Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1891727
M. House
Great Zimbabwe was the centre of an ancient Shona state from AD 1200 to 1700. It is known for its magnificent architecture and involvement in long-distance (inter-continental) and local (inter-regional) trade. In this society, cattle were vitally important in social, economic and political spheres. However, the origins and herd management strategies of cattle from Great Zimbabwe have never been explored using empirical evidence, although researchers have proposed seasonal transhumance between upland and lowland regions. In this thesis, measurements of Sr/Sr, δO, δC and δN profiles in serial samples of tooth enamel and dentine from 27 archaeological cattle teeth enable investigation of several aspects of cattle procurement and management. Taken together, the isotope measurements show that cattle at Great Zimbabwe came from a broad geographical area. Some cattle were raised (for the first year of life) less than 40 km away from Great Zimbabwe, most were raised in the lowveld of the country between 40 and 120 km south of the site and some may have moved between the two areas. Cattle fed mainly on C4 grass throughout the period from AD 1300 to 1600, although some also consumed limited amounts of browse. Heterogenous δC profiles indicate that animals derived from different environments and that calves were born at different times of year. This study emphasises the advantages of using multiple isotopes to extract maximum information from archaeological tissues. In combination with the distribution of material culture, particularly from sites coeval with Great Zimbabwe, it contributes to our understanding of the flow of key resources within the Zimbabwe state, enhancing knowledge of relationships between sites and regions. The thesis also emphasises how economically connected the landscape was during the apogee of the Zimbabwe state. It thus makes a significant contribution to our hitherto very limited knowledge of the flow of regional (as opposed to imported) commodities. Future work should target lesser studied Zimbabwe-type sites in southern Zimbabwe to further explore interactions and relationships between hinterland sites and their centres.
{"title":"Straight from the cow’s mouth: investigating procurement and management strategies in cattle supplied to Great Zimbabwe using a multi-isotopic approach","authors":"M. House","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1891727","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1891727","url":null,"abstract":"Great Zimbabwe was the centre of an ancient Shona state from AD 1200 to 1700. It is known for its magnificent architecture and involvement in long-distance (inter-continental) and local (inter-regional) trade. In this society, cattle were vitally important in social, economic and political spheres. However, the origins and herd management strategies of cattle from Great Zimbabwe have never been explored using empirical evidence, although researchers have proposed seasonal transhumance between upland and lowland regions. In this thesis, measurements of Sr/Sr, δO, δC and δN profiles in serial samples of tooth enamel and dentine from 27 archaeological cattle teeth enable investigation of several aspects of cattle procurement and management. Taken together, the isotope measurements show that cattle at Great Zimbabwe came from a broad geographical area. Some cattle were raised (for the first year of life) less than 40 km away from Great Zimbabwe, most were raised in the lowveld of the country between 40 and 120 km south of the site and some may have moved between the two areas. Cattle fed mainly on C4 grass throughout the period from AD 1300 to 1600, although some also consumed limited amounts of browse. Heterogenous δC profiles indicate that animals derived from different environments and that calves were born at different times of year. This study emphasises the advantages of using multiple isotopes to extract maximum information from archaeological tissues. In combination with the distribution of material culture, particularly from sites coeval with Great Zimbabwe, it contributes to our understanding of the flow of key resources within the Zimbabwe state, enhancing knowledge of relationships between sites and regions. The thesis also emphasises how economically connected the landscape was during the apogee of the Zimbabwe state. It thus makes a significant contribution to our hitherto very limited knowledge of the flow of regional (as opposed to imported) commodities. Future work should target lesser studied Zimbabwe-type sites in southern Zimbabwe to further explore interactions and relationships between hinterland sites and their centres.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"25 1","pages":"279 - 279"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85103512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925023
Thomas J. Biginagwa, P. Lane
ABSTRACT The expansion of the caravan trade in eastern Africa during the nineteenth century is considered to have had significant ecological, economic and social consequences. While available historical documentary and oral sources provide valuable evidence concerning the scale, timing and spatial extent of these, as well as information about some of the key actors and agents, there remain significant gaps that have the potential to be filled by targeted archaeological research. This paper presents one such study, which aims to establish how influential the expansion of the caravan trade was on local animal economies, with particular reference to a sample of known caravan halts on the northern route on the Pangani River, Tanzania. The results of zooarchaeological analysis of faunal assemblages recovered from four sites suggest that the impacts may have been less than has often been argued by some historians. The study also provides fresh insight on the continuing importance of wild resources, especially rodents, in local diets in the late nineteenth century and on local herd management strategies.
