Some Recent Radiocarbon Dates from Eastern and Southern Africa

1977 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Maggs
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
West African ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Age Sequence ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

This Article follows in the series started by Fagan and continued for eastern and southern Africa by Phillipson, Sutton and Soper. The scope remains much the same, covering in time the later part of the Stone Age sequence as well as the Iron Age. Geographically, however, there are some changes: the Sudan has been excluded as it was covered by the recent review of North and West African dates, while a detailed chronological review of francophone Central Africa is in progress and therefore this region has been excluded.

New radiocarbon dates for Eastern and Southern Africa

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. G. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

This article is a follow-up to that of Mr D. W. Phillipson published in this Journal in 1970, and to the six earlier lists compiled for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa by Dr B. M. Fagan. I have endeavoured to include here all radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites of the Iron Age and most of those of the end of the Stone Age in the eastern and southern part of Africa—that is from Ethiopia, the Upper Nile and the Congo Basin southward—which have been published or made available since the preparation of the former articles. Some of these dates are already included in recent numbers of the Journal Radiocarbon, or have been mentioned in publications elsewhere, as indicated in the footnotes. A large proportion of these new dates, however, have not yet been published, and are included here through the agreement of the various individual archaeologists and research bodies, all of whom I wish to thank for their cooperation. In particular, I am indebted to Mr David Phillipson for his willing assistance in providing a number of contacts and relaying information from southern Africa.

The Prehistoric Sequence at Nakapapula Rockshelter, Zambia

1970 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 172-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
Age Sequence ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Considerable attention has recently been paid to the start of the Iron Age in East and Central Africa. One of the most interesting problems concerning this period is that of the relationship of the Early Iron Age farming people to the hunter-gatherers of the Late Stone Age whom they eventually displaced. Very few archaeological sites are known, and none have yet been published, which illustrate the Late Stone Age/Iron Age transition in Central Africa, and discussions of this and related problems have so far been largely based on conjecture. Evidence concerning this important transition was recently unearthed at Nakapapula rockshelter in the Serenje District of central Zambia. Here a long and relatively homogeneous Late Stone Age sequence of Nachikufan type was seen to continue into the 2nd millennium A.D., that is, well after the first appearance of Early Iron Age pottery at this site and elsewhere in Zambia. Nakapapula has also yielded the first archaeological evidence for the date of schematic rock art in Central Africa and confirmed its contemporaneity with the Early Iron Age.

scholarly journals Patterning in Recent Radiocarbon Dates from Southern Africa as a Reflection of Prehistoric Settlement and Interaction

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Parkington ◽  
Martin Hall
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Population Movement ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Last Two Millennia ◽  
Ebb And Flow

Radiocarbon dates published by southern African archaeologists since the last review in this journal (in 1980) illustrate an increasingly complex record of population movement and interaction. Substantial gaps in the distributions of dates reflect the ebb and flow of people in response to changing environmental and social circumstances. More interesting perhaps is the range of intergroup relations now emerging from the last two millennia with the appearance of pastoralists and agriculturalists. Radiocarbon dates, taken along with spatial and formal patterns in the archaeological record, show clearly that the distributions between hunters, herders and farmers and between Stone Age and Iron Age communities were blurred and flexible.

New Evidence of Human Activities During the Holocene in the Lowland Forests of the Northern Congo Basin

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Morin-Rivat ◽  
Adeline Fayolle ◽  
Jean-François Gillet ◽  
Nils Bourland ◽  
Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Intermediate Phase ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Bimodal Distribution ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Botanical Remains

In the last decade, the myth of the pristine tropical forest has been seriously challenged. In central Africa, there is a growing body of evidence for past human settlements along the Atlantic forests, but very little information is available about human activities further inland. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the temporal and spatial patterns of human activities in an archaeologically unexplored area of 110,000 km2 located in the northern Congo Basin and currently covered by dense forest. Fieldwork involving archaeology as well as archaeobotany was undertaken in 36 sites located in southeastern Cameroon and in the northern Republic of Congo. Evidence of past human activities through either artifacts or charred botanical remains was observed in all excavated test pits across the study area. The set of 43 radiocarbon dates extending from 15,000 BP to the present time showed a bimodal distribution in the Late Holocene, which was interpreted as two phases of human expansion with an intermediate phase of depopulation. The 2300–1300 BP phase is correlated with the migrations of supposed farming populations from northwestern Cameroon. Between 1300 and 670 BP, less material could be dated. This is in agreement with the population collapse already reported for central Africa. Following this, the 670–20 BP phase corresponds to a new period of human expansion known as the Late Iron Age. These results bring new and extensive evidence of human activities in the northern Congo Basin and support the established chronology for human history in central Africa.

