nyame akuma issue 001

8/10/2019 Nyame Akuma Issue 001

1/17

No.

A

NEWSLETTER O AFRICAN ArlCHAEBLOGY October 1972

Edited by

P.L.

Shinnie

and

issued from the Department of Archaeology.

The

Univ ersi ty of Calgary, Calgary, Alb erta ,

T2N

1N4, Canada.

When th e Fi r s t meeting of Af ri ca ni st Archaeol ogiststt was h e ld

a t

Urbana, I l l i no is i n Apr i l 1971 i t was dec ided tha t i t would be of bene-

f i t t o a l l those concerned with African archaeology

who

were based i n North

America i f a Newsletter w r t o be issued. The aim being t o publ ish quick ,

b r i e f , f i r s t r e po r ts on

f i e l d

and o ther research pro je cts

as

well

as

t o con-

t a i n news of

a

more personal nature concerning the movements

a n d a c t i v i t i e s

of colleagues. I r ash ly o f fe red t o produce th e f i r s t numbers, u s ing a s f a r

as poss ible , th e reso urce s of th e Department of Archaeology i n the Universi-

t y of Calgary This

wa s

thought t o be appropriate since Calgary i s unusual,

though no t now unique, amongst North American u n i v e r s i t i e s i n having a Depart-

ment of Archaeology qui te d i s t i n c t from t h a t of Anthropology.

Th e

s p e l l i n g

i s not an English idios.yncracy i t i s so sp el le d by the Univers i ty .

I

anologise

f o r t h e d e l a y i n producing the f i r s t number, a p a r

and

a

h a l f a f t e r t h e d e c is i on w s taken,

but have been i n th e f i e l d n the

Sudan,

twice

s in ce t h a t d at e.

I now hope t o produce a number e very s i x mon-

th s with publ icat ion dat es of 1st October and

1st

April.

There are a number of questions on which T would l i k e th e advice

of readers. A

t i t l e

has been

a

problem and

I

c on si de re d t h a t t o c a l l t h e

new publication by

i t s

s u b - t i t l e A Newsletter of African ArchaeologyN

would

be

uninspiring. The

t i t l e

chosen,

a t least

as

an interim measure,

i s

t h e

Twi

f o r

a

po li shed stone axe o r c e l t , l i t e r a l l y 'God's axe l , and a well

known and c ha r a c t e ri s t i c a nt i q ui t y of Ghana. I chose a t i t l e i n Tw i p a r t l y

because of

my

long asso ci at ion wit h Ghana and al so because t he U nive rsit y of

Ghana was the

f i r s t IJniversity i n sub-Saharan Africa t o have a Department of

Archaeology and

i t

seemed su i tab le that i t shou ld be noti ce d

i n

t h i s way.

The emblem on the cover i s from a rock drawing of

a

rh inoceros

from Abka i n t h e Sudan and

was

chosen p a r t l y because I thought

i t

r a t 1 . x

charming and also because

I

wanted t o pay t r ib u t e t o th e coun t ry i n which

most of

my

working l i f e has been spent.

I f r e ad e rs do no t l i k e e i t h e r

t i t l e

o r emblem t he y can

be

changed, but

I

have used t h e e d i t o r ' s ~ r i v i l e g e

f

mak

ing the f i r s t dacis ions .

Although the main aim of the news le t te r i s t o m a in ta in co n tac t be-

tween th ose based i n North America I do no t in tend tha t

i t

should be exclu-

sive and it w i l l be d i s t r i b u t e d t o any one working i n Afric an ar chaeology

who des ir es t o receive

i t

It w i l l al so car r y news about a c t i v i t i e s by those

based i n ot he r p ar t s of th e world tha n North America.

I i nt en d t o d i s t r i b u t e

the Newslet te r f r e e f o r the f i r s t few numbers,

but

ma y

i n time have t o ask

f o r

a

s m a l l subscr ip t ion I horn

t h i s w i l l not be necessary.

I

have given thought t o th e geographi cal and chro nolo gic al coverape

of 'Nyame Akuma' and proDose t h a t f o r t h e presen t

t

should include items on

the archaeology of a l J . = r i d s i n t he whole of Africa with the except ion o f

h i s to r i ca l t im es i n 3q-t and North Africa

pharaonic and l ~ ~ e rgqynt i s


2/17

excluded on the grounds t h a t Egyptology i s a sp ec i a l d esc ipl in e r a th e r

sep ara te from the archaeology t h a t most of

u s

practise, and

it

i s very

well served by the annual review published by Professor Leclant in

Oriental ia . His tor ica l times i n North Afr ica Libya, Tun isia , Alge-

r ia , and Morocco,

are

clo sel y associate d with th e archaeology of the

Near Eas t and cl a ss i c a l Greece and

ome

and do not therefore seem t o be

anp ropr iate ly handled here.

On th e o th er hand

i t

would

be

a r t i f i c i a l

t o exclude work on the pre hist ory of the se

areas

with i t s close associa-

t io n with the prehis tory of areas t o the south, so

i t m s

concerning pre-

historic North Africa

and

Egypt w i l l be welcomed,

The

Sudan

posed another problem s ince much of t he archaeolog y

of his to ri c times, from the

f i r s t

co nt ac ts with Egypt i n th e F i r s t Dynasty

is more clo se ly ass ocia ted with the north than t i s with the

rest

of

Africa. However i t seemed t o me absurd th at should exclude the mat eri al

i n which m most interested and on which continu e t o work. th er ef or e

propose t o includ e items from th e

Sudan

concerning

ll

periods.

This number i s r a th e r t h in and some of the news,

p a r t i cu l a r ly

concerning the Urbana conference i s out of date.

The improvement i n t he

content of Nyame

Akumal

w i l l l a rg e ly depend on rece ipt of news and views

from those interested.