{"title":"Local animal economies during the nineteenth-century caravan trade along the Lower Pangani, northeastern Tanzania: a zooarchaeological perspective","authors":"Thomas J. Biginagwa, P. Lane","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925023","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The expansion of the caravan trade in eastern Africa during the nineteenth century is considered to have had significant ecological, economic and social consequences. While available historical documentary and oral sources provide valuable evidence concerning the scale, timing and spatial extent of these, as well as information about some of the key actors and agents, there remain significant gaps that have the potential to be filled by targeted archaeological research. This paper presents one such study, which aims to establish how influential the expansion of the caravan trade was on local animal economies, with particular reference to a sample of known caravan halts on the northern route on the Pangani River, Tanzania. The results of zooarchaeological analysis of faunal assemblages recovered from four sites suggest that the impacts may have been less than has often been argued by some historians. The study also provides fresh insight on the continuing importance of wild resources, especially rodents, in local diets in the late nineteenth century and on local herd management strategies.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"61 1","pages":"219 - 249"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88822574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925024
I. Vella Gregory
ABSTRACT This paper builds upon the excavation work carried out to date at Jebel Moya, south-central Sudan. It focuses on the surviving figurine assemblage from Wellcome’s excavations (1911–1914), curated at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and a recently re-discovered Wellcome Collection photographic archive. Too often in Sudan, parallels are drawn between sites far apart, something that is culture-historical in its essence. Drawing upon all extant information on context, the Jebel Moya figurines are examined here as part of the current project’s wider aims of understanding a complex multi-period site. A framework for continuing discussion on figurines that places them firmly within the local population is proposed. This methodology views figurines as objects inhabiting various and different worlds. It is therefore a move away from previous universalist treatments of Sudan north of Khartoum that obscure the role of figurines in local and wider social relations and can be applied at other sites.
{"title":"Re-examining Jebel Moya figurines: new directions for figurine studies in Sudan","authors":"I. Vella Gregory","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925024","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper builds upon the excavation work carried out to date at Jebel Moya, south-central Sudan. It focuses on the surviving figurine assemblage from Wellcome’s excavations (1911–1914), curated at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and a recently re-discovered Wellcome Collection photographic archive. Too often in Sudan, parallels are drawn between sites far apart, something that is culture-historical in its essence. Drawing upon all extant information on context, the Jebel Moya figurines are examined here as part of the current project’s wider aims of understanding a complex multi-period site. A framework for continuing discussion on figurines that places them firmly within the local population is proposed. This methodology views figurines as objects inhabiting various and different worlds. It is therefore a move away from previous universalist treatments of Sudan north of Khartoum that obscure the role of figurines in local and wider social relations and can be applied at other sites.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"10 1","pages":"193 - 218"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85185094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925025
S. M-Shidad Hussein
ABSTRACT The existence of ruined towns in interior Somalia, most of them in the northwest, has been known to Western observers since 1854. Some were briefly surveyed during the last century. Although new investigations have been undertaken recently in northwest Somalia and on the neighbouring Somali plateau of eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Somalia has mostly remained unexplored. However, several ruined towns, three of them relatively large, have recently been discovered in the Nugaal Valley. These new discoveries enhance our current limited knowledge of the history of these towns. The three larger towns are located in the same region where the first interior city in Somalia was reported in 1154. It is possible that one of the newly reported sites represents that forgotten city. This paper presents preliminary data from a surface investigation of the three sites and then explores their ramifications for the history of the region.
