nyame akuma issue 008
TRANSCRIPT
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No. 8 hay 1976
Newsletter of the Societ y of Af r i ca ni s
t
Archae ologist s i n America
Edited by P.L. Sh inn ie and issu ed from th e Department of Archaeology, The
Un iv ers it y of Calgary, C algary, Alb ert a, T2N lN4 Canada.
This is sue has been edit ed by Francois
J
Kense.
t
has been commented by some t h a t th e time al lowed f o r news
rep o r t s t o be s en t back t o us i s in su ff ic en t fo r some centreo . While
s u s p e c t t h a t t h i s is f r eq u en t ly q u i t e t r u e , wst add th a t d id
rec ei ve some re po rt s from Lagos i n 10 days f l a t . However, s h a l l
suggest t o Professor Sh innie ,
upon hi s re tu rn from heroe, t ha t more
ti be allowed for return mnail,
Although the an~ountof in format ion rece ived fo r th i s i ssu e i s
most
sa t i sf ac to ry , do wish t o hig hli ght one unfortuna te development.
This concerns the ra th er uneven balance between those ce nt re s who
provide us wi th f re qu en t rep or ts and i nfo rma tion and those from whom
we have heard very l i t t l e over the past couple of years .
glance
through th is i ssue w i l l quickly i nd ica te those are as f rom which the re
is a noti cea ble lack of coverage. ther efor e urge sub scr i bers f rom
a l l a r e a s of A fr ic an s t u d i e s t o m ke an a t t empt t o r ep o r t on th e i r
a c t i v i t i e s and r e se a rc h p r o je c t s . T hi s, a £ e r a l l , i s the printe
function of the Newslet ter .
a l s o draw your at te nt io n to the f i n a l page of th is number,
where a l l SAAAN members ar e urged t o respond t o t he s e l ec t io n of th e
venue of the coming S M nieetings.
Responses a re req uire d by Jul y
15, 1976 . Professor Shinnie wishes t o po in t ou t tha t i f the S M
meeting i s t o be held i n Calgary i n 1977, it w i l l be i n con junct ion
wit h before o r a f t e r ) a nleeting of the Canadian Soc iet y f o r Archaeology
Abroad.
And f i na l l y , an: a f r a id th a t th i s nunber has been i ssued a l i t t l e
l a t e r than usu al a s we have had
t o change t o an a l t e r na te system of
reprodu ction. My apologi es fo r any inconvenience th i s may have caused.
would l i k e t o extend my thanks t o our Department Secr etar y, Lesley
Nich o ll s , f o r he r h e lp in g e t t in g
t h i s number prepar ed.
Francois
J.
Kense
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TH PAN-AFRICAN CONGRESS COMMISSION ON TH
ATLAS
OF
AFRICAN PREHISTORY
s
mast members of the Pan-A frican Congress ar e aware, the Berkely
Off ice of the Commission has been working si nc e 1967 to arr ang e t he
co l l e c t io n o f da ta towards the p re para t ion of a rev i sed and updated
e d i t on of the Atla s of Af
r
ican Pra h i s ory Unive rs i ty of Chicago
Pres s , 1967) . Th is rev i s ion , a long wi th the proposed es t ab l i shment
of a computer-based and reference d data f i l e ,
w i l l
provide
a
new,
d e t a i l ed and ea s i l y av a i l ab l e co rp us of i n forma t io n ab ou t p r eh i s t o r i c
s i t e s and f i nd s on a con tinent -wide bas i s . Th is w i l l g r e a t l y
f a c i l i t a t e e a se of r e f e r e n c e , t h e a c q u i s i t i o n of b i b l i o g r a p hi c d a ta ,
and the incorpor at ion of new mat er i al as a reg ula r rout ine . The
genera l a im of such a p ro j ec t
i s
one of f a c i l i t a t i n g i n t h e exchang e
of in fo rmat ion wi th in the sc ie n t i f i c community, More sp ec i f i c a l ly ,
the c r ea t i on of b as ic s t andard record ing procedures and a cen t ra l i ze d
compu te r f i l e s y s tem h as numerous p o t en t i a l ad van tag es a t a l l l ev e l s
o f i n t e r e s t .
Benef i t s to Researchers
Computer programs would al low the pl ot t i ng of d i st r i b u ti o n maps
a t v a ry in g s c a l e s f o r use w it h t h e f i r s t e d i t i o n of t h e A t l a s
o r t o co n cen t r a te o n
a
p a r t i c u l a r r e g i o n .
I t
would a ls o provide,
po te n t i a l ly , a wide range of r e l a t iv e l y inexpensive ou tpu t s
f rom ord inary b lack1 ine rep roduct ions to t rans pare nc ies .
The S i t e Record F i l e would provide complete ref eren ce t o the
l o ca t i o n of i n forma t io n o n a p a r t i c u l a r s i t e , w h et he r t h e s e be
p ubl i s hed r e f e r en ces , u np ub li sh ed f i l e s , o r a c t u a l co l l ec t i o n s
housed i n a p a r t i c u l a r i n s t i t u t i o n . Computer p r i n t - o u t s
of
t h i s da ta cou ld be ob ta ined y r eq u es t u n l e s s r e l ea s e o f
i n forma t io n i s d ec l a r ed r e s t r i c t e d by t h e o r i g i n a t i n g s o u rce ,
Computer programs would a l l ~ w h e s o r t i n g of s i t e
Lists
r e f e r en ces , and d i s t r i b u t i o n maps on t h e b a s i s of a p a r t i c u l a r
i n t e r e s t s uc h a s c u l t u r a l e n t i t y , t im e, p re se nc e of a s s o c i a t e d
organ ic remains o r such sp ec i f i c s as the p resence of i ro n ,
ground and bored s t on e, bone t oo ls , s t ru ct ur es and so on.
The c i r c u l a t i o n of p e r io d l i s t i n g s of r ece n t r e s ea rch and
re fe r r a l s t o r e l ev an t p ubl i c a t i o n s would p rov id e q u i ck r e f e r en ce
t o new ma ter i a l . A l t e rn a t i ve l y , ind iv i dua l s cou ld reque s t new
l i e i n g s c r os s -r . ef e re n ce by s p e c i f i c i n t e r e s t s .
The use of Index Recording Sheets i n personal f i l e s provides
eas y r e f er en ce t o p e r t i n en t i n forma t io n and a l lo w s s p ace fo r
r e co rd i ng s p e c i a l - i n t e r e s t d a t a .
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B e n e f i t s t o T e a c h i n g _I n s t i tu t i o n s :
1
Reques ts f o r re fe rences f rom the S i t e Record F i le would gr ea t l y
a i d i n a nd inc r e a se the qu a l i ty o f r e s e a r c h pa per s by
e l im ina t ing t ime-consuming b ib l iog raph ic s ea rches and ensur ing
complete coverage of ava il ab le information.
2
The completion of Index Recording Sh eets by st ud en ts and
f a c u l t y
w l l
c r e a te t e a c h ing f i l c s o f r e f e re nc e d in f o r m at ion
u s e f u l f o r p la n ni n g p o t e n t i a l p r o j e c t s .
By es ta bl is hi ng the use of Index Recording Sheets as p ar t of
a sys te m f o r r e por t ing
i;cw
r e se a r c h e a ch c oun t r y
i s
a ssu r e d
of obta i n ing more immedia te records of a rchaeo logica l s i t e s
and f i n d s i n a fo rm t h a t i s u ni fo rm w i t h t h a t u sed i n o t h e r
c o u n t r i e s
The combined efforts
of
i n d i v i d u a l a r c h a e o l o g i s t s t e ac h in g
an d r e s e a r c h i n s t i t u t i o n s and n a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n s to wa rd s
the c om ple tion of I ndex P k e t s on p r e v ious ly e xc ava te d s i t e s
w l l
a ug ne nt e x i s t i n g f i l d s a nd e s t a b l i s h c om pl et e re c o r d s
w i t h i n c o u n t r i e s where c e n t r a l s y s t e ma t i c r e p o r t i n g h as n o t
occur red .
Many museums and ant iq ui ty se rv ic es pub lis h important infor mation
i n journ a ls which a re not widely c i r cu la te d . The At las would
pr ovide r e f e r e nc e s t o the se jou r na l s and inc r e a se t he i r
c i r c u l a t i o n .
The p ot en t ia l ben ez i t s sugges zed ebove a r e r ea l i s i c r e s u l t s of
s tanda rdized recording and a cent ra l ize d compute r based da ta
ref ere nc e system. However the eas e and speed of
i t s
implementation
depends i n la r ge measure upon the coopera t ion of s t ud ent s a rc hae ol og is ts
and n a t i o na l i n s i t u t i o m
Development of th? At las oLAf r i c a n p r e p i s ory
The At las pro jec t formal ly begain in 1957 under th e auspi ces of
the Sc i en t i f i c Courc i l of Afr ica a f t e r recommendat ions f rom J D Clark .
In 1959 respon si5 il i t y v i t h o f f i c i a l sponso r sh ip was assumed by
th e IVth Pan-Afri can Congress t hroug h which a Commission on th e
Atlas
was app oin ted . The pr oj ec t gaine d momentum i n 1962 through a gr an t
from the I ns t i tu t e of S oc ia l S c ie nce s a t t he Un ive r s i ty of C a l i f o r n i a
a t Berke ley and a number of r egi ona l cor respondents repres ent ing
most Afr ican countr ies
responded wi th regiona l o r sp ec i f ic - t op ic maps
and l i s t s o f s i t e s . Where l o c a l a s s o c i a t e s were n o t a v a i l a b l e
pl ot t i ng was done
y
t he A t l a s s t a f f f r om pub li shed sour c e s . Th i s
c o l l a b o r a t i v e e f f o r t was t h e b a s i s of t h e f i r s t e d i t i o n p ub li sh ed
by the Unive rsi ty of Chicago Pres s i n 1967 wit h the a i d of a
g r a n t
from th e Wenner-Gren Fou ndation towards pro duc tio n co s t s .
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Thi r ty- e igh t ac e t a t e base maps and over lays a l low the s tudy of the
d i s t r i b u t i o n of a r c h a e ol o g i c al s i t e s , f o s s i l fa u n a, f o s s i l man, a nd
a r t
i n re la t i on t o such environmental informat ion as topography, geology,
s o i l s , r a i n , v e g e t a t i o n , an d d r ai n ag e s ys te ms . I n a d d i t i o n , h y p o t h e t i c a l
r a in f a l l and ve ge ta t io na l z ones under d i f f e r e n t c l im a t i c c i r c ums ta nc es ,
d i sc on tinuous d i s t r ib u t ion s of c e r t a in spe c ie s o f f l o r a and fa una , and
t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f m a l a ri a and t s e t s e f l y p ro vi de i n t e r e s t i n g a nd
informat ive supplemental p a t t e rn sfo r s tudy
T h is p u b l i c a t i o n , t h e f i r s t t o c ov er t he p r e h i s t o r y of a n e n t i r e
c o n t i n e n t , i s a t r i bu te t o the i n t e r na t i ona l c oope r a t ion of some 60
r e g iona l c o n t r i bu t o r s and the sus t a ine d e f f o r t s o f the c ompi le r.
The l i m i t a t i o n s of t h e f i r s t e d i t i o n l a y c h i e f l y i n t h e uneven
na tu r e of r e c o r d ing where l i t t l e s t a nda r d iz a t io n of t er minology e x i s t e d .
The need t o app ly a g ra de d sys te m f o r the c l a s s i f i c a t i on o f a r c ha e o-
log ic a l un i t s i n o r de r t o a c hie ve g r e a t e r c om pa r a b i l i t y was r e cogn iz e d
by th e VIth Pan-African Congress, a f t c r recommendations from th e 1965
Wenner-Gren Symposium. In 1967 the VIth Pan-A frican Congress es t ab l i s he d
a sys tem of regi ona l cor respondents
to record new
i n fo r ma t io n , t o r e v i s e
ex is t i ng maps i n the At l as , and t o expand the coverage of p re hi s t or ic
s i t e s t o inc lude the I r on Age. D i scussions on the ne c e ss i ty f o r r e v i s i on
and increas ed pr eci si on of terminology
t
the VIth and VII th Pan-Afr ican
Congresses , brought i n t o focus the d es i r ab i l i t y of a sys tem which would
r e c o rd supp lem e ntal i n f o rm a t ion , suc h a s s i t e c ha r a c te r i s t i c s and the
s iz e of a co l le c t io n , as a means fo r asse ss in g the degree of conf idence
w i t h wh ich a s i t e
s
a ss ig n ed t o a p a r t i c u l a r c u l t u r a l - s t r a t i g r a p h i c
u n i t . se e PAC. Bu l le ti n No.
3
1969) . As r e su l t of the se d i s c uss ions ,
sample Card Fi l es were ci rc ul at ed i n FAC. B ul l et i n No. 4 1971) i n a n
e f f o r t t o e s t ab l i s h
a
s t a nda r d f o rm at f o r r e c o r d ing im por ta n t ba s i c
s i t e informat ion . In response t o sugges t ions f rom members of the
Congress, the se c ards were expanded t o Index Recording Sh eets to prov ide
spa c e f o r a dd i t ion a l c a t e go r i e s o f in f o r ma t ion a nd f o r c a t a log ing
sys tems in use by var ious i ns t i tu t i on s . See PAC. B ul le t i n No. 5, 1972)
I n
1974
a generous endowment allowed t he es tab li sh me nt of a n
e f f e c t iv e Commission C ff i c e in B e r ke ley . I n th i s ye a r the At l a s p r o je c t
was a l s o f or m al l y re co gn i ze d a s a n ~ t r e p r i s e a tr on 6 e by t h e Union
I n t e r n a t i o n a l c d es S ci en ce s P r e h is t o r i q u e s e t P r o t o h i s t o r i q u e s , w i t h
which the Pan-African Congress
i s
a f f i l i a t e d . The UISPP has voted t o
a s s i s t i n the c o s t o f p r oducing and c i r c u l a t in g I ndex R ec or ding S he e t s .
A s a
r e s u l t o f t h i s f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t , a more a c t i v e e f f o r t t o wa rd s
th e re vi si on of the At la s ;:ns made po ss ib le . See PAC. Bu l le t i n No. 6 ,
1975 f o r comple te report : on the a c t i v i t i e s of the Commission on th e
A t l a s o f A f ri c a n P r e h i s t o r y . )
A e r na t ve t o I nde x R ec or ding S he e t s
I n v iew of t h e d e s i r a b i l i t y of p u t t i n g i n t o e f f e c t some l e v e l of
s i t e in f o r m t i on a s soon a s poss ib le , wc have a l so drawn up a n
abb revi ated ve rs io n of the Index Recording Sheet samples of bot h
r e c o r d ing she e t s a r e included a t t he end of th i s r e p or t ) . Th i s s t r e am -
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l i n e d v e r s i on w i l l be used i n t he d i re c t t r a ns f e r o f ba s i c i n fo rmat ion
t o a f i r s t - s t a g e , n inp l i t i c compute r f i l e and w i l l a ll ow i n i t i a l
work with computer input and output potent ia ls .
I t
w i l l
a l s o p er m it
a
more d i re c t i nc o rpora t i on o f r e c o rd ing syst ems e i t he r i n e x i s t e n c e
o r being c u r re n t l y upda te d i n var ious c oun tx ie s .
W WISH
TO
EMPHASIZE t h a t t he Ind ex Record ing Sh ee ts a8 approved
by the Pan-African Congress and the Commission are the most complete
and agreed upon format, and should be used f o r
a l l
c ur re n t a nd re c e n t
re se a rch . However, fo r o lde r e xca vat ed s i t e s , fo r t r a nsc r ip t i o n o f
e x t e ns i v e e x i s t i n g f i l e s , o r i n l i e u of no in £ormation, the
a bbre vi a t e d ve r s ion c ou ld be a n ac c e p tab l e i n t e r im su bs t i t u t e .
Karl
a sabage,
Research Associate ,
Commission on the Atlas of
Afr i c a n P re h i s to ry ,
Berkeley Off ic e
While regional inv est igat ory groups remain small and most current
archae ologi cal ob ject ives a re towards the bui ld-up of
a
corpus of Local
information, the value of compil ing record s of the kind discu ssed here
may appear t o have no pa rt ic ul ar urgency or si gn if ic an ce . There comes
a time, however, alr ea dy reached i n a number of p ar ts of t he con ti ne nt ,
where the in te re s t s of the indiv idu a l schola r and the na t ion a l
in s t i t u t i o ns a re Pan-Afr ic an i n c ha ra c t e r , a nd the da t a t he At l a s
Commission
i s
seeking t o compile and coordi nate
w i l l
s e r v e a s a n
i n d is p en s ab l e s ou r ce of r e fe r en c e f o r a l l k i nd s of i n t r a - s i t e c o r r e l a t i o n s
and d i s tr i b u ti o n s . The aim of th e Commission on the
Atlas i s
t o
provide up- to-date information on the na ture , lo ca t ion and d i s t r i bu t i on
of s i t e s i n Af r i c a t o a s wide a r a nge of s c ho la r s and s tude n t s a s
p o s s i bl e . S u b je c t t o s uc h s a f eg u a rd s a s t h e i n s t i t u t i o n o r i g i n a t i n g
the re co rds o r t he pa r t i c u l a r na t i ona l i n s t i t u t i o n may wish t o p l a c e
upon i t . )
P i l o t work i s now underway f o r developing a computer program t h a t
w i l l
p ro vi de f o r t h e r e t r i e v a l o f b a s i c d a t a and f o r p l o t t i n g .
For
t h i s i n i t i a l work we ar e employing the Index Sheets completed f o r
Malawi i n ord er t o demonstrate the kind of information th at would be
a va i l a b l e t o na t i ona l i n s t i t u t i on s and bone f i d e re se a rc h workers on
r e q u e st , f o r a sm al l f e e c o s t ) , an d s u b j e c t t o p o s s i bl e r e s t r i c t i o n s
a s mentioned above. We intend t o present t h i s work t o the next Congress
i n Nairobi i n 1977 t o show what can be done and t o se rve as a b a s is f o r
d i sc uss ion .
Considerable progress
i s
be ing made, b ut u l t imate ly the su ccess
of
t h i s endeavor depends upon the i n t e r es t of Afr ican a rchae olo gis t s
and on the i r wi l l i ngne ss t o c on t r i bu t e da t a on s i t e s f o r which they
have records.
W thank our col leagues f o r the hel p up t o now and
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earnes tLy r eque s t con t inued as s i s t an ce
J
Desmond Cle rk Pr es id en t
Glynn
L 1
I s aac Sec re t a ry
Commission on the Atl as of Af ri ca n
Preh i s to r y Berke ley Off i ce
Archaeo log i s t s wi l l i ng to complete Index Recording Shee t s on s i t e s
which they have excava ted o r a re researc h ing p lease wr i t e to :
Commission on the Atl as of Afri ca n Pr eh is to ry
C / O D K
Savage
Department of Anthropology
U n i v e r s i t y of Ca l i fo r n i a
Berkeley
Ca 94720
U.S.A.
in di ca t i ng how many co pies you would l ik e t o rec eiv e o f :
Index Record ing Shee t s f o r S tone Ag e/ ~r onAge
Index Recording Sh eets f o r Rock
A r t
Abbreviated Version of Index Recording She ets f o r
Stone AgeIIron Age
AND
The s i t e s o r a r e a s wh ic h t o p l an t o c o n t r i b u t e .
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STONE AGE/IRON AGE
?it 1ion Site Name Cnlrurol-8tratip;rnphYr
designation
SASES ref.
certain
probable
best approximetion
Exact total number of specimen
if
known
Atlas? circle)
ea no
Approximate number if total no
exactly known circle)
1-10, 11-20, 21-50, 51-100,
101-500, 501-1000, more than
Elevation
Degree of confidence in cultural
diagnosis : check)
Latitude
Longitude
Major
excavation
I
Provenance check)
Unknown
Loose surface fLnds
Griddedlplot ted surf ce
collection
In situ in exposures
--
Test pit excavation
Stone Artifacts: indicate number)
Nature of site e.g. cave.
rockahelter, open, etc.)
Other cultural material
from same site? yes no
f
yes, what?
Trimed tools
Modifiedlutiliaed
Flakeslbladee
Cores
Debitage
Ground and bored atone
aw Material
Metric data available? yes no
List
of diagnostic artifacts present:
Associated organic remains? Bone yeslno
Details
Plant yeelno
Other yeslno
1000
Pottery:
Total number of sherde
Number of decorated/rim
eherds
'
Other clay objects
Metal Objects
Bone Tools
Other
List of diagnoetic techniquee
or
features
present
Dating evidence:
or
use
of institution for data such as photo numbers, etc.)
-
Collected by: Date: Sheet made out by:
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Location of collections with catalogue information if poaeible)
upplementary notee on the site geographic and topographic location, relation to vegetat
zones, area
of
extent, etc.)
Supplementary natas on multi-component uitea:
a)Are components dirtlnguiehed by: stratigraphy? etat phyeique? typology?
b)By other w a n e indicate)
List of componente in suppolred;order of increasing age.
Given a separate At188 card? ci
1 yee/no)
4) y
yer/no)
6)
y
Supplementary notes on cultural-stratigraphic diagnosis and reeemblances
of
matarial:
Publiehed Reference8 abbreviated format):
For use of inatitution:
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ABBREV I A TED lNDEX
SHEET
I
STONE AG€ / i WG I AGE
, b i ; 8 1 t f
y'
then one cu l t u ra l u n i t ? Yes No
4 .
* t
i
ude
LonqI ude
rovenance (Mode o f AcquI 1
t
ion)
0-un known
I-loose surface 1nds
2-gr tdded/pl ot ted
sur face co l lect ion
3- in s i t u i n exposures
4- Gs Fi Tt excevet Ion
SmmJor excatfa
t
1
on
t::ral Classi f lcat lon/
.+
tu ra l -s t ra t iq raph ic
.
csignation
c.g.
l
1
ton)
S
1 t e Name
How many?
E levat ion
I n meters
rml
Nature o f s i t e
O-open
l=rocksheI te r
2-cave
3=hotsprlnq
b o t h e r
Gross Cultural Dfvlsion
Ea rl y Stone Age Lower Pa l eo l l t h l c
Hlddle Stone Age
Middle Pa leo l l th l c
Later Stone Age
o r Upper Pa le o l f t h l c
l
on
Age
Epl -Paleo l l th lc
H I
s to r l ca l
Neo l l th tc
.
Other
Confidence o f
Cul tur i t l
C lass i f fca t ion
facer ta in
2mprobable
3-bes
t
app
rox.
Total Number of Specimens
0-not givedunknown
n
1
1-20
2- 21-50 6 1001-5000
3 1 51-100 7- 5001-10,000
4
101-500 8- 10,001-56,000
5- 501-1000 9
>
50,000
t n e
fo l lowins
categor ies
of
Information:
blank-uncertain/unknown
h a
sent
l-present
i tact ual Hater la1
f l aked
ground po tt er y, metals bone sh el l qlass wood other
stone stone clay
f i q s .
a r t l f . a r t l f . a r t i f . a r t l f .
etc
iauna
plant s po ll en human str uct ure paint ings , othe r
rerains
o f
any engravings,
sor t
a r t
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Lab Number
D a t e I n B P
Pub1
{shed
References:
Excava to r / l
nves
t l r
t o r
ate
Excavated/
lrives
t
ga
ted
ant butar
P e r s o n /I n s tl t u t l o n .
f i 1 n n q
out form)
kocat ion of
RtcordsICoI
ec
t
Ions
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NEWS ITEMS
Canada Council suppor t has been rece ive d f o r co n t in ua t ion o f the
re s ea rch o n C ap s i an e s ca rg o t i k re s
i n A l ~ e r i a e po r te d i n t he March 5 t h
i ss u e of Science-.
A
more complete report
w i l l
a p p e a r s h o r t l y i n
Libyca. The 1976 sea son i n Ju ly and August
w i l l
i n cl u de : ( a ) e x t e n s i o n
o f ex cav a t i o n s a t Ain M is t ehey i a t o exp os e a g re a t e r a r ea of
t h e
o ccu p a t io n s u r fac e i n l ev e l and o b t a i n l a rg e r samp le s f ro m l ower
l e v e l s fo r t h e pu rp os e of v e r i fy i n g o r r e fu t i n g t h e h yp o t h es is o f
env i ronmenta l ly re la te d changes i n the subs i s te nce rgg ime; (b ) mapp ing
a nd sa mp li ng of a l l u v i a l d e p o s i t s t o r e s o l v e p r e s e n t d i f f i c u l t i e s o f
i n t e r p re t a t i o n i n t h e Holo cene s equ ence ; ( c ) l i m i t e d t e s t i n g o f o t h e r
e s c a r g o t i e r e s t o i n v e s t i g a t e t he r e l a t i o n s h i p betw een s i t e l o c a t i o n
and fauna l and l i t h i c assemblages bo th i n t ime and i n space .
The personnel
w i l l
co ns i s t o f David Lubel l (Univer s i ty of Albe r ta ) ,
Ian Campbell ( Un ive rs i ty of Al ber ta , Department of Geography), Ac hi l le s
Gau t i e r Rijksuniversi-it-Gent), and e ig h t g radua te and underg raduate
s t ude n t s f rom the Uni ve rs i t i es of A lbe r ta , B r i t i sh Columbia and Toron to.
David Lubell
Gepartment of Anthropology
Un i v e r s i t y of A l b e r t a
EAST AFRICA
B r i t i s h I n s t i t u t e i n Ea st e rn A f ri c a
-- --.-.-
--...
-
--. .
.
The fo l lowing a r t i c l e a r r i ve d too l a t e f o r inc l us io n in Nyame Akuma
No.
7
In the course o f a t en -day j o u r c ~ y own the R i f t Val ley f rom wes t
of Na i ro b i , l ev i l l c C h i t t i c k i cve .; t i g a t ed t h e r em ai ns o f a g r i c u l t u ra l
s e t t le m e n t s on t he w s t e r n s i d e
cf
t h e ? .i ft . These ~ e t t l e m e n t s ,of
which the on ly one h i th er to known in any d e ta i l is a t En ga ru ka , d a t e
f rom befo r e the a r r iv a l of the p resen t -day pa s t o r a l peoples (Masa i and
Mang at i ) i n the regi on: who t h e a n c i e n t f o l k
were
i s s t i l l u nc er ta in .
Besides the remains of s to cc
1
i c e d i r r i g a t i o n c h a nn e ls , t e r r a c e d h u t
p l a tfo rms and t h e r e l i c s of d t le l l ings , were found . Both rec tan gu la r
and c i r c u l a r s t r u c t u r e s
were
observed , t he i r p lan be ing ind i ca t ed by
l a rg e s t o n e s l a b s s e t u p r i g ht . I t i s now mai nta ine d by
M r
C h i t t i c k
tha t such se t t l e men ts ex i s te d more o r Ices wherever the re was water
f l owi ng f rom t h e s ca rp i n t o t h e v a l l e y a l o n g t h e whole s t r e t c h f ro m
the sou th er n end of Lake Eyasi t o the l a t i t u d e of Lake Magadi.
The g r ea t d i l ige nce shown by these a g r ic u l tu ra l i s s i n b r in g i n g
w at er i n c a r e f u l l y c o n s tr u c te d c h an ne ls t o a r e a s d i f f i c u l t t o r e a c h
(exte nding sometimes up to km.) and the car e taken i n bu i ld in g
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p la t fo rm - l i ke ca i r n s a t l o ca l i t i e s where t he r e was an excess of s t one
ind i c a t e t h a t t he re was ( a t l e as t fo r pa r t of t he pe r iod of occupa t i on
of the se set t lem ent s) much pres sure of populat ion on the ava i l ab le
l and .