The edi tor f inds that a t Calgary he i s almost

as

i so l a t ed s he would be i n the middle of Darfur and is not able t o provide

much information from h i s own sources o r from personal con tac t, s o asks

that there should be a st eady flow of news items. can only pub lish w h t

receive.

have had some diacussion with Dr.Swartz concerning the r el at io n-

sh ip between 'Nyame Akumal and Underground

West

Africa which he

i s

now edi-

t ing.

When our newsl et te r w s proposed a t Urbana

w s

unaware that Under-

ground West Africa was continu ing and t h a t Mr.Flight was passing co nt ro l t o

Dr,Swartz. Although the re i s the ~ o s s i b i l i t y f some over lap and duplica-

t i on we consider th at no gre at harm

w i l l

come of t h i s

and

we

w i l l

leave i t

t o the f utu re and t o the d esi res of the readers t o see how the two publica-

tions develop.


3/17

SEOND MEETING

O

AFRICANIST ARCHAEOLOGISTS

The following letter concerning this meet in^ has been circulated,

t i s

repeated here

s

received:

Southern Methodist University

Department of Anthropology

Dallas,

Texas 75222

Dear

Colleague

During the F i r s t Meeting of Af ric ani st Archaeologists, held i n Urbana i n

1971,

a

committee of three

w s

elec ted t o car ry out the wishes of the par-

ti ci pa nt s. More important than the se le ct io n of

a

suitable new name w s

the d esi re t o hold addit ional meetings every other year bringing

fessionals from

areas

adjacent t o Africa who could contribute t o ei th er

advancements i n methodology or t o the understanding of e xt ra cc on ti ne nt al

relat ionships.

I n pursuance of th es e wishes, prel iminary plans a re now being formulated

for the Second Meeting of American Africanists.

After consideration, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas was

ohosen

s

t h e s i t e ,

and

the weekend of April 20 through 22nd,

1973,

w a s

chosen as the time.

The format of the meeting w i l l be ess ent ial ly s imilar t o the f i r s t meet-.

ing; an inv ite d paper, a session given over t o shor t repor ts on curre nt

research, four symposia on se le ct ed to pi cs , and a forum t o di sc us s mutual

problems of interest

and

the future of the meetings.

The symposia which have been suggested are the following:

1 Current Research

2 Settlement and In t ra s i t e Pa t te rn ing Stud ies ;

Their

Present Status .

3 Northeast African Prehistory and Pleistocene Geology;

Their Bearing on Adjacent Areas

4 Adaptive Variability during the MS I S

5 The present and Future of Iron Age Studies

These, of course,

re

ten tat ive , and su bs ti tu te symposia

w i l l

be considered

gladly

by the committee.

While a grant w i l l be subni t ted t o cover t ra vel costs of the part ic ipants ,

there

is

no assurance that t w i l l be funded.

Thus,

t

i s

most important

th at those planning t o at tend attempt t o secure tra ve l funds from th e ir

respect ive ins t i tu t ions .


4/17

Cont

Id

The success of t he F i r s t Meeting of Af ri ca ni st Archaeologists sug gests

that continued meetings w l l

be

of considerable v lue t o

all

Therefore,

t

s

hoped t h a t you w l l

be

able t o par t i c ipa te .

In order to plan rea l i s t i c a l l y , t

i s

requested th a t you f i l l out the

enclosed questionaire and

r turn

t

s

soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Anthony E.Marks, Southern Methodist Uni ve rs it y

Karl

Butzer, Un ivers ity of Chicago

Charles Keller , University of I l l i n o i s


5/17

REPORT

ON

FIRST

MEXTING

OF

AFRICANIST ARCHAEOLOGISTS.

Univers ity of I l l in oi s , Urbana, Apri l 16th t o 18th.

1971.

Purpose.

In order t o maintain effec t ivene ss i n research, teaching

and

the

tra in i ng of s tudents , t he preact ic ioners of

a

science require access not

on ly t o p ub li cat io ns i n t h e i r d i s c ip l i n e , b u t a l so t o t h e i r co ll eagu es ,

wi th whom the y may di sc us s r ec en t developnents and general problems i n t h e i r

f ie ld . Afr ican is t a rchaeo log is ts , in part because, s a group, they re re-

latively young, a n d i n part because they are widely sca t te red both i n t he ir

u n iv e r s i t i e s and over the African continent, have lacked th i s e ss en ti al con-

ta ct . Nor has th e need f o r comuni cation been met by the conferences of the

es tab l i shed p rofess iona l soc ie t ies .

The Fi r s t Meeting of Af ri ca ni st Archaeologists w s ca l l ed t o a l lo w

person al communications t o be est abl ishe d between Afric ani st ar chaeo logists

and

Npara-archaeologistsfl a t u ni ve rs i t ie s i n North America, and t o devis e

w ys by which t h i s con ta ct , once obtain ed, might

be

preserved.

The need for

such

a

meeting

s

very adequately demonstrated

by

th e assembly i n Urbana of

no less than 7 fac u l t y and sen io r g raduate s tudents ( se e at tached l i s t ) ,

who had come from a l l over North America with no guarantee that

any

part of

t h e i r expenses would be reimbursed.

In the e vent, th e Wenner-Gren Founda-

ti o n came generously t o the rescue and provided support f o r tr av el .

The Meetine;.

a ) Research Report, papers, and discussion groups.

The meeting began on th e af te rnoon of t he s ix teen th wi th a demon-

s t ra t i on of P alaeo l i th ic materials from

Isimila

and other s i t e s by Charles

Kel ler , followed t h a t evening with a public le ct ur e and discuss ion on Recent

Excavations a t Meroe by Prof. Pe te r Shinni e

.

Over th e next two days the following papers and research r e ~ o r t s

were

given and discussed.

B a s i l

Cooke (~alhousie

Plio-Pleistocene correlations

i n

East

Africa.