{"title":"Ruined towns in Nugaal: a forgotten medieval civilisation in interior Somalia","authors":"S. M-Shidad Hussein","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1925025","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The existence of ruined towns in interior Somalia, most of them in the northwest, has been known to Western observers since 1854. Some were briefly surveyed during the last century. Although new investigations have been undertaken recently in northwest Somalia and on the neighbouring Somali plateau of eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Somalia has mostly remained unexplored. However, several ruined towns, three of them relatively large, have recently been discovered in the Nugaal Valley. These new discoveries enhance our current limited knowledge of the history of these towns. The three larger towns are located in the same region where the first interior city in Somalia was reported in 1154. It is possible that one of the newly reported sites represents that forgotten city. This paper presents preliminary data from a surface investigation of the three sites and then explores their ramifications for the history of the region.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"6 1","pages":"250 - 271"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83666130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-17DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1900638
Eric Maṱhoho
Decades of archaeological research have established the chronology of the history of culture by farmers in northern South Africa from the beginning of the first millennium AD to the recent past. This thesis sought to explore the archaeology and archaeometallurgy of the early inhabitants of the Lowveld region. Rigorous methodological and theoretical approaches, which include ethnohistorical, archaeological and archaeometallurgical studies, were employed to acquire the relevant information required to address research problems. Ceramic typology and settlement pattern studies were used to establish the culture-history needed to contextualise Iron Age sites, while Optical Microscopy, X-Ray Fluorescence analysis (XRF) and Scanning ElectronMicroscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the metallurgical remains from them in order to understand metal production technology. Both Mutoti and Thomo share several similarities, namely, a location near perennial streams, the presence of metal-production and a predominance of pottery types marked by short and long neck vessels dominated by comb stamping, incision and punctate decorations on the rim, neck and shoulder of the vessels. Ceramic tradition analysis revealed that both Mutoti and Thomo combine ceramic designs and attributes that appeared in the region near the beginning of the first millennium AD, that is the Urewe and Kalundu traditions. The sites’ radiocarbon-based chronology suggests that they were occupied contemporaneously and that they date to cal. AD 650–850. Analysis of the distribution of material objects across Mutoti revealed active participation in both local (soapstone) and international trade networks (Islamic ceramics). Evidence of craft activities includes metal production, eggshell bead manufacture and cloth production. Metal production was regarded as a signature of power and authority in the Iron Age and more research may strengthen this observation at these sites.
{"title":"Archaeology and archaeometallurgy in Limpopo Province, South Africa: case studies of the Early Iron Age sites of Mutoti and Thomo","authors":"Eric Maṱhoho","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1900638","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1900638","url":null,"abstract":"Decades of archaeological research have established the chronology of the history of culture by farmers in northern South Africa from the beginning of the first millennium AD to the recent past. This thesis sought to explore the archaeology and archaeometallurgy of the early inhabitants of the Lowveld region. Rigorous methodological and theoretical approaches, which include ethnohistorical, archaeological and archaeometallurgical studies, were employed to acquire the relevant information required to address research problems. Ceramic typology and settlement pattern studies were used to establish the culture-history needed to contextualise Iron Age sites, while Optical Microscopy, X-Ray Fluorescence analysis (XRF) and Scanning ElectronMicroscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the metallurgical remains from them in order to understand metal production technology. Both Mutoti and Thomo share several similarities, namely, a location near perennial streams, the presence of metal-production and a predominance of pottery types marked by short and long neck vessels dominated by comb stamping, incision and punctate decorations on the rim, neck and shoulder of the vessels. Ceramic tradition analysis revealed that both Mutoti and Thomo combine ceramic designs and attributes that appeared in the region near the beginning of the first millennium AD, that is the Urewe and Kalundu traditions. The sites’ radiocarbon-based chronology suggests that they were occupied contemporaneously and that they date to cal. AD 650–850. Analysis of the distribution of material objects across Mutoti revealed active participation in both local (soapstone) and international trade networks (Islamic ceramics). Evidence of craft activities includes metal production, eggshell bead manufacture and cloth production. Metal production was regarded as a signature of power and authority in the Iron Age and more research may strengthen this observation at these sites.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"16 1","pages":"280 - 280"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85337074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-17DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1900470
Marcos Leitão de Almeida
{"title":"Speaking with substance: methods of language and materials in African history","authors":"Marcos Leitão de Almeida","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1900470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1900470","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"92 11 1","pages":"272 - 273"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77283800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-05DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2021.1876442
Nik Petek-Sargeant
{"title":"Remembering Turkana: material histories and contemporary livelihoods in north-western Kenya","authors":"Nik Petek-Sargeant","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2021.1876442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.1876442","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"11 1","pages":"276 - 278"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81825573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-15DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2020.1868752
C. Magnavita
ABSTRACT One of the most intriguing problems concerning the Kanem-Borno sultanate of the central Sahel between the eighth and nineteenth centuries AD concerns its early intra-African connections. Apart from historically documented linkages with North and parts of West Africa, were there trade and other contacts with eastern regions such as Darfur, the Middle Nile Valley and areas beyond prior to the fifteenth century? Addressing the results of recent archaeological field research conducted in Kanem, Chad, this paper lays the foundations of an answer to that and other pressing questions concerning Kanem-Borno. Because the region concerned is a virtual archaeological blank, the first and foremost goal of fieldwork was securely to identify and describe locations once related to the sultanate. Based on previous studies as well as various new surveys, test-excavations and radiometric dating, archaeological sites undoubtedly associated with early Kanem-Borno were located and preliminarily investigated. Those sites consist of the ruins of fired brick enclosures encompassing fired brick buildings or groups thereof dated to the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. Taking into account the construction materials used and newly available absolute dates, as well as historical data, it is assumed that these sites were élite localities very probably founded and occupied by members of what would become the Sayfuwa aristocracy and related groups.