These se tt le me nt s may have su rvi ve d
t i l l
a round t he s i x t een th
century
A D ;
t he da t e o f t h e i r founda ti on i s unce r t a in bu t may be a s
e a r l y a s t h e f i r s t ce n t u r i e s of t h e C h r i s t ia n e r a .
David Ph i l l ips on conducted excavat ions f o r f iv e weeks a t a
ate
Stone Age s i t e a t Lowasera, nea r Khomode, Loieng elani near the s outh -
ea st er n corne r of Lake Rudolf (Turkana) a t 2 56 ~. 36 43 ~.
The s i t e
l i e s on beach depos i t s 80 above the present water l ev el , bes ide an
ol d embayment of t he Lake. Rise
of
t he Lake t o t h i s he igh t ev iden t l y
soon fol lowed a per iod of vo lcani c a c t iv i t y marked by t h i ck t u f f s and
lava f lows .
The upper l ayer s of the beach and the over ly ing t e r r e s t r i a l dep os i t s
y ie l ded abundant un is er ia l bone harpoons ( two b i se r ia l f ragments were a l s o
found on the s ur fa ce ), obsi dian and chalcedony mi cr ol i t hs and heavy duty
too l s o f l ava .
Pot ter y from the lower le ve ls was extremely th in
and
f r i a b l e , bu t t h i s was r ep l aced du r ing t he occupa t ion of t he s i t e by a
th i cke r , b e t te r made ware a l l excavated sherds were undecorated.
Faunal remains ar e almost exlu s ive ly of f i s h , hippopotamus and t u rt le .
Several human bu ri al s were recovered, of which two a t l e a s t a re
contemporary with the main occupat i on of t he s i t e .
Geological mapping enables a de ta i l ed r econ s t ruc t ion of the
micro-environment to be offe re d, and radiocarbon da te s a re awai ted .
Nev i l l e C h i t t i ck
B r i t i s h I n s t i t u t e i n E a st e rn
Af r i ca
t
was no t poss ib le t o resume excavat ions a t Aksum i n the ea r l y
p a r t of t h i s y e a r , b u t
i t
i s hoped that
i t
may be f ea s i b l e t o do so i n
October.
Nevi l l e Chi t t i ck , The Di re ctor , together wi th two Somali co l league s
undertook (November-early December 1975) an arc hae olo gic al rec onna issa nce
of a wide ar ea of Somalia. This work was unde rtak en a t the kind
in v i t a t i on of t hS om a l i governm en t,
the f i e l d expenses being borne by
them.
The reconna issance took i n a s many of the ar cha eol og ica l ly
p romising p l aces on t he coas t ( t oge the r w i th some s i t e s i n t he i n t e r i o r )
a s was poss ib le i n what was es se n t ia l l y a t ra ver se f rom Mogadishu t o
Cape Guardafui , and thence t o Zayl a , i n the north-west of the coun try.
The most important s i t e s found were a t Hafuun (Hafun), the eas tern most
po in t o f Af r i ca , a t a t Daamo, j u s t wes t of Cape Gua rda fui. Of th e two
s i t e s a t Hafuun one ( a t which a t e s t t r en ch was dug) i s l i k e l y t o be
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Opone of th e Per ip lu s of
~hs
r y ~ h r e e a n
.a_:
t he o the r may be the s i t e
o f a n e a r l i e r t r a d ing po r t . That a t Daamo
i s
u n da te d , b u t t h e r e a r e
in di ca t i on s th e re a l s o of poss ib le con tac t wi t h the Graeco-Roman
wor ld , o r poss ib ly w i th a nc ie n t Egypt .
Arch eo lo gi cal survey i n the reg ion of Lake Eyasi and Lake Natron
i n t h e n o r t h e rn p a r t of t h e R i f t V a l le y , T a n za ni a, h as l e d t o t h e
f i n d i n g of f r e s h e vi de nc e of p r e h i s t o r i c i r r i g a t i o n a g r i c u l t u r e i n t h a t
r e g ion ; i t
i s
e xpec ted th a t s e t t l e m e n t s o f t h i s na tu r e ( o f which
Engaruka
i s
the ou ts and ing example) were e s ab 1
i s
hed over a reg io n
exten ding from the south-eaa t er n end of Lake Eyas northwards pos si bl y
a s f a r a s Lake B a r ingo ,
During August and September 1975, David Phi l l ip so n, the As si st an t
Direc tor , conduc ted excava t ions 2 t Lowasera, n or t h of Loienge lani ne ar
the south-e as te rn corner of Lake Turkana (Rudolf ) . The s i t e l i e s on beach
d e p o s i t s b e s i d e a n i n l e t of a l a k e 8 0 m t r e s ab ov e t he p r e s e n t l e v e l .
long sequence of dep osi t s was inves Liga ted , inc lu ding evidence f o r
vo lc a n ic a c t i v i ty o f Kount Ku lal a t a da te p r ec e d ing the r i s e of the
Lake t o
i t s
80-metre l e v e l . The msin human oc cu pa ti on took pl ac e when
the wa te r s had begun t c r e t r 2a t fr om th i s l e ve l . The p r i nc i pa l
encampmentcovered a roughly c i rc u l a r ar r a
30
m e t re s i n d i a m e ter , bu t
more spo r a d i c a c t i v i ty o r s e t t l e m e n t was in d ic a te d a long a s t r e t c h
of the former lakes hore a lmcst 5 m e t re s i n l e ng th bu t n o t e x te nd ing
more than
50
o r
7
me4:rcz
back
from t he s h ~ r e l i n e . Sto ne a r t i f a c t s
i nc lu de d b o th backed ~ z i c r o l i ~ h s
of
cb si di an and chalcedony) and
l a r g e s c r a p e r s , - .
- -
r .:.d pounle rs (of Lava) . Po t t e ry
i s
g e n e r a l l y
c o a r s e , t h i n - w a l l e d a n d ~ ~ n d c c o r a t c d ;u t one sherd bear ing 'wavy l i n e '
decora t ion was a l so recovcrcd .
Tbcre were many u n is e r i a l l y barbed
bone harpoon heads. Faunal . ren ain s ar e ary la rg el y of f i s h , hipp-
potamus and t ~ ~ t l e ,: y few
l a r d
a n i i n a l ~ c i n g r e p r e se n t e d . E i g h t
human bu r i a l s werc i n v e s t i , ~ ? d of which two (one covered wi th a
sm a l l s tone c a i r n ) wcr e d c F in ~ t e l y ontem pc rn ry w i th the m ain
occupa t ion of
t h c
s i t e . R ~ d i c c ~ r b o nc t r s a r c n o t y e t a v a i l ab l e .
In Febru ary 1976
a
rccorinaissance was made of the n or th er n
f r i n g e o f t h e n o r t h Kenys p l a i ~ n n d th e f o o t h i l l s of t h e E t h i o p i an
escarpment around Solol o and Moyale. lXs cov erie s included schemati c
r oc k pa in t ings and se vc r l l c z vc s 2r.d r oc k s h e l t e r s , a t one ve r y l a r g e
example of which, a t Zle 3 o r , 2 6 km nx th -w es t of Turbi , i t i s hoped
t o e x ca v at e l a t e r i n t h e y ea r .
I t
i s
hoped that P e t e r Gnrl2.ke
w i l l
i n June 1976, resume
e xc av a ti on s a t t h e zimbah2:- n ;innel..weni, nea r th e co as t of s ou th ern
Mo~arnbique (s ee
ycqg
zy;m9- 7 : 7 .
Miss Francoise Hivernal c? the In s t i tu t e of Archaeology,
Uni ver si t y of London, has csntFnued her r es ear ch on a ceramic 'Late
Stone Age' s i t e a t Ngeyn wec
t of
Lake Baringo.
A pr e l im ina r y r e por t
on her f in din gs appears
n
Az a n i3 , vo l .
X.
N e v i l l e C h i t t i c k
B r i t i s h I n s t i t u t e i n E as t er n
AE r i c a
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The La te Lower t o Middle Pleistocene Sequence i n th e Upper Webi Sh eb el i .
Rec onna issan ce of the wide Gadcb Pl a i n some 20 km no rt h of Dodola
and Adama i n Bale , a t a l t i t x d e s o f 2,300
-
2,40Om, provided some 15
l o c a l i t i e s w i t h a l o z g s t r a t i g r a p h i c sc qu en ce and c u l t u r a l m a t e r i a l
in te rbedded a t mos t of thcm, and gave ev idence f o r a t l e a s t two majo r
cyc le s of sed imen te t ion . To the nor th i s K t . Kaka, a more tha n
3,650m
P l e i s t o c e n e vo l c an c , o v e rl o ok in g t h e s h o r t , h i g h a l t i t u d e
gr as sl an d of t he p l a i n thro.:,&h r rtich the rivs i- meanders i n tho se
upper reaches exposing cl.
i f
f - l i k e s e c t l o n s
of
th e sedim ents. Montane
f o r e s t s t i l l s u rv iv e s on M t . i -il:2 a s i t docs on the Bale Mountains
t o the so ut h, Thz gene ra l T.)11Fstocene cuc cc ssi on we found he re re mains
p r o v i si o n a l u n t i l f u r t h e r w o ~ k c n f i r r . ~ h a t of t he p a s t s ea s on . The
two most important of thc l .oc a?i t ie s here - 2 Gadeb 2 and Gadeb
8
where excavat ions were car r izd
o a t .
Arc i fac t s we re wd e a l m o s t
e x c l u s i v e l y f r om b a s a l t ?cvc o r welded
t u f f .
A t Gadeb .
we
excavat.2d
~t
th re e a;ecs vher e fauna and Developed
Oldowan a r t i f a c t s were eroding frs in :he middle pa rt of t he o l de r
sedimentary sequence. The il::iin c l i f f sect -ion
h c r e
i s 22 m high. Lake
d ep o s i t s (d i a t o rn i t e s ) i l l the? low>:: ~ s i t rc civerlair i by a l t e r n a t i n g
f
l u v i a l g r a v e l s
ar.2 san3s a n d.;ai:c-'.lce<:ljs ci.zy:;;
the whole
i s
capped
and se al ed by a
s ~ ~ : . c s i r c
rclnJ:::x:;c. ?: i l : - t .~ .11 n o t iC
f u l l y
primary
c on te xt , t he a r t i i l c t,; 1
c
F a sl-1:LI. z:,;
s + : ~ : ? ~ : : . .
hannels i n the upper
p a r t o f t h e
section
21 t L c ~ ~ s c T - - ; . ~ L ~ - ~ c J ~ I s
ilo~.;
hat they can have
been moved very l i t t l e iif2.;i 5=1:,.:c; : l i c c ~ ~ : : c d .3 2 azsexblage from
Gadeb 2 3 f a l l s
j n t c , M21-:.
L:: ::
c C: vc -cpcil Cldc,,:~n R c a t e g o r y w i t h
choppers ( 2 7 % ) ) polyl-,c:'.:r--:,.I (L:.: ), 1 5 ~ 1 : ; . r':x;.\: s c r a p e r s ( 3 7 % ) on
flakes, frag:r. .~.t: ts 3r.i r2r~::l:a
?n,3
c,: ?
~ - , < , r
. - c : r ~ - r .
'(here i s
a l s o a
s i n g l e f i c r o n hg.ni';.:.-: h?l-kcd ;j i ? c i n iiy
b y
h ? r d han-mcr, and a proto-
bi fa ce . A11 the ar:iS:*cis rt: . A Is t7r c ? l , > i c s or chunks of b as a l t
o r wel ded t u f f . i :-.~.~
= , s ~ r b ' . ~ ~ ; . : r m
(:< .l, 2 s l i g h t l y l ow er t h a n
2B, in cl ud es tllc
: ;ED r; , 2
-.:
, 2 ; : I < - .
.
t
...
2
;o
;.ln;;?e~:s,
18% polyhedron s,
42% l i g h t r .u:y scr ?:-. . c
-
r
:
: I
:
'.i,-c.
:-,,:-c l:l-?ccc..: ( 7
.5 )
- 5 hand-
r a
axes and "o t t e r I l . i . :%:'
.
.
L .:
. r
zs,.~ :i;zcs
a r c t y p i ca l o f
Gadeb 3 , clcsc: to
r?: 3.
c< -y ai?d ~ 'Joui: km
e x
02 Gadeb 2 ,
----
y i e l d e d f rom t v o s m al l e x c t v a t i ~ ; l s
i;?
n:ost co,:~plete assemblag es of
A c h e u l i a c a r t i f
set.;;. TL1.z
g~ono~-_p 10Logi3tStud ied the sequence hcre
e x t e n si v e l y and a t
1.cnsC t ;: i : > ? i n
s t z g c s of cuLtj.n,q and f i l l i n g a re
e v i d e n t . An e a r l i e ?
:.e:-ics
of I;rnvel.s a-:.d
sends
( i n
t h e
middle of
t h e s e c t i o n ) v
'ih
U p p e r k c h c ~ l
n n
F S t i f a c t s , d i s co n fo rm s b l y o v e r l i e s
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dia tomite and
i s
t e n ta t iv e ly p lac ed i n the l a t e r p a r t o f the M iddle
P le i s oc e ne .
On th e evi den ce of inco rpo rat ed Middle Stone Age pi ec es ,
t h e l a t e r c yc l e
( th e upper pa r t of the sequence) be longs i n the La te r
P l e i s t o c e n e .
A sma ll e xc av at io n 2m x 4
m
i n t h e e a r l i e r g r av e ls
and
sands a t Gadeb 8A yie lde d 1852 Acheul ian a r t i f a c t s occur r in g i n a s t r eam
channel . Concentrat ions of t h i s s i z e sug gest th at the makers may have
been camping in the st ream bed i t s e l f a t t imes of low water . However ,
a number of the b i fa ces show a pre f e r red or ie nt a t io n of the long ax is
and were canted ins tea d of ly in g f l a t , showing the d i r ec t i on of s t rea m
flow t o have been c.45O 55' E a st of North.
The Acheulian bifaces,
made on f la ke s f rom la rg e cobble s, ar e mostly ref in ed and comparatively
t h i n i n re l a t io n t o leng th and breadth . There were 41% handaxes , more
tha n 14% c le a ve r s and c l e a ve r f l a ke s w i th 14 o the r b i f a c e s a nd 2 b i f a c i a l
kni ves . Closely ass oci ate d were the usual choppers
(20 ),
polyhedrons
(9 ), sph eroi ds (4.5%), two st e ep and 3
( 5 .7 )
l i g h t d u ty s c r a p e r s .
The cores comprise forms present with the Developed Oldowan with also
one la rg e, heavil y abraded proto-L evallo is specimen while among the
f l a k e s a r e two l a r g e , p r o to - Le va l lo i s e xa mple s w i th f a c e t t e d p la t f o r ms
and 12% of the f la kes a r c b lades .
This Upper Acheul ia n assemblage exh ib it s some i n t er es t i ng lo ca l
v ar ia b i l i ty and d i f f e r s f rom tha t we recovered f rom the Gadab
D
e x c a va t i o n f u r t h e r w es t a d j a c e n t t o t h e c l i f f s e c t i o n e x po si ng t h e
ol de r sedimentary sequence. The s i t e a t Gadeb 8D i s a s trea m bank
s i t u a t i o n and t he a r t i f a c t s show n o p r e f e r r d o r i e n t a t i o n a nd t h e y
a re
usua l ly on ly s l ig h t ly a br aL1ed .
A
t o t a l o f 488 a r t i f a c t s were r e cover e d
he re: hsndaxes ar e mostly la nc eo la te whi le th ose from Gadeb 8A ar e
ge ne r a l l y ova te f or ms c l e a ve r s a r e r a r e . Typo log ic a l ly , t he whole
assemblage approximates more c lo se ly t o a Lower t han
t
does t o an
Upper Acheulian , though o t her explana t io ns f o r the d i f f e re nce s a re
poss ib le . The s t r a t i g r a p h i c seque nc e he r e d i f f e r s f rom t ha t
A t
Gadeb
8A and o th er s ec t io ns to the ea s t and fur th er work i s needed t o de te rmine
the prec i se s t ra t i gr ap hi c pos i t io n of 8D which s obscured by s lo pe wash.
A t
pr e se n t t seems more probable that t b el on gs w i t h t h e e a r l i e r r a t h e r
than the la te r , Middle P le is tocene , scdimcnts
The f a una f rom the se Acheu l ia n lo c a l i t i e s , p r ov i s iona l ly id e n t i f i e d
by Denis Geraads of th e Natio nal Un iv ers it y, Addis Ababa, inc lud es bovid s,
su id s, and a preponderance of hippo. These s t l l remain t o be s t ud ied
a s do a l so the po l l e ns a nd d iatoms though an e a r l i e r s a mple po l l e n
pectrum studied by
D r .
Raymonde B onne fi l l c of C.N.R.S., P a r i s , shows
t ha t th ere was a higher pro port ion of montane f o r e s t c .50% here
t ha n a t t h e Ach eu li an s i t e
a t
Melka Kontoure a t c . 2000m on th e wes ter n
s i de of th e R if t on the Eth iop ian P la teau . Clea r ly , the headwate rs of
the Web Shebel can be expect ed to produce impor tant palaeo ant hro pol ogi cal
and pa laeoecologica l da t a re l a t in g t o la t e Lower and Middle P le i s to cene
bc hav iour pa t t e r ns a nd , i n pa r t i c u la r , on hominid a da p ta t ions t o l i v in g
i n t h e ec ot on e w i th t h e h i g h a l i t i t u d e f o r e s t .
An Upper Acheu lian Assemblage from Arba, Sou the rn Afa r R i f t .
An
Acheulian assemblage somewhat s im i la r t o t h a t from Gadeb 8A
was found a t krba , 30km e a s t of Awash S t a t io n i n the Afar R i f t c l os e
to the f o o t o f the e sc a r pne n t i n a n e x te ns iv e e r os io n a r e a e xpos ing a
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graben f i l l e d wi th d ia tom ites , over la i n by ash laye rs and sands and
capped by grav els contai ning Acheulian to ol s.
t
seems un l ike ly tha t
primary context assemblages w l l be found althou gh some of t he bi fa ce s
an d f l ak e a r t i f a c t s made in b a sa l t and we lded tu f f were i n f r e sh
cond iti on. No exc avat ion was c a r r i e d o u t and t h e c o l l e c t i o n w e h e re
was
s e l e c t i v e . The c h ie f c h a r a c t e r s i t i c i s the well developed, proto-
U v a l l o i s method used , wi t h bo th raw mate r i a l s , f o r th e p ro du c t io n of
la rge f lakes '. The cores a t Arba are r ad ia l ly pr epa red, u su a l ly l a rg e
and both s tr uc k and unstruck; the re a r e numerous f la ke s which have
sometimes plunged removing pa rt of the ve nt ra l fa ce of the co re.
Flake8 have been made in to pa r t i -b i fa c i a l , sometimes f u l ly b i fa c i a l
handaxes; the re a re a l s o examples c la ss i f ie d a s un i fa c i a l handaxes
( t o t a l
26 ) . The c leaver s and c leaver f lakes ( t o t a l 46%) a r e made on
broad , s ubrec tangular , p ro to-Leval lois f la kes ; there a re a l s o handaxes
on cores o r cobbles . Smal l , typ i ca l Lev al lo is cores a l s o occur and the
sma lle r f l ak e and blade element showing u t i l i x at i on and minimal retouch
i s n o t in s ig n i f i can t and
i s
most probably under-represented i n our
sample.
A s y et de ta i l ed comparisons of these Acheulian assemblages and
those f rom Melka Kontours a re n o t poss ib le b u t ind ica t ion s a r e t ha t
th e r e
i s
probably no cl ose si mi la r i ty between them. Again, th e
si gn if ic an t blade component (14% of modif ie d/ ut i l is ed pieces and 7
of the unmodified waste fl ak es ), made mostly on se le ct ed welded t u f f ,
and the well-developed proto- Levall ois method, show th a t t h i s assem-
blage i s comparable t o t ha t f rom Kapthurin i n th e Lake Baringo ba si n
of no rt her n Kenya wit h which was a ss oc ia te d a hominid mandible said
t o be of Homo er ec tu s and dat ed t o l e s s than 0.22 m.y. ago. In i t s
prot o-l eva llo is and blade elements t h i s Arba assemblage a l s o compares
wit h th e assemblages from the Older Tug Gravels from Hargeisa i n
nor the rn Somalia and implie s t h a t both t hes e elements may be found t o
form s i gn i f ic an t components of l a t e Acheulian indus t r ie a i n eas te rn
Af r i c a .
Later Pl eis toc ene Si te s and the Middle Stone Age.
The I1Middle Stone Age is known from three main l o ca l i t i es i n
our ar ea , a l l i n the R if t . The Gar iba ldi cal de ra complex, some 30km
west of Lake Besaka, belongs t o t he Aden se r i e s vol ca ni cs and i s of
Quaternary age. The bas al rock here i s a green ign imbr i te and, i f
i t i s of the same age as th a t o f the bedrock i n the Fan ta le a r ea ,
i s c.160,000 2000 ye ar s ol d. Over t h i s accumulated some 10-12m of
cl ay s conta inyng the Middle and La t c r Stone Age assemblages.
Extensive outcrops of good quali ty obsidian occur on the northern
r i m
of t he ca lde ra about 135m from the ce nt re of thre e ero si on area s
and were used by th e Middle and Lat er Stone Age grou ps . The
ign imbr i te
i s
covered by a pumice grave l o ve rl ai n , i n turn , by a
se r i e s o f h o r i z o n ta l l y bedded loams an d v e r t i s o l s i n which th e a r t i f a c t
c on ce nt ra ti on s a r e s t r a t i f i e d .
he
assemblages i n the lower two-thirds
of the sequence, a l l from primary cont ext Middle Stone Age flaking,
f l oor s , a r e charac ter i sed by a h igh percen tage of Leval l o is f la kes and
blades made i n obsid i an and p i tchas tone . Leval l o is f lak e- , b lade- ,
po in t -cores , d i sc - and some s ing le-p la t fo rm cores a r e p resen t toge the r
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wi th the p r im ar y f l a k e s s t r uc k o f f in p r e pa r ing the c o r e s and a l so the
f lakes and blades which were t h e de s i r e d p r oduc t .
Tools a r e most ly
un i f a c ia l and pa r t i - b i f a c ia l po in t s , o f t e n br oken i n the ma nuf ac tur e,
b u t t h e r e a r e a l s o s i d e s c r a p e r s , d e n t i c u l a t c s and b u r i n s .
par t icu la r ly
i n t e r e s t i n g t e ch n iq u e of c o re r e j u v e n a t i o n r e s u l t s i n b la d e- 1 i k e
r e d i r e c t in g f l a k e s which a t f i r s t a ppe ar anc e r esem ble ba ck ing a nd
t
i s
not unreasonable t o sugges t t h a t some such f o r m may l i e behind the
Blade Ind us t ry t ra di t i on t ha t makes
i t s
f i r s t a p pe ar an ce i n a l re a d y
developed form a t t . a base of the iJpper Ver t i so l , f rom where o s t r i ch
egg she l l has been da ted t o 14 ,750
2 1:
yc a r s
B P
Blade indus t ry
a r t i f a c t s were no t f ound i n dens? co r lc e n tz a tions bu t were s c a t t e r e d
throu ghou t the lower pa r t of tha Upper Ver ti so l and comprised backed
blade s and m ic ro l i th ic f urr.ls toge t her wi th end-sc rapers and bur ins
s i m i l a r t o t ho se of th e Kenya Capsi2.n. In 1975 we reco ve red a sample
of an assemblage showing technical
characteristics
r e l a t i n g t b o t h
wit h the "Middle" snd "L ~l te rStorrc
ASCII
t r a d i t i o n s an d, s i m i l a r l y ,
o cc up yi ng a n i n t e r n c d i a t c s t r a t i g r a p h i c p o s i t i o n .
Porc Epic Cave, Dire D2vn
The cave
i s
2km sou th of the town i n the r i g h t hand wall of a deep
g or ge c u t t h ro u gh t h e l i m s t o n e
by
sr i mp o rt an t w d i , and is 165m above
the wadi bed, approached by
a
very s t c ep c;ii;?b. I t
i s
dry and has a
c o m n d i n g v ie w o v er " e s u ~ r o u n d i n g o u n t i y . On t h e s o u t h w a l l a r e
some poorly prescriled schen~ati. :
and
n r l t u r a ~ i s t i . ~a i n t i n g s h u t t h e
n o r t h w a l l
i s
part ly obscure:l
by
a t h i c k c u r t a i n of d r i p s t o n c r e s t i n g
on and s ea li ng a b re cc ie con tai nic g fauna and numerous "Middle Stone
Age" a r t i f ~ c t s .
A
t r e nc h was dug f r o n th s sou th t o the no r th wa l l s , p r ov id ing a
c r o s s - s e c t i o n o f t h e s t r a t i g r a p h y . The se c t io n expose d d r ips tone ove r -
ly in g the bre cc ia wi th th- "Middlc Cimna Age" ind us t ry . This g iv es
p la c e t o wate rlo? ti s n d s and t ~e
d-.olr.
s c qu tn c e r e s t s on a f r i a b l e d a r k
c lay over bedrock.
I
hc lps
t o
qhow t h ~ t ha t the previous excava tors
had thought was a mfxtulc of "f. liddlel' and "Later Stonc Age" a r t i f a c t s
f r o n t h e d e p o s i t s i n the f ro i? t pa r t of t h c cave I-lad, in f a c t , o ccurred
subse quen t t o
th
sc a l ing o f
:he
brdccia hp the dr ipstone and was most
l i k e l y duc t o t h e a c t i o n of s m l l st rc ol ns ( s i m i l a r t o t h e o l d e r e vi d en ce
t o be s e e n i n ou r z e c t i o n ) e ro d i n g t he b r e c c ia , c a r r y in g away the f in e s
a nd l e t t in g down the he a v ie r m a t e r i a l , i nc lud ing the a r t i f a c t s , wh ic h
l a t e r became in c o ~ p or a te d n the unc onso l ida te d ashy sa nd wi th the
de b ri s of the "Later Stone Age" occup' ltion which was found t o cap the
c2ve.
equence towards the r ea r of th-
The im por ta nce o f th i s s i t e l i e s i n the na tu r e of the "M iddle S tonc
Age" assemblage . The ch ar ac te r i s i c to ol s a r e
a
v a r i e t y o f r e o uc he d
p o i n t s u n i f a c i a l , S i f a c i a l a nd p a r t i - b i f a c i a l a r an ge o f s c r a p e r
forms, us ua ll y no t s o well made as t h e p ~ i n t s ; ome b u r in s , c h i e f l y
tech nic a l exanples , and a smal l pe rcentage of n a t ur a l ly backed b la des .
I t would appear t h a t the b lade and f l ak e forms used f o r the p oin ts and
t h e u t i l i z e d / m o d i f i e d f l a k e s a nd b la d e s were s p e c i a l l y s e l e c t e d s i n c e
t h e mode of t h e i r l e n g t h /b r e a d th r a t i o s d i f f e r s s i g n i f i c a n t l y f ro m t h a t
of the unmodif ied wast e . Thc gr ea te sc number of cor es ar e Le va ll oi s
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with a few d i sc co re s ; f l ak es , many o f them Lev al lo i s , a r e abou t fo ur
t imes as numerous as b lades which, nev er t he le ss , fo rm a s i gn i f ic an t
element , many of the n being u t i l i z e d . Two po ssi ble hea rt hs were
encoun tered and there a r e a number of f i r e c racked p ieces ; a l s o one
pes t l e / ru b b i n g s t o n e and s ev e r a l p i eces
of rubbed haema t i t e .