Glyn Isaac (Berkeley

The akuru Basin survey.

a r l

Butzer

and

Mid-Pleistocene and Holocene S t r a t i f i -

(Chicago)

ca t ion and archaeology on the South

Africa Coast.

Fekri Rassan SMU)

Heavy mineral studies and Pleistocene

cl imate i n the Nile valley.

Augustus Sordinas

emph phis

S t a t e

Problems of st ra ti gr ap hy i n West Afri ca:

th e Stone Age s i t e

of

Manprobi, Accra,

Ghana.

Ben Swartz ( ga ll St at e ) Survey and Excavation in the

Upper

Da*

va ll ey , Volta reg ion , Ghana.


6/17

Charles Nelson (Berkeley)

Fred Wendorf (SMU)

J. Msmond Clark

Anthony Marks sMU)

Tam Hays sMU)

W i l l i a m

dam ( ~ e n t u c k y )

Peter Schmidt (~o r th wes ter n)

Nicholas David (~ennsylvania)

Nikolaas van der

Merwe

(SUNT,

Binghampton

.

Richard Krause ( ~ i s s o u r i )

The sig nif ica nce of v ar ia ti on among

L.S.A. occurrences i n E as t Afri ca.

Current Research i n Ethiopia.

Recent Research i n th e

i r and

Tdndd, Republic of Niger,

The Karat grouu: an e a r l y ceramic

b ea ring in d u st r y i n t h e c en t r a l

Nile,

Sudan.

The significance of wavy line mt-

t e r y a lon g th e cen t r a l

Nile,

Sudan.

Archaeology and Aswan:

an

envoi.

Recent Research on th e e a r l y Iron

Age of the In te r l ac us tr in e area.

Pre-, Proto, and Par a~B ant u.

The Phalaborwa Ir on Age p ro jec t .

The theoret ical and methodological

bas i s fo r the s tudy o f ceramics

from the Phalaborwa distr ict .

Rebord Scully SUNY Binghampton)

The et hn ohi st ory of th e BaPhala-

borwa.

arry Robbins (Michigan s t a t e )

Turkana

material

cul ture and t s

impli cati ons f o r archaeology.

These papers

w i l l

be abstra cted i n the Newsletter which i s t o be produced

as

a

d i re c t re su lt of t h i s meeting (see below). (Only four ab st ra ct s have been

received. They ar e published below. ~ d i t o r

In addi tion t o the papers l i s t e d above Glyn Isaac l e d a session on

Method and Mensuration i n Pa l ae ol i th ic Archaeology. This di sc us si on should

p nnit

Stone Age sp ec ia l i s t s t o s tandard ize t he ir p rocedures fo r th e metr ic

and a t t r i b u t a l a n a l y s i s

o f t h e i r art i facts in such

a

way

as

t o ens ur e

f u l l

comparability between the results of di ff e re nt workers.

This session provides

an ex ce ll en t example of th e usef ul functi on of such an informal Meeting, f o r

minor di ff er en ce s i n mensuration, which can only be i roned out by face t o face

d iscuss ion , have con t r ibu ted very la r ge l y t o the d i f f ic u l t i es of r e l a t i ng in -

du s tr ie s from one major a re a t o another.

b) Business Meeting.

The business meeting w s hel d on Fri day 17 th Apri l under Prof. Clark

and Prof. Shinnie, Co-Chairmen.

i

The

f i r s t o rder o f business was

an

acclamatory vote o f

th nks

t o th e Afrlcan St udi es Committee of th e Un iversi ty of I l l i n c i s


7/17

ii

and t o the Dept. of Anthropology of t he Unive rsi ty of I l l i n o i s

fo r th e i r he lp i n sponsor ing the meeting,

and

t o t h e Wenner-Gren

Foundation f o r providing part ici pan ts t r av el expenses.

The pa rt ic ip an ts voted unanimously f o r t he establishment of a

periodic mimeographed Newsletter. The Newsletter i s t o c on t ai n

brief

f i e l d r e po r ts , s h o r t

art icles ,

and information on teaching

col le c t ion s, exchange of s l id es , opportuni t ies f o r s ti rdent f ie ld -

work, e tc . The f i rs t number w i l l conta in abs t ra c t s o f the papers

resented

a t

the F i r s t Meet ing of Afr ica nis t Archaeologists .

Prof.

P L

Shinnie (Calgary) offer ed t o ed i t th e Newsletter which

w i l l

be

dist r ibuted and f inanced in

i t s

f i r s t year by th e Devt. of Archaeo-

logy of the University of Calgary.

The tenure of the ed i t or sh ip

i s

t o be for two years.

iii

The next order of business concerned the establishment of a s o c i e t y

of ar chaeologists conduct ing research i n

Africa

and res id ing i n the

U.S. and Canada. The pa r t i c ipan t s ,

af ter

considerable discussio n,

indica ted

a

preference fbr

an

infonnal associa t ion of

Old

World arch-

a e o l og is t s t h a t m ight a f f i l i a t e w it h

a

major na t ional vrofessional

organisat ion. committee (Kel ler , Rutzer , ~ a r k s )

s

then

se t

up t o

sound opinion fur t her , t o invest i ga te the or ganisa t ion and funct ions

of such a body, and t o de ci de fu r t he r a c t i v i t i e s o f t he F i r s t ( o r

second) Meeting of Africanist Archaeologists.

iv , The next order of business w s

a

discussion of a d r a f t r e s o l ut i o n

designed in

part s a

s ta tement o f co l l ec t ive e th ics ,

and, more

immediately, t o provide moral sup port f o r th e many in di vi du al s, mu-

seums, and profess iona l soc ie t i e s th a t a re a t t empt ing t o a id i n the

c o n tr o l of t h e i l l i c i t t r a f f i c i n a n t i q u i t i e s and works o f art.

