Archaeology in West Africa: A Review of Recent Work and a further list of Radiocarbon Dates

1982 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. G. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Northern Ghana ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
South Central ◽  
African Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

This article surveys the latest archaeological research and dating results for West Africa. For the Iron Age, recent fieldwork has been spread widely: especially noteworthy is that bearing on the history of ancient Ghana and Mali. Work on the Late Stone Age appears by contrast to have been rather patchy lately, although various palaeoecological researches continue to improve our understanding of the changing environments affecting West African populations over the last 10,000 years. In south-central Niger, moreover, remains of copper-smelting by a stone-using community are dated to around 2000 B.C. From the same region, as also from northern Ghana, comes further evidence for the inception of the Iron Age during the first millennium b.c.The article is prefaced by some critical comments on the citing and interpretation of radiocarbon datings in historical discussions, and on the meaning of ‘corrected’ and ‘calendar dates’.

New Radiocarbon Dates for Northern and Western Africa

1976 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merrick Posnansky ◽  
Roderick McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Emotional Problem ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Iron Working

Several significant trends are noted in the recent radiocarbon dates from North and West Africa. The early Khartoum Neolithic dates from Nabta Playa of the seventh millennium B.C. and the thermoluminescence dates from the Badarian of the sixth millennium, would appear to have redressed the balance for the time being in favour of the Nile Valley in the argument as to whether agriculture in the Nile Valley predates that in the Sahara. A more cautious approach might be to say that these dates emphasize the need for far more securely dated evidence before conclusions are drawn on this complicated, and often emotional, problem. The presence of sorghum in the first quarter of the first millennium A.D. at Jebel et Tomat provides the earliest direct evidence for this key African agricultural staple. Many interesting very late Stone Age dates have come from West Africa and indicate the contemporaneity of stone and iron using communities throughout the first millennium A.D. in certain remote areas. The dates of the Senegambia megaliths are clearly falling within the first millennium A.D. Dates for iron working in both Nigeria and Ghana are confirming that iron technology was well established by the first half of the first millennium A.D. The dates from Ife and elsewhere in Nigeria are clearly indicating that the ‘classic’ terracotta period, and also the pottery pavements, belong to the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. The state of research in North and West Africa reflects the well-known, but too often neglected, archaeological truism that researchers find what they are looking for and rarely more; the Iron Age emphasis in West Africa, and the Paleolithic-Epipaleolithic concentration in the francophone lands. Presumed general trends in these areas, particularly conclusions comparing development in North and West Africa, should be examined carefully for underlying sampling biases of an ideological as well as of a geographical nature.

Ancient Raw Copper from Primary Smelting Sites in Cyprus

2002 ◽  
Vol 712 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Fasnacht ◽  
J.P. Northover
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Metallic Copper ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Mining District ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Analytical Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Complete History

ABSTRACTFinds of metallic copper from various primary smelting sites in the Sia valley in Cyprus have been analysed by ICP-OES for their composition and by optical and electron microscopy for metallography. Results show a characteristic pattern of impurities for each of the sites examined which allow an assignment to specific types of ore body and geological matrix. Different zones of the Cyprus Ophiolite Complex were exploited in different periods in antiquity, but these results show different types could be exploited contemporaneously within a specific period, especially during the first millennium BC. One location in this area, Agia Varvara-Almyras, an Iron Age copper smelting site with the only complete chain of operation recorded in ancient Cypriote metallurgy, is used to show how analytical work can guide future field surveys to find ancient furnaces, slag heaps and mines. The ultimate goal of the project is to extend it to reconstruct the complete history of copper production in a well-defined mining district over the last 4000 years.

Recent Archaeological Research and Dates from West Africa

1986 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Keech McIntosh ◽  
Roderick J. McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Inland Niger Delta

This article reports over 250 new radiocarbon dates relevant to recent archaeological research in West Africa. Thanks to the continuing trend towards series of dates from either single sites or groups of related sites, some major blanks on the archaeological map of West Africa have been replaced by well-dated regional sequences. An example is the Malian Sahara, where palaeoenvironmental and archaeological investigations at a large number of sites have clarified the relationship between Holocene climatic change and Late Stone Age occupation. Other areas that were largely archaeological unknowns until the research reported in this article was undertaken include the middle Senegal valley, the Inland Niger Delta, and the Bassar region in Togo. Other research included here reinterprets previously studied, ‘classic’ Late Stone Age sequences, such as Adrar Bous, Kintampo and Tichitt. There are also new dates and details for early copper in Niger and Mauritania which prompt a reconsideration of the true nature of this proposed ‘Copper Age’. Of particular significance to general reconstructions of West African prehistory is the documentation of regional and long-distance trade accompanying the emergence of complex societies along the Middle Senegal and Middle Niger in the first millennium A.D.The article begins with a brief commentary on calibration, in view of the recent publication of high-precision calibration curves. Several prevalent misconceptions of what calibration is and what it ought to do are addressed. We suggest that archaeologists and historians should routinely make reference to calibration in order to avoid misinterpreting radiocarbon results.