The broken up na tu re of th e bone, which i s no t abundan t , sugge s t s
th a t gene ra l ly on ly th e meat was b rough t back t o the cave perhaps
because o f the s t ee p c l imb and t ha t the an imals , mos t ly bov ids ,
were bu tchered where they were k i l l ed . Our p re l iminary f i nd i ng s ,
t h e re f o re , s u g g es t t h a t t h i s was a hu n ti n g camp v i d e t h e h i g h
pro por t io n of poi nts and knives occupied a t o n e (o r t wo ) d i f f e ren t
t imes i n the yea r when the
game was migrating between the escarpment
and th e p l ai n , i n much the same way a s the pr es en t day pa st or al
popu la t ions move be tween the h i l l s and the p la in .
W c o n f i d e n t l y e x pe c t t o o b t a i n d a t e s a nd t s p o s s i b l e t h a t
th e Po rc Ep ic "Middle Ston e Agett may be a s o ld as 50,000 ye a rs . We
a l s o hope t h a t fu t u r e ex cav a t io n s w i l l
y ie ld fu r ther human remains
as s o c i a t ed wi t h t h i s i n d u s t ry i n v iew of t h e n ad i b l e f rag men t a s c r i b ed
by Val lo i s t o a Neander thalo id type .
Al ad i Sp r i n g s .
A t A la di S pr in gs , some 120km we st of Di re Dawa,
i s
a mound spring
capped by a tufa containing a m i cro bl ade i n d u s t r y i n o b s i d i a n an d
ch er t toge th er wi th f reshwater sh e l l s and some bone. da te o f 11 ,070
160 B P has been o btaine d which conf i r n s the contemporanei ty of
t h i s s p r i n g a c t i v i t y w i t h hi gh l e v e l s i n t h e G a l l a La ke s, w i t h t h e
Holocene h igh lake s ta nds i n the c en t r a l 2nd nor t her n Afar and wi t h
th a t a t Lake Besaka.
Wc
c a r r i e d o u t a s t e p e xc a v at i on a t A l a di an d
foun d t h a t t h e mi c ro -bl ad e i n d u s t r y ov e r l ay an e a r l i e r , n o t y e t d a t ed
assemblage of l a t e r "Middle toce Age" a £ i n i t i e s c o n t a in e d i n
a
ca lc ar eo us gr ee n cl ay loam. Thi s combines the "Middle Stone Age"
Lev al l o is and dis c-c ore technology f o r making srnal l po int s and
sc ra pe rs wit h a micro-blade element . This nay, however, have been
a s p e c i a l pu rp os e s i t e a s , t o g e t h e r w i t h th e co n v en ti o n a l t o o l fo rm s ,
there occurred with both assemblages a number
of heavy du ty sc ra pe rs
wi t h an a rc h a i c ap p ea ran ce and , had t h e s e n o t b een fo un d i n s i t u ,
they might have been considered as r e p r e se n t i n g a n o l d e r i n d u s t r i a l
s t a g e
.
Lake Besa ka, Me ta ha ra .
Most of th e 1974 se as on was devoted t o su rvey and excava t ion i n
th e middle s ec ti on of the Awash Vzilley and round the west s i d e of th e
small,
now sa l i n e , Lake Besaka near th e west ern edge of t h e s t u d y a r e a .
The lake i s dominated by Fan tal e volcano, the probably source of the
o b s i d i an from whi ch t h e a r t i f a c t s were made, and l i e s i n a t e c t o n i c
bas in bounded by genera t io ns o f f a u l t scar ps o f which the o l d e s t a r e
degraded and of l a t e P le i s toc ene and the younges t of end-P le i s to cene
and midd le t o l a t e Recen t age . Geo log ical in ve s t i ga t io n ev idenced
two ep isodes of l ake t r ans grc ss io n separa ted by a reg res s io n even t
an t e r i o r t o t h e p re s en t r eg re s s i o n ep i s o d e . The ex t en t of t h e
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Pl eis toc ene lak e remains unknown but the Holocene lak e was approximately
ten t in ics the s i ze o f the p re sen t l akc and rcached t o the fo o t of the
P l e i s t o c e n e s c a r p on which t hc L at er S t on e ~ g c i t e s w ere s i t u a t e d .
t
t h e t o p of t h e s ca rp b ou nd in g t h i s l ak e , two p a r t i a l l y ex cav at ed
o ccu p a ti o n s i t e s p rov id ed ev id en ce o f two s t r a t i f i e d o ccu p a ti o n l ev e l s
wi t h a ss emb lag es i n t h e b l ad e t o o l t r a d i t i o n . The f i r s t of them Phase
occurs i n an o ld s o i l ho r izon over ly ing la va bedrock and comprises
macro- and micro-blades, retou ched i nt o backed bla de forms, end- scr ape rs
and bu ri ns . The cor es a r e s i ng le - and double-cnded pris ma ti c and s inew
frayer fo rms . s y e t , t h i s o ccu r ren ce i s un d at ed b u t f o s s i l bone (of
which a h igh pro port ion appears t o be bu rnt ) found t h i s year may provide
a
d a t e . T en t a t i v e l y t h i s Phase can b e eq u at ed wi t h t h e a r t i f a c t s f ro m
the dark , o rgan ic c l ays in the geo log ica l p i t s and which mark the beg in -
n i ng of t h e r e t r e a t f r o n t hc t e r m i na l P l c i s t o c e n e l a k e a nd t h i s g i v e s t
a probable age of some 11,000 yea rs . Overlying t h i s Phase and old s o i l
a r e some 10cu. of g ree n pumiccous gravc l c onta ini ng f ishbon e and bel iev ed
t o be l a t e r d ep os it ed ; i f t h i s
s
confirnleg t r ep re s en t s an ev en o l d e r
h i g h l e v e l l a k e .
The upper o r Phase B assemblage o cc ur s , in a de f la te d midden
occupa t ion somc 50-60cm thi ck ove rly i ng the pumice gr av el a t the top of
t h e s e c t i o n and c om pr is es l a r g e q u a n t i t i e s a f b l a d e t o o l s i n a s s o c i a t i o n
wi th f ragmentary faunal re imins , inc lud i ng f i sh , and bur ied bu t incomplctc
human skc le a l remains. The obs id ia n indus t r y compares c los e ly wi th the
Kenya C ap sian f ro m Garilbles Cnvc and o t h e r s i t e s i n t he E a s t Af ri c an R i f t ,
w i t h b o t h l a rg e and n i c r o l i t h i c back cd b l ad es , en d - s c rap e r s on b l ad es ,
d ihe dra l bur ins , b u r in s in t run ca t ions and soi:e awls . Also ass oc ia ted
a r e upper and lower grinds ton e fraguicnts and probably some r ar e p otsher ds .
The n o s t i n t e r e s t i n g f e a t u r e of t h e s i t e s a r e t h e b u r i a l s . These
a r e a s so c i a te d w it h i n t e n t i o n a l l y b u t i r r e g u l a r l y p i l e d s t o n e s , b u t
t h e b o d i es do n o t ap pea r t o h av c b ee l b u r i cd u nd er a ca i r n s i n c e t h ey
u s u a l l y l i e o u t s id e t h e sc on c p i l e s . Thcy a r e a l s o i nc o n p l ct e , f o r
example, while th e uppcr hal f nay be pres ent t he rc
i s
no t r ac e of the
remainder of the ske le t on . In a l l , thc incomple te re ina ins o f 5 bod ies
were found in th i s s ton e p i le . Therc was no s ig n th a t they had been
d i s t u rb e d by scaven gi ng an i n a l s no r were t h ~ r c ny cut marks sug ges t ing
de l i be ra te d i sme~i~ber ing . p ropor t ion of the bones a r e burned , however,
and we would ap pc ar t o havc evidence of somc ra th er unusual bu ri al
c us to m t h a t n i g h t p er ha ps be c l a r i f i e d by r e f e r e n ce t o t h e l a t e r
c l a s s i ca l t e x t s . Two o f t h e c ran i a whi ch a r e we l l fo s s i l i s e d and
rea son abl y completed have been rec ons tr uc te d and come from hong-headed,
l o ng f aced i n d i v i d u a l s b u t , wh i l e one i s ro b u s t and ru gg ed, t h e o t h e r
i s i ~ u c hLess so and they may repr es en t sex ual d i ff er en ce s , The bodies
were b u r i cd i n t h e m idden wi t h n o grav e go od s d i r ec t l y a s s o c i a t ed .
However, ly i ng immedia tely t o thc c a s t of the s ton e p i le was a g roup o f
i n t e re s t i n g o b j e c t s two b on e t u b es t h a t were p ro bab ly co n t a i n e r s a
f l a t , e l i p s o i d s t o n e of f i n e s e di m en ta r y r o ck , n o t l o c a l , t h a t mi gh t
have been a penda nt; one la r ge and some 30 t o 40 s m a l l g a s t e r o p o d s h e l l s ,
a l l of which have been pierc ed f o r suspen sion. In anot her p lac e a group
o f r a t h a l a r g e d i s c b ea ds of
os t r i c h eggshe l l nay have been sewn on to a
l ea t h e r band and fu r t h e r o s t r i c h eg g s h e l l and t h e s m a ll g as t e ro po d s h e l l s
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o c c ur i n i s o l a t e d c o n t e x ts i n d i f f e r e n t p a r t s of t h e midden. t i s
e s p e c i a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g t h a t t h e m ol lu sc s h e l l s a r e m ar in e and n o t
f r e s h w a t e r a nd a r e i d e n t i f i e d a s O l i v a c f . b u lb o sa a n d E ng in a m e n di c a r i a ,
bo t h o f which forms a r e widespread th r oughou t th e Red Sea , the P er s i an
Gul f a nd t h e g a s t A f r i ca n c o a s t of w hic h t h e n e a r e s t p a r t t o ou r s i t e
i s Dj ib ou t i some 500km t o the ea s t . Unfor tuna te ly we have no t y e t
s uc c ee d ed i n o b t a i n i n g a d a t e f o r t h i s P ha se a s se mb la g e b u t i t
i s
a n t i c i p a t e d t h a t
i t
cou ld be a s much as 7000 yea rs o l d .
Erod ing f rom the younger sed imen ts
some 5m lower was
a s t i l l
l a t e r
Phase - C - ch a rac t e r i s e d by a h i g h p e rcen t ag e of en d - an d s h o r t co n vex
s c rap e r s an d p o t t e ry an d t i s s ug ge st ed t h a t t h i s s u p e r f i c i a l s t a g e
may b e r e l a t ed t o t h e i n t ro d u c i n g o f d o mes t i c s t o c k (p ro v i s i o n a l l y
i d e n t i f i e d a r e t e e t h of c a t t l e ) and t h e us e of s c r a p er s f o r s k i n
d r e s s i n g a s t h e G ur age t a n n e r s s t i l l do today. The same se di me nt s,
though
a t
a d i f f e r en t p l ace , p ro du ced a s m a l l s to ne bowl o f v e s i c u l a r
l a v a , p o s s ib l y s u g g e st i n g a r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e N e o l i t h i c S t o ne
Bowl i nd us tr ie s of Ea st Afr ic a which may thus perhaps be t he outcome
o f s ou th ward m i g ra t i o n of p a s t o r a l p eop l e s o u t of t h e d r i e r n o r t h e rn
p a r t s o f t h e R i f t du e t o t h e co n ti n ue d l a k e r e g r e s s i o n and d e s i c c a t i o n
i n t h e 1 s t and 2nd mil lennia B C C h a r c o a l a s s o c i a t e d w i t h
a
broken
pot produced a d a t e o f 3,400 28 B.P. f o r t h i s Phase C
T h is y e a r a n o t h e r b l a d e i n d u s t r y s i t e was f ou nd i n a s m a l l g r a be n
ab o u t 1.5km s o u t h of t h o s e j u s t d e s c r i b ed and s i t u a t e d b et ween t h e
f a u l t s c a r p and t h e h in ge d and do wn f au lt e d r o c ks o f i t s o u t e r o r e a s t e r n
ed ge . Two ex p l o r a t o ry p i t s 4m d eep co n t a i n ed a r t i f a c t s t h ro ug h o u t and
t h e t h r e e Ph a se s a r e s t r a t i f i e d h e r e . I n t h e lo we r l e v e l s w er e f ou nd
y e t o l d e r bl a d e s r e m i n i s c e n t b o t h of t h e E l e n t e i t a n i n d u s t r y of t h e
Kenya R i f t and o f the b la des wi th the t r an s i t i on a l Middle S tone Age/
L a t e r S t on e Age a s semb l ag e a t Ga r i b a l d i .
t
i s n o t un l i k el y t h a t
the se c ould be a s much as
20,000
y e a r s o l d .
t i s n o t g o i ng t o be e a s y i n s o u t h e a s t E t h i o p i a t o do cum ent t h e
domes t i c a t i o n o f t h e E t h i o p i an fo o d p l a n t s a s t h e n eces s a ry ev i d en ce
i s h a rd l y l i k e l y t o have s u rv i v ed among t h e p as t o r a l nomads i n t h e
R i f t an d o n t h e p l a t eau , s i n ce , i f t h ey u sed g ra s s t h a t c h an d cowdung
p l a s t e r on b ee hi ve -s ha pe d d w e l l i n g s , a s i s t r a d i t i o n a l t od ay , t h i s
would l e a v e l i t t l e o r no t r a c e i n t h e a r c h a e o l o g i c a l r e c o r d . However,
we hope t o b e a b l e t o o b t a i n d a t i n g f o r t h e p a i n t i n g s o f c a t t l e an d
f a t - t a i l e d s h ee p i n t h e c a ve s and r o c k s h e l t e r s i n t h e H a r ar P r ov in ce
where , i n 1974, some 14 pa in te dcsves and roc ks he l t e r s were t rac ed
c o mp l et e l y o r i n p a r t by P a t r i c i a Vinnicombe C a r t e r ; a nd t h i s y e a r
we made a comple te record o f th e pa in t i ngs i n the Laga Oda roc ks he l t e r
i n th e esca rpment 25km south wes t of Di re Dawa.
A l l
t h e s e p a i n t i n g s
f a l l i n t o t h r e e more main s t y l i s t i c g ro up in gs a n e a r l y s e r i e s w i t h
ca re fu l l y ex ecu t ed s m a l l p a i n t i n g s o f c a t t l e , s h eep and humans
f ol l ow e d by a s t y l e , a s i n t h e u pp er s h e l t e r a t Laga Oda, i n w hi ch t h e
a n i ma l s a r e dr aw n much l a r g e r a nd o f t e n n o t s o c a r e f u l l y ; and a l a t e
s t y l e i n whichschema t i c d e s i gn s i n c r e as e s i g n i f i c a n t l y a nd , b e s i d e s
c a t t l e , came l s a r e r ep re s en t ed . Thc u d d e r s o f t h e cows a r e o f t e n
ca re fu l l y d ep i c t ed d en o t i n g t h e i m po r tan ce o f t h e m i l k i n g
t r a i t .
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A t Laga Oda we werc lu ck y enough t o f i n d
a
r i c h Later Stone Age
o ccu pa t i on u s in g ch e r t and a v e ry l i t t l e o b s i d ian , w i t h p o t t e ry i n t h e
upper l e v e l s only and faun a thro ughout rnosc of the 1.4m de pth of
occupat ion mate r i a l i n the excava tLon . Hearth; o r charcoa l a l so
occurred throughout the ?xcavat ion
so
t h a t we ex p ec t t o be ab l e t o b r ack e t
the t ime durin g which the s h c lt e r was occupied.
A
check w i l l be poss ib le
on the t ime during which the pa ixt ing s werc being done, f rom the a sso cia ted
fauna, and we be l ie ve t h ~ t h igh prcpo rt ion of the bone waste comes from
domest i c s tock c a t t l e and cheep .
Summario g q th er ef or e, the se two seasons have provided evidence of a long
and reasonab ly comple te = x l tu rs l success ion In sou th eas t e rn E th iop ia . The
Developed Oldawan and Ac h ~ u l ia n ssenibl?ges on th e Arussi-B ale Pl at ea u
must be among the high est a l t i t u d e s i t e s known from the l a t e Lower t o
Middle Pleis to cene t ime range i n Afr ica and
t
should be poss ib le t o
d emon s tr a te f rom them t h e ex t e n t t o which t he a c t i v i t i e s and a r t i f a c t s
of
homin id g roups us ing h igh a l t i tu de fo r esc and the g rass la nd o f the
lak e shore and the r i v e r f lood p la in may hnvc been sp ec ia l l y adapted.
Pol len s , d iatoms and faunal assemblages should permit reco nst ruc t io n
of the pa leeo clim ate and ecology and the l i m i t s wit hin which they
fl uc tu at ed whi le we hope t o be abl e t o obta in
K /A r
dates from some of the
ash, pumice and ignimbritc san'yles
we
c o l l e c t e d .
t
i s no t unreasonab le
t o expect hominid remains al so .
In thel'Middle Stonc
Lg e
timz range
w
have t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of
asses s ing the ex t en t of loc a l v or i n t i on be tween t h ree wide ly sepn r ted
lo c a l i t l z s as wel l as wi th ? r i1 fcssor F icd Wcndorf 's sequence i n the Lake
Zwai basin.
t
would seem
u sw
i n view of th ' b l ade- in -ne ss ' o f the
Middle Stone Agc t r a di t i on , th at ti le or ig in s of the Ethio pian Later
Stone Age bla de
i n d us t r y complex p r o b ~ b l y i e w i t h i n E th i o p i a i t s e l f ;
i t s a nt iq ui ty f i nd s confi rmat i.on fror.; the deep scquence a t Lake Besaka
and
we
e x p e c t t o
h e
ab l e t o doccrnent i t r o r i g i ~ s nd d eve lo pmen t i n
solne detai l .
I n d i r ec t ev id ence sugge ; t s t h a t a g r i c u l t u r a l and p a s t o r a l p eo pl e
were i n E t h i o p i a
b y
th e end of t he 2nd mill enni um
B.C.
and we hope t o
be a bl e to show when s i gn if ic a nt e coc o~; (c hanges t o domest icat ion made
t h e i r ap pea ran ce .
A
t h ~ u g h ever a l p rev ious excava t ions have been
car r i e d ou t in pa in ted roc1 :she lte i- s there a re a s ye t no rad iocarbon
d a t e s but we hope t o have
mzd?
a
, s t a r t a t
aga
Gda and t o be abl e t o
sugg est f rom the evidence vhen dcmes t i c s to ck f i r s made t h e i r appearance
h e r e .
This pa rt of Ethicpi '?
i s
now proven po te n t i a l l y r i c h i n the k ind o f
da t a needed t o p rov ide the pa laeoeco log ica l and cu l t u r a l ev idence
we
a r e
see kin g. Work over the nex t
few
y z a r s s ho ul d h e l p s u b s t a n t i a l l y t o
u n de r st and b e t t e r che p a l aco l g og rap hi c d i s t r i b u t i o n and f ea t u re s of s i t e s
i n the Ri f t and h igh a l t i z ud e z rnes and , when d i f f e r en t k inds of sea l ed
occupat io n f lo or s ar e cxccvated more completely ,
w i l l
give the much needed
i n fo r ma t io n on s p a t i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p s of f e a t u r e s a nd a r t i f a c t s , s o l e a di n g
t o i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of d i f f e r e n t k i nd s of a c t i v i t y a r e a s a nd t he nc e t o a
comparison of pa t tc rn s of behaviour i n the two zones . We may al s o expe ct
t o beg in t o l ea rn someth ing
of t h
ex te n t of E th io p ia ' s in f luence on the
popu la t ions and economics of ad j acen t par t s o f the co n t be n t in p r eh i s t o r i c
t imes .
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Acknowledgements
Our thanks ar e here gr at ef ul ly acknowledged t o the Nationa l Science
Fou nd ati on, Washingto n, f o r Grant No. SOC73-05513
A 0 1
under which most
of th i s work was c a r r i ed o ut ; a ls o t o a l l those members of the 1974 and
1975 e xpe d i t ions whose c o l l a bor a t io n c on t r ibu te d s o m a te r i a l ly t o the
su cc ess of t he r e s u l t s : Allemayu Asfaw and Yesahak Worku of th e
An ti qu it ie s Department, Addis Ababa; Paul Bishop of Macquarie Uni ve rs i ty ;
Richard G il le sp ie of Sydney Univers i t y Radiocarbon Laboratory; Frances
Dakin and
W
Morton of th e Geology Department, the Natio nal Un iv er si ty ,
Addis Ababa; Steve Brand t, Al li so n Galloway, Hir o Kurashina , Ron Reeves
and Kenneth Williamson of th e Uni ve rsi ty of C al if or ni a, Berkeley who
formed the excavat ion teams Pa tr ic k
L
Car te r and Pa t r ic ia Vinnicombe
Car t e r of Cambr idge Unive rs i ty who surveyed pr eh is to r i c s i t e s i n the
so t ithe rn Ha ra r P rov ince a nd the r oc k a r t s i t e s of th a t a r e a ; R ic ha rd
Wilding of the National University, Addis Ababa who worked on proto-
h is to r i c s i t e s ; Denis Geraads of the Nationa l Un ivers i ty , Addis Ababa
who i d en ti fi ed the fau na l remains El iz ab et h McCown of th e Un iv ers it y of
Ca li fo rn ia , Berkeley who prepared and reco nst ruc ted the human s k el et a l
ma te ri al from Lake 3esak a and Betty
B
C lar k f o r o r ga n iz ing the
c om m issar ia t a nd pe rf o rm ing i l l u s t r a t io n and se c r e t a r i a l work. We a r e
a l so deeply indebted f or many k indnesses t o Mr. and Mrs. G er ra rd Dekker
of Addis Ababa, t o Ato Bekele Negussie and the members of th e s t a f f of
the Dep artment of A n t i q u i t i e s , t o Ato Mamo Tesema of th e Na ti on al Museum
and the many people i n Eth io pia , both government of f i c i a l s and pr i va te
in di vi du al s, a l l of whom helped us i n innumerable ways.
Da l l a s
May 1975
J Desmond Clark, University of
Cal i forn ia , Berke ley , and
M A J
Williams, Macquarie Universi ty,
New South
Wales
Recherches arch6olog iques dan l e Soddo
La m is s i on de 1 ' I n s t i t u t d 'a rc hc io l og i c du ~ i n i s t b r e e l a C u lt u r e
d l E t h i o p i e p o u r s u i t , d , p u i s l e 19 a v r i l d e c e t t e a nn'ee, 1 e x p l o r a t i o n
arch6ologique
e
l a rggio n du Soddo.
C 'es t en
1 9 7 4
q u ' e l l e a e n t r e p r i s
1
nve n ta i r e de s s i t e s e t de s monuments ( lo c a l i s a t on topogr aph ique ,
ude de s c r i p t iv e , pho togr a ph ie , de s s in ) . I1 e s t probable qu'
i l
s e r a
ache en 1976. De nouveaux s i t e s ont 6t 6 dgcouverts r cemment, e t
a t6 commencde l a f o u i l l e d'une tombe 2 Gatera-Denlma. . En e f f e t ,
l a
que s t ion p r inc ipa le e n c e q u i c onc er ne c e s s i t e s e t c e s monuments
e s s e n t i e l l e n e n t d e s s t G le s f i g u r a t i o n s v a r i 6 e s e s d ' o r d r e
chronologique.
On ne s a i t r i e n de p r g c i s s u r l e u r 2 g e .
La de'couverte
de ve s t ige s os seux , e n t r e a u t r e s c hose s , perme t t r a i t d ' ob t e n i r une
da te de radiocarbone .
La r gg ion du S oddo e t c e l l e qu i l u i e s t l im i t r ophe a u sud
c onse r ve n t une c e n ta ine de s i t e s , a u t a n t de s t h l e s e t nombre de
tombes. Cf. Nyame Akuma, oct obre 197 5.
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KENYA
P a lyno log ic a l Kesul t s a t Ea s t Rudolf
A
po lle n assemblvge v7as ex tr ac te d from a sample ass oc ia te d with the
hom in id s i t e
KNMER
1592 a t I l e r c t i n the Koobi Fora Format ion .
I t s approximate LTe should be between 1.8 2.4 m.y. i n the Fi tc h
a nd M i l l e r da t in g hypo the s i s , o r 1 . 5 1 .6 m.y. i n the C ur t i s hypo the s i s ,
Th i s a na lys i s of the f o s s i l po l l e n a ssem blage fr om I l e r e t seem s t o
p e rm i t a r e as o na b ly d e f i n i t e c l a r ac t e r i s at i o n of t h e f l o r a i n t h e a r e a .
The prominence o f m on tane f o r e s t e le m en t s i s pa r t i c u la r ly s t r i k i ng .
S ince i t a p p ea r s t h a t t h i s f e a t u r e ca n no t
be
e x p la i n ed e n t i r e l y by l o ng
d i s t a n c e wind o r wa ter t r a n spo r t , i t seems c l e a r th a t ve ge t a t ion o f h igh -
l a nd f o r e s t t ype mus t have e x i s t c d c lose to the ba s in m ar g ins . F u r th e r ,
be ca use the c on t r a s t be twee n r e c e n t po l l e n a s se m blage s and the f o s s i l
one cannot be due s imply t o re cen t deforestation t he c l im a te must su r e l y
have been somewhat cooler 0;: we t t e r a t t he time of de p os i t i on o f the
sample. The veg e ta t io n i n
the
v ic in i t y of the sample s i t e was dominated
by Gramineag and Cbaopodicceae appro pr i a te t o the margins of a s l i g h t l y
sa l i ne o r a l ka l i ne l a ke . On the o the r hand the unusua l ly good r e p r e s e n t -
a t i o n of Aca cia, Comniphora, and S91vado~-a mpl ies a sh rub and t r e e co ver
th a t was more dense than t ha t pr eva i le nt n t he ba s in toda y , A l toge the r
the ind i c a t io ns a r e of a c l i na te th a t was ne i the r e xc e ss ive ly humid no r
semi-a r id .
The sample is i n t e r s t r a t i f i e d w i t h t he e a r l y man f o s s i l s and
ar ch ae ol og ic al remains of th e Upper Member of the Koobi Fora Formation.
The pol le n spectrum
of
the <oobi
Fcrs
ciocumcnts con di t ion s ex is t i ng a t
some po in t durin g th e occup atio n of the nren by evol vin g hominid popu-
l a t i o n s . However, the paleoenvironmental evidence provided by t h i s
s am pl e r e f e r s t o t h e r e l c t i v e l y s h o r t t i n e s p a n d u r in g t h e d e p o s i t i o n
of t he scdinwnt cont a in i ng the p l l c n s p ec t rc m . I n o r d e r t o a s s e s s t h e
ex te nt t o which thc pa tte- .;? ohoerve3wwzs s ' ab le , f l uc tu a t in g or su bj ec t
t o pe rs is te nt long te rm t re nd s , we w i l l necd t o procure sp ec t r a f rom
o t h e r l a y e r s .
For d e t a i l e d i n f or m a ti o n s e e a r t l c l e i n p r e s s i n "N ature".
R B onne f i l l e
L a bo ra t oi r e de ~ e b 1 o ~ i - eue Qua te r na i r e ,
C.N.R.S. Meudon-Bellevue, France
TANZANIA
D r Ger ha rd Liesegang o f the F r obe n iu s - I ns t i tu t i n F r a nkf u r t r e p or t s th a t
funds have been made ava il ab le by t he Foreign Of f ic e of th e Federal
Republic t o the Nat ion Museum of Tanzania and the r robe nius - Ins t i t u t ,
F r a n k f u r t t o c on t i n ue r e s e a r c h on s i t e s w i t h ro c k p a i n t i n g s i n C e n tr a l
Tanzania . The f i r s t campaign took place i n June October 1974 and was
d i r e c t e d by F.T. Masao, C ura to r of t he Nat ion al Museum of Ta nza ni a, who
w i l l a l s o lead the second p iece of f i e l d r.? search. The f ie ld work was
o r i g i n a l ly p lanned f o r June September 1976 but s i nc e
M r
Masao has just
f i n i s h ed t he f i r s t d r a f t oF t h i s t h e s i s
t
Sinon Frase r Uni vers i ty , a
s l i g h t s h i f t nay b e n e ce s sa r y.