I t

w s

presented by Nicholas David and Charles Keller.

The preamble w s

accepted without modificat ion and the resolut ions

as

amended

as fall-

ows

Whereas th e African he ri ta ge i s the patrimony of

a l l

mankind,

bu t more es pe ci al ly of t he people of Af ric a, and whereas,

as

h i s t o -

r i a ns of cu l tu re , we

are

professionally conscious of the unique role

of hi st or y i n the welding togeth er of peoples

nd

the moulding of

nations, and whereas th e na tu ra l hi st or ic al , archaeological , and

?r-

t i s t i c he r i t age o f A fr ic a cont inue s t o

be

~ l u nde re d y t he i gno ra nt

and

the unscrupulous,

Be it

re so lved tha t

we

va r t i c i pa n t s

a t

th e F i r s t Meeting of

Af ri ca ni st Archaeologists of North America, pledge our selve s t o do

o u utmost t o ensure th a t works of ar t and antiquity are recovered,

protected, and preserved that they

w y be

a v ai l ab l e t o

l l

f o r t h e

be ne f i t o f t h i s and future generat ions.

To t h i s end

we

w i l l : -

1

Cooperate with Africa n governments by continuin g t o

observe and s u p w r t the workings of An tiq uit ies

Laws

cur ren t ly in fo rce .

2

Urge the passage of f a i r and ju st

laws

and regulat ions

t h a t do not unduly impede t he schol ar i n hi s reconstruc-

t ion of t .e human past ,


8/17

Recognize our re sp on si bi li ti es t o our dat a, which are exhausti-

ble and irrepl aceab le, t o our colleagues and students,

and

most

par ti c u l a r ly t o t he peoples amongst whom w work.

Cooperate with African educational and s c i e n t i f i c i n s t it u t i o ns

and the i r s t a f f .

Par t ic ipate

s

we may

be

able both by encouraging African gov-

ernments t o support t he s tudy of archaeology by th e i r own na-

ti on al s and by as si st ing ourselves, i n the tr ain ing of Africans

t o work i n th e African contine nt and elsewhere.

Actively discourage th e i l l e g a l o r unethical export and import

of African ant iqui t ies

and

works of art.

Conference pa rti cip ant s voted t o accept the re sol utio n

as a

document

of co lle cti ve eth ia s th a t would not be

p ub li cl y d i s tr i b u t e d a t t h i s

time,

but which would be published i n the f i r s t is su e of th e News-

l e t t e r ,

v.

The f i n a l order of business

w s a

discussion of

a

s i te

designation

system f o r Afr ica based upon a f i f t e e n minute continent-wide gr id ,

presented by Charles Nelson.

t

was

voted t o delegate

M

Nelson as

a rep res ent ati ve of t h i s Meeting t o make a proposal t o t he Pan-Afri-

can Congress th a t a system of standa rdized s i t e designa tion

be

gene-

rally adopted with a view t o esta blishin g a s i t e index.

General Comments

and

Evaluation of the Meeting.

There was a very general fee lin g amongst the pa rti cip ant s th a t

th e Meeting; had been ne cessa ry and had been use fu l t o them.

One of us

N.D.) has subsequently received several letters commenting enthusiasti-

cally on the meeting and on th e fr ie nd ly and cooperative atmosphere i t

generated. We ourselves f e l t we learn ed a gr ea t deal. The re su lt s of

such an informal meeting are necessarily less immediately obvious than

those of

a

conference cal led t o discuss some sp ec if ic anthropological

problem. They ar e not, f o r t h a t reason, any l e s s valuable. W have

achieved direct communication between the majority of Africanist arch-

ae ol og is ts working i n North America.

t

le as t one joint project

i s

l ike-

l y t o develop as a direct result of the Meeting. Nor

is

the Meeting

l ik ely t o be the l as t of

i t s

kind, although th e format of f ut ur e meetings

w l l

depend upor. the work of the committee and upon whether or not a

society of Old World archaeologists

i s

founded i n America.

l l par t i c i -

pants expressed the hope that some similar conference might

be

h e l d a t

le as t b iennia l ly ,

Qui te apa rt from such futu re meetings, the est abl ish -

ment of the Newsletter w l l ~ e r m i t ontacts t o

be

maintained and

w l l

serve as a forum fo r the disc ussion of t he problems, whether te ch ni ca l

or other, facing African archaeology. In t h i s sense the contr ibution s of

the Meeting

w l l make themselves apparent over the years both n teaching

and in research.

Finally , the organisers would l ik e t o take t h i s opportunity of

expressing t h e i r g ra ti tu de t o the Wenner-Gren Foundation f o r t h e i r gene-

rous assistance and fo r th ei r pro m~titud e n granting our request fo r


9/17

support a t very short notice.

Nicholas David

fo r the Ad hoc Organising Committee

John Atherton

Nicholas David

Charles Keller.

ABSTRACTS OF P PERS FROM

URB N

CONFERENCE

The Significance of

Wavy

Line Pottery Along the Central

Nile, Sudan

T R Hays, Southern Methodist Un iversi ty.

The configu ratio n of cu lt ur e hi st or y along the Central. Nile during

the ea rl y 4t h millennium

B C

has remained generally unquestioned since the

pu bl ic at io n of A.J.Arkellls Ea rl y Khartoum. This model, which po st ul at es a

Culture

Area

extending outward from Khartoum, i s based on the occurrence

of what Ar ke ll ca l le d Wavy Linen and Dotted Wavy Linett po tter y.

This

p am r examines th e v a l i d i t y of t h i s model using d a ta from the Dongola Reach

and the Second Cataract.

In order t o fa ci l i ta te comparison of these Nilot ic s i t e s , the

Early Khartoum decor ative motifs were ree valuated, re su lt in g i n the in tr o-

duction of greater di f fe ren t ia t ion of Arkel l 's def in i t ions .