{"title":"Early Kanem-Borno fired brick élite locations in Kanem, Chad: archaeological and historical implications","authors":"C. Magnavita","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2020.1868752","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2020.1868752","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT One of the most intriguing problems concerning the Kanem-Borno sultanate of the central Sahel between the eighth and nineteenth centuries AD concerns its early intra-African connections. Apart from historically documented linkages with North and parts of West Africa, were there trade and other contacts with eastern regions such as Darfur, the Middle Nile Valley and areas beyond prior to the fifteenth century? Addressing the results of recent archaeological field research conducted in Kanem, Chad, this paper lays the foundations of an answer to that and other pressing questions concerning Kanem-Borno. Because the region concerned is a virtual archaeological blank, the first and foremost goal of fieldwork was securely to identify and describe locations once related to the sultanate. Based on previous studies as well as various new surveys, test-excavations and radiometric dating, archaeological sites undoubtedly associated with early Kanem-Borno were located and preliminarily investigated. Those sites consist of the ruins of fired brick enclosures encompassing fired brick buildings or groups thereof dated to the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. Taking into account the construction materials used and newly available absolute dates, as well as historical data, it is assumed that these sites were élite localities very probably founded and occupied by members of what would become the Sayfuwa aristocracy and related groups.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"68 1","pages":"153 - 192"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75039365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/0067270x.2021.1882730
Robert T. Nyamushosho
In southern Africa, as elsewhere, the tendency of Iron Age (AD 200–1900) researchers has been to focus on the more prominent places on the landscape, especially those believed by pioneering archaeologists to have been the centres of big states. Consequently, most research has focused on Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Khami, Danamombe and many other places considered as centres (mizinda) of expansive territorial states. Landscapes away from and in-between these states and their centres are traditionally viewed as ‘peripheries’ where the resources that made them prosperous were extracted. The inhabitants of such ‘peripheries’ are presented as if they possessed little or no agency. One such area isMberengwa, a gold-rich area situated between the edges of Mapela, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Danamombe and Khami. This thesis explores the archaeology of Chumnungwa, a drystone-walled muzinda located in Mberengwa. Because of abundant gold, and a landscape optimal for cattle production and crop agriculture, Chumnungwa is often marginalised as a docile ‘periphery’ of the more powerful and territorial states that surrounded it. Stratigraphic excavations were performed in different parts of the site to recover artefactual and chronological evidence. Indications are that the inhabitants of Chumnungwa exploited locally acquired resources such as gold, iron and soapstone, but mixed these with resources from distant areas. Cumulatively, this evidence, when assessed in relation to chronology, suggests that Chumnungwa flourished more or less at the same time as Mapela and the later phases of Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Khami and Danamombe. As a powerful actor in Mberengwa, Chumnungwa also networked and was therefore entangled not only with local, but also regional and inter-regional politico-economic processes. This suggests that it is only a historical invention that can marginalise some landscapes as ‘peripheral’, especially in the absence of research, but that once attention is directed to them multiple layers of agency and entanglement emerge.