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EGYPT
S y s te m a t ic p r e h i s t o r i c s t u d i e s o f t h e S iwa Oa s i s r e g i o n d i r e c t e d
by D r F e k r i A Hassan, Washington S t a te Un iv ers i t y , Pul lman, were
i n i t i a t e d dur in g t he summer of 1975 ai de d by Grant No. SOC75-00222
from th e Natio nal Scie nce Foundation and Grant No. FU-54002 from th e
Smiths o nian I n s t i t u t i o n . The r e s ea r ch i s u n de rt a ke n i n c o l l a b o r a t i o n
wi th th e Geologic al Survey of Egypt .
P r e p a r a t i o n s
f o r a second se as on (Summer 1976) ar e underway.
The r e s u l t s of t h e f i r s t s e as o n p rom is e t o c l a r i f y t h e p l a c e o f Siwa
d u r i n g t h e P a l e o l i t h i c - N e o l i t h i c t r a n s i t i o n and t h e p o s i t i o n o f S iwa
wi t h in th e cu l t u r a l r e l a t io ns among the Maghreb, the Ni le Val le y , and
the sou thern par t o f the Egypt ian Sahara .
Departmen t of Archaeology Un iv er si ty of Ghana
Perso nnel . Merr ick Posnansky has announced hi s res ig na t i on f rom the
head ship of th e Department ef f e c t i v c from summer 1976 and he
w i l l
t ak e
u p a p o s t a s P r o f es s o r i n t h e Depa rtment o f H i s to r y a t
UCLA
from
September, 1976 on h i s re tu rn f rom th e 9t h U.I.S.P.P. Congress i n Nice.
Miss S. Nygaard w i l l a l s o be l eav ing Ghana i n September with he r
husband, D r
M
Talbot who w i l l be tak ing up an appoin tment in t he
Department of Geology of Leeds Un iv er si ty . M r D Kiyaga-Mulindwa has
f in i s h e d h i s r e s ea r ch o n t h e ea r th w o rk s i n t h e Oda r eg io n an d an
a r t i c l e o n h i s f i n di n gs
w i l l
appe ar i n Sankofa, Volume 2.
E x cava t ion s . The h a l f - y e a r h as b een an ac t i v e on e a r c h ae o lo g i c a l l y w i th
exc ava t io ns being conducted a t Brong Ahafo by
M r J .
Boachie-Ansah (Ahwne
Koko) M r
E
Effah-Gyamf (Bono
ans so)
Pr ofe ss or Posnansky (Debi bi) and
Pro fes sor Posnansky and t he Brathay Group a t Hani; i n Ash ant i Region by
M r J Anquandah a t Boyasi H i l l ( s e e f o l l o wi n g r e p o r t ) a nd i n W e st er n
Region a t For t Ruychaver ( see fo l lowing re po r t ) . The Wes t Af r i can Trade
Pr o j ec t was b ro u g ht t o an en d and a f i n a l r e p o r t w i l l be i s sued i n June*
which contains summaries of the work on Begho by Professor Posnanaky and
M r L.B. Cro ssl and , on th e Kintampo ' c u l t ur e ' s i t e s by D r J C Dombrowski,
on Exper imenta l Archaeo logy a t Hani by M r
R
McIntosh and on the Later
Sto ne Age o f th e Kwahu Sc a rp by M r Fr an ci s Musonda. Dur ing th e cou rse
of the 5 -year p ro je c t , funded la rg e l y by th e Leverhu lme Trus t , 31
exca vat io ns were under taken , 20 of them i n the Begho ar ea . A t o t a l o f
7 6 Ghanaian s tu de n t s and s t a f f pa r t i c i pa te d and 25 from ou ts i de Ghana.
S ix h ig h e r d eg r ees
(5
from Ghana and one from Cambridge) we re obtained*Jc
on re s e a r c h c a r r i e d o u t d ur i n g t h e p r o j e c t
.
Copies can be obta ine d from M P os na nsk y e i t h e r a t Legon u n t i l
mid-July o r a t UCLA a f t e r September - p r i c e 2.50 ( i n c . p o s t a g e )
2
the ses a re due t o be submitCed i n 1976.
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Deb i b (Dapaa)
Survey work and excavations continued i n Apri l a t the ir on working
s i t e des cr ib ed i n Nyame Akuma vol
7
t o t a l of 27alag mounds wit hi n an
area of 1 he ct ar es have now been mapped, the l a r g e s t of them bei ng
ne ar ly 2 metres high and 25 metres long. This mighty i ro n working complex
secins .to da te from th e heyday of Begho and so f a r 3 radiocarbon da t es have
been obta ined f rom charcoa ls assoc ia t ed wi th furnace s i t e s :
GX
- 4226
A D
1430 100)
Mound
N - 2286 A D 1480 65
GX -
4227
A D
1650 95 Mound 2
(Al l based on the 5568 ha l f l i f e )
Fort Ruychaver
Excavati ons were conducted a t Fo rt Ruychaver on th e Ankobra Rive r
ne ar P re s t e a (5O 22'N, 2O 8' 8
W
dur ing the Chris tmas vaca t ion wi th t he
hel p of the Brathay Expl orati on Group and a par ty of I 1 Ghanaian s i x t h -
formers and s tud ents . The fo r t , b u i l t by the Dutch i n 1654 i n an a t tempt
t o ta p the source of the gold reaching the f o r t s on the Gold Coast , was
the on ly f o r t b u i l t f a r i n t o the i n t e r io r by the Eur opea n powers be f o r e
the ni ne te en th centu ry and was blown up in 1659. The s t o r y of t he
de st ru ct io n has always been somewhat mysterious and romantic and i n
e a r l i e r de sc r ip t io ns of the Cold c oa s t ' s f o r t s ( a s i n Lawrence 1963) o r
in ge ne r al h i s t o r i e s o f Ghana, the r e i s e i t he r no in fo r m at ion on the
f o r t o r
t
i s piecemeal and conf l ic t ing .
D r A
van Dantzig* and
M r D
Mathewson relo cat ed the f o r t i n 1969 fr on the Ankobra r i v er fol lowin g
the dis cove ry of a record of
a
v i s i t t o the f o r t
by
a Colonel Starrenburg
i n 1817. The pr in c ipa l a ims of the pro je c t were t o put the f o r t co r re c t ly
on the map, t o de sc r ibe i t s l o c a t io n , t o c l e a r the f o r t and c on tour the
ar ea and conduct a small excavation t o determine the n ature of
t s
des t ru c t i on and whether the re was any l a t e r se t t lem ent .
A s
t he f o r t
s
s o c l o s e l y d a te d
t
meant tha t a ny a r t e f a c t c ould a l so be c l ose ly da te d
i f t could be proved th at the re was no subsequent se t t le men t.
The
f o r t had b een b u i l t on a s t e e p s i d e d 30 me tr e h i l l i n v e ry
th i ck f or es t immediately above a se r i es of rapid s and a rock bar on
the Ankobra r i v e r which would a c t as a b a rr i er t o aggress ive moves up
the Ankobra from the co as t. Most of t he av ai la bl e thr ee weeks was
take n up wi th clear anc e work and mapping. Neve rthe less a t o t a l of
20
p i t s were sunk. The f o r t , a s found, cons ist ed of a mud and pole st ru ct u re
approximate ly 13 .5 metres wi th a red Pan- t i led roo f . The t i l e s had
been shipped from Holland presumably a t gre at expense. The f o r t had been
dest roye d i n what must have been
an
e x c es s i v el y s t r o n g c o n f l a g r a t i o n a s
a l l t h a t remained was bur nt mud and t i l e s which i n some case s were
v i t r i f i ed . From the lumps of burn t c la y
t
was poss ib le t o r e c ons t r u c t
the s i z e o f the bu i ld ing t im ber s and to a sc e r t a in wa l l s o f two th i c kne sse s .
A
van Dantzig, The Ankobra Gold In t e r e s t , Tran sac tio ns of th e
His tor ica l Soc ie t y of Ghana, vo l .
XIV
2(1973)
pp. 169-183
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The Lodge, a s
i t
should more pro perl y be termed, was of st or ey s and
the i n s id e wa l l s o f the uppe r s to r e y ware a lm os t c e r t a i n l y p la s t e r e d .
There was a marked lac k of f i nd s due to th e in te ns i t y of t he f i r e
and t he p i l l a g i n g of t he s i t e a f t e r i s de st ru ct io n, which was presumably
caused by the Factor himself i n an a c t of se lf - immola tion. The
small
amount of ear thenware was s im il ar t o t ha t previ ously dug by R B Nunoo
from Nsu ta, some 20 ki lome tres to the South-eas t . The s i t e was never
reoccupied.
Hani
A s
p ar t of a cont inuing p roj ec t on exper imenta l a rchaeology i n the
Begho area, two rubbish dumps, which cons i s ed of low mounds i n th e
ga l l e r y f o r e s t a round the p r e se n t v i l l a ge o f Ha ni , were e xc ava ted du r ing
the v i s i t of the Brathay Group under the s i t e sup erv is io n of Simon Grimes
of Durham Un iv ers it y. From o r a l eviden ce
t i s
b e l i ev e d t h a t t h e y d a t e
f rom the 1930 's and 40 ' s . The e xca vate d m a te r i a l i s a t p r e se n t be ing
stu di ed and prel imi nary an al ys is ind ic ate s some of t he changes t h a t have
taken pl ace i n the Hani cormunity during t he pa st 35 ye ar s which have
see n the disappearance of sp innin g using sp in dl e whorls and the expanded
use of galvanized iron, enamel
ware,
pl as t i c and a luminium which i s
replac ing ea r thenware . It was of in te re s t to note the percentage of
pot sherds of di f f e re nt s iz es which we hope may be of h el p during the
excava t inn of Begho s i t e s i n d is t in gu is hab le midden depo si t s f rom
occupation ar eas and mud wall s which of t en i nc crp ora te (so~netimes
in t ent io na l ly) la rge amounts of broken pot te ry . I t
i s
hoped that
the comparison of the fa un al mat er ia l with t ha t from th e nearby Begho
s i t e s
w i l l
a l so be of s ign i f ic ance i n the s tudy of the economic bas is .
Merrick Posnansky
Department of Archaeology
Uni ver s y of Ghana.
Excavations
a t
Ronoso and Ahwene Koko:
A-Preliminary Report
During th e Christmas vacatiori of 1974/75 academic ye ar , an arch aeo -
log ica l survey was conducted i n the Wenchi t ra d i t i on a l a re a by the wr i te r .
The main aim of t h i s sur vey was
co plan excavations which were scheduled
to t a ke p la c e i n the long vacation From 22nd September t o 1 5t h Oct obe r,
1975, exc av at io ns were conducted a t Eonoso and Ahwene Koko i n t he Wenchi
t r a d i t ion a l a r e a to 3sc e r t a i n what c on t r ibu t io n a r cha eo logy c a n make t o
t h e e a r l y h i s t o r y of t h e a r e a .
Bonoso 7O 3 7 ' ~O 05'W:
Bonoso i s s i t ua te d about 14
krn
so ut h of Wanchi i n t he Brong Ahafo
Region. The Wenchis cl ai m t o have come from a ho le a t Bonoso where
th ey s ta ye d f o r some t ime be fo re moving t o Ahwene Koko, which became
the Capita l of
enc chi ^
Excavations were conducted i n an ar ea about 323 metres t o the nor th-
e a s t of the hole of or ig in . This a re a was se t t l ed by the Wenchis a f t e r
they had emerged from the The Wenchi Tr ad it io na l Council fe lt t h a t
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excava tions would des ecr at e the hole i f they were conducted c lo se t o i t
No excava tions were ther efo re conducted near the hole as or ig in al ly
planned.
A
s t p i t (N26) measuring
1
m et re s q u ar e and a t r e n c h ( ~ 2 0 ~ 2 0 )
measuring 1.5m by 3.0m were opened near an uproot ed t r e e which had
exposed well f ir e d po tt ery . Ar bi tra ry le ve ls of 15cms each were adopted
si nc e the s o i l , compacted by th e heavy downpours which coin cid ed with
the per iod of excavations, made i t d i f f i c u l t f o r s o i l changes t o be
de tec ted . The te s t p i t and the tre nch were 60cms and 90cns i n dep th
r e s p e c t i v e l y .
P o t t e r y , un i de n t i f i a b le a n ima l bones
, 3
? bone of an e lepha nt t a i l ,
g r i n d in g s t o n e s , i r o n s l a g , u n i d e n t i f i e d i r o n o b j e c t s and a n i r o n k n i f e
were the f i nd s uncovered i n the excava t io ns .
Most of t he vess e ls f rom Bonoso a r e sph er i ca l . Ever ted
r i m s
a r e
common. Open hem isp her ica l bowls and hem isp her ica l bowls wi th ho ri zo nt al ly
e v e r t e d
r i m s ,
be l ieved t o be ear thenware copies of b ras s bowlsY4were a lso
found. Grooving (t h e predominant de co rat iv e tec hni que ), combstamping
t r i a ng u l a r and r e c ta ngu la r s t am ping and r im - l ip no tch ing c ha r a c te r i z e
Bonoso pottery, some of which
i s
w el l f i r e d s l i p p ed p o t t e r y i d e n t i c a l
t o Bonoware 1 f rom the s i t e of Bono ans so.^ Micaceous po tt er y from
Bonoso belongs t o th e type i n which t h e mica oc c urs i n the f a b r i c r a th e r
t ha n b ei ng r e s t r i c t e d t o t he s u r f a c e a s a n i n t n e t i o n a l l y a p p li e d ,
de co rat iv e ma te r i a l . The Lightweight Buff ware ch a ra ct er i s t i c of Begho
s i t e s 6 a l s o o c cu r s a t B onoso.
Two ch ar co al samp les from t re n ch L20M20 a t 50cms N-2.243) nd 50cms
(N2344) below the s ur fa ce were se n t t o Japan f o r radiocarbo n age
de te r m ina t ion .
They have produced dates
of
1240
_ 9 0 P
and 970 85 BP
(710 90 A.D. and 980
85
A.D. r e s p e c t i v e l y ( ba se d o n h a l f l i f e of
5730 ye ar s) , The da t es a re qui te ea r ly , and a l though N-2343,col lec ted
9cms above N-2344 i s ol de r t han th e l a t t e r by some 270 ye ar s, th e two
d a t e s a r e q u i t e c l o s e t o ea ch o t h e r .
Ahwene Koko 7O 29 'N 2 12'W:
I t
l i e s some 35kms sout h-s out h-w est of Wenchi.
I t
f e a t u r e s i n t h e
t r a d i t io na l h i s t o r y o f Wenchi as a c a p i t a l w i t h 177 q u a r t e r s .
Two s i t e s were e xc a vate d . The f i r s t , s i t ua t e d on the p r o p r t y o f
th e l a t e Nana Yaw Fosu, was g iv en t h e name Yaw Fosu
I
(YF1).
T hi s s i t e
l i e s about 387m t o th e w s t of Ahwene v i l l ag e . The second s i t e , be l ieved
t o be the pa lace a r ea ,7 l i e s about 270m to t he west of Ahwene v i l l ag e .
This s i t e was named Pal ace Area I (PA1).
A t YF1, a t e s t p i t (M38) measuring 1 metre square ; a trench (018P18)
measu ring 3m by 1.5Om; and a p i t (R28S28) mea sur ing 1.5 0 sq ua re met res
were excava ted. Excav ation s rev ea led sha llo w occ upa tio n. M38, OL8P18
and R28S28 went down t o dept hs of 64cms, 57cms, and 52cms re s p e ct i v el y .
A t th e Pa la ce a r e a , a tr en ch meas uring 2.50111 by 2m reach ed a depth
of 76cms below surface.
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I t
i s
prena tu re t o g iv ? ~ n y e , a i le d a c c ouct of the r e l a t i on sh ip
between Bonoso and Atwene X o w s i n c e t h e p:Y c
y
fro in thc two a reas i s
s t i l l b ein g s t u d, k d.
IL
can, hwc J C Y be s a i d t h a t t h e s i l n i l a r i t y i n
v e s s e l f orln and of de cr, rat iv e teclmi.qucs er qlo yed by th e makers of Bonaso and
Ahwene Koko pottery i s s u g g e s ti v e of cmnmn o r i g i n o f , o r a t l e a s t
c u l t u r a l s im i l ar i t y be t w c c ~ , he oiCllF3ntS of Bmoso and Ahwene Koko.
The cupruous
?
b r a s s ) o b j e c t s
c
b n d t he g l a s s beads a r c i n d i c a t i ve of
t rade connec t ions wi th the oucs idc
w o r l d .
The sma ll sha llo w bowls
may
s up po rt th e d oc n ~ en t a ry e f e r e ~ c ? ' ~o
t h e
c loLh ind us t r y i n 17 th ce n tu r y
Wenchi.
If the
tobacco ?ip2 fouc.?
a t
C 6 c p t h of 34cms i n tr en ch 018P18
belongs
-0
3a , s 1 a l i n c l i n e d t o bcl
lev^,
the n t he cla im t h a t Ahwene
Koko was abandoned L~twecn
G C O
aqd 170014 rmst be re j ec te d i n favour
of abandonment towards rhc? e n d of ~ re ig n of Osei Tutu (1711-12) 15
du ri ng whose time
Litwcix X u i c ~was
invaded .
In f orrnat ion given by Nam Khwxe Pknsah
a1
as. Kwame
Owusu-Ansah
(Dec. 19 74 ); Kana Kmmc / ~_ P P : - .o z .~ l ~ a s ana Kwame Ab refa h (Dec
1974); Nanc 2 , E , Dmkoh (July
1975 ;
a l l
of
Wenchi,
Information zivar .
h y
Y r i<w<.nz
Honsnh
a l i a s Nana Kwame Owusu-
Ansah (Dz:. 10 74; .
.re c T r c
:e:r;or stlowcd Ine thc s i t e i n
September 197.5.
A l l b o n c ~
~ r c
- - , t
i ~ 1
;
t.l y 2 - .
2
Grubb of
the Zoology
Dep.?rtmcnt, LTdon.
I c ;Ccrnql r r
t:cs::ed t h a t th er e were n ot
s u f f i c i e n t Boric f o cc ;dr isoL, t r d i de n t i f a c t i on i n the Zoology
Depart1ncr.t and tbcrcforc k j s , ~ n ? l y s c s r c p c r cl y t e n t a t i v e . I am
g r a t e f u l t o
hir l
f o r
hi-s
x m ~ v s i ~ .
L.B.
CrosslLnd, 1273 - a p c i c .
p . 9
Infor ina t ion g iven b y
O?ani;l Y ?w Krah, Ex-Odikro of Ahwene Village
(September 1975j an1
Y111 r
'Cr.me Ksnsah ~ l i a s ana Fr a nc i s Kwame
Owusu-Amah (lkc. 1'374).
A1 though D r Crubb'
s
a n s l y s r s i s t c n c a t i v e , t h e p re -m ol ar s a r e
i d e n t i c a l t o t h o se o f ? cow 5.n th e .",oology Department. From pe rs on al
obse r va t ion
I
am convincod t h a t th ey a r e pre-mola rs of a cow.
L.B.
Crossland, 1913
- o p .
c i ; .
p . 3 7
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10.
11.
12.
13.
14 .
15.
16.
f o r
In fo rm at io n gi ve n by Opanin Yaw Krah, Ex-Odikro of Ahwene Vi ll ag e.
P. Ozanne, 1963? Tobacco Pi pe s of Accra and Sh ai , I.A.S. Legon,
(Mimeographed), p. 6.
The Queenmother, a ccordin g t o the tr a di t i o ns , was Asaseba-a-ode-ns -ee
which 1 t e r a l l y t ra ns la t ed means chi ld of the Mother Ear t h , whose
an ces try dat es t o the beginning . The King went back in t o the
hole when a Nkrunlah, a ni nt h born, amazed a t hi s r eg al ia shouted a t
the to p o f h i s vo ic e .
K Y
Daaku, and Van Ds n tz ig , 1966 An Ann ota ted Dutch Map of 1629
i n Ghana Notes and Que ri es , No. 9 , pp. 10-13.
P . Ozanne, 1966 Ahwene Koko: Ze ve nt een th Cen tur y Wenchi i n
Ghana Notes and Queries, No.
8.
K.Y.
Daaku, 1968
A
Note on t he F a l l of Ahwene Koko and
i t s
Sig nif ican ce i n Asante History1' in Ghana Notes and Qu er ie s, No.
10, pp. 40-44.
K Y
Daaku, 1968 op . c i t . and persona l co l~nu nic a t io nwith Nana
Abref ah More Bed iat uo, Ex-Wenchihene ( Se pt . 197 5).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I
am very gr at ef ul t o the Leverhulme Tru st f o r providing funds
t h e i n i t i a l p a r t of my r e se a rc h .
J
Boachie-Ansah
Department of Archaeology
University of Ghana
Lake Bosumtw Ghana
Thanks t o the kindness and in te re s t of
D r .
Jean Maley, CNRS,
Labo de Pal yn ol og ie , USTL, Mo nt pe ll ie r, and
D r . G .
De l ib r i a s , C e n t r e
de Fa ib le s Ra di ec ti vi te s CNRS, Gif -sur-Y vette, who ca rr ie d out the
a ge de te r m ina t ions ,
I
now have the f i r s t C14 da te s f rom the t er ra ce s
of Lake Bosumtwi.
The ol de st da te of 9880
_
220
B.P.
(GIF-3650) was obtained from
carbonised wood c ol lec ted a t an e l ev at io n of about 2.%1 above pre se nt
la ke le v e l . The wood was found i n a sequence of f inel y-l ami nat ed
s i l t s
and f in e sands which reach in apparen t ly unbroken su ccess ion t o
a t l e a s t 30m a . p .
L L
These sediments cont a in occas iona l whole f i s h
fo s s i l s and abundant, o f t en superbly prese rved lea f impress ions ,
accumula t ion eviden t ly occur r i ng in the deep, s tagnant wa te rs of a
l a ke t ha t was a lm os t c e r t a in ly ove rlowing the c r a t e r r i m ( t h e p r e s e n t
lake has no ou t l e t , the sur fa ce be ing approx.
130m below th e po te nt ia l
poin t of out f low) .
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Two d a t e s ; 2520 _ 200
B.P.
(GIF-3651) and 1940 _ 300 B.P. (GIF-3652)
were obta ined from Melanoides tub ercula t a s h e l l s co l le c te d a t 21m and
22m re sp ec ti ve ly . These come fro^:: a sandy un i t t h a t a c cum ula te d in
sha l low, ag iga ted , ae r obic wate rs , wi th in a few metres of the former
l a k e s u r f a c e .
Obv ious ly more da te s a r e r e q u i r e d , bu t i f t he se de te r m ina t ions
r e f l e c t t he t r ue age s of the de pos i t s , t he n the y a r e of c ons ide r a b le
s i g n i f i c a n c e . The f i n e l y l am in at ed s i l t s a pp e ar t o r e co r d th e l a s t
t im e the l a ke wa te r s werc a b le t o flow ou t of the c r a t e r ; c e r t a in ly
no sedimentary evidence has ye t been found t o in di ca te any subsequent
pe rio ds of over flow. The perio d around 10000 B.P. i s wel l known t o have
beep one when many Afr ica n-l ake s were pa r t ic ul ar ly high. (C le ar l y
Bosumtwi was no e xc e p t ion , b u t th i s i s t he f i r s t ev idenc e f o r suc h a
s t a t e o f .a f.fa, irs f r o u an a r e a s i t u a t e d e n t i r e l y w i t h i n t h e p r e s e n t
f o r e s t zone of West Afr ica .
.
-
Unf or tunate ly have no t ye t bee n a b le to ob t a in da te a b l e m a te r i a l
f rom the . t op of . the l a m ina ted s i l t s , so the d u r a t io n of the pe r iod o f
overflow
i s
unknown, However, th e l ak e was c l e a r l y much low er arou nd
2000 B.P than i t had been
a t
the b eginning of th e Holocene, a l thoug h
s t i l l c o n si d er a bl y ab ov e p r e s e n t l e v e l . A gain
t i s
worth no t ing th a t
some oth er Afr ican lakes were s i gn i f ic an t l y h igher than present c .2000 B P
Work on th e sedime nts c on ti nu es . Recen tly more wood has Veen found
and John Hall, Mike Swaine (Loth
of
th e Botany Dept. U niv ers i ty of
Ghana) and myself, have made a l a ~ g c o l l e c t i o n of l e a f i mp re ss io ns f ro m
the s i l t s , so we shou ld soon have soine in s i gh t in to the s o r t o f
v e g e t a t i o n t h a t c l o t h e d t he l a k e s h or e s i n th e E a r l y H o l o c e ~ e .
The
search f o r ev idence of pr e -h is to r i c occupa t ion a round the lake has so
f ar .. pr ov ed d i s a p p o i n t i c g l y u n f r u i t f u l . To da t e the f i nd s amouht to a
s i n g l e pol ishe d axZ-he;?a;---
Mike Talbot
. .
.
~e pa r t me nt f Geology
University of Ghana.
Dan Livi ngs tone
of
t he Depar tm en t of ~ o o l o g ~Duke University
,
Durham,
Nor th Carol ipa
w l l
a l s o be working a t Lake Bosumtwi. A t e a m c ons i s t ing
of hi mse lf , John Melack, Sa ll y MacIntyre,
2nd
Pa t
Palmer of Louis burg
College
w l l
le av e fo r Ghana i n May. Melack and Liv ing sto ne
w l l
c or e
Lake Bosumtwi nea r Kumasi, us in g 260m of Mg-Zr ro d and a Winkie diamond
d r i l l i n g machine t o sp in the cas ing . They hope t o d isco ver when the
fores t - savannah boundary has passed by t he l ake dur ing th e pa s t n
X
104
ye ar s. Palmer and MacIntyre
w i l l
c o l l e c t s u r f a c e s ed i me nt s am pl es t o
p r ovide a ba s i s f o r i n t e r p r e t in g the Bosumtwi po l l e n and g r a s s s tom a te
s t r a t i g r a p h y
.
A ft er co ri ng Bosurntwi Melack and L ivi ng s ton e w T Z - c o l e c t - - s u r f a c d
sedi ment i n the fo re st ed p ar ts of Cameroun and Gabon, whi le Palmer and
MacUtyre c o l l ec t and me-asure lake mixing ra te s i n the l ake s
of
Kenya.
2
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Boyasi
H i l l A
Kintampo Neo l i th ic Vi l lage S i t e i n the F or es t of Ghana.
