski, Julia Maczuga","doi":"10.1163/21915784-20210014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20210014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The aim of this paper is to present pictorial graffiti executed on the walls of the Northern Church of the Ghazali Monastery located in what is today the Northern Province of Sudan. The graffiti were recorded during research by the Polish-Sudanese mission at the monastic complex. This paper explores the symbolic meanings of the graffiti as well as possible rationales behind their locations. Some of the depictions have overt religious meanings and may be interpreted as “graphic” prayers. This category of graffiti includes representations of Christ, angels, saints, female figures and horse riders. Other depictions seem to refer to daily life in Nubia – the graffiti abound in motifs such as camels, horses, boats and human beings.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46914564","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 : 2021-07-15DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20210013
I. Mesfin, M. Lotter, M. Benjamim
In southern Africa, the use of gravel outcrops has been recorded at a range of Earlier Stone Age sites, and this raises questions about the diversity of raw material sourcing practices adopted by hominins. To assess the existence of sourcing strategies, this study details a new morphometric analysis method that investigates the influence of pebble and cobble shape at two Acheulean case-study sites: Dungo IV (Benguela Province, Angola) and Penhill Farm (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa). Since these assemblages present frequent pebble and cobble artefacts, we investigate these to identify raw material blank properties to then establish whether these properties were intentionally selected for. To do so, we analyse each archaeological sample separately via a technological and morphometrical approach and then compare them with geological samples obtained during fieldwork survey. Overall, these two case studies provide some illustration of variable selection strategies within the southern African coastal plain.
{"title":"A New Approach to Quantifying Raw Material Selectivity in the African Acheulean: Perspectives from Angola and South Africa","authors":"I. Mesfin, M. Lotter, M. Benjamim","doi":"10.1163/21915784-20210013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20210013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In southern Africa, the use of gravel outcrops has been recorded at a range of Earlier Stone Age sites, and this raises questions about the diversity of raw material sourcing practices adopted by hominins. To assess the existence of sourcing strategies, this study details a new morphometric analysis method that investigates the influence of pebble and cobble shape at two Acheulean case-study sites: Dungo IV (Benguela Province, Angola) and Penhill Farm (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa). Since these assemblages present frequent pebble and cobble artefacts, we investigate these to identify raw material blank properties to then establish whether these properties were intentionally selected for. To do so, we analyse each archaeological sample separately via a technological and morphometrical approach and then compare them with geological samples obtained during fieldwork survey. Overall, these two case studies provide some illustration of variable selection strategies within the southern African coastal plain.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41416370","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 : 2021-06-25DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20210009
J. Cascalheira
{"title":"Foragers in the middle Limpopo Valley: trade, place-making, and social complexity, written by Tim Forssman","authors":"J. Cascalheira","doi":"10.1163/21915784-20210009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20210009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47436826","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 : 2021-06-18DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20210010
T. Karberg
{"title":"Travelling the Korosko Road. Archaeological Exploration in Sudan’s Eastern Desert, edited by W. Vivian Davies and Derek A. Welsby","authors":"T. Karberg","doi":"10.1163/21915784-20210010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20210010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42438105","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 : 2021-06-15DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20210011
F. Biveridge
This article is a report of an archaeological investigation of the Laloi East Molluscs Site at Kpone, Greater Accra Region, Ghana. Although radiometric dates for this shell midden are currently unavailable, we believe that Laloi East dates to the Later Stone Age. If so, this site would be one of only two LSA sites in Ghana found and excavated along the coast rather than in the forested interior. This article examines shellfish exploitation and other major subsistence strategies of the population that settled the site in the past. The principal cultural materials recovered from the excavations comprised large quantities of molluscs’ remains belonging to a variety of species, other faunal remains, pottery, palm kernel nuts, charcoal, stone slabs, and lithic tools. The combined evidence indicates that molluscs’ exploitation was the principal subsistence strategy of the settlers, undertaken alongside hunting, trapping, herding and the gathering of edible botanical resources such as palm fruits.
{"title":"An Archaeological Investigation of Laloi East Molluscs Site at Kpone, Ghana","authors":"F. Biveridge","doi":"10.1163/21915784-20210011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20210011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article is a report of an archaeological investigation of the Laloi East Molluscs Site at Kpone, Greater Accra Region, Ghana. Although radiometric dates for this shell midden are currently unavailable, we believe that Laloi East dates to the Later Stone Age. If so, this site would be one of only two LSA sites in Ghana found and excavated along the coast rather than in the forested interior. This article examines shellfish exploitation and other major subsistence strategies of the population that settled the site in the past. The principal cultural materials recovered from the excavations comprised large quantities of molluscs’ remains belonging to a variety of species, other faunal remains, pottery, palm kernel nuts, charcoal, stone slabs, and lithic tools. The combined evidence indicates that molluscs’ exploitation was the principal subsistence strategy of the settlers, undertaken alongside hunting, trapping, herding and the gathering of edible botanical resources such as palm fruits.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49057598","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 : 2021-06-07DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20210008
M. House, J. Sealy, S. Chirikure, P. L. le Roux
At the ancient Shona centre of Great Zimbabwe (1200–1700 CE), cattle (Bos taurus) were centrally important for economic, social, and symbolic purposes. 87Sr/86Sr for modern plants collected in southern Zimbabwe vary from 0.7054 to 0.8780 and ranges differ between some geological substrates. 87Sr/86Sr in serial samples of Bos taurus tooth enamel provides information on where animals consumed at Great Zimbabwe were raised and how herds were managed. The majority of animals sampled were born and remained for their first year of life in a region some 40–120 km south of Great Zimbabwe. Few animals came from geological substrates like that of Great Zimbabwe itself, and none from areas underlain by basalts (> 120 km south of Great Zimbabwe). Earlier hypotheses of transhumance are not supported. These findings will help to build a fuller picture of the role of local commodities (in this case, cattle) in the economic networks that supported the rise and florescence of Great Zimbabwe as a major centre of power.
{"title":"Investigating Cattle Procurement at Great Zimbabwe Using 87Sr/86Sr","authors":"M. House, J. Sealy, S. Chirikure, P. L. le Roux","doi":"10.1163/21915784-20210008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20210008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000At the ancient Shona centre of Great Zimbabwe (1200–1700 CE), cattle (Bos taurus) were centrally important for economic, social, and symbolic purposes. 87Sr/86Sr for modern plants collected in southern Zimbabwe vary from 0.7054 to 0.8780 and ranges differ between some geological substrates. 87Sr/86Sr in serial samples of Bos taurus tooth enamel provides information on where animals consumed at Great Zimbabwe were raised and how herds were managed. The majority of animals sampled were born and remained for their first year of life in a region some 40–120 km south of Great Zimbabwe. Few animals came from geological substrates like that of Great Zimbabwe itself, and none from areas underlain by basalts (> 120 km south of Great Zimbabwe). Earlier hypotheses of transhumance are not supported. These findings will help to build a fuller picture of the role of local commodities (in this case, cattle) in the economic networks that supported the rise and florescence of Great Zimbabwe as a major centre of power.","PeriodicalId":44797,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49301259","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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