NEW RADIOCARBON DATES FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN PARTS OF IGBOLAND, SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT This paper presents new results of radiocarbon (14C) ages from archaeological sites in northern Igboland. The study was designed to shed more light on early human occupation and activities in the study area based on sediments from cave and iron-smelting sites. The approach consisted of ethnographic, archaeological, palynological, and slag analyses; these were complemented with 14C dates. The technology adopted as well as the paleoenvironmental conditions that prevailed during the period of human settlement in both sites was revealed. These data, complemented by 14C dates, highlight the human behavioral and subsistence patterns within the region and are comparable to those from similar sites in southeastern Nigeria.

Mobility and Subsistence Patterns among Mid-Holocene Pastoralists in East Africa

Pastoralism in eastern Africa was characterized by a form of niche broadening and diversification when viewed within the context of mobility and subsistence patterns. In East Africa, Pastoral Neolithic cultures entail those groups who herded domesticated animals and used stone tools and ceramics as part of their subsistence package. Climatic and demographic pressures after 6,000 bp pushed Neolithic pastoralists living in the Nile River Valley southward toward East Africa, where they encountered savanna habitats that were ideal for herding. Pastoralist mobility and subsistence patterns are reviewed from the perspective of how animal herders occupied distinct niches on the landscape. The development of the Pastoral Neolithic was lengthy and complex. The current state of archaeological evidence for early pastoral cultures in East Africa are examined to evaluate how prehistoric herders may have varied their mobility and subsistence patterns so as to opportunistically exploit specific ecological niches in the landscape. The exchange and mobility networks are also examined on how pastoralist groups in new lands exploited those networks with local foragers so as to acquire familiar resources in unfamiliar landscapes. The role of forgers as active participants in the inception and spread of pastoralism is reviewed. Finally, the social organization and groupings that necessitated these early herders to come together and build megalithic monuments is examined, highlighting how pastoralists had come together in times of severe aridity to build megalithic structures that served as a reminder of their shared identity. The early herders tended to have been less mobile, since resources were plenty and predictable. Later on, as aridity intensified, pastoralists adapted a broad-based subsistence pattern. When placed within the larger paleoenvironmental and cultural context, pastoralists adapted their mobility and subsistence to specific ecosystems based on the potential of the land to provide adequate sustenance for themselves and their livestock. Pastoralists also needed to adjust to several challenges specific to different ecological niches they occupied, such as livestock diseases, predation, as well as severe droughts. In understanding the prehistory of eastern Africa, pastoralism is fundamental: pastoralism formed the foundation of the transition to food production, spread widely, and has persisted as a primary subsistence system in the region over three millennia.

Emergence and Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan

Indus Valley Civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world dating back to 7000BCE. The explored sites of the civilization span present day Pakistan and India. The following paper explore the Indus Valley Civilization through the sites in Pakistan. The paper highlights feature of various stages of the Indus Valley, for example, Early Food Producing Era (7000-4000 BCE), Regionalization Era – Early Harappan Era (4000-2600 BCE), Integration Era (Early Harappan Phase) (2600 – 1900), Localization Era (Late Harappan Phase) (1900 – 1300), and Indus Valley from 1300 BCE to Present. In doing so, the paper discusses the geography, environment, material culture, subsistence patterns, political and social organization of each era. Finally, it explores the various theories of decline of Indus Valley Civilization, drawing on various sources. In the conclusion, the paper provides recommendations for future focus on the archaeological sites in Pakistan enhance our understanding of the civilizations.

Large mammal exploitation during the c. 14–11 ka Oakhurst techno-complex at Klipdrift Cave, South Africa

Understanding how hunter-gatherers adapted to the marked environmental changes of the last glacialinterglacial transition (~18 to 11.7 ka cal. BP) remains a key question for archaeologists. South Africa, with its rich and well-preserved archaeological sequences, has a major role to play in this study. Reconstructing the subsistence strategies of people during the Later Stone Age (LSA) is crucial for investigating human– environment interactions at this period in South Africa, yet data are scarce. Recent excavations at a new LSA site, Klipdrift Cave, in the southern Cape, revealed c. 14–11 ka levels with excellent faunal preservation associated with an Oakhurst lithic industry. Taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of these levels show an almost exclusive accumulation of large mammal remains by LSA groups, with evidence of meat removal, marrow extraction, fire use and the preferential import of nutritious elements back to the site. Large mammals from the site indicate a relatively stable environment dominated by open grasslands that is in accordance with isotopic analyses, with only subtle diachronic variability. Comparison of faunal dynamics with changes in lithic industries, shellfish density and composition reflects complex, asynchronous changes in the macromammal, micromammal, shellfish and lithic records throughout the Oakhurst levels. Rather than evidence of a strong impact of global climate change, Klipdrift Cave shows subtle shifts in subsistence patterns and technology that are better explained by internal societal dynamics and the history of the Oakhurst techno-complex, or local changes in site occupation and direct environment. Significance • LSA archaeological sequences can document the impact of the marked environmental changes of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition on hunter-gatherer societies. Studies of past subsistence strategies are central to our understanding of human–environment interactions in these contexts. • Zooarchaeological, taphonomical and palaeoecological analyses of the large mammal remains from the excavated LSA sequence at Klipdrift Cave provide new data on these interactions. The data highlight asynchronous changes in subsistence patterns, lithic technology and local environment, supporting a complex interplay between climate change, local environment, societal changes and human prehistory. • Klipdrift Cave data set also shows that excavation and analytical choices can strongly bias faunal analysis and environmental reconstructions based thereon.

Eruptions and Disruptions

This chapter takes on a long-term perspective on key trends in the historical ecology and political ecology of Native American landscapes during the colonial era. It examines how climate change may have impacted landscape adaptation both prior to and after the arrival of Europeans. There is a detailed overview of Native American plant and animal exploitation, and how subsistence patterns changed from the 1500s to the 1800s.The chapter also devotes considerable attention to the importance of the deerskin trade in Indigenous landscape economies, and the rise of enclosure and private farms following the American Revolution. These trends are explained in terms of transformations in ideological as well as materialist views of the landscape.