The decorative

motifs , combined wi th

a

technological analys is of the ceramics, ind ica ted a

reg ional d i f fe ren t ia t ion of s i t e s a long the Nile.

F ur th er t e s t s u t i l i z i n g

analy sis of the stone to ol typology and technology substanti ated t he dis-

parate nature of these

sites.

The re su lt s of t h i s research suggested th a t t he concept of a

un if ie d ItKhartoum Cultu re Arean must

be

reconsidered. t i s a ~ p a r e n t h a t

th e only common elements w e some zen er al iz ed t ra i ts (e.g. ground st on e,

microliths, and pottery) and the presence of

a

similar pattern of ceramic

decoration.

Because of t h i s common po tt e ry s t y l e , i t i s suggested that a

made1 based on an Early Khartoum Horizon St y le t t would b e t t e r express t h e

wide spread occurrence of t h i s p ot te ry design than a Culture Areav model.


10/17

THE K R T GROUP: AN EARLY CERAMIC BEARING OCCUPATION

O THE DONGOLA

REACH, SUDAN.

by

Anthony E.Marks Southern Methodist University.

Survey i n t he Dongola Reach, 400 km. north of Khartoum and 350 km.

sou th of t he Second Ca tar ac t, revealed 25 surface sites with h ighly d is t inc-

t iv e l i t h i c techno logy

and

typology,

as

we11

as

some ground stone and pottery.

These si tes occur on the Girra pediment, a fac ie s of th e lowest Nile formation

i n the a rea.

Although undated ra dio metr ical ly and geo logi call y, the po tt er y has

been c ro ss da te d by decorat ive technique

and

m ot if s t o t h e l a t e 4 t h m i l . H.C.

The c r i t e r i a used f o r t h i s dat ing include a di st in ct iv e zig-zag motif of

continuous li ne s on th in l i g h t brown burnished sherds which occurs i n both the

Ea rl y A-Group of t he Second Cat ar act and the Khartoum Neolithic a t Shaheinab.

A l l Karat Group si tes are small with l ow a r t i f a c t d en si t i es , l i t t l e

ground stone and pot te ry , but wi th a c le ar in t r as i t e pat te rning.

Technologi-

c a l l y , a unique f eatu re t o Nilo t ic wrehistorg i s the preheat ing of chert prior

t o to o l manufacture. Typ olog icall y, th e assemblages a r e hig hl y homogeneous

and dominated by various forms of scrapers,

although

a

few ~eometr ics ,perfo-

ra t e r s , den t i cu la t e s , e t c ., occur a s well.

The avai lable d ata in dica tes

few spec i f ic connect ions t o e i th er the

Earl y A-Group o r t o Shaheinab,

as id e from th e pottery. The se ttl em en t uat-

tern s, low den si ty of ar t i fa ct s, emphasis on scrapers , e t c . , all suggest a

model of temporary sea son al camps of goat her ders from th e step pe t o th e south.

TK O KHURST COMPLEX: TENTATIVE PROPOSALS

FOR

N W GROUPS

OF

INDUSTRIES IN THE

LAmR

STONE

AGE

O SOUTHERN AFRICA.

b rs

C.O.

Sampson, Southe rn Method ist Un iversity .

Fi el d r esear ch i n th e Orange Riv er Scheme ar ea confirmed t h e Dresence

of an industry previously label led t lSmithfield Al l by van Ri e t Lowe i n 1926.

Excavations a t Zeekoegat 12-13 -demonstrate t h a t

i t

precedes the l o c al Wilton

Industry and has no connection with the so-called Smithfi eld B C N

ct the his-

t o r ic and proto his tor ic per iod,

Late r Stone Age samples s t r a t i f i e d below Wilton

l e v e l s

i n

various pa rt s of Southern Africa cl os el y resemble the Y5mithfield

A f t .

An indus try charac teri zed by lar ge flak e scra pers of v arious designs and the use

of a simple ad,jacant-platform fl ak in g techniqu e, occurs bef or e th e Wilton com-

plex and a f t e r th e Howiesonspoort Umguzan in du s tr ie s.

It a ls o fo l lows the

as

y e t

unnamed) microblade industry found at some sites i n the Drakensber~ anre

and on the south Cape coast.

The term llOakhurst complexIt

i s tentat ively pronosed

sin ce Goodwin excavated the f i r s t s eale d sample from th e s i t e of t h a t name.

Three industries within the complex are suggested:

The Oakhurst Industry:

7

sealed samples from the Cam co as ta l zone.

The Lockshoek Industry: 11 sealed

s m l e s f rom the i n t e r io r pl a teau of South Afr ica.

The Pomongwan Industry: 4

sealed samples from Rhodesia

and

possibly Zambia. Large number of sur face s i t e

a l s o occur in a l l t h r e e areas.

Almost 20 associated Radiocarbon dates indicate

a

time-span of 15-7,000 8.C.

Fauna

i s

ass ocia ted with fi ve samples, but the

rc

por ts usua l ly m x the species l i s t s with the fauna of the overlflng Wilton

levels.


11/17

Altogether 17 human sk el et on s have been recovered from Oakhurst

levels

on the

Cape

coa st and craniometric camparisons suggest t h a t the y di-

f f e r i n morphology from th e l a t e r Wilton s k ul ls from the same area.

Common t o Oakhurst l eve ls

at

almost

all

s i t e s

are

thick beds of white

ash and charcoal containing the cu lt ur al mate rial and bones.

Elabora-

te boneworking occurs a t two co ast al s i t e s only but sev era l have ost-

ri ch eggs hell beads bone point s grindstones bored sto nes

and

pale-

ttes.

PLIO-PLEISTOCENE CORRELATION

N EAST

AFRICA

by

H.B.S. Cooke Dalhousie University.