In the autumn of 1969, as
D r
Len Newton, a Senio r Lectu rer i n
Botany a t Kumasi Uni ve rs ity of Science and Technology, took of f from
Kumasi Ai rp or t i n a Ghana Airways Pl ane bound f o r Accr a, he saw a
number of fa n palms of Bor assus Ethiopum sp ec ie growing on a n is ol a te d
h i l l c los e to the Ai rpor t . S t ruck by the odd i ty of the presence i n the
Kumasi f o r e s t of the Bor assus palm which i s normal ly found only i n th e
Savanna re gio ns of Northern Ghana o r the Accra pl ai ns , Newton re tu rn ed
l a t e r t o e xp lo re t h e a r e a .
n
h ack in g h i s way t o t h e s i t e of Boy as i h i l l l o ca t ed o n
a
g r a n i t e
in se lb er g (I0 34'W 6 44'N), nea r Kenyasi town, about e i gh t kil ome tre s
no rt he as t of Kumasi, he found t o hi s amazement t h a t he was i n th e midst
of savanna ve ge ta ti on which covered the whole of the h i l l top and was
consp icuous ly d i f f e r en t from the su r round ing fo re s t . Moreover, ap ar t
from th e Borassus palm, th er e was evidenc e of ground orc hi ds and th e
standa rd winged ni gh t j a r which a re normally domiciled i n Savannaland.
An examinat ion of the s i t e on var ious v i s i t s revealed heaps of rock,
some of which seemed to form hu t pa tt er ns , a s well a s numerous po t-
s h e rd s , m i c ro l i t h s , p o li s hed s t o ne ax es , a t e r r a co t t a ani ma l f i g u r i n e
a n d t e r r a c o t t a
'
t a b l e t s ' , l a t e r i d e n t i f i e d a s be lo ng in g t o
th
Kintampo
Cul tur e' . Newton concluded th a t the ex i s t .nce of a Savanna o u t l i e r
w i t h i n t he fo r e s t s ug g est s t h a t s uch o u t l i e r s a r e r e l i c s o f a t ime
when the whole a re a was much dr ie r , and th a t s in ce Kintampo cu lt ur e
people seemed t o pre fe r open savanna, it would suggest that the
h i l l has had a savanna vege ta t ion fo r a very long t h e . (Newton and
Woodcll, Sankofa, 1976)
These dis cov eri es were brought t o the n ot ic e of D r Merrick
Posnansky, P ro fe ss or and Head of th e Archaeolog y Departme nt, Legon,
who ca rr ie d out a reconnai ssanc e of the s i t e , and recommended th a t
it
be excavated.
Excavating Boyasi
H i l l
In Apr i l 1976, a t e s t excavat ion was conducted under the d i r ec t i on
of the aut ho r by a combined res ea rc h team of th e Uni ve rs it ie s of Legon
Kumasi co mp ri sing Len Newton, T.K. Simpson (Surveyo r of Departm ent of
Geode tic En gi ne er in g) ,, bo th of U.S.T. and from Legon, two under-
g radua tes , two f i e ld t ec hn ic ia ns , and the au thor .
In a l l f i v e p i t s were ex cava t ed n ear t h e h i l l t op :-
Mound
A
a quadrant of a mound with diameter 8.00m;
Trench B northeast of Mound A
Trench
C
near the c en t r e of a c i rc u l a r heap of s tones which
appeared to be the base of a la rg e hut ;
P i t R102 j u s t so ut h of Mound
A ;
P i t
V9
s tone too l workshop s i t e ad jace n t to a
g r an i t e bou lder having g r ind ing g rooves i n i t
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S t r a ti g r a ph y i n a l l th e p i t s , t h e r e were two d i s t i n c t l a ye r s
Layer Upper bla ck humus la ye r , from ground l e v e l down t o
0.10 0.20m
Layer
2
Lower brown lay er , the main occ upa tion la ye r ,
varying between 0.40 1.20m.
Both lay ers conta ined Kin tampo cu l t ur a l mate r ia l po t t ery , po ls iehd
s t o n e a x e s , s t o ne be a ds , gro ove d s t on e s , t e r r a c o t t a o r s t o n e t a b l e t s .
C u l tu ra l Mate r i a l
Pot te ry The pot t ery has the usual Kin tampo cu l t ur e t r a i t s
a l r e a d y known from Nte re so , Chukoto, Mumute and Kumasi U.S.T.
s i t e , nam ely, heavy ro l l ed
r i m s
bands of comb stamp de co ra ti on
somet imes separa ted by channel led o r inc i sed l in es ; inc i sed
r e c t i l i n e a r o r c r os s -h a tc h ed p a t t e r n s ; o c c a s io n a l r e d s l i p p i n g ;
and lugged handles . The ba si c pot forms a r e the lar ge hemis-
pher i ca l po t s w i th eve r t ed
rim
and th e co nic al bowls , both of
which ar e common i n 'n eo l i th ic ' cont exts i n the Sahara, Sudan
and o the r Kintampo si t e s i n Ghana.
Ter ra C o t t a o r S tone ' Tab l e t s ' A num5er of ' tablets ' which
a r e a re gul ar fe at ur e of Kj.;?tzmpo cu l t ur e s i t e s were found,
They a re decora ted wi th cross -hatched inci sed p at t ern s , and
shaped l i k e f l a t t e re d c i , ; a r s , hence t he i r o r i g ina l name
t e r r a c o t t a c i g a r s ' .
They
a r c t l lought by some t o have ser ved
as r a s ps , by o the r s a s t oo l s fo r po t t e ry t echno logy . t
Boyas i, the c lo se re l a t io ns hi p between the pot te ry and the
t a b l e t s i s fu r t he r cnphas ized by the f a c t t ha t a number of
pots her ds hcve ex;:-tly the same cro ss-h atch ed orn. \menta tion
and f a b r i c a s t he t a j l e t s .
S to ne A r t i f a c t s Ore ? a r s e e l e g a n t b i c o n i c a l l y p e r f or a t e d
st on e beads was foucd es wel l
as
one sto ne bead, rough-
cu t sugges t i ng t ha t beads were m anufactured a t t he s i t e .
A nurber of cornpletc pal ish cd s to ne axes and pol i shed axe
roughouts were a l s ~ound. Quart z m ic r o l i t h s f ea tu red
p rom inen tl y i n t he s t one t o o l k i t and i n P i t R102, t hey were
heav i l y concen t ra t ed i n t ke l owes t depLn , i t s about 0.80m down.
la rg e f ragment of what appears t o be a s tone vess e l found
i n Mound was among the cu tst an din g di sc ov er ie s, and
i t
makes one wonder whether Boyasi may t u r n ou t t o be a
' s tone
bowl va r i an t ' o f th e Kin 2mpo ne ol i t h i c cu l tu re ?
Even more unique
to Boyas i w ce t e n l a r g e b i f a c i a l l y p o l is h ed
st on e arrowheads of a typ e no t y e t ound i n any Kintampo
c u l t u r e s i t e i n Ghana. T h ei r d i s t r i b u t i o n seems s i g n i f i c a n t .
A l l the examples found came from P i t
V93
t h e s t o n e t o o l
'w ork shop s i t e ' a d j a c e n t t o a l a r g e b o u ld e r of g r a n i t e w i t h
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gr ind ing g rooves i n
i t A
su bs ta nt ia l number of rock exposure s
on Boyasi
H i l l
have grooves, so
t
i s
p o ss i bl e t h a t t h e h i l l
community may have sp ec ia l i se d i n ne ol i t h i c s to ne in du st r i es
compris ing beads , ag ri cu l t ur al and wood-working to ol s , hunt ing
equipment, and perhaps st on e bowls. number of gr in di ng st on es
suggest p r e p r a t i o n of food. But no evidence of domest ica ted
p l an t s and ani mal s were fou nd i n t h i s r a t h e r l i m i t ed t e s t
excava t ion . But o ther Kin tampo cu l t u r e s i t e s l i k e Mumute i n
nort hwe st Brong, and Kintampo, the ty pe s i t e , have produced
conclus ive ev idence of c a t t l e domes t i ca t ion bu t the ev idence
of remains of husks of o i l palm, c e l t i s f r u i t , and cow peas
found a t Kintanlpo i s no t so conc lus ive on a ra b le fa rming .
A t
Boyasi , the Borassus palm and the o i l palm
s t i l l
grow wild
today.
It i s
hoped th a t f rom fu tu re excava t ions
t
may be
pos sib le t o say something more de f i n i te a bout t he economy of
what appear t o be the e a r l i e s t fa rmers of the Ashan t i Fores t l a nds .
A rch i t ec t u r e A l l the p i t s excavated produced evidence of daub,
some wit h impressions of poles on them, sug ges tin g th a t wa tt le
and daub hu t s were in use a t Boyas i. I s there any s ign i f i c anc e
i n having daub conc ent rat ion s i n many pla ces below th e summit,
es pe c i a l ly around rock exposures and g radua l s lopes ,whi l e a t
the summit the re ar e ru i ns of s tone-based s t ru ct ur es ? Were
th e summit s tr uc tu re s f ~ r ch ie f l y person or were they
defens ive s t rongho lds o r jus t ca t t l e - k r aa l s? One wonders .
Sculpture Boyasi H i l l has fu rn i shed ev idence o f a t e r r a
co t t a f ig ur i ne o f what appears t o be a dog (Newton and Woodell,
1976). The cla y ma ter ial and the ex te nt of weathering of the
f i g u r i n e a r e s i mi l a r t o t ho s e of t h e p o t t e ry fou nd i n t h e
ex cav a t i o n .
I f
more f igu rin es ar e found a t Boyasi ,
i t w l l
fu r t he r s t ren g the n the ev idence found a t Ntereso by
D r 0
Davie s, and a t Mumute by
D r J
Dombrowski which pr ovi de h i n t s
that the Kintampo culture people were not only makers of
Ghana s e a r l i e s t known te r r ac o t t a animal
f i gu r in e a r t b ut a l s o
pas t o r a l i s t s who domes t ica ted c a t t l e , sheep, and the dog
r e pr e se n te d i n t he f i g u r i n e a r t .
Dating
The Kintampo culture
has
been dated t o the e ar ly and mid-
2nd millennium B C a t Kintampo, Nteres o, and Mumute. But th e
carbon 14 dat in g of the Kumasi U S T s i t e by Nunoo
i s
l a t e r a n d
s o Boyasi H i l l i s expected to f a l l somewhere between Ntereso and
Kumasi
U S T
Meanwhile, we ,?re keeping our f in ge rs c ro ss ed .
REFERENCE
NBWTON,
L E
and
S R J
Woodell
1976 newly -discovered s i t e f o r the Kintampo ne ol i t h i c
cu l t ur al t r a di t i on near Kuraasi. Sankofa, Vol . 2
forthcoming
J
Anquandah
Legon
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COASTAL GHANA:
ARCHAEOLOGY
AND GEOLOGY
The ex is te nc e of a var ie d Upper Quaterna ry sequence i n th e Accra-Tema
are a of s out hern Ghana has been known fo r some t ime, thanks p ar t ic u la r ly
t o the work of ~ r k k n e r 1955) and Dav ie s 1964) .
Over the past two years
we have ca r r ie d out a d e t a i le d re -examinat ion of the a r ea wi th the v iew
t o: a ) e s t a b l i s h i n g a f or cl al l i c h o s t r a t i g r a p h i c s u c c es s i o n ; b ) o b t a i n i n g
m a t e ri a l s u i t a b l e f o r a b s o l ut e d a t i n g ; c ) e l u c i d a t i n g t h e c u l t u r a l
sequence; : d) a t temp ting palaeoer ivironmental rec on st ru cti on s . We have now
exam ined e u f f i c i e n t s e c t i ons t o c om plete ob je c t i ve s a ) and
d ) . A
c e r t a i n
amount o f d r t nb l c m a te r i a l has bee n c o l l e c t e d , bu t a l l c a rbona te a nd a l l
f rom the younger formations.
long h i s to r y of in t e ns e we a the ring th a t
has
completely destroyed organic remains makes it r a t he r un l ike ly th a t we
s h a l l e v e r be a b l e e n t i s f a c t o r i l y t o d a t e ne a r -s u r f a ce d e p o s i t s more t h a n
a few thousand years o l d . Ana lys is of the mate r ia l necessa ry t o a t temp t
c ) i s
s t i l l
i n p r ogr e s s .
The o l d e s t c u l t u r a l n a t e r i a l found i n s i t u i n s u f f i c i e n t q u a n t i t i e s
f o r c o n f i d en t i d e n t i f i c a t i o n i s S angoan and t h i s i n d u s t r y ha s b ee n
in ve st ig at ed i n major exca vat ion s a t Asokrochona and Tema West. The
Asokrochona exca vat ion has been br i e f l y re po rt ed i n Ny;~le Akuma bef or e
no.
3 ) .
t now seems c e r t a i n t h a t t h i s h i l l t o p s i t e was a f a c t o r y a r e a ,
the in ha bi t an ts ex pl o i t i ng qua r tz ve ins th a t cu t the Dahomeyan metamorphic
basement and pebbles , mainly of v e in qu ar tz and qu ar tz i t e , obta in cd f rom
a pebble hed th at r e s t s on the Dahomyan. prel im inary accoun t of
Asokrochona i s c u rr en t l y i n pr es s W.A.J.A.,). Tema West proved much l e s s
r i c h i n a r t i f a c t s and too l s tha n Asokr oc hona , b u t the e xc a va t ion was
n e v e rt h e l es s of c o ns i de r ab l e v al ue a s t h i s i s a s t r a t i f i e d s i t e w i th
t h a t i s b e li ev ed t o be
a
Middle Stone Age assemblage o cc urr in g above th e
Sangoan.
The environmental co ndi t io ns pr ev ail in g during the per iod of Sangoan
occupa t ion a r e not prec ise l y knqwn. The mat e r ia l occurs on a land sur fac e
th a t developed in a se mi .- ar id c l im a te , per ha ps r a the r s i m i l a r t o th a t
charac te r is ing the present nor thernmoa
t
margin of the savanna zone i e .
r a i n f a l l c . 400 500mm p. a . ) . Eowever the ge ner a l l y unrol led na ture of
t h e t o o l s a nd wa st e i n d i c a t e s s u r f a c e s t a b i l i t y t h a t p ro ba bl y r e q u i r e s
somewhat we tt er co ndi t io ns than those t h a t produced the un derlyi ng
su r f a c e a nd
i t s
a s s o c i a t e d d e p o s i t s .
Probably MSA m a te r ia l i s wi de ly d i s t r i b u t e d , b u t r a r e l y i n l a r g e
concen tra t ion s . Tool types a r e very few and inc luJ e mainly un i f ac ia l l y
worked choppers , d i sco id a l and ra di a l c ores , f l ak e sc r ape rs and abundant
m od if i ed p ie ce s . An in t r i gu in g p roblem c once r ning the l i t h i c m a te r i a l
i s t h e pr ov en an ce of a r a t h e r d i s t i n c t i v e p o s s i l i f e r o u s c h e r t of
probable Lower Te r t i a ry age . No outc rops of rocks of t h i s type a r e
known from Ghana o r adja cen t c ou nt ir es , s o i t i s p o s s i b l e t h a t t h e raw
m a te r i a l was ob ta ine d f rom Te r t i a r y ou tc r ops on the c on t in e n t a l sh e l f ,
exposed dur ing a per iod of lowered sea le ve l .
The MSA oc c ur s i n a r a th e r c om pa ct , m o t t l ed c l a ye y sa nd , o f t e n
r idd le d wi th r oo t l e t t r a c e s and lo c a l ly c appe d by a pa la e oso l .
~ r G c k n e r
1955) sugges ted t ha t t h i s de p os i t o r ig ina te d f r om the combined a c t i v i t i e s
3
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o f t e r m i t e s and sl op ewas h, b u t t h e re a r e s e r i o u s o b j ec t i o n s t o t h i s
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n and i t seem s more l i k e l y t h a t t h e s an d s a r e o f ae o l i an
o r i g i n .
A s i m i l a r o r i g i n h as b een s u g g es t ed f o r wha t a r e a l m os t
ce r t a i n l y form a ti o n s of s i m i l a r ag e o ccu r r i n g a l o n g
t he e a s t e r n c o a s t
of th e Gulf of Guinea Gi re ss e and Kouyoumontzakis, 197 4).
The sands extend below pr es en t se a le ve l and so probably accumulated
d u r i n g t h e l a s t p e r i o d of l owered s ea l ev e l , centred around 17000
B P
This
i s known to have been a per iod of e qu at r i a l a r i d i t y Wi l li ams,
1975) , thus enhancing the l ike l iho od o f ae o l ia n sand accumula t ion ,
The p o s t u l a te d a ge i s a l s o i n a cc or d w i t h t h e a d m i t te d l y r a t h e r
l i mi te d arc hae olog ica l evidence. Under more humid con di t ion s th e
sands were subse quent l y veg eta ted and reddened,
wh i l e a s o i l was
p ro du ced a t t h e s u r fac e .
Ov erl yin g the MSA-bearing sand s
i s a f u r th er sandy fo rmat ion of
undoubted ae ol ia n or ig in , dune remnants
s t i l l
b e in g r e c og n is a bl e a t
some p o i n ts a lo n g t h e c o a s t . P a r t i c u l a r l y i n t e r e s t i n g s e c t i o n s o c c ur
near Kpone, e a s t of Term, where t he dunes ar e l ar ge and we l l- pre ser ved .
A t th base occurs an ex tens ive she l l -midden wi th an ass oc i a te d smal l
s c a l e f l a k e i n d u s t r y , b u t no p o t t e r y .
A t
t h e t op e of t h e dune a r e s i t e s
wi t h much p o t t e ry , few l i t h i c f r agm en ts , f ew s h e l l s , b u t ab un d an t f i s h
bones.
A
change i n economy i s thus app arent ove r the in te rv al of dune
accumulat ion.
Dune growth proba bly comrnecced a s se a l e v e l was n ea ri ng
i t s
p r es e n t p o s i t i o n , i . e . c .
5000
B.P., but we a re no t y e t su re when i t
f i n a l l y c e a se d .
REFERENCES
BUCKNER, W D
DAVIES, 0
1964
The man tle rock of th e Gold Coa st. Geo l. Rclsch. 43:307-327
The Quaternary i n the Coast land of Guinea. Jackson,
Glasgow.
nd
G
Kouyoumontzakis
Ob s e rv a t io n s s u r l e Qu a t e rn a i r c co t i e r e t s ou s -m ari n d u
Congo e t des reg io ns l imi t rophe s : Aspects eu s ta t iq ue s
c t cl im at iq ue s. Bu ll . ASEQULL, 42-43: 45-61.
. ..
WILLIAMS, M A J
1 975 L a te P l e i s t o cen e t r o p i ca l a r i d i t y s yn ch ro no us i n b o th
hemi spher es. Na tur e, 253: 617-618.
Signe Nygaard
Department of
U n i v e r s i t y of
Mike Talbot
Department of
Uni.versity of
Archaeology
Ghana, Legon
Geology -
Ghana, Lcgon
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Reconnaissance
t r i p
t o Mole Game Res erv e
Mole Came Reserve i s large (approxirxi ' ie ly
2300
sq . mi l es ) park which
has no t been adequate ly exp lo red a rchaeo log ica l ly . I t i s s i t u a t e d n o r t h of
Larab .nga i n the Northern Region. The ve ge ta ti on of the Reserve i s mainly
open woodhnd wi th some are as of r i v e r i m fo re s t . Th is means th a t , du r ing
t h e d r y s ea s o n a i t e r t h e g r a s s h a s b ee n burned, s i t e s a r e f a i r l y e as y t o
lo c a te . Many house mounds a r e pr e se nt , some liiarked by st an ds of Anogeissus
(Sabey, 1974).
Mole s loca t ed i n an a r ea of Conja dominat ion , the Gonja t r ad i t io ns
o v e r l i e p re -e x i s t i n g cu l t u ra l g rou p s, t r a ce s o f whi ch can be fou nd i n t h e
a r ch i t e c t u re and p o t t e r y of t h e a r ea . T hi s r eg i o n was , a cco rd i n g t o
t r a d i t i o n , h ard h i t by t h e s l av e r a i d s of t h c As h an t i and d i v i s i o n a l
wars among the Gonja 's i n the 1870 9, which caused severe depopulat ion.
When t h c pa rk was established some vi l l a g e s were abandoned and
sometin~cs c a q s of th e same name were es ta bl is he d nearby. These
abandoned v i l l a g e s o f f e r a g r e a t d e a l t o the e thno earch aeo lo g is t . The
w a l l s a r e
s t i l l
s t a n d in g i n many c a s e s , t h e i n h a b i t a n t s c a n s t i l l be
found (some a r e employed i n the park, some come back t o the v i l l a g e s
occas iona l l y t o harv es t rdngoes o r akee applc :)
.
These v i l l a g e s e x h i b i t
a m i x tu re of b u i l d i n g s t y l c s a s t h e par < s ee r' s t o b e i n a t r an s i t i o n a l
zone between the round houses and compounds
t o
t h e n o r t h e a s t , t h e s q u a r e
f l a t roofed houses to the nor thwss t , and the square
o r
r e c t a n g u l a r
houses wi th gab led roofs to the sou th . Sornc show ie at ur es s in i i la r t o
th e Ta l Le ns i and I<onlcolltbav i l l a g e s s o ~ m o Con j a v i l l a g e s ( P r u s s i n ,
1968) . There a r e usu a l ly niidden he lps a t tach ed to thc v i l l ag es , and
o f t en o l d e r s i t e s a r e l o ca t ed ne3rb y. Near Gu m ~ e le B un gwel i) f o r
examp le i s a f a i r l y l a rg e cev e , t o day l n h ab i t cd by b a t s , w i t h a s u r f ace
s c a t t e r of p o t ec ry , and all o ra l t r a d i t i o n of h av i n g b ccn u sed i n t i r e s
o f r a i d s .
Konkori, a sinal l camp nca r the Konlcori sc a r ? , l i e s on th e ol d Wa-
Tamale pa th across nor thern Ghaza. The path i s marked by a s ur fa ce
s c a t t e r of s h e r d s . Ascending the scarp , one encounters permanent springs ,
whi ch a t t r a c t an i, .i a ls d u r in g t h e d ry s ca s o n ( caves a r e a l s o t o bc fou nd
i n t h e s c a r p ) . n t op o i hc s ca rp a rc , ,iany s u r fac e s ca t t e r s o p o t t e r y ,
se ve ra l r ,~ounds, and arrangments of l a t e x i t e and sands tone roc ks , obviou sly
Inan madc
Near the headquar te rs csmp, ju s t to the so u th of the sc ar p on which
t h e n o re l i s l o ca t ed i s a s i t e wi th Kintarnpo I ndus t r y
affinities.
This
Kintarnpo s i t e y i c l d ed , on t h e s u r face , r a s p s ' o r ' c i g a r s ' , g ro un d s t o n e
ax es , a b r ac e l e t f r ag ce n t , wca t hc red p o t t e ry , some co n t a i n i n g d ec o ra t i o n s
s i n i i l a r t o t h o sc
fro^.,
oth er Kintampo s i t e s (Dor~browski ,n.2
. ,
daga,
g rooved s ton es , g r ind ing s t one s , and conce n t ra t i ons of s ton e . One o f
t h es e co n cen t r a t i o n s had been used s i n c e t h e l a s t r a i n y s ea s o n s i n c e
i t
s t i l l c on ta in e d a s he s . O th er f i nd s i n d i c a t e r e c e n t u se of t h e s i t e a l s o
( p o t t e r y , a b rok en b ee r b o t t l e , s h o e l e a t h e r ) . To t h e s o u t h o f t h e
Kintampo s i t e i s a c i r cu la r depre ss ion th a t may be the re il ia ins of a
r ec en t d we l l i n g ( a l t h o u g h
1ii0St
form nounds r a t hc rn than depr ess ions ) .
The Kintampo Ind ustr y ma te ri al i s conccntratcc cn a la rg e low mound s o w
170 meters by 50 wirers , a l though
th
s i t e nay e xt en d f u r t h e r .
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REFERENCES
Dor:irowski, J.
N D
Mumutc and Bonoose Two s i t e s of th e Kintampo In du st ry
Forthcoming i n Sank ofa, Vol 2
P r u s s i n , L
1968 Arch i tec tu re in Nor thern Ghana . Unive rs i ty o f Ca l i f .
P r c s s .
Sobey, D G
1974
Anogeissus grove s i n abandoned vi l l a ge s i te s , ' pp 51-75
i n Aberdeen U nivers i ty
hana
Exped i t ions t o Mole Nat iona l
Park Repor t , Exped i t ion I July-August 1974.
Ghana N at io na l Pluseul.~s and Momments Board
Fieldwork Archaeology
One of the i~lost ewir kable ieldworlc pr oj ec ts t h a t has been
done i s the reconnaissance and su rvey ing of o ld se t t l en en ts i n the
Krobo mountains i n the Eastcrn Rcgion of Ghana.
Sone of the iilos t i n t c r c s i n g f c a t u e s of t h i s d e s e r t e d s e tt l e m e n t
i n c l u de d ry - s t on e wa l l s ; s o ne a s h i g h a s 2 5 n e t r c s a l l c a r e f u l ly
worlced i n t o oblong forms; bcar;ls used f o r roor'ing; se ve ra l hcaps of
mounds which indicate
collapsed
houses.
The whole s i t e
i s
now over-
grown wi t h t a l l t r ee s . In t e re s t i n g l y eno ug h n o s t of t h e s e s t o n e -
houses were b u i l t on roclcs which for:.: p a r t of the colmon fe a t ur e of
the mountain?
Fur
which i s
l i f e of
t h e r work on t h e s e , w i t h t h e s u p p o r t of o r a l t r ad i t i o n ,
being undertskcn w i l l provide a nore luc i d p ic t u r e of the
thc conm~uniryon the xountain .
Dentebuor,i .
Ano th er f i cl dwor lc p ro j ec t was ~ l n d c r t ak en t a ro ck s h e l t e r c a l l e d
Dentebuo~na t Agogo sone 60 k l ~s ou th cas t o f KumSi. Th is roc lcshe l tc r
i s b e l i ev ed
t o have been inha bi t ed
by
S O I L I ~
people and up t o da te many
p eo pl e v i s i t t h i s roclc s h e l t e r t a s e e i t s ~.:agnificencc.
I t
towers
about 5d metres high and so;;le 2 inetres long.
Soi~eo t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g
th ings found a t ch i s roclc s he l t e r inc lude p i t t e d roclcs which
were Be lie ved t o have been used a s Oware games.
In t h e v e ry n ear f u t u r e when work i s co n p l c t cd on t h i s s i t e i t
w i l l be declared a inonurnent.
Other Research Prograrmes
Arc l m eo l o g ~ ca l survey work ond napping
o f
s i t e s i s soon t o s t a r t
i n th e Vol t a Region of Ghana.
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Mr
f
fah-Gy arJi, As si st an t Kccper Archaeology) wi th the Museum, hgs
res igned h is pos t and i s now wi th t l ~ cDepartment of Archaeology, University
of Ghana, Lcgon as As si st an t Lec ture r .
E x h i b i t o n
One of the cxh ib it io ns nountcd by the Museur,~ n r ec en t nonths has been
one on f une r a r y t e r r a c o t t a s .
I t
i s a d iora i- la cxhi b l t i on and
i t
g ivc s
a
s i n g u l a r o pp o rt u ni t y f o r v i s i t o r s t o scc s uc h o b j e c t s i n t h e i r n a t u r a l
cnvironr.lcnt.
D r
I . N . Debrah
Ghana Museuia, Accra.
Pre l iminary rep or t on the a rchaeolog ica l excava t ion of ~ o g u g r 4 oupwil
and ~ o ~ u 6 r 6a l i a in the Bani-Niger reg ion
Mali),
This r e se a r c h was made ~ o s s i b l c y a g r a n t to P r o f . D r . J Huizinga
Dir ec to r of the I ns t i t u t e of Human Biology, S t a t e Unive rs i ty a t
Utr ech t , the Nether lands) f rom the National Geographic Soc iet y
Washington).
From October 11 th t o December 15 th 1975, a team from the I n s t i t u t e
of Human Biology, S ta te Univers i ty a t Utrecht th e Nether lands) ,
composed of Prof. D J D van de r Waals archae ology , D r R M A
Bedaux archaeology),
D r L
Hacquebord ph ys ic al geography), Mr G.