Radiocarbon Dates for Sub-Saharan Africa—IV

1966 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Age Range ◽  
First Time

The fourth radiocarbon list contains many new and important dates. Only isolated readings are still available from West Africa, but some later Iron Age sites have recently been dated. The first samples for the Kenya Highlands date food production in that region to the first millennium b.c., while important dates from Uganda confirm the traditional datings of Bigo and Bweyerore. Samples from Kilwa on the Tanzanian coast are somewhat at variance with other dating evidence.Dates for the Angola Iron Age range between a.d. 760 and the fifteenth century, while the Leopard's Kopje industry of Rhodesia has been dated for the first time.The list is completed with many isolated dates from all parts of the subcontinent.

scholarly journals Khyadag and Zunii Gol: Animal Art and the Bronze to Iron Age Transition in Northern Mongolia

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 909-933
Author(s):  
William W. Fitzhugh ◽  
◽  
Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Personal Identification ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Northern Mongolia ◽  
Gornyi Altai ◽  
History Of ◽  
Animal Art ◽  
New Research

The Late Bronze Age Mongolian culture known for its memorial deer stones and khirigsuur burials, the Deer Stone-Khirigsuur complex (hereafter DSK) dating to 1300–700 BCE, displays persistence over several hundred years. Radiocarbon dates from hearths and horse remains associated with these sites show little change in architecture, ritual practice, and iconography, giving the impression of an unchanging mortuary cultural regime. New research demonstrates that deer stones are memorials to recently deceased leaders that display distinctive features of personal identification within the unifying framework of an over-arching religious theme represented by deer-bird iconography. Despite continuity, the DSK complex is not monolithic. This paper presents evidence for regional cultural and chronological variation in deer stone art and ceremonial activity based on research at the Khyadag and Zunii Gol sites in northcentral Mongolia. Areal excavation, detailed survey, and recording of deer stone art revealed the presence at Khyadag of a new class of miniature deer stones and evidence of copper smelting, and at Zunii Gol — an unusual khirigsuur associated with a deer stone carrying elements of Scytho-Saka animal style art. These data indicate geographic and chronological overlap in V. V. Volkov’s deer stone types and changes in deer stone art and khirigsuur ritual in the later period of the DSK complex. In the future, emphasis needs to be given to broad excavation strategies that explore the contextual history of individual DSK sites, dating of Volkov’s Type II and III deer stones, and regional comparisons with Xinjiang, Baikal, and the Mongolian and Gornyi Altai.

scholarly journals Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. eabe4414
Author(s):  
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone ◽  
Elmira Khussainova ◽  
Nurzhibek Kahbatkyzy ◽  
Lyazzat Musralina ◽  
Maria A. Spyrou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Gene Pools ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

The Scythians were a multitude of horse-warrior nomad cultures dwelling in the Eurasian steppe during the first millennium BCE. Because of the lack of first-hand written records, little is known about the origins and relations among the different cultures. To address these questions, we produced genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. We uncovered major admixture events in the Late Bronze Age forming the genetic substratum for two main Iron Age gene-pools emerging around the Altai and the Urals respectively. Their demise was mirrored by new genetic turnovers, linked to the spread of the eastern nomad empires in the first centuries CE. Compared to the high genetic heterogeneity of the past, the homogenization of the present-day Kazakhs gene pool is notable, likely a result of 400 years of strict exogamous social rules.

scholarly journals The excavation of pit circles at Romancamp Gate, Fochabers, Moray, 1990

1994 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Council ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Mesolithic Period

The excavation was undertaken with the funding and support of Grampian Regional Council to test hypotheses relating to the interpretation of cropmark pit circles: were they Neolithic or Bronze Age ceremonial or funerary structures, or were they Iron Age houses, and to what extent could the two classifications be differentiated on aerial photographs? The excavation revealed the remains of four circles (between 8.5 m and 11.5 m in diameter) of large post- holes, fence lines (one with a gate), and many other pits and post-holes. Radiocarbon dates place the post circles late in the first millennium BC uncal. The pit circles may be interpreted as the main structural elements of four substantial round houses, two of which burned down. Flint tools of the Mesolithic period were recovered.

HUNTING REPUTATIONS: TALENT, INDIVIDUALS, AND COMMUNITY IN PRECOLONIAL SOUTH CENTRAL AFRICA

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHRYN M. DE LUNA
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Technological Basis ◽  
South Central ◽  
The Face ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Longue Duree ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Foregone Conclusion

ABSTRACTThe familiar mystique of African hunters was not a foregone conclusion to the practitioners, dependents, and leaders who created it. Late in the first millennium, Botatwe farmers’ successful adoption of cereals and limited cattle sustained the transformation of hunting from a generalist's labor into a path to distinction. Throughout the second millennium, the basis of hunters’ renown diversified as trade intensified, new political traditions emerged, and, eventually, the caravan trade andmfecaneravaged established communities. The story of Botatwe hunters reveals alongue duréehistory of local notables and the durability of affective, social dimensions of recognition in the face of changes in the material, political, and technological basis sustaining such status.

Early evidence for chickens at Iron Age Kirikongo (c. AD 100–1450), Burkina Faso

Antiquity ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (327) ◽  
pp. 142-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Dueppen
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Gallus Gallus ◽  
Additional Source ◽  
Early Evidence ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Both Bones

An excavated sequence from Burkina Faso shows that the Asian jungle fowlGallus gallus, also known as the chicken, had made its way into West Africa by the mid first millennium AD. Using high precision recovery from a well-stratified site, the author shows how the increasing use of chickens could be chronicled and distinguished from indigenous fowl by both bones and eggshell. Their arrival was highly significant, bringing much more than an additional source of food: it put a sacrificial creature, essential for numerous social and economic transactions, in reach of everyone.

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