New disco veri es i n East Africa have enables us t o recons-

t r u c t a reasonable pic tur e of mammalian faunas i n th a t region f o r the

past seven million years

and

toge ther with radiometric dat es t o de-

rive good correlations between the various sites.

The Suidae

nd

Proboscidea have proved t o be part icularly useful for correlat ion and

are discussed more f u l l y i n a paper by Cooke and Maglio now

i n

the

press from which the accompanying char t i s taken.

t i s now clear

that Bed

a t

Olduvai is approximately coeval with the top of the th ick

succession a t Omo.

Although the data from Koobi Fora are

s t i l l

inade-

quate f o r firm conclusions t o be made the f o ss i l material resembles i n

pa rt t h a t of the middle Omo sequence and i n p ar t suggests ove rlap wi t h

the Olduvai beds.

The Kanapoi Beds with an age close t o 4 million

years and the Lothagam

1B

ser i es est imated a t t o mi l lion years o ld

both contain scanty f o s s i l remains ascribed t o australopithec ines but t o

date no stone tools have been reported from these deposits.


12/17

Boston Ilniversity w i l l be i n i t i a t i n g an a r c h a e o l o ~ i c a l u r ve y

of t he Republic of Liber ia i n January,

1973, under the auspices of the

U.S. Educational. and Cu lt ur al Foundation i n Liber ia. The f i r s t st ag e of

t h e f i e l d p r o je c t

w i l l

cont inue un t i l th e end of th e ca lendar

year.

Par-

ticipants from North America

w i l l

include

Dr .

Creighton Gabel, di re ct or ,

and two Ph.D. s tuden ts , Miss Susan White and

Mr.

Robert Horden. Gabel

and Rorden will

be

suwported by Fulbright-Hays re se ar ch awards and

Miss

White by

a

fellows hi^ from the Canada Council.

Although th ere have been occasjonal un of fi ci al rep ort s

and

minor

salvage excava tions o r co l l ec t ions i n the pas t ,

as w e l l as

a b r i e f f i e l d

surve y by Dr.John Atherton i n

1968,

t h i s

w i l l

c o n s t i t ut e t h e f i r s t a rch-

aeo log ica l re search of any subs tan t i a l s ca le i n Liberia, which heretofore

has been largely a blank on the prehis tor ic map of Africa.

The f i r s t Canadian team t o work i n t h e Sudan was a t Meroe during

the period January

-

March 1972 under the leadership of P.L.Shinnie.

small

amount of exc ava tion was c a r r i e d ou t bu t t he main work

was

devoted t o

a

st ud y of th e mat er ia l found i n previous y ea rs when th e work had been under

th e auspices of th e Univ ersit y of Khartoum. Last winte r 's pr oj ec t

was

a

joint one of the Universities of Calgary and Khartoum.

After

a

perio d of over twenty yea rs , si nc e A.J.Arkel1 excavated

sites a t Khartoum and Shaheinab, work on th e Ne oli thi c i n th e c e n t r a l udan

has started once more.

Dr .

Krzyzanick commenced t o e xc avate

a t

Kadero,

about 30 mil es n or th of Khartoum on beh alf of th e P ol is h Centr e of Mediter-

ranean Archaeology and t he Archaeo log ica l Museum i n Poznan.

He re po rt s th a t

the pottery from the si te is

similar

t o t ha t from Shaheinab.

O f

s p e c i a l

i n t e r e s t

was

the discovery of two burials.

Pr of es so r Pu gl i s i of t he Un iv er si ty of Rome commenced work on t he

w e l l

known

s i t e

of

G e i l i a

l i t t l e fu r th e r nor th than Kadero. Thi s s i +e

l i e s wi th in the ra i lway s t a t i on a r ea and fo r

years

sur face co l l ec t ions o f

Shaheinab type material have been made here.

t

was repor ted i n t h e London TimesN t h a t Dr . Desmond Clark of

the Universi ty of California, Berkeley had received

a

British Academy grant

f o r work a t Shuwal on the White Nile. No fu rt he r d e t a i l s ar e ava i la ble

a t

present,

Other a c t i v i t i e s i n t h e

udan

were:

1

The Pol is h Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology a t t he Medieval

s i t e of Old Dongala.

2

The Universi ty of Pi sa

a t

the Pharaonic temple of Sedenga.

3

The .j oi nt Herry ~ . ~ l a c k m e r / ~ n i v e r s i t yf Geneva a t the Meroit.ic

s i t e of

Tabd.


13/17

4

The expedition of the Unive rsity of L il l e

a t Sai

Dr.TR.Hays, now of th e Uni vers it y of

exas

a t Arl ington

writes:

I

re ce nt ly completed a study sponsored by th e Smithsonian In st i t ut io n of

Predynastic

E m t i a n

ceramics. The st ud y involved an examination of th e

ceramic t e c h n o l a y i n an ef fo r t t o determine the e xtan t and type of rela-

tionships which may have existed between Predynastic Egyptian cultures.

A s

f a r as future f ieldwork

i s

concerned:

I

now have a grant proposal being

reviewed by the National Science Foundation.

The grant would

fund

research

in to the Sudanese Neolithic, centering around the excavation of the s i t e of

Shaqadud. This roc ksh elt er contains good st ra ti gr an hy and prese rvati on,

h i c h should provide in fomat ion on the da t ing of the cer 'mic indu s t r ie s i n

Sudan as well

s

on t h e i r economic adap tatio n (food producers o r not ).

GH N

Professor Posnansky of the University of Ghana excavated

a t

the s i t e of Begho

and

provides the following information:

1

Excavations were conducted a t Begho, Ghana f o r six weeks from July 29 a t

which a summer school attended

by

5 students from both Ghana and overseas

w s held. seve ntee nth cent ury house

w s

excavated i n the Brong quarter and

a Kintampo 'neol i th icl set t lement s i t e d w a t Mumute a kilometre away.