Lange bo ta ny ), and
Mr.
G Jansen photography) excavated two s i t e s
i n the Bani-Niger region .
A s
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of t h e I n s t i t u t de s
Sc ie nc es Humaines Bamako), M r .
K
Sanogo joined the team.
Previoua work , f r on 1964 onwards , on the ge ne t i c and cu l t ur a l
r c l a t io ns hi ps be tween re ce nt human group s Dogon, Kurumba, Pe ul )
l i v in g in th e sc ni -a r i d zone sou th of t he Niger bend on one hand,
and an ex t i nc t popula t ion Te llem) of which cu l t ur a l and sk e l e t a l
remains ar e found i n nlany caves i n the h igh c l i f f of Bandiagara on
the o the r hand, ind ic a te d t ha t :
1 , none of the groups s tu died a r e t o be c ons ide r e d a s
b ei n g c l o s e l y r e l a t e d t o t h e teller^^;
2
poss ib le r e l a t i ons h ip s t o the now e x t i nc t Tel le m
may well be found i n groups who li ve d i n the Bani-
Niger region.
Archaeological and human bi ol og ic al inform ation on the Bani-Niger
r e g ion , o f c r u c ia l im portance t o the s tudy of e a r ly m ig r a t ions i n
w e st e rn A f r ic a , i s l a c k i n g .
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P r e v ious work on po t t e r y ind ic a te d poss ib le c u l tu r a l c on ta c t s
between t h i s region and the Te l lem are a i n the XI th - XI I th c e n tu r y .
The abundance of s i t e s and the po ss ib i l i t y t o co l l ec t human
s k e l e t a l m a t e r ia l f o r t h e s t ud y of g e n e t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p s ( i f a n y ) ,
o f f er e d f u r t h e r p o s s i b i l i t i e s f o r re s ea r ch .
A ft er a s urv ey i n November and December 1974 of th e r iv er ba nk s of
th e Niger from Mopti t o Kouakourou and t ho se o t h e Ba ni f ro m ~ i e n n ;
t o Mopti ,
two s i t e s (out of some 40) were se l ec t ed f o r a rch aeol ogi ca l
excava t ion .
1. ~ o ~ u e r ;oupwil ( ~Gv ar; I )
Si tua ted some 1Okn e a s t of Mopti i n the f lo od pl ain of th e Bani-
Niger conf luence , t h i s i s t h e l a r g e s t of a s e r i e s of 5 mounds near
~ 6 v a r 6 .
The mound i s r ough ly ova l in pl a n . The o r i e n t a t i on of t he long
a x i s
+_
00m)
i s
nor th - e a s t . The sh or t a x i s
i s
_
250n long.
A t
l e a s t
two summits ar e di sc er na bl e (3.34m and 4.08m above surro und ing p la in
l e v e l ) .
Four sections (A, B C D) re s p e c t i v e l y of 4m, 3.50m, 8m and 2m
i n length , were c leaned. Sec t ion s and were chosen as c lo se t o
the sunm i t s a s poss ib le , S e c t ion
D
i n the s addl e between the two
sum mi ts . The v i r g in sub so i l i n se c t ion s A B and
C
appeared approximately
a t t he l e ve l of the su r rounding p la i n . I n S e c t ion
D
mainly composed
of hi l l was h dep ost s , the sub so il was found about 60cm under pl a i n le ve l .
This may be considered as an indi ca t ion t ha t the mount i n i t i a l l y
co ns is ted of two sm ll mounds wi th a permanent (o r semi-permanent)
wat erco urs e n be tween.
The i n i t i a l s e t t l e m e n t was b u i l t on n uc le us t e rp s ( a r t i f i c i a l
dwel l ing mounds) b u i l t on a na t ura l levee f rom a gul l y i n the f loo d-
pl ai n of th e Bani-Niger confluence.
One was c l e a r l y v i s i b l e i n s e c t i o n
C .
Remains of s tr uc tu re s (stumps of wal ls , f lo or s, potterypavements)
were v i s i b l e i n a l l s e c t i o n s , e xc ep t D. F in ds were c o l l e c t e d s t r a t i -
gra ph ica ll y, a s well as carbonised seed s, and faun al remains. Samples
fo r C-14 an a ly s is w i l l be s u b mi tt ed f o r a n a l y s i s i n t h e n e a r f u t u r e .
I n s e c t i o n C a coff in - j ar was found. In th i s ja r one hurmn
ske le ton was bu r i e d i n a f o rc e d c on t r a cte d pos i t ion . An i r on b r a c e l e t
and an kl e- ri ng were found a s grave- goods . Two C-14 da te s of samples
c o l l e c t e d d u r i ng t h e 1 974 s u rv ey a r e p e r t i n e n t t o t h i s b u r i a l :
GX
-
3767: 470 _ 100
B.P.
(charcoa l sample f rom se c t io n C a t a
h i g h er l e v e l t h an t h e b u r i a l )
GX
-
3767: 545
95
B P
(human
bone
sample from a nearby
c o f f i n - a r )
Thus, a 1 5th cent myd a te
m y
be assumed fo r th is bu r i a l . Other
s t r a t i f i e d f i n d s i nc lu d ed p o t t e r y , s p i n d le - w h o rl s , i r o n o b j e c t s , and
s c o r i a e
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The su rf ac e ma te r i a l was much more di v er s if ie d : ear thenware
s t a t u e , n e t - we i g ht s , c o w ri e s , b e ad s , c up re ou s o b j e c t s , a nd f l i n t
a r t i f a c t s . The p o s i t i o n of t he f l i n t - m a t e r i a l i s not c l ea r . They
e v e n t u a l l y d i f f e r e d fro m t h e f l i n t s used i n f l i n t - l o c k g un s. No
f l i n t was f ound i n s t r a t i g r a p h i c c o n te x t .
Togue'rG Gal i a
The o th er s i t e which has been excava ted was Toguere Gal ia near ~ a l ;
on the r i g h t bank of the River Bani , ca 12km e a s t of ~ i e n n e .
P a r t o f
the mound has been cu t off by the r i v er .
I n
i t s present shape the mound i s b e s t d e s c r i b e d a s b e i n g s e mi -
c i r c u l a r . I t s n o rt h -s o ut h l o ng a x i s (180m) i s p a r a l l e l t o th e r i v e r .
The remaining cas t -west ax is
i s
l m lo ng , The summit of t h e mound
i s
5.30m above t he Ban i le v e l of 17 th November 1975. A cont inuous
se ct io n i n the ce nt ra l p ar t of the mound of 70m i n le ng th and 4m
high has been s tu die d . The composi t ion of the sec t i on was d i f f e r e n t
from TogubrG Doupwil. On th e v i r g i n su bs oi l a core of ma te ri al
depo sited by the r i v e r and con tai nin g some she rds was observed. Thi s
may i nd ic a t e the presence of a nearby se t t le men t a t a pe r iod i n which
the r iver ba nks were s t i l l be ing bu i l t - u p by the r i ve r . On top was
fo un d a homogeneous l a y e r , d i f f i c u l t t o i n t e r p r e t a s no c l e a r s t r u c t u r e s
were v is ib l e . These depos i t s were covered by a cont inuous s t r a tu m of
a she s of va r i a b le th i c kn e ss .
I n thc uppe r pa s t o f the se c t ion , house s t r u c t u r e s were v i s ib l e ,
n t h c s e c t i o n 1 0 c o f f i n - j a r s wcre v i s i b l e . The s t a t e of p r e s e r v a t i o n
of the human bones was bad, a s most of th e j ar s were gr ad ua ll y f i l l e d
up w i t h f i n e s i l t p as s in g t hr ou gh f i s s u r e s i n t h e j a r o r i t s l i d .
S t r a t i g r a p h i c a l l y c o l l e c t e d f i n d s i n t he s e c t i o n i nc lu de d o ne
cupreous r i ng , i r on , baked br ick s and a bead . Also fauna l remains
a s wel l a s C-14 samples were c ol le c t ed .
The sur fa ce ma te r ia l of t h i s mound appcared t o be more d i v er s i f i ed
tha n the su rf ac e ma te ri al from Togu -6 Doupwil Numerous cupreous
ob j e c t s , be ads , smok ing p ipe s , f ra gme n ts o f s t a tu e s , r i t u a l po t t e r y ,
s t o n e b r a c e l e t s , s p i n d l e w h or l s, n e t w e ig h ts an d i r o n o b j e c t s
( inc lud ing a n a nima l f ig u r e ) , wcre c o l l e c t e d
stu dy was done on modern p ot te ry making tech niqu es i n the
vi l l ag e of Se ina near Togucrg Gal i a .
Our f i r s t i m p re s si o n is t h a t
t h e modern t e c h ni q u e s a r e q u i t e c l o s e l y r e l a t e d t o t h e p o t t e r y
technique s used by th e old i nh ab it an ts of both Togu r6 Gal ia and
~ o g u 6 r 6 oupwil
Most
of
the ma te r i a l co ll ec te d from Togu;r6 Doupwil and ~ o r ;
G a l i a
i s
de pos i t e d i n the I ns t i tu t e o f Human B iology , U t r e c h t f o r
f u r t h e r i n v e s t i g at i o n .
f u l l r e p o r t o f t h e e x c a v a t i o n, i n c l u d i n g s e c t i o n s o n r a d io c a rb o n
da t ing , t he human ske le t a l r e m ains , a nd the f l o r a l and f a una l r e ma ins
w i l l be ready by the end of t h i s year .
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We w is h t o e xp r e s s ou r g r a t i t u d e t o t h e Ma li ne se a u t h o r i t i e s
c once rned f o r t he i r c oope r a t ion a nd t he i r i n t e r e s t i n ou r work.
A
g ra n t from th e Netherla nds Foundation f o r th e Advancement of
Tro pic al Research th e Hague) was accorded t o Pr of.
D r J .
Huizinga
t o con t inue r e se a r c h i n t h i s a r e a wi th the human b io l og i c a l s tudy o f
th
Bozo, the o lde s t i nha b i t a n t s of th i s r e g ion .
R A Bedaux
Archaeology a t the U niv ersi ty of Nig er ia , Nsukka.
This pas t year t he archaeology sec ti on of the Department of Hist ory
and Archaeology has grown considerably, and
I
hope we
w i l l
have a separa te
depar tm en t i n the ne a r f u tu r e .
This depends upon
a
number of factors,
i n c l u di n g a d eq u at e s t a f f i n g .
In August 1975,
D r
Fred Anozie joined t he st a f f and sin ce then,
i n a d d i ti o n t o lectures has been engaged i n as s i s t in g p lanning th e
r e c ons t r u c t ion o f the l a bor a to r y , wor king on the a na l ys i s of h i s
exc avat ion s i n th e De lta a re a, and i n March 1976, excav ated Umundu,
a r e c e n t i r o n sm e l t ing s i t e ne a r Nsukka. D r Anozie i s a l s o t h e
Secr etar y of the S te er i ng Committee , West Afr ican Archaeologi cal
Assoc ia t ion , and i s busy organ izing the meetings t o be held i n Enugu i n
December, 1976.
Mrs.
Aliyya Emeruwa join ed the de partm ent a s cu ra t o r i n June 1975 ,
and a t p r e se n t i s e ngaged i n r e o r ga n iz ing a nd c a ta logu ing the c o l l e c t io ns
of bot h t he la bo ra to ry and The Uni ve rsi ty Museum.
M r
Vincent Chikwendu re ce nt ly completed ex cava tio n i n th e Afikpo
ar ea ; th e Ugwuagu Rock S he lt er and th e Ugwuagu abandoned ha bi t at i o n s i t e .
The l a t t e r appears to be re la t i ve ly r ece nt , and the former nay be some-
what comparable t o t he Ezi-Ukwu Rock Sh e l t e r , Af ikp o, a L at er S to ne Age
s i t e , which we excava ted i n 1966. He has retu rn ed t o Birmingham,
England t o complete the re po r t on thcse excava t ion s , and should re t ur n
t o t h i s Un ive rsi t y by September 1976.
M r
Cy. Nzewunwa, a Ju n io r Fell ow,
i s
engaged i n pos t -gradua te
s tu di es a t Cambr idge , England. He expec ts t o conduc t f ie ldwo rk i n
Nige r ia t h i s ye a r and in two o r th r e e ye a r s , a f t e r c omplet ing h i s
s tu d ie s , should r e o in the de pa rtme n t.
For the past two years
I
have been le ct ur in g on both the Nsukka
and Calabar campuses and have had t ime t o do l i t t l e e l s e . However,
D r Anozie and I a r e now work ing on a re p o r t of the Ezi-Ukwu Ukpa Rock
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Sh el te r for which there ar e t en C-14 dat es ranging from ca. 2935 B C t o
A D 15. We hope t o salvage a good de al of the d at a, most of which was
las t
or des t royed dur ing
the r e c e n t c i v i l war. I n Ju ly 1976, sh a l l be
on a year s s tudy leave , and p lan t o be assoc i a ted wi th th e Afr ican
Stud ies tCentre , Univers i ty of Ca lif orn ia , Los Angeles, Cal ifo rni a .
Donald
D .
Har t le
Professor of Archaeology
The Inaug ural Confercnce of Wcst African Archaeolo gical A ss oci ati on
A t
a r ec en t meeting of some concerned ar ch ae ol og is ts , mainly from Ghana
and Nig eri a, which was held a t the Ahmadu Bello Univ ers ity , Za ri a, under
the
chairmanship of Pr of es so r Thurstan Shaw, a St ee ri ng Committee comprising
f i v e members was s e t up t o arrang e
a
conf eren ce of West Af ri ca n Archaeo-
l o g i s t s .
We hope th a t t h i s confe rence
w i l l
be hel d i n t he Enugu Campus
of th e Univers i ty of Nige r ia in Decenber 1976, and t ha t a t t h i s confe rence ,
a t r u l y rep res ent a t i ve Assoc ia t ion of Wcst Afr ican Archaeologis ts w i l l
be formally inaugurated and a c on s t i tu t ion a dopted . Such a n a s s oc i a t i on
w i l l i t i s
hoped, promote th e study of t he archaeol ogic al h is to ry of our
West Afr ican peoples a s well a s the study of archaeology i n West Afr ic a .
The Editorial Board of
the West Af ri ca n Jo ur na l of Archaeology h s
prov is io na l ly approved th a t the Journa l should e t h e o f f i c i a l o r g a n o f
thc proposed assoc ia t ion .
A s
S e c r e ta ry of th i s C or n i t t e e ,
rn
wr i t ing t o r e que s t t ha t you
f i r s t of
a l l
inform a1
1
a r c h a e ol o g i s t s , a n t h r o p o l o gi s t s , h i s t o r i a n s a n d
sc ho la r s i n r e l a t e d f i e l d s , and se c ond ly u rge them t o a t t e nd the p r oposed
conference.
The Conference i s l i ke ly t o be held dur ing the Christmas Vacation
and we hope t o house the pa r t i c ip ant s in ind iv idua l room i n the s tu den t
h o s t e l s . Arrangements cou ld , of co urs e, be madc t o accoriunodate any
of
the
pa r t ic ip an ts i n son= of t he good ho te ls in Enugu but such pa r t ic ip an ts
s ho ul d b e p re pa re d t o s e t t l e t h e i r b i l l s . E ve ry p a r t i c i p a n t i s normally
expected t o pay fo r hi s o r her meals which could
be
provided
b y
t he
Un ive rsi ty of Nig eri a Guest Houses.
should
be
ve r y g r a t e f u l i f you would l e t me have a
l i s t
of the
people who a r e l ik e l y t o a t t end f rom your Depar tment, so th a t could
s en d them a n o f f i c i a l i n v i t a t i o n .
D r .
F.N. Anozie,
Department of History and Archaeology,
Univers i ty of Niger ia ,
Nsukka
Niger ia
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SENEGAL
Olga
F.
Linares
w i l l
be i n the Casamance, Senegal th i s Fa l l ,
con t in u ing her work on the evo l u t io n o f wet - r ice ag r i cu l t u r e among the
Dio la peopl es. Although he r work i s mostly ethnographic , i t w i l l
i n c l u de t h e t e s t i n g of s e v e r a l h yp ot he se s r e l a t e d t o t h e a n t i q u i t y
of r i c e c u l t u r e i n t h i s p a r t o f A f r i c a where a n a n c i e n t c r a d l e of
0
g l ab s r r i m a ex i s t ed . S i n ce t h e D i ol a s t i l l c u l t i v a t e s e v e r a l r a c es
of
0.
g laberr imama, he i r p rese n t p ra c t ic es , and how these a re r e l a t ed
t o t h e i r s o c i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n , p o l i t i c a l s ys te ms and p o p ul a ti o n
d i s t r i b u t i o n s a r e r e l e v a n t t o an i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of a n c i e n t s ub s i s te n c e
s ys te ms i n t h i s a r e a .
SOUTH AFRICA
Un iv er si ty of Cape Town Department of Archaeolo gy
ro£ N
J .
van d e r Merwe
The equ ipment i ns ta l l a t io n in the Archacomet ry Labora to ry i s
neari ng complet ion: the systems w i l l be used t o ex t r ac t carbon f rom
i r o n f o r d a t i n g ( c o un t in g w i l l be done a t the C.S.I.R. i n Pr e t o r ia )
and c ar bo n fr om human bone t o f i n d 1 3 ~r op or ti on t o a s s e s s d i e t .
D r Be at ri ce Sandel owsky
Pre vio usl y of th e Namib De ser t Research S ta t io n now has joined
t h e s t a f f fo r 1 976 and i s co m pl et i ng t h e r e p o r t o n M i rab ib Sh e l t e r .
M r John Parkington
Complctcd the f i r s t phase of
a
palaeo-economic s tudy of hu nte r-
ga t her s i n the sou thwes tern Cape. Pr ec mt ly engaged in modell ing
v a r i o u s a s p e c t s of t h e p re h i s t o r i c s u b s i s t en ce s y s ems and m on i to r i ng
inodern env i ronmenta l va r i ab le s . Also engaged i n an a rchaeo lo g ica l
stu dy of Mgungundlovu, the ro ya l bar ra ck s of Dingane, su cc es so r of
Shanka, le ad er of the Zulu nat io n 1828-39.
Graduate Stu den ts from Elsewhere.
Pe te r Robertshaw (Ph.D. st ud en t from Cambridge)
i s
working on the
hu nt er s and he rd er s i n th e South-West Cape. Al ic e Hausnan (M.A. st u d e n t
from SUNY-Binghamton) i s working on Terminal and Post-Pleistocene human
sk el e t a l remains f rom co as ta l caves and middens .
The Department of Archaeology, Uni ve rs it y of Cape Town, i nv i te s
a p p l i c a t i o n s f o r t h e p o s t of S e n io r Le c t u r e r ( e q u i v a l e n t t o A s s o c i a te
P ro fe s s o r i n t h e Uni ted S t a t e s ) . Sa l a ry r ang e u p t o R11250. S t a r t i n g
d a t e a f t e r J a nu ar y 1 s t 1 9 7 7 Appl ic a t ions c l os e August 1 1976.
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Alexandersfon te in Basiq
Dur ing t h e sunimers of 1974 and
1 9 7 5 ,
Professor Karl Butzer (Chicago)
ca r r i ed o u t a r ch aeo l o g i ca l su rv eys and t e s t ex cav a ti o n s i n t h e A lex an de r s-
fonee in Basin , near Kimbcrley . Th i s i s the type a re a of the so -ca l l ed
Alex ander efonte in Va ria nt of the Middle Stone Age. The pr oj ec t enjoy cd
the co l l a t ro ra t ion o f D r . Rober t S tuckcnra th (Smi thson ian Ins t i tu t ion) , who
h as a l s o do ne ex t en s i v e C-14 da t i ng o f Holocene and l a t e P le i s to cen e sp r i ng
cy cl es of the nearby Gaap Escarpment, an3 of
M r
L ou is S c o t t ( U n i v e r s i t e i t
v an d i e O ran je V ry s t aa t ) who ha s ca r r i e d o u t ex t cn s i v e p o l l en i n v e s t i g a t i o n s
a t
Alexa nders fon te in , in thc Vaa l Val l ey (River ton Formation) , and a t Doarn-
la ag te (Acheul ian ) and 'Kiipf on tei n
7,.
S
A
r o c k a r t ) .
The p re l iminary resu l t s
oE
t ke P l .e : sand~rsfon te in Pr o je c t can be
summarized follows:
There
i s a
c lo se re l a t j. cn of s ucces s ive occupa t ions (Acheu l ian ,
N.S.A.
L.S.A,) throughout the Kimbexley ar ea wi th sp r i ng, lakes hore
an d r i v e rb an k l o ca t i o n s .
Ex cep t f o r v iaarry s i t e s and r a r e c av es , t h e i n t e rv en i n g u pl an d p l a i n s
show nex t t o no ev id3ncc o f . ? r t i fa c t s , suggest ing t ha t se t t l em ent was
always st ro ng ly ci rcum;cribcd wi t h r e spcq t su i t ab l e mi c ro - o r meso-
habi taf :s .
The
M
S.L. ma t. -r ia ~s co ll cc ie d cnc' ::,cavated i n th e Ale xan der sfo ntei n
Basin during 1974-,5
a r c
ch?ra;;crized
b y
a h ig h p ro p o r t i o n o f f l ak e s
and b l ad es t r i t h p ar a2 11 cl d o rca l sc 3 r s , w i t h o r w i t h o u t f a ce t e d b u t t s ;
o cca s i o n a l t r i an q u l a r p i cce s ; a i - i g h p ro ?o r ti o n o f t h i n b l ad es ; and
v er y l i t t l e r ei ou cl l. 'i'i:c:r
r i i f f e r
f
--c;n t11e
museum col lect ions
a t t r i b u t ed t o t h e "C l l e :r a~ ~ e r ,Lo~ i t c in a r i p l =t J t 3w h i ch r eg a rd l e s s
o f t he i r sc l e c t iv e bi7.s
h n v e
? t ib s ta n ti ? l ~ r o p o r t i o n f l a r g e r
t h i c k e r , and o ft er l r ct o * . w h ~d i e cc s t h a t a r e a l ~ s e n t rom the 1974-
75 assemblages.
i,r
2
c..-tf-,:i-
of
-on\---
i e cce t h e t w o co l l e c t i o n s
a r e h er e p r o v i s i m
- l l y
l a c l i c
v ? c i e s
".tit1 (1975 e xc av at io ns ) and
f a c i e s i3 s c c n
C C ' , ~ C C ~ ;
: c).
Facies
A
has not
Fsc;
t iat:
d
b jand reasonab le doub t , bu t
i s
l i nk e d w it h d r p c s l t - re1 atccl t c e:;par.rled la ke s , g r e a te r sp ri ng
a c t i v i t y , o r a c c l ? lc r a t $ X uvv la l precesses that are of mid-Upper
P l e i s t o c e n z ~ g c
A
pal.:cjJLjl dcve .oped d i r e c t l y upon t he se de po si ts
ca.
16,000-11.,000
C..? 7123
p r o v i k s a f i r m e m i n u s a n t e quem.
Fac i e s
B hod
n o t
y e t
hecn recog.?ized
~ i t u ,
ut probably
i s
s ub s t a n t i a l l y o l d e r t h i i ; Tac i e s
A
Fac i e s
A
and B appea:
t o
rec ord th e onl y M.S.A. occ upa tion s of th e
Kimberley reg icn . ?hy a r c t% up or a l ly epara ted f rom the youngest,
lo ca l Acheulian ("Fauresmi 'ih" a t Rooidarn 157,000 B.P.) b y a s e t t l e -
ment h i a t u s of a t l e a s t
0,090
y e a r s and f ro m t h e e a r l i e s t , d a t e d
l o c a l L;S.A.
( c a .
4500 B.P.) by a s much a s 20 mil le nni a o r more.
Fac i e s
A
ext end s i n t o th e Vaal (Ri ver ton) and Upper Orange (Zeekoegat
2 7 ) v a l l e y s ,
5 u t i s ebscnt a t Flor i s bad and Vlakkraa l , de sp i t e use of
identical rat .7
ma
t e r i z i t h e r e . T hc rc
i s
n c ' i n g t e c h n o l o g i c a l l y s i m i l a r
i n t h e g e ne r al
t i m e
range cmong th e cave s i t e s on th e humid, submontane
ma rg in s of t h c Mig1-1 l'elc '.
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7
8
The
Fac i e s marks a r e l a t i v e l y b r i e f o ccu p a t io n o f t h e s emi -ar i d
i n t e r i o r , a t a t im e o f c o o l e r and m oi s te r c l i m a t e ( a t l e a s t d ou bl e
t h e p r e se n t r a i n f a l l o f 400mi .
Even so,
t
may re pr es en t an
adap ta t i on t o a d r i e r macro-env ironment th a t was g e n e r a l l y e x p l o i t e d
by M.S.A. groups. The se tt le me nt pa tt er n was hig hly dis con tin uou s,
wi th sp r i ngs , l akeshores and permanen t st reams fo rming the l o c i
o f seasona l occupat ion , wi th a p e ri p he r y of t r a n s i t o r y s e t t l e m e n t
th a t g raded ou twards i n t o
a
v as t , s p o rad i ca l l y -u t i l i z ed eco n o mi c
a r e a .
In v iew of t h e s t r i k i n g s p a t i a l and t empo ra l d i s j u n c t i o n s , t h e
impress ion ob ta in s th a t M.S.A. groups of the South Af ri ca n
in te r i o r were few i n number, whatever th e i r s i ze . An in te ra c t io n
model t ha t includes environmentai s p a t ia l and demographic
components i s being developed.
f o ll o wi n g a r t i c l e a r r i v e d t o o l a t e f o r i n c l u s i o n i n t he p r e v io u s
i s s u e of Nyame kkuma.
Research on the pr oj ec t Late Quaternary environment and cu l t ur e
change
i n the Southern Cape
i s
con t inu ing wi th th e c ur r en t main focus
on ex ca vti on s a t Boomylaas Cave i n th e Cango Va lle y, Oudtshoorn
Di s t r i c t , The m t r e s of dep os i t i n the cave cover the whole Upper
Plei s toc ene and Holocene t ime perio d, a con clus ion supported by the
n i n e r ad i oca rb o n d e t e rn i n a t i o n s cu r r en t l y av a i l a b l e . The ex cav a t i o n
st ra te gy has involved the horiz on tal s t r ip pi ng of the uppermost 90cm
of l a te Holocclne d epo si t s over an ar ea of 100 sq . metres and c ur re nt
plans ar e t o excavate a reduced are a of 20 sq . metres through the
e a r l i e r Holocene and Uppei P1eistocene dep osi ts t o bedrock over the
next th ree year s . This . should provide adequate Upper Pl eis toc en e
c u l t u r a l , f a u n al and o t h e r sa mples f o r i n i t i a l i n t e r p r e t a t i o n .
Because
of
the genera l pauc i ty of good da t a i n th i s Upper P le i s toce ne
time range i n the Souther n Cape, Boomplas w i l l prov ide a unique s e t
of observa
t
ions .
The excavat ion re su l t s thus f a r show the use of the cave as a s toc k
kr aa l about 1700 yea rs ago by herder s wi th sheep and probably c a t t l e .
His to r i ca l ly the a re a was inhab i t ed by Hot ten to t s and anccs t r a l Hot te n to t
herders a r e presumed t o be ev idenced in the de pos i t s . Ci r cu la r s tone
h ea r t h f ea t u re s and p o t t e ry a re a s s o c i a t ed w i t h t h e h e rd e r o ccu p at i o n an d
t prov ides an i n t e r es t i ng compar ison wi th the immediately p r i o r use o f
the cave some 2000 ye ar s ago by groups who were es s e n t i a l l y h unt er -
ga th ere rs bu t had some access to s tock .