Radiocarbon Dates for Sub-Saharan Africa: VI

1969 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
European Contact ◽  
The Third ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

The Sixth List contains many dates from Eastern and Southern Africa. An important sequence of dates from Malawi is published, indicating that the Iron Age there had begun as early as the third century A.D. The beginnings of the Zambian Early Iron Age are well established by the fourth century, while important new dates for ‘Dimple-based’ wares in Rwanda and Kenya place that pottery type within the same time span.The Palabora dates from the Transvaal indicate that the Limpopo valley was settled by Iron Age people by the eighth century, and numerous isolated samples are recorded. The five dates from Ife in Nigeria confirm that the terracotta sculpture there was being made before European contact, while numerous samples for earlier sites are published.

A Southern African Perspective on the Contribution of Charcoal Analyses to Archaeology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Chikumbirike ◽  
Marion K. Bamford
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
Climate Reconstructions ◽  
Medicinal Use ◽  
African Perspective

Southern Africa has a long and rich archaeological record, ranging from the Oldowan lithics in the Sterkfontein valley and Wonderwerk Cave (about 2 Ma) to Iron Age smelting (less than one thousand years ago) in Zimbabwe. A brief overview of charcoal analyses indicates applications in such areas as dating, vegetation and climate reconstructions, fuel use, medicinal use, and the interpretation of human behavior. Some of the research done in the 20th century mainly focused on charcoal for the purpose of dating, but this has diversified in the 21st century to include other applications. The focus is on South African sites, but research from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe is included. Southern Africa has a very diverse woody component with more than fifteen hundred species from a flora of more than twenty-five thousand species so the establishment of regional modern reference collections of charcoalified woods has been instrumental in improving identifications of the archaeological taxa. Early Middle Stone Age charcoal records show that a diversity of woody species was burned. By Middle Stone Age times, records show the selection of woods for fuel, tinder, and medicinal use as well as cooking of starchy rhizomes. Late Stone Age and Iron Age records, in addition, show the use of woods for smelting and intense fires.

Tea Party Toys? Classical Kisalian Grave Goods from the Upemba (D.R. Congo)

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre de Maret
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Age Sequence ◽  
Socioeconomic Organization ◽  
Rare Opportunity ◽  
Grave Goods

The continuous Iron Age sequence that connects the 10th century Kisalian in central Africa to the present day inhabitants of the area, the Luba, provides a rare opportunity to link archaeological data to ethnographic observations. Numerous Kisalian graves reflect the elaborate rituals and beliefs and the complex socioeconomic organization of that period. One of its intriguing aspects is the extensive use of various miniature objects as grave goods, for children and adults. The widespread Luba practice of making miniature objects for their children, as well as in connection with the spiritual world, is thus likely to date back many centuries and testifies to the symbolic qualities of miniatures.

scholarly journals Pretoria Radiocarbon Dates III

Radiocarbon ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1133-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
J C Vogel ◽  
Annemarie Fuls ◽  
Ebbie Visser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Northern Cape

This list contains 14C dates pertaining to the Stone Age in southern Africa and covers the region from Zambia in the north to Natal and the northern Cape Province in South Africa. The southern and southwestern Cape Province are not included. Descriptions are based on information supplied by the submitters.

THE IRON AGE IN WEST CENTRAL AFRICA: RADIOCARBON DATES FROM CORISCO ISLAND (EQUATORIAL GUINEA)

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-365
Author(s):  
MANUEL SÁNCHEZ-ELIPE LORENTE ◽  
ALFREDO GONZÁLEZ-RUIBAL ◽  
JESÚS F. JORDÁ PARDO ◽  
CARLOS MARÍN SUÁREZ
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Equatorial Guinea ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
West Central ◽  
Southern Cameroon ◽  
African Iron Age

AbstractOver the last few decades the number of radiocarbon dates available for West Central Africa has increased substantially, even though it is still meagre compared with other areas of the continent. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the Iron Age of this area we present and analyze a total of 22 radiocarbon dates obtained from sites from the island of Corisco (Equatorial Guinea). By comparing them with those from Equatorial Guinea, southern Cameroon, and coastal Gabon and Congo we intend to clarify the picture of the West Central African Iron Age and propose a more accurate archaeological sequence.

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