The

most notable discovery

a t

Begho

w s

two decorated ivory side blown trumpets.

The Begho Archaeological Research Centre

wa s

formally opened on August 20

a t

a colourful durbar of chiefs.

2

Miss Signe

Nygaard

of Bergen University

w i l l

join the s t a f f i n October

1972 as Univers i ty lecturer .

Mr.Lwanga-Lunyiigo, now on the

staff

of Makerere University, Kampala

w s

awarded his

M A

3

Volume

I

of Ghana F ie ld Notes by Oli ve r Davies was publ ished i n June

1972 a t 2.50.

MALI

M r C.Flight of th e Unive rs ity of Birmingham w i l l

be

e xc av at in g a t t h e s i t e

of Gao, c a ~ i t a l f th e l a t e medieval Songhai kingdom.

N I G E R I A

Professor F.Willet

was

back i n I f e during the spr ing working on hi s catalogue

raisonne of the

A r t

of If'e.

He hopes t o have th e s ec ti on on sto ne and me td

scu lp ture in the

Dress

by 'ihe end of th e 1972-73 academic p a r .


14/17

SOUTH AFRICA

D r N van d e r Merwe of

S.U.N.Y.

Binghamton writes

as

follows:

10 Somerset S tr e et

Uitenhage

C

P

South Africa.

I

am about t o

start a

year s f ieldwork i n South

Africa,

hence the

address.

To add t o the news let ter , the ref ore , some information on th e

work:

w

w i l l

be

i n th e f i e l d September 1972 September 1973, conduct-

ing

an

archaeological and ethnographic survey of the Transvaal Lowveld

(or most of i t ) .

The

expedit ion w i l l be based

a t

Phalaboxwa or near

i t

but can be contacted through th e above address f o r th e time being.

Team

members

w i l l inc lud e ( a t vario us ti mes) Mr.David Hall (doctora l s tudent ,

SUNY

Binghanton) Prof. Richard Krause ( ~ n i v . f Missouri)

and D r

Ward

Weakly ( ~ i s s o u r i ) . The

la t te r

w i l l s ta r t a dendrochronological study of

Lowveld with the

aim

of const ruct ing

a

master

char t .

Mr.Robert

S c u l l y

w i l l

a l s o

be in

the v ic in i ty , doing

an

eth noh ist ori cal stud y of t he Ba-

~halaborwa.

The exped ition s goa l

is

t o pu t previous work

a t

Phalaborwa

i n pe rspect ive by t rac ing ou t s ide l in ks and r e l a t i o n s h i ~ s .

W hope t o

get

i n t o Mozambique al so, t he government wi ll in g. Financing from N S F

A l l i t inerant archaeologists passing through Johannesburg are i n v it e d t o

make

a

sid e- t r ip t o Phalaboma vi a Connnairls d a i ly f l i gh t from

Rand air-

por t t o watch the

team

b a t t l i n g t h e l o c a l f a un a i n t h e

pursuit of pot-

sherds and truth.

Basil

Cooke (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada) is continuina

h i s work on the c or re la t i on of Pl io-Pleistocene events i n Southern Africa.

paper on the fossi l uidae of Olduvai i s nearinn completion, and one on

th e f o s s i l Suidae of Omo

i s

i n t h e e a rl y draf t sta ge. Although a gr ea t

d ea l more work needs t o be done bef ore firm co r re la ti o ns can be made

between the

East

African sequence

and

the cave deposi ts of South Africa,

i t now seems l i k e l y t h a t th e Kromdraai and Swartkrans dewosits

are no

younger than Red

I

a t Olduvai ,

and

the Sterkfontein and Makapan deposits

may

be as

old

as 2 5 3

mil l ion

years.

Further work on th i s pa r t ic ul ar

problem i s ~ l a n n e d o r nex t year .


15/17

EAST

AFR ICA

BRITISH INSTITUTE I N EASTERN AFRICA

The I n s t i t u t e has changed

i t s

name (formerly the B ri t ish In s t i t u t e

of History and Archaeology i n Eas t Africa) t o allow f o r expansion of i t s

f ie ld of ac t i v i t i es bo th mograph ica l , t o inc lude E th iop ia and Somalia,

and

d isc ip l inary , t o a l low for possib le research i n the f ie l d of e thnography

and

re la ted sub jec t s.

Excavations by the Director a t the s i t e of Manda on n i s land o f f

th e northern coa st of Kenya brought t o l i g h t important remains of

a

c i t y

which f lour ishe d from the nint h century onwards, decl inin g af t e r th e t hi r-

tee nth , and which evi de ntl y trad ed

w i t

the Persian Gulf. This repr esen ts

h i s las t excavations planned f o r the co ast and att en ti on

i s

being turned to

th e Aksumite kingdom i n Ethiopia.

An

archaeologic al survey of

si tes

o f t h i s

period i n Northern Tigre has rec ent ly been c ar ri ed out, with

test

excava-

t ions a t two s i t e s including s t ra t ig ra phi c examinat ion in the v ic in i t y of th e

s t e l a e

a t Aksum

Larger excavations ar e planned f or January t o March

1973

The Ass is ta nt Di re ct or , *.Robert Soper, has been occupied with an

in ve st ig at io n of th e I ro n Age c ul tu re s of Kenya and Northern Tanzania with

pa rt ic ul ar reference t o the Early Iron Age and the snread of ag ric ult ure

which

i s

bel ieved t o

be

re la te d t o the a r r iv a l of th e Bantu-speaking neoples.