The l a t t e r o ccu p a t io n h o ri zo n
d emon s tr a te s t h e h a rv es ti n g of o i l r i ch Papp ea cap ens i s f r u i t s , an
ac t i v i t y which was n eces s a r i l y v e ry r e s t r i c t ed s ea s o n a l l y .
The sub sis ten ce ecology of the Holocene populat ion s i n the
Southern Cape i s r e l a t i v e l y wel l known and the emphasis on monocotyledenous
g eo ph yt es p r ecl ud ed t h e n eed fo r foo d s t o r ag e , y e t f a i r l y . e l a b o ra t e g r a s s
and Boophane l ine d p i t s were made fo r the s to rage of the o i l r i c h f r u i t s
i n t h e l a t e r H olo cene .
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The e a r l i e r d e p o s i t s have s t i l l t o be s t ud i e d i n d e t a i l . T he re a r e ,
however, changes i n the macro- and micro-mammalian fa un as, i n the se dime nts
and
i n t he s t o n e a r t i f a c t i n d u s t r i e s which r e f l e c t c ha ng in g a d a p t a t i o n s t o
the env i r~ nme nts f the l a t e Upper Pleistocene and Holocene.
A major
i n d u s t r i a l d i s c o n t i n u i t y i s e v i d e n t a t some
20,000
ye a r s B.P. would seem
t o r ep re s en t chan ge of a d i f f e re n t o rd e r s i n ce t has no d i re c t pa laeo-
en v i ro n m en t a l co r re l a t e . t i s th i s k ind of change tha t
i s
of the lev e l
us u al ly conceived of i n terms of a change from the Middle Stone age
i n d u s t r ie s , b u t i t s r e a l meaning i s l i t t l e u nd er st oo d. c l e a r e r p i c t u r e
aay emerge from the next phase of in ve st ig at io n.
The Bo,omplaas exc av at ion i s dependent on co ll ab or at io n of a number of
r
sea rc her s , The f i e l d work
i s
u nd er t h e o v e ra l l d i r ec t i o n of
H J
Deacon
nd Mary Brooke r, the macromamrnalian fau na l an al ys es a r e being unde rt ake n
by R G . Kl ei n and th e micromammals ar e bei ng s tu di ed by
D N
Leakey. A
su rvey o f the reg iona l f lo ra has becn in i t i a t ed by R O Moffet t and
M J Wilson
i s
s tudy ing the po t te ry f rom the herder l eve l s .
F.B.
S i l b e r b a u e r
is cu r r en t l y r e s p o n s i b l e fo r t h e cu ra t i n g of t h e co l l e c t i o n s . A pre l iminary
sta tem en t on the Boornplaas Cave i s t o bc pub lished i n the Procee dings of the
1975 SASQUA Conference. Pr ep ri nt s ar e ava il ab le on re qu es t.
H J Deacon,
Department of Archaeology
Univcrs i t y o f S te l lenb osch
M r
Lewis Matiyela of For t Hare Univ ers i ty has re cen t ly surveyed
a n I r o n
Age
set t le me nt s i t e along the Swart: Kci River on the Turnstream
Farm, near Cath car t , Capc Province. Hc hopes t o ge t f i na nc ia l as s i s t an ce
t o p ro cced wi t h f u r t h e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n and ex cav a ti o n of t h e s e t t l em en t .
He
i s
hoping t o re-exc avate the Ratshaka H i l l s Later I ron Age s i t e near
P r e t o r i a i n t h e T ran s vaa l as due to t ime l im i t a t io ns , he cou ld no t
inv es t iga te the fu rnace and the hu t /house f lo or s he had d i scovered . Also ,
v er y l i t t l e d a t a was
collected
on the i r on and the s l a t e s tone beads
whi ch a re s t r i k i n g i n t ro d u c t i o n s i n any L at e I ro n ge assemblage and
t h c f i r s t one s t o be d i sc o ve r ed i n t h e Witwatersrand Magaliesberg r eg i o n )
f o r the drawing of any concl usions and the d eter mina t ion of some tr ade
l i nk s wi th o th er p laces inc lud ing the Eas te rn Transvaa l where so re were
found by Evers. An extended f u l l s c a l e ex ca vat ion of th e Ratshaka
H i l l s
needs t o be made very soon i n v iew of the danger the arc ha eol ogi cal remains
face from the local people and before much harm i s done.
South African Museum
The South African Museum i s proceeding with i t s major programme of
i n v e s t i g a t i n g c o as t a l and i n l and ad ap t a t i o n s by l a t e Qua t e rn a ry p eo p le s
i n the South Western Cape. Fie ld work a t the co as ta l cave of Die Kelder s
ceas ed a f t e r r eachi n g
a
cenlented cobble beach a t a depth of 7 .5 metres .
The sample inc lud ed two pe rio ds of human oc cu pat ion s. These compr ise a )
s h e l l middens d at in g back some
2000
year s which inc lude po t te ry and the
b on es of d o m es t ica ted sh ce a l r ead y wr i t t en u p ) , s ep a ra t ed by s t e r i l e
sands from b) Upper Lei stoc ene de po si ts d at in g back from abo ut 30430,000
y e a r s . A nearby cave, Byeneskranskop, si t u a t e d some km in land has
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revea led an addi t i on a l occupa t ion da tsd f rom 3500 t o 12500 years
B;P
The mama l ian fauna of these s i t e s has a l r ead y been ana lysed by R.G.
Klein (U niv ers i ty of Chicago) . Examination of the micro fauna
i s
be ing
undertaken by
Mrs. M
Leakey of th e South Af ri ca n Museuct. Se di re nt ar y
ana lys es of Die Kelders were undertaken by Kar l Butzer (Un ivers i ty of
~ h i c a g o ) a n d
A
J Tankard (Sou th Af ri ca n Museum).
We a r e c u r r en t l y
engaged i n cort lp le ting the ana l yses of the r e w in i n g samples .
I nve s t iga t i ons - - i n to . ope n s i t e middens a nd f i s h t r a p s i n the same
a r e a
are
bei ng w ri t t e n up by Graham Avery Arch aeolo gical Data Recording
Cent re of th z South Af r i c a n Ehseum.
The rc su l t s of thes e probes w i l l c on t r ib u te towar ds ob ta in ing
a be t t e r unde rs t a nd ing of the env ir onn ic n ta l and c u l tu r a l r e l a t i on sh ip s
a t the c oa s t . Rescue a rchaeology has a l s o been under taken a t a number
of Capte s i t e s ; :~arked o r in du s t r i a l expans ion . These inc lude thc
Duinf o n t e i n s i t e a McLkbos where Upper Pl e i s ocen e f au na l rem ains
have bee n f ound a s so c ia t e d wi th s tonc a r t e f a c t s .
Avery,
G.
1975 The Pr es er va ti on of Rock-Art
wi t3 1
s p e c i a l r e f e r e n c e
t o S ou th A fr i ca n p r o b l e i ~ nd c o n d i t io n s .
S.
Afr.
Arch. Bull .
3 :
133-142.
1975 Dis cus sio n on the age and
use
of t i d a l f i s h - t r a p s
(Visvywers) . S, Afr . Arch. Bu l l .
3 :
105-113.
Kle in , R.G.
i n p r e s s
A
p r e i i ~ n f n a r ynote on
t x
Middle Stone Age op en -a ir
s i t e of DuFncfonLcin
2
(Plelkbosstrand, South-Western
Capc Prov ince, South Af r i ca ) . S , Afr . Arch. Bull .
Schweitzcr , F.
1974 Archaeologica l cv idencc fo r sheep a t the
Cape.
S. Afr.
Arch. B ul l. 29: 75-82.
Tankard,
A . J .
and P.R. Sch wei tze r
1974 The Geology of Die Ke ld er s Cave and En vi ro ns : A
Palaeoenvironraental
Study
S.
Afr
Jour n . o f S c i ,
Vol. 70 .
F R Schwei tze r ,
South African Museun
Cape Town
SOUTH WEST AFRICA
I
ain a t presen t engaged i n a number of p ro je ct s . These incl ude:
a) The Archaeology of the Brandberg. Research in to the cu l t u r al
suc c e ss ion , e c ology and r ock a r t
of
t h i s m a ss i f
i s
proceeding
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f a v o u ra b l y and s oiue i n t e r e s t i n g r e s u l t s a r e a t h an d.
P r e l i m i n a r y n o t e s
on the rock a r c and the d a te s have been pub l i shed .
1 2
Open s t a t i o n midden s i t e s f rom the Kuiseb r i ve r mouth . A s t a r t w i l l be
made a n t h e sc s i t e s e a r l y i n 1 9 76 . p re li 1, ri na ry su r v e y i n d i c a t e s t h a t
a n un b er of d i f f e r e n t s i t e s y i e l d i n g c v i d en c c o f d i f f e r e n t ec on om ic
a c t i v i t i e s a r e p re se nt . T hi s i s
of
i n t e r e s t a s i t i s known froill
h i s t o r i c a l s o ur c es t h a t t h i s a r e a was e x t r e m l y r i c h i n g ane and t h a t
h u n t e r s a s w e l l a s h e r d e r s were p r e s e n t . Wh eth er t h e d i f f e r e n t s i t e s
show h u n t e r l h c r d e r a f f i n i t i e s o r si m pl y on c g r ou p s f oo d p r e f e r e n c e s
c h a n g i n ~ v e r t i n e r ex a i n s t o b e t e s t e d
Dana or ig ins ,
Dana o r i g i n s h a ve be e n t h e su b j e c t o f sp e c u l a t i o n f o r
many y e a r s . They a r e t h o u gh t o f e i t h e r a s t h e o l d e s t i n h a b i t a n t s o f
t h e c o u n t ry o r a s r e c e n t i mm ig ra nt s a s c l i e n t s o f t h e Kh oi . T he se
people a r e Negr oids, speak a Nama
i
Khoi) language, have
Narna
c u l t u r a l t r a i t s y e t , a cc or di ng t o t h e l i t e r a t u r e , i n h i s t o r i c a l t im es
p o sse s sed a s a c re d f i r e
(a
Bantu no t a Khoi cu l t u r a l e l e ment ) .
They
a r e r e p o r t e d t o have be en h u n tc r / g a t h e r e r s , h e r d e r s , i r o n s n i t h s.
Ar c h a e o l o g i c a l r e se a r c h h a s t u r n e d up
a
n u nb e r o f c l u e s a nd i n
c o r h i n a t i o n w i t h
a
s o c i o l o g i c a l a n a l y s i s of t h e l i t e r a t u r e on and
pres en t day so c i e t y o f the Dana by M r E . du Pi s an i , th e Museum
E t h n o l o g i s t ,
i t
i s hoped t o produce a more ac cu ra te model of D a n a
o r i g i n s
N eu tr on a c t i v a t i o n a n a l y s i s of
S.W.A
p o t sh e r d s . D r s . Pe i sach and
G J
B o ul l e a r e c a r r y i n g o u t n u c l e a r a n a l y s es
of a range of bo th
Khoi and I ron age po t t e r y . I t
i s
hoped t h a t t h e f i r s t r e s u l t s w i l l
be pu bl ishe d du r i ng mid-1976.
Open S t a t i o n S e t t l e n e n t S i t e s i n th e Z e r r i s s e n e M t Ar e a . P r e l i m i n a r y
work i n c o n i u n c t i o n w i t h DR. and Mrs.
F1
Carr has bcen contple ted.
Wri t ing up i i n p r o g r es s . r e p o r t on t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n and t yp o lo gy
o f t h es c s i t e s
w i l l
h ~ p e f u l l y @ p u bl is h ed i n 1 37 6. T hes e s i t e s
c o n s i s t of c l u s t e r o f irlul t i c e l l u l a r s t o n e s t r u c t u r e s . T h e i r
d i s t r i b u t i o n and t y po l og y h a s b c en meticulously recorded by th e
Car rs who have now re tu rn ed t o New Zealand. Organ ic and c u l t u r a l
rema ins n re s pa rs e bu t s t i e rds o f p resumably Khoi po t t e r y a r e found .
One says presui ,~ablya s t h e l o c a t i o n o f t h e a r e a ( so u t h o f t h e Ugab
River and 30-40kr.1 f rom th e co as t ; 21°35 's and 1305Q1E) i e s ou ts id e
th e ar ea of known Ir on Age Bantu se t t le me nt and th e s her ds thefi i selves
a r e of an und iag nos t i c and f ragmented na t u re . Fauna l rema ins arc
a l x o s t n o n - e x is t e n t b u t i t
i s
t hought th a t a pa s t o r a l economy was
p r a c t i c e d .
A n a l y si s o f w h at a p p e a r s t o b e h a i r f ou nd i n a r a r e d un g
sample i s underway of could of f e r 3 s o l u t i o n t o t h e p ro bl em of t h e
economy.
Arc hae olo gica l Survey of th e Kaokoland. A t r i p t h r o u gh Ka ok ol an d d i d
n o t p ro du ce a n y new s i t e s t h o u g ht t h e f 4 r s t r o ck e n g r a vi n g s f r om t h i s
re w er e no te d a l o n g t h e C unene ~ i v e r . '
Re fe rences
1
Jacobson , L .
1975 The gemsbok cr e a t i on lilyth and Brandberg rock a r t .
S.
Af r .
J Sci . 71:314
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2. Jacobson,
1975
3
Jacobson,
1975
L
J C
Vogel
Recent radioc arbon da te s f rom the Brandberg. S. Af r i
J S c i .
7 : 3 4 9
L
Repor t on the a rchaeologic a l po ten t i a l
of
Kaokoland.
Unpublished report .
In add i t io n t o my own work, the fo l lowing a r e a l so engaged i n
r e se a r c h :
D r
D.E. Wendt of t he Un iv er si ty of Cologne
i s
engaged i n work i n th e
south . He has rece nt l y published ea r l y da t es fo r SWA a r t .
Dr. G
Corvinus has re ce nt ly taken up a po si t i on i n Oranjecwnd and
w i l l
be inve s t ig a t in g the a r cha eo logy of t ha t a r e a . Her spe c ia l
i n t e r e s t i s t he A ch eu li an .
Mr. P
Robertshaw of th e Un iv er si ty of Cape Town has been working on
herder s i t e s a long th e Orange and F is h Rivers .
The
f
ol lowing pub1 ica t i on s m y be of in te re s t :
Malan, J.S. and
G L
Smith-Owcn
1974 The eth nob ota ny of Kaokoland. Ci ~ eb as ia (B) 2:131-178
Wendt, W E
1975 Notes of
soc~e
unusual a r t e f a c t s from SWA. CiiXi~ ~~.j~B)
2 : 17-3-186.
1975 Die Al tes te n Da ti er t en Kunstwerlce Afr ika s. Bild de r
Wissenschaf
t
10:44-59
Leon Jacobson,
S t a t e Museur.1,
Wind hoelc
W I R E
a r c h ae o l o g i ca l r e s e a r c h i n
Katongo ce met ery ( s e e Nyart~e
The yea r 1975 saw the co nt in ua ti on of
the reg i3 n of Shaba (ex- Katanga)
.
Aft er new excav atio ns a t Sanga and i n
Akurm NO.̂ ), P i e r r e de Iviaret ( a s p i r a n t t o th e F.N.R.S. Royal 14useum
f
Cen tral Afri ca Tcrvuren and the LJniversitG Libre
de
Bruxe l les) and
Kaninba Misago (a ss is ta nt a t the Nat iona l Museum Ins t i t u t e of Za i rc ,
Lubumbashi) excavated th ree new s i t e s a long the Z aire Ri ver f ro~ nA p r i l
t o August 1975.
Thi r tee n graves were excavated a t the s i t e of Kanilamba. Some ar e
Ki sa li an , ot he rs ar c Kaban~bian (new name s ugges ted f o r the Mulongo and
Red-slip ware
of
Nenqu in ), bu t e xpe c ia l ly i n s t r a t ig r a ph y a Late Stone
Age levcl,
a
K i s a l i a n l c v e l , a KabalSian Level and a Luba l e v e l .
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The s i t e of Kikulu gave 2 2 g r a v e s ,
most of whi ch ar e Kabambian.
With
the se we shou ld be a b le t o e s t a b l i sh
a
chronology of the cvo lu t ion of t h i s
c e r a m i c t r a d i t i o n .
The s i t e of Malemba-Nkulu gave 3 7 Ki sa li an and Kabambian gr av es , some
of wh ic h have ve r y r i c h s e t s and wi th l e ve l s o f a c c upa t ions i n s t r a t ig r a p hy
f r om Kisa l im to Luba .
Some new su rvey s have been done i n Katot o c c m e ry (excav ated by
D r J Hiernaux i n 1959) and samples fo r carbon-14 d at in g were col le ct ed .
Apar t f rom these excava t ions
i t has been po ss ib le to draw up a lisp
of r e p a r t i t i on o f more than 40 s i t e s .
A
se r i e s
of 13 da te s f rom carbnn-14 samples have been obtaine d f o r
Sanga
and
Katongo.
They show an ap pa re nt ly cont inuou s
occupation of
the s i t e s f r o n t h e 8 t h t o 1 9 t h c e n t u r i e s A D
Kanimba Misago
I n s t i t u t des Musees Nat ionaux,
Piuske de Lubumbas h i .
ZAMBIA
The Livingstone Museum
I n Au gus t l a s t y e a r , D r J O Vogel , Kecper of Preh is to ry , Le f t
Zambia f o r holm i n th e U S A a f t e r c ociplet ion of t e n ye a r s
of
r e s e a r c h
in ves t ig a t ion s i n the Vi c to r ia Fa l l s Region. What a t remendous and
remarka ble volume of work he has done f o r Zambian archa eol ogy
M r
N L
Katanekwa, Senior As s i s t ant Kecper of Pre his to ry I ron
Age, c a m back t o t h e Museum i n J u l y , a f t e r c o ~ ~ ~ p l e t i o nf
a
pos tg r a dua te
d ip loma i n Af r i c a n Ar chae ology a nd P r e h i s t o r y a t B i r m in gha ~ ~n i v c r s i t y ' s
Centre of West Af r ic a n S tud ie s .
Hc
has s in ce been ac t i ng a s Head of thc
Department
of 'P rchis tory .
Upon a r r iva l , M r Katanekwa, i n i t i a t e d a programme of work en t i t l e d
"The Upper Zambczi I ro n Age Researc h P r o j c c t Phase I Sesheke".
Undcr t h i s prograime and a s a fol lowup t o hi s 1974 survey of th e Zambezi
River , he went out f or another survey of thc Machi le Val ley , a t r ib ut a r y
of the Za de z i ' i n southweste rn Zambia. This survey loca ted 2 8 Iron Age
s i t e s ranging i n age f rom mil id-f ir st mi l len ium to t he end of the 19t h
c e n tu r y .
some C-14 d at es have been obtain ed from f i ve of th ese s i t e s
conf i rming such a sequence and a r e t o be publ ished soon.
T h e s p a t i a l
t ime range of the ce ramic mate r ia l s i s s i g n i f i c a n t and i t
i s
hoped tha t
fu r t he r work f rom here w i l l giv e us a much c l ea re r p ic tu re of Ear l y I r on
Age and Lat er I r on Age archaeology and pr eh is to ry i n Southwestern Zambia.
Excavation work i s planned by
Mr.
Katanekwa f o r th e a re a and May and June 1976.
Mcanwhil-e , th e Department awa it s th e a r r i v a l sometime i n ay t h i s y e a r ,
of M r Fr an ci s Musonda, who has been stud yi ng f o r a n M A i n A rc ha eo lo gy a t
Legon, Ghana. M r Musonda's f i e l d of s p e c i a l i s a t i o n w i l l mainly be th e
Stone Age, more csp eci nl ly th e La te Stone
Age
N M
Katanekwa
Li vi ng s to ne Museum
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I n Nyame Akuma No. 4, we pu bl is he d a
l i s t
of names and addresses
of a u t h o r i t i e s t o be c o n ta ct e d f o r p e rm it s e t c . t o c a r r y o ut r e s e ar c h
and excava t ion work i n var io us cou ntr ies .
The in£o rm a ti o n c o n ta i n ed i n t h i s s t was ne ce ss a r i l y bas ic , and
t
would seem t o be use fu l fo r us t o
m ke
a va i l a b le more de ta i l e d
informat ion of the leg a l requi rements and condi t ions of va r i ous
c oun t r i e s , t o people unde r t a k ing r e se a r c h .
We have rec eived the follo wing ou tl in es f rom Kenya and Zambia
and would welcome s i n i l a r contr ibut ions *om oth er c ou nt r ie s , e s pe c i a l ly
those le s s than of te n heard f rom, such as the Sorna l iv l Republ ic ,
Cameroun, Li be r ia e t c . Our thanks go t o David Ph il l i ps on and the
Sc cr et ar y/ In sp ec to r of th e Nat ion al Nonunents Commission, Zambia,
f o r t h c i r n o t c s
Rese arch i n Kenya: Note on th e Legal Requiremen ts
l l persons, of wha te ve r na ti on al i t y proposing to conduct cny
f or m of f i e ld o r a r c h i va l r e se a r c h i n Kenya, m ust o b ta in a n Au thor i ty
t o Conduct Research f rom thc Off ice of tha Pres id ent . Appl ica t i on
shoulcl be
made
well i n advance a t l ea s t months) of the in tended
da te of t he conuilencenwnt of th e re se ar ch . Fornis fo r th i s purpose a r c
obt ain ed from the Perrnancnt Sc cr et ar y Of f i c e of th e Pr es id en t, P.O.
Box 30510, Nairobi, t o whom th ey sho uld be r ct u rn cd when cor::.pletcd.
A p p l ic a n ts s h ou ld t a k e c a r e t o an sw er a l l q u e s t i o ns i n f u l l , a s
f a i l u r e t o c1 t h is 111ay rc s u l t i n de la y i n t h e process ing f the
a p p l i c a t i o n .
Appl icants fo r Author i ty to Conduct Research a r e asked t o provide ,
in te r a l i a , a one-page sumrtery of t h e i r proposed res earc h , a cur r ic ul ux
v i t a e and a l e t t e r f rom the sponsor of the r e se a r c h . The ya re a ske d t o
9
s t a t e the sou r c e of f ina nc e f o r the p ropose d r e se a r c h a nd t o supp ly the
names and addrc sses of th re e se ni or academic re fe re es . Stud ents
conduc t ing rescar ch lea ding t o a pos t -gradua te degree a r e encouraged t o
have a supe rviso r who i s re s i de nt i n Kenya.
l l
res earc her s must seek
a £ i l a t i o n o r s p on s or sh i p w i t h a n a pp r o p r i at e Kenya i n s t i t u t i o n
c on ce rn ed w i t h s c i e n t i f i c r e s e a r c h .
Researchers f rom ou ts id e Kcnya should n ot normally tr av el t o Kcnya
t o commence th e i r resear ch u n t i l they have been no t i f i ed by the Off ice of
the Pres ident th a t Author i ty t o Conduct Research has been gra nte d .
Poss essio n of Auth ori ty t o Conduct Research
w i l l
enable the Immigra t ion
a u th or i t i e s t o i s s ue a pe r m it a l lowing the r e se a r c he r t o re ma in i n Kenya
fo r the proposed dur a t i on of h i s r e s e a r c h .
In ad di t i on to t he Author i ty t o Conduct Research , pe rsons wishing
t o c onduct a r c ha e o log ic a l o r pa la e on to log ic a l i nv e s t iga t io ns need t o
obt a in a s pe c i f i c pe rmi t f o r t h i s fro1.i the 14in is t r2 of Housing and
Social Services, P.O. ox 45053, Na i r ob i . App l i c a tbns the r e
i s
no
sp ec ia l form) should be se nt t o the Pcrr.iancnc Sccre t a ry of the Min is t ry ,
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wi th a copy t o the D ir ec to r of the Na tio nal Museuus of Kenya, P.O. Box
40659, Nairo bi . They should quote the refere nce of t he Of f ic e of the
P r e s ide n t ' s Au thor ity to Conduct R ese ar ch , and shou ld s t a t e i n d e t a i l
t h e s i t e ( s ) o r a r e a s i n w hich t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n s a r e t o be c o n du c te d,
and thc da t es between which the i nve s t i ga t ion s a re p lanned t o take p lace .
l l permits and Autho r i t i e s t o Conduct Research a r e i ssued su bje c t
t o c e r t a i n c o n d i t i o n s , w hi ch a r e c l e a r l y s t a t e d on t h e documents concerned.
Rec ip ie nts of such permits and Aut hor i t i e s should read these cond i t ions
c a r e f u l l y and f o l lo w t h e n i n ev er y d e t a i l . t i s i n t h c i r own i n t e r e s t s
and those of th e i r co l leagu es th a t they should do so .
Research i n Zambia: Permits f o r Research and A ff i l i a t e S ta t us
Legal Con tr ol . The Na ti on al Pionurnents Conmissio n i s given undcr t he Natura l
and Hi s t or ic a l lhnune a ts and Re lccs Act absol u te cont ro l over a rchaeolo gica l
s i t e s and f i nd s i n Zambia and
i s
t he so le body f o r the i s s ue of pe rm i ts t o
e xc av a te , a l t e r d es t r o y, damage, i n j u r e o r d i s t r u b any s i t e ; t o a l t e r ,
de st roy , dar lage, move o r cxp ort any arch aeo log ical o bj ec t . Archaeological
s i t e s a r e de f ine d a s thosc da t ing be f o r e 1890; p r o te c te d o b je c t s may be even
l a t e r . hc Com.iission i s t hu s e f f q c t i v e l y t h c o v e rs e ei n g body f o r a l l
a r c ha e o log ic a l r e se a r c h i n Zambia; t hc pc r n i t - g ive r f o r pa la c on to log ic a l
research, and i t h as c e r t a i n d u t i e s o v e r o th e r s i t e s s uc h a s t h o sc o f
na tu ra l beauty , and over o the r c los ses of ob jc c t s .
App l i c a t ions and Enqu i r i e s . The sc n io r s t a f f o f the C o~ xn i s sion r e
p r o f e s s i o n a l a r c h a c o l o g i a ~ s nd a r e a v a i ln b e f o r c o n s u l t a t i o n on p r op os ed
rese arch progra rwes cxp or t a rrangemcncs and o th cr sp ec i f ic quc r ies
Permits
w l l
norriiaLly be issued
b y
th e Cornmission's s t a f f b u t may be
re fe rr ed t o onc of t he meetings, normally hel d bi an nu al ly , of the Government
nonlina te d r.~ni berso f the C om iss ion . Appl i c i? n t s f o r pe r m it s a r e th e r e
f o r e a d vi s ed t o in kc a p p l i c a t i o n s a s f a r i n adv an ce a s f e a s i b l e , and t o
take in to co ns i dcra t ion in t iming a rcsearch prograriune the ve t t in g of
a p p l i c a t i o n s , a s we l l a s t h e p er io d r e qu i r e d f o r o b t a i ni n g v i s a s f o r
o r c ign r e se a r c h wor ke rs .
F ie ld . Research . The Comwiss ion ' s re sp on si b i l i t i e s a re mainly i n a rchaeology
and pa la eo nt ol o~ y. S chola rs and stud ent s whose proposed work f a l l s more
in to the ac adem ic f i e l ds o f a n thr opology o r h i s to r y shou ld a pp ly to :
The Dire c to r , In s t i tu te fo r Afr ican S t udi es , Unive rs i ty of Zambia, P.O.
Box
900,
Lusaka, Zambia.