{"title":"States, agency, and power on the ‘peripheries’: exploring the archaeology of the Later Iron Age societies in precolonial Mberengwa, CE 1300-1600s","authors":"Robert T. Nyamushosho","doi":"10.1080/0067270x.2021.1882730","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2021.1882730","url":null,"abstract":"In southern Africa, as elsewhere, the tendency of Iron Age (AD 200–1900) researchers has been to focus on the more prominent places on the landscape, especially those believed by pioneering archaeologists to have been the centres of big states. Consequently, most research has focused on Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Khami, Danamombe and many other places considered as centres (mizinda) of expansive territorial states. Landscapes away from and in-between these states and their centres are traditionally viewed as ‘peripheries’ where the resources that made them prosperous were extracted. The inhabitants of such ‘peripheries’ are presented as if they possessed little or no agency. One such area isMberengwa, a gold-rich area situated between the edges of Mapela, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Danamombe and Khami. This thesis explores the archaeology of Chumnungwa, a drystone-walled muzinda located in Mberengwa. Because of abundant gold, and a landscape optimal for cattle production and crop agriculture, Chumnungwa is often marginalised as a docile ‘periphery’ of the more powerful and territorial states that surrounded it. Stratigraphic excavations were performed in different parts of the site to recover artefactual and chronological evidence. Indications are that the inhabitants of Chumnungwa exploited locally acquired resources such as gold, iron and soapstone, but mixed these with resources from distant areas. Cumulatively, this evidence, when assessed in relation to chronology, suggests that Chumnungwa flourished more or less at the same time as Mapela and the later phases of Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Khami and Danamombe. As a powerful actor in Mberengwa, Chumnungwa also networked and was therefore entangled not only with local, but also regional and inter-regional politico-economic processes. This suggests that it is only a historical invention that can marginalise some landscapes as ‘peripheral’, especially in the absence of research, but that once attention is directed to them multiple layers of agency and entanglement emerge.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"40 1","pages":"152 - 152"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87999123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2020.1865665
Maciej Wyżgoł
ABSTRACT Old Dongola, the capital of the Makurian kingdom of medieval Nubia, remained a significant town after the collapse of Makuria throughout most of the Funj period between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries AD. After its incorporation into the sphere of influence of the Funj sultan residing in Sennar, Old Dongola’s prominence within the region persisted as an important political and socio-economic centre. Remains of houses from the Funj period have been excavated as part of work undertaken by the Polish Archaeological Mission to Old Dongola since 1964. Preliminary reports from excavations of the houses enable an archaeological analysis focused on the function of particular spaces within their walls. The identification of the houses’ installations and the distribution of artefacts, as well as the localisation of traces of several household tasks, lead to conclusions regarding the multifunctionality of space within them. The abundance of ethnographic records concerning modern Nubian settlements provides valuable sources for the interpretation of the organisation of space in functional, symbolic, gender and privacy-related terms. This paper therefore presents an interpretation of the organisation of space within houses of the Funj period in Old Dongola on the basis of the analysis of accessibility and ethnographic analogy.
{"title":"Dwelling after Makuria: the organisation and function of space in houses of the Funj period in Old Dongola, Nubia","authors":"Maciej Wyżgoł","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2020.1865665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2020.1865665","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Old Dongola, the capital of the Makurian kingdom of medieval Nubia, remained a significant town after the collapse of Makuria throughout most of the Funj period between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries AD. After its incorporation into the sphere of influence of the Funj sultan residing in Sennar, Old Dongola’s prominence within the region persisted as an important political and socio-economic centre. Remains of houses from the Funj period have been excavated as part of work undertaken by the Polish Archaeological Mission to Old Dongola since 1964. Preliminary reports from excavations of the houses enable an archaeological analysis focused on the function of particular spaces within their walls. The identification of the houses’ installations and the distribution of artefacts, as well as the localisation of traces of several household tasks, lead to conclusions regarding the multifunctionality of space within them. The abundance of ethnographic records concerning modern Nubian settlements provides valuable sources for the interpretation of the organisation of space in functional, symbolic, gender and privacy-related terms. This paper therefore presents an interpretation of the organisation of space within houses of the Funj period in Old Dongola on the basis of the analysis of accessibility and ethnographic analogy.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"25 1","pages":"90 - 114"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82911684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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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