In t h i s work he has been a s s i s t ed by Dr.Knut Odner from the Un ive rsi ty of

Bergen and by Mr.John Bower, both Research Fellows of t h e I n s t i t u t e ; i n addi-

t i o n ,

D r A l i

S ii ri ai ne n of th e Universi ty of Helsinki has worked i n coopera-

t i o n with the pro jec t. Excavations and ot he r work have been c a r r ie d out i n

the region of

M t .

Elgon, K i s i i Machakos, Nyeri and

in

t h e Nguu and Chyulu

H i l l s .

Reports on those asp ects of t h i s work which have not hi th e rt o k e n

published anpear i n Volume V I of Azania, a sp e c ia l number devoted t o t h i s

f ie ld .

In addi t ion, excavat ions have been ca rr ied out on s i t e s rel at in g t o

neo l i th ic cu l tu res of the f i r s t millenium

B C

char acte rised by the use of

st on e bowls and, to ge th er wi th Dr.Alan Jacobs, *.Soper has worked on ston e

cairns and hut c i rc le s1

i n

th e reg ion Ea st of Lake Rudolf. Mr.Soper

has

l e f t t he I n s t i t u t e t o ta ke up

a

post

a t

the University of Badan

Mr

Richard

Wilding, a Research Student of th e I n s t i t u t e has been occupied f o r the

past

two years on

a

de ta il ed stud y of th e e a rl y ceramics of th e Kenya coast.

Mr.Patrick Pender-Cudlip, S t a f f Hi stor ia n, has been mainly occupied with a

h i s t o r i c a l and anthropologic al study of Iramba i n Cen tra l Tanzania.


16/17

TANZANIA

Dr Glen Cole sends the following news:

Although

am

not planning ny f i e l d work i n t h e n ea r f u tu r e , an i t e m of

poss ib le i n t e r es t concerns

n

NSF grant awarded t o Dr M R Kleindienst

and myself t o penni t us t o prepare fo r publ icat ion our

material

from the

Isimila

s i t e

i n Tanzania. The pr oj ec t began i n janu ar y of t h i s p a r and

w i l l

run u n t i l t h e end of 1973.

Dr Kleindienst has been working on i t

h a l f t im e th i s ye r and

w i l l

con tinu e t o d o s o next year

I am sc he du le d

t o begin work on th e pr oj ec t on a h a l f time basis next January.

D r

J E G Sutton of the University of Dar es alaam draws a t ten t i on t o

t h e

l i s t s

of research i n progress which w i l l

be

pub li shed sh o r t ly i n

Azania VII

The newsheet Tanzania amani which i s published by the H i s

t or y Department of t he Unive rsity of Dar es Salaam and the Histor ical

Association of Tanzania al so conta ins information about archa eological

a c t i v i t i e s .

The last number, of

Ju l y

1972 car r ies

a

short report f rom

Mrs

I ~ a k e y n work

a t

Olduvai.

NORTH

AFRICA

Dr D

Lubell , Jni ver sit y of Alberta, Edmonton rep ort s on h i s inv est iga ti on

of escargot igres i n Alger ia as follows:

The obje ctiv e of t he proj ec ts

i s

t o t e s t

an

hypothesis that occupation

of t h e c a ~ s i a n s c ar go t id re s was a seasonal phenomenon.

To th i s end, a s h o r t

reconnaissance of t he regio ns of T eibe ssa and Ouled D j e l l a l was undertaken

du ri ng J u l y 1972, t o examine known s i t es and co l l e ct samples f or palaynological,

malacological and sedi ment ologi cal analyses. Prel imin ary [email protected] st ud ie s

have fa i l ed t o recover ide nt i f ia b le pol len from the cu l tu ra l deoosi ts . These

samples do, however, cont ain a pot en ti al ly i nt e re st i ng su i t e of non-molluscan

microfauna which may permit reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental conditions

prevail in^

d ur ing o ccu ~a t i o n f t h e s i t e s .

While no conclusions can be offered a t t h i s w r it i ng , i t i s now c l e ar t ha t

the problem

i s

f a r more com~ lex han o r i g i na l l y perceived and t ha t

i t s

inves t i -

gation w i l l requi re sever al addi t i onal seasons of f i e l d work fo r which fundinf-:

i s currently being sought.


17/17

UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA

BARBARA

D r B

Fagan reports:

The Uni vers ity of Ca li for ni a, San ta Barbara, has one of t h e

la rg es t anthropology departments i n t he world wit over 500 majors and

a small graduate program.

O u r

e f f o r t s

i n

African archaeology are mini-

m l compared with some institutions, but w have some ac ti ve res ear ch i n

progress which is worth report ing i n th i s f i r s t i ssue of the Newsletter .

Brian Fagan

i s

busy teaching

a

large introductory archaeology

course and i s al so ac tiv el y engaged

in

the analysis of the animal bones

from aima mound i n no rthe rn Nigeria. These re mainly from domestic

animals, predominantly ca t t l e , and includ e some swamp lo vin g spec ie s.

The report on these bones i s now being compiled. We a r e a ls o fi ni sh in g

work on

a

s e r i e s of r eports on Zambian Ir on Age mounds which

w i l l

be

published i n various journals over the next few years.

A

Guggenheim

Fellowship i n 1972-3 w i l l allow more ra pi d publ icati on of some of th es e

reports .

Another major project

i s

a chapter on Bantu origins co-authored

with Professor Roland Oliver of the School of Oriental

and

African Studies

i n

London for the Cambridge History of Africa.

Santa Barbara s only African archaeological graduate st ude nt,

Michael Bisson,

i s

a t p res ent i n Zambia working on e a r l y coppermining with

support from the National Science Foundation and Zambian copper companies.

Excavations at Kansanshi i n an e a r ly working and inv est iga ti on of nearby

copper working vi ll ag es have yielde d a s e r ie s of radiocarbon d ate s and

pot tery s ty les .

The dates begin in the l a t e f i r s t millennium

AD

and extend

up t o r ec en t times

When completed, t h i