The I n s t i t u t e h as a n a f f i l i a t i o n sc he ue f o r v i s i t i n g s c h o l a r s and
rese arch s tud ent s i n those branches of the humanit ies which f a l l under
i t s
scope , wt ch in c ludes ap pl ica t i on fo r s tudy v i sa s f o r approved researchers
Research workers who a re unc lea r whe ther t h e i r f i e l d of work f a l l s more
under the scope of t he Commission o r the In s t i tu t e imy send an ou t l in e of
p ro pos ed work t o e i t h e r i n s t i t u t i o n i n t h e f i r s t i n s t a n c e .
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Archaeo log is t s and Paln eonto log is t s who wish t o ca r r y ou t work
which does no t invo lve the removal of a r t e fa c ts f rom s i t e s o r excava t ion ,
and who ar e l ik e l y t o remain i n Zambia f o r le s s th an th ree months, do
not require a Conmission permit .
number of a r ch a eo lo g ic a l s i t e s a r e
opene d t o t o u r i s t s , and o t h e r s c an be v i s i t e d , b u t a n i n t r o d u c t i o n t o
lo c a l o f f i c i a l s by t h e Commission f o r I n s t i t u t e w ould b6 recommended
f o r c e r t a i n t yp es of r e s e ar c h . For a v i s i t t o s t ud y th e c o l l e c t i o n s
of L iv ings tone Museum sc ho la r s should wr i te d i r e c t ly to : The Di re c t or ,
Livingstone Museurn,
P 0
Box 438, Livingstone, Zambia.
Excavations and Survey
Any f ie ldwork archa eo log ica l o r pa le aonto log ic a l invo lv ing the
c o l l e c t i o n of a r t e f a c t s from s i t e s o r ex c a va t i on w i l l r e q u i r e a permi t
from the Commission and t i s a co n t r av en t io n o f t h e law t o c o l l e c t o r
excavate wi thout such a permi t .
An ap p l i c a t i o n sh ou ld g iv e u s f i l l d e t a i l s of ap p l i c an t , p ro po sed
re se ar ch , av ai la bl e f inan ce and pub li ca t i on programme. The Commission
h as e q u a l d u t i e s t o p romote r e s e a r c h and p r o t e c t s i t e s o r f i n d s ;
a p p l i c a t i o n s w i l l be co n s id e red w i th sympathy b u t by s e t c r i t e r i a .
The v e t t i n g o f an ap p l i c a t i o n
w ll
t ak e i n t o co n s id e r a t i o n t h e acad emic
s t a t u s an d r e f e r en ces of t h e ap p l i c an t , t h e f e a s ib i l i t y of t h e pr op oscd
p r o j e c t and i t s d e s i r a b i l i t y i n te rn is of t h e o v e r a l l r e s e a r c h p a t t e r n
of Zambia , the funds avn i l ab l e f o r r esea- .ch and the guar an te es th a t can
b e g iv en f o r f u l l an d ad eq ua t e p u b l i ca t i o n o f r e s u l t s . For examp le ,
r e-excavat ion of
a
s i t e r e ce n t ly dug would be u n l i k e ly t o g a i n a p p ro v al
an o v er - amb i ti o u s p r o j ec t w i th o u t g u a r an tee of r ec u r r e n t f i n d s migh t
s i mi l a r ly be r e f e r r ed b ack ; and a r e sea r ch s tu d en t p l an n in g ex cav a t io n
should be ab le t o giv e some forward cxpe . t - . t i ons of proper p ub lic at io n,
o t h e r t h a n d i s s e r t a t i o n f o rt l.
The ComrAssion
lil y
be
ab l e t o p ro v id e l i m t e d work sp ace
for
s c h o l a r s , o r ev en 1 9 c w £ so:ne eq u ip ~ mn t b u t n o t v eh i c l e s o r p e r so n n e l ) ,
bu t p lans should no t assume t h i s ~ i l l c av ai la b l e . The fo rmer ar ran ge-
ments by which vi r*i t in e, rc sc ar ch cr s could
be
acco ;mlodated i n t he Com niss ion' s
headquarters have be2n conplc
to?y
ah o l i sh cd .
p e rm i t i s i s su e d z u h j ~ c t o t h e w r i t t e n ac c ep t an c e by t h e p c rm i t-
h o ld e r of a s e r i e s of fa rrn31 can d i t i o n s . T hesc i n t e r a l i a d e f in e t h e
ar ea , type and per iod of
work;
dctcr ic inc
the
f i n a l d e s t i n a t i o n of t h e
f inds wi th in Z7mbia , and r eq u i r e t h e cor np lc ti on of a f i n a l r ep o r t i n a
l i mi te d time and the submissioc
u
copi es t o the Commission and o th er
r e p o s i t o r i e s i n Zambia. Fa i l u r e t o f o l l o w th e co n d i t i o n s
of
t h e p e r ~ x i t
would r e s u l t i n cancel ln tLoc and thc non-i ssue
f
f u t u r e p e r m i t s t o t h c
p e rm i t- ho l de r a n d / o r h i s p a re n t i n s t i t u t i o n , b e s id e s t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of
l e g a l a c t i o n .
Expor t Permits
V i s i t i n g f i e l dw o r ke r s a r e e n co ur ag ed t o s t u dy t h e i r f i n d s i n
Zambia. Expor t pe rn i t s rr a y be r an t ed t o a s ch o l a r f o r t h e temp or ar y
e x p o r t of h i s own f i n d s f a r s t
d ,
a n a l y s is o r i l l u s t r a t i o n o v er se as
but these rnust be returned i n a sp ec if ie d per io: t o the Conunission a t
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the permit-holders expense.
Archaeologica l co l lec t io ns a re normal ly
donated t o t he Livings tonc Museum a3 a perinanent st udy m at er ia l.
C e rt a i n c l a s s e s of p a l a e o n t ~ l o g i c a lmater ia l (e .g. microfauna samples)
may recei ve permits fo r permanent expo rt wit h the concurrence of the
Commission and t he Geol ogi cal Survey Department who nay be cons ul ted f i r s t :
The Dir ec to r, Geologi cal Survey Department,
P O
Box
R W
135, Lusaka,
Zambia
.
t i s
u n l i k e l y t h a t p e r ~ n i s s i o nwould be grant ed f o r temporary exp ort
fo r s tudy of obj ec t s i n Museum col lec t io ns o the r than those r es ul t i ng f rom
thc a p p l i c a n t s r e c e n t work.
C e r t a in o the r c l a s se s of ob je c t s i te ms of t r a d i t io na l u se and da t e ,
of a r t i s t i c o r h i s t o r i c a l v a lu e , f o r in s ta n ce r e q ui r e a p er mi t f o r t h e i r
e xpor t , and Customs and Exci se o f f i c i a l s h a y been in s t r uc te d t o se i z e
such obj ec t s be ing expor ted wi thout a pe rmi t and apprehend th e i r expo r te r s .
An information l e a f l e t i s av ai la bl e to the Commission. This does not apply
of course to to ur is t cur ios or objec ts of recent manufac ture.
A f f i l i a t e S t a t u s
A
v i s i t i n g r e se a r c h wor ke r, whe ther a se n io r sc ho la r o r a
r e g i s t e r e d
s tu den t , may apply f o r reg is t r a t io n as an Af f i l i a t e of the Commission .
Research field wo rke rs would normally be expec ted to be s o r e g i s t e r e d ,
a nd a s s i s t a nc e in v i r a a pp l i c a t io ns and in t r oduc t ion s would be r e s t r i c t e d
s u c h A f f i l i a t e s .
A
fee of
K 2 0
per annum i s pa ya ble f o r a f f i l i a t i on .
A p pl i ca n ts f o r a f f i l i a t i o n who a r e n o t a l s o a pp l yi n g f o r a p er mi t f o r
e xc a va t ion o r f i e ldwork should s t a t e t he i r a ca dem ic qua l i f i c a t io ns ,
programme a period
of
work and names of academic re fe re es . Sch ola rs and
st ud en ts who v i s i t Zambia
t o as s i s t i n rese arc h pro jec ts of Zamnbian-
based in s t i t u t io ns nay
be
r e g i s t e re d a s a f f i l i a t e s wi th ou t f e e .
Visas and Entry Formali t ies
Approval of
a
r e se a r c h p r o j e c t o r a f f i l i a t io n by the Commission i s
independent of approval by the immigration au th o ri t ie s of a vi sa o r
perm it. The re le va nt ru le s may ch3n.g from time to time and inte nd ing
v i s i t o r s a r e advised t o make enq uir ies f rom th e i r n ear es t Zambian High
Co mi ss ion or Embassy.
Appl i c n t i o n forms may be
ob ta ine d d i r e c t ly f r on :
The Chief Imnligration Of fi ce r, Min is try of Home A ff ai rs ,
P O
Box
RW 300,
Lusaka, Zambia.
Vis i to r s to Zambia f o r l e s s
than th re e months may normally appl y f o r
a t o u r i s t vi sa ; thes e can be granted a t the border f o r most Commonwealth
ci t i ze n s. Such a v is a cannot be extended fo r more than thre e months i n
a year .
Research workers whose p ro je ct s may l a s t more t han t hr ee months
or
do no t c a r r y hn d s a dequate f o r the i s sue of a tou r i s t v i sa may a pp ly f o r
a Study Permit.
This cannot be done d i re ct l y but the r e l ev an t forms must
be counte rs igned by the Comniss ion i f the f i e l d of s t udy f a l l s wi th in
i t s
sphe re. Study Permits
w l l
only be counte rs igned f o r res earch workers
approved f o r a f f i l i a t i o n .
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Although the wording of the Study Permit
i s
d es ig n ed f o r t h o se
a t t e n d i n g f u l l tim e c ou r se s i t
i s
a c c e p ta b l e bo t h f o r r e s e a r c h s t u d e n t s
and f o r se ni or sc ho la rs , who should s t a t e Research under Course of
S tu dy . The In s t i t u t e f o r A f r i c an S t u d i e s w i l l sp o n so r s i mi l a r l y
app ro ved r e sea r ch w orke rs whose f i e l d of i n t e r e s t f a l l $ w i t h i n t h e i r
r an g e
Persons i n the category of employees, even when thes e ar e paid
overseas
~ 8 .
e c h n ic a l a s s i s t a n t s on a n expedition
m y
r e q u i r e a n
Employment Permit and enq ui ri es sh ould be made about t h i s wel l i n
advance to the Chief Immigration Of f i ce r .
Fur ther In fo rmat ion
E x t r a c o p i es of t h i s l e a f l e t , c o pi e s of t he N a tu r al and H i s t o r i c a l
Monuments and ~ e l i c b c t o r answers t o Fur ther q uer i es can be ob ta ined
from: The S e c r e ta r y/ In s p e c to r , N at ion al Monuments Com;11ission, P.O. Box
124, Livingstone, Zambia.
CURRENT RESEARCH
M r
Fra nco is Kense, of the
Department
of Archaeology, Universi ty
of Ca lgary i s c u r r en t ly under t ak ing an examina tion of A fr i can i ron -
w orki ng t e chn i q u cs . Such s t u d i e s were en t h u s i a s t i c a l l y c a r r i ed o u t
in the l a t e 19 th and ear ly 20 th cen tu r i es , bu t had become no t i cea b ly
infr equ ent by the 1950 's . An important fac to r i n t h e i r demise was
th in aP i.1 y of r e sea r ch e r s t o ex p l a i n t he r e l a i o n sh i p s an d / o r
d i f r e re nce s i n met a l lu rg ic a l t echn iques between a reas i n Af
r
i c a
However, t he inc rea si ng amount of arc hae olog ica l data co l l ec te d
durm g the pas t two decades has enab led i ron work ing s tu d i es t o
broaden t he i r scope and re l evance .
s t u d y of i r o n sme l ti n g fu rn aces ( t h e i r t y pe and co n s t ru c t i o n ) ,
the mechanisms fo r induc ing d raugh t s , t he qua l i ty of i ron-o r e u t i l i z ed
and the na tur e of the bloom a r e some of t he as pe ct s t o be ana lys ed.
I t i s
in tended to concluJe wi th an overview of furnac e and i r on
working pa t t e r ns acr oss Afr i ca and thereby ga i n some fu r th er in s i gh t in -
t o
t he development o f the I ron Age in Pr eh i s to r i c Af r i c a .
M r
Kense would be $leas ed t o hear from anyone wi th any ethno -
g rap h i c o r a r ch aeo l o g i ca l i n fo rma t i o n p e r t a i n i n g t o A f r i can i r o n
ne ta ll ur gy . He can be reached through the Department of Archaeology,
Uni ver si ty of Calgary , Ca lgary , Alb er ta , Canada.
PERSONAL
Frank Willet t has been appointed Director of the Hunterian Piuseuin and
r t Galler y in Glasgow, Scot la nd. He and Connie
w i l l
be l eav ing
Evans to n i n Ju ne and t h e i r f u t u r e ad d re ss w i l l be:
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The Hunterian Museum,
The Unive
rs
y
Glasgow G12 Q,
Scot land , .
U K
Professo r Br ian Fagan rep or t s :
There a re t h ree Ph.D. s tudents under t r a in ing a t the Univers i ty of
Ca li f o rn ia , Sa nta Barba ra: Susan Keech, Barbara Sacharow and Donna Shand.
I t
i s
hoped th a t each of the n w i l l work i n Africa befo re 1976
i s
ended.
These a r e t h e l a s t t h ree g radua te s t uden t s i n t he Af r i can I ron Age t ha t
I s h a l l accept a t Santa Barbara. Once BarbarqDonna and Susan have
completed t he i r degrees I s h a l l t e p h as in g ou t a l l g ra du at e t r a i n i n g i n
Afr ica n archaeology here . This is becuase of my own ch an ~i ng in te re s t s
and a l s o on a cc ou nt of t h e g r e a t d i f f i c u l t i e s i n pl a c i ng g ra d u a te s i n
c a r e e r p o s i t i o n s, I n f u t u r e , I s h a l l be c o n c e n t r a ti n g a lm os t e n t i r e l y
on undergraduate t eaching , main ly a t the in t roduc tory and are a survey
leve4.. Since most s tud en ts here have bu t
a
c a su a l i n t e r e s t i n d l d
World archaeology, I t h ink i t
i s
worth concen t ra t ing on genera l t r a i n i ng
of la y people a s a primary pedagogical o b j e c t i v e . P r o sp e c t iv e a p p l i c a n t s
f or graduate t r a i n i ng in Afr ican archaeology a t UCSB w i l l a u t o m a t i c a l l y
be r e fe r red e l s ewhere .
Hy most re ce nt re se ar ch has ce nt er ed around The Rape of the Nil e
(Charle s Scr ibn er s , New York), an account of ea r ly archaeology i n the
Ni le V alley publishe d i n December 1975. I t was a book of th e Month
Al te rnat e Sele c t io n i n March 1976.
The f d l o w i n g i s a b r i e f a b s t r a c t of
a
paper g iv en at th e SAAM meetin gs
i n Boston, Apr i l 1975.
The e lu s iv e concep t of s t y l e and s t one a r t i f a c t s
A summary of t he dimensions of choic e i n the pro duc tion of st on e
a r t i f w t s , and t h e i r i m p l ic a t i on s f o r e ne r gy in ve st me nt and t h e i d e n t i -
f i e a t on of the proper ty of s ty le i n the paleo-archaeological record ,
f rom the v iewpoin t o f the design process . The paper a ims a t an e x p l i c i t
c l a r i f i c a t i o n of t h e l on g- he ld , i m p l i c i t as su mp ti on s w h i c h h v e d i r e c t e d
ana lyses
of
s tone a r t i f a c t s i n a rchaeology . The au tho r s sugges t ways i n
which ex p l i c i t app l i ca t i on o f t he p r i nc i p l es embodied i n t he des ign
p ro ce ss l e a d t o dynamic, r a t h e r t ha n s t a t i c a na l ys e s of l i t h i c a r t i f a c t s .
Charles
M
K e l l e r ,
Maxine R K l e i n d i e n s t ,
Univers i ty of I 1 no is Scarborough College ,
Urbana
Uni vers i ty of Toronto,
I l l inois , U.S.A.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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EAST AFRICA
B r i t i s h I n s t i t u t e i n E a s te r n A fr ic a
Volume
IX
(1 97 4) of t h e I n s t i t u t e ' s j o u r n a l A zania, co n t a in s t h e
f o ll o w in g main a r t i c l e s .
J H Chapl in ,
The P re hi s t or ic Rock A r t of th e Lake Vi ct or i a Region
( e d ., w i t h a d d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l ,
by M A B
Harlow)
John Tosh Small - sc a le Res is tance in Uganda: th e Lango ' ~ i s i n g '
a t Adwari i n 1919
Randal l L Poucwlls Tenth Century Set t leme nt of the Ea st Afr ica n
Coast : t h e cas e f o r Q ar ma t i an / I s ma t i l i Con nect io ns
C l a i r e C Davisori J Desmond C la rk Trade Wind Beads a n In te ri m
Repor t of Chemical Studies
M i b l
Biss on Stephen Home Pr ob ab il it y Sampl ine, Techniques f o r
I n v e s t i g a t i o n of Afr ica n I ro n Age S i t es
J
d c
V Alle n Swahil i Culture Rcconsidered: Some Hi st or ic al
Impl i ca t io ns of the Mater ia l Cul tu re of the Nor thern
Kenya Coast i n the 18t h and 1 9th cent ur ie s
Roderic Blackburn
The Okiek and Their History
N ev i1 l e Ch i t t i c k
Excavatio ns a t Aksura:
a
Prel iminary Repor t
J C Sharman Eler oitic : i t s Anc est ors and Descend ants Some
Rela t ionsh ips
Memoir No. 6 of t he I n s t i t u t e , D W Bh i l l i p s o n ' s T h e P r eh i s to r y of
Eastern Zambia i s now i n proo f.
E as t A f r i ca and t h e O r i en t , ed . R I Ro tb e rg and N ev i l l e C h i t t i c k ,
i s now publi she d (Af ric ana P re ss , New York.
$30; f 15 i n U.K.)
The fo l lowing a r t i c l e s by members of the s t a f f have eppeared r ec en t ly .
Nevi l le Ch i t t i c k , On the co ins and chronology of the Su l t ans
of
Kilwa
Numismatic Chronicle, 1973.
D W P h i l l i p s o n ,
I ron Age hi s ory aild archaeology i n Zambia , Jou rna l
of Afri can His to ry , XV:l-25.
D W P h i l l i p s o n ,
The chronology of th e Iro n Age i n Bantu Afric a
Journal o f Af r ican
is
ory, XVI321-42.
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E t h i o p i a
b r v i 8 e k , P . and U Braukhmper:
1975 Rock Pa in ti ng s of Laga Gaf ra (Et hi op ia ), Paideuma 21 :47-60.
(The s i t e i s near Hara r and i nc ludes pa in t i ngs of c a t t l e ,
human beings and a f a t t ai le d sheep)
.
. .
Bonnef
i l
e
R.
Letouzey:
In p res s
F ru i t s fo s s i l e s d lAn t roca ryon dan l e s depa t s p l i b /&i s ibcenee '
de l a Formation de Shungura (val6e de llOmo, Ethiopie), n
Adansonia Par i s .
Kenya
Bonnef i l l e It
In pre ss Paleoenvironmental impl ica t ion s of a pol len assemblage from
t h e Koobi Fora Format io n Eas
t
Rudolf
Kenya, Nature .
R i o l l e t , G . R. ~ o n n e f i l l e
I n
press
Pol l en des Amaranthachs du bass in du l a c Rodolphe (Afrique
Or ic nt ale ) . Determinat ions gEnGriques
e t
spec i f i cqucs .
P o l l e a e t Spores.
Mocambisue
Gerharz, R.
1975
Die Brabung i n Nianara (Mocambique) f ors chu nss ges chi cht l ic he ,
k ul tu r - und et hn oh ist or is ch e Aspekte. Paideuma, 21:151-181.
The Pottery of Ancient Egypt,
i s
t o be p ubl ish ed by th e Royal On ta ri o Museum
t h i s surnmcr.
dopie s may be orde red by wri ti ng t o th e Egyptian Department,
Royal Ontario tiluseum, 1 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
GHANA
e have re ce iv ed f u r t h e r i nf ormat ion' f ;om Pr of . Posnansky a bo ut SANKOFA;
he writes
With refe'ra'nce t o your poi nt on
y. 54
of
Nyame
Akuma No. 7 Sankofa
i s
b a s i c a l l y a new publication though the name i s the same a s the now def un ct
cyclo s ty led journal of the Legon Archaeological Socie ty , th e l a s t i s sued which
appeared i n 1973. The new journ al has the su b t i t l e
he
Legon Journal
Archaeolonical and Hi st or ic al Stu die s . From No. 2 i t w i l l be publ ished
?
the Department of Archaeology, who were re a l l y resp onsi ble f o r the pu bl i ca t io n
of volume 1 though s tudents
w i l l
bc encouraged t o co nt ri bu te % The new journ al
All be pr in te d as opposed t o being dupl ica te d , w i l l be lo nge r and ca rr y more
s u b s t a n t i a l g e ne r a l a r t i c l e s . We would l i k e t o s t r e s s th e i n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y
na tu re of th e new Journal and w i l l have on our ed i t o r ia l board a t l e a s t o n e
member from the History Department. I hope t h i s c l ea rs up the coa 'fusion.
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Repor ts on Excav at ions i n Ghana.
D r
Ol ive r Davies , now a t th e N ata l Museum,
P i e t e r r na r i t z bu r g , S out h A f r i c a , i s co:nple t i n g t he r e po r t s on h i s e xc a va t i ons
i n Ghana. Owing t o expense t h a s n o t b ce n p o s s i b l e t o p r i n t t h e s e r e p o r t s ,
b u t d u p l i c a t e d c o p i e s w i t h p h o to l it h o gr a p he d d r a w i w s ha ve b e en d i s t r i b u t e d
t o p r i n c i p l l l i b r a r i e s , a nd of some t h e r e a r e a v a i l a b l e a few a d d i t i o n a l
c op ie s f o r s a l e t o i n d i vi d u a ls .
The r e p o r t o n se d im en ts a t L i mb i si an d o t h e r s i t e s i n t h e V o l t a
Bas in (most now f lood ed) was d is t r ib u te d
i n
L975
f u l l r e p o r t on
X VI I- ce nt ur y t e r r a c o t t a s and r i t u a l p o t t e r y fr om a f u n e r ar y s i t e a t
Ahinsan s b e i n g p r ep a r ed . Owing t o t h e d i f f i c u l t y of p h o t o s t a t i n g
photographs , on ly one fu l l copy w i l l
be
a v a i l a b l e , a t t h e P it t - R iv e r s
Museum, Oxford; a s ec ond copy w i t h a l l t he d r aw ings a nd a s e l e c t i on
of th e photographs
w i l l
be ke p t i n N a t a l . A much shor tened repor t ,
c on t a i n i ng on l y s i x phot og r aphs and a s e l e c t i o n o f d r aw ings of po t t e r y
w i l l b e d i s t r i b u t e d t o a l i m i t e d number o f l i b r a r i e s .
A J A r ke l l r e po r t s t h a t my P r e h i s t o r y o f t he N i l e V a l l e y ha s be e n
publ i shed by Bru l l
as
thc S icben te Abtc i lung , Ers t e r Band, Zwei te r
a b s c h n i t t , A L i c r u n g 1 of t h e i r Handbuch den Or ien ta l i s c he , 1975
( ~ e i d e n / ~ o l n )
/
This auturm a typolo gy of ph araon ic wheelnade p ot te ry froin th e
conces s ion of thc Scandin avian Joi nt Exp edi t io n t o Sudanese Nubicl
w i l l be publ ished
i n
t h e S c a n J in a vi a n J o i n t E x p e d i t io n S e r i e s ,
Volume 5 . This typology inc lud es desc r ip t io ns of the methods of
taxonomy and analys is as wel l s a c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of a b ou t
3000
po t t e ry p ieces . The typology has been prepared
by
Ros t i s l a v H o l t hoe r .
WEST AFRICA
West Af
r
icon Jo ur na l of Archacol ogy
We
have been advi sed by Devid Ca lvocor es s i , E di tor o f the above jo ur na l ,
t h a t t h e j o u r n a l w i l l no longer be publ i shed by Oxford Univ ers i ty P re s s ,
Ibadan , Niger i a .
A l l
c o r re s pondenc e, o r de r s , s ubs c r i p t i on s e r c . s hou l d
be se nt to: The Ed i t or , West Afr ic an Jo ur na l of Archaeology, Archaeology
Depar tncnt , Uni ver s i ty of Ibadan , Ibadan , Niger i a .
PaynlcnL should be inade t o West Af r i can J ou rn al of Archaeology.
The ir bankers ar e Standar d Bank Ni ge ria , Ltd. Agodi Branch, PMB 5153,
S e c r e t a r i a t , I ba da n, N i g e r i a .
The c u r r e n t p r i c e pe r i s s u e ( p r e pa i d
i s H7.00
p o s t a g e p a i d ( a t
p r e s e n t H 1 O O $1.61
=j0.80 .
D i s t r i b u t i o n of v o l .
5 i s
i n hand. Vol. w i l l
be
publ i shed
l a t e r t h i s y e ar .
8/10/2019 Nyame Akuma Issue 008
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nyame-akuma-issue-008 62/63
F i n a l l y ,
we
have re ce iv ed copy of the 1973-1974 Re pr in ts Exchange
L i s t from th e C.N.R.S. i n Fr ance . he list
i s
t oo long t o bc reproduced
here and we suggest t ha t anyone in te res te d i n seeing i t should reques t
a
copy
froni:
Laboratoire de Geologic d Quatc rna i re
Bib1 otheque,
Centre National de la Recherche Scie nt if iqu e,
P lace A r i s idc Briand,
9219 Meudon-Bellevuc Frencc).
8/10/2019 Nyame Akuma Issue 008
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1977 SAAAM MEETING V N U
The S M st ee r i n g commit tee has comple ted
i t s survey of
p r o f e s s i o n a l me et hi ng s s c h ed u l ed f o r 1 97 7. The p u r p o se . o f t h i s
e x e r c i s e was t o s e l e c t a c e n t r a l l y l o c a t e d ven ue
a t
which the
SAAAM c o ul d meet e i t h e r b e f o r e o r a f t e r some o t h e r p r o f e s s i o n a l
m e et i ng o f g e n e r a l i n t e r e s t t o t h e So c i e t y s m emb er sh ip . A l th o ug h
some key information is s t i l l unav a i l ab le , t he commit tee dec ided
t o d e l a y no l o n g er i n b r i n gi n g i t s c h o i c e t o t h e So c i e t y s m cn be r-
s h i p .
P l e a s e i n d i c a t e y ou r f i r s t , s ec on d a nd t h i r d p r e f e r e n c e by
placing numbers 1 2 and
3
i n t h e a p p r o p r i a t e b o xe s.
B e f o r e Af t e r
S Meetings
N e w
Orle ans, e ar l y May
Meet ings Hou sto n, Nov. 26 Dcc.
2
A
M e e t i n g s Se a t t l e , n i d - Ap r i l
y I n v i t a t i o n C a l g ar y , l a t e Ap r i l o r e a r l y May
y in v i t a t i on Berke ley , ea r l y May
Please
ma il t h i s s h e e t t o C Gar th Sampson, Chairman, Departme nt
of Anthropology, Souther n Methodist Univ ers i ty , Dal las , Texas 75275
be fo re Ju ly 15, 1975. The f i n a l announca1i:ent of t he 1977 venue, ba sed on t h
on t h i s b a l l o t , w i l l app ear i n th e ne xt is s uc of Nyame Akul:la,
David Lubcll
She ry l M i l c r
Ga rt h Samps on
SJAM Steer ing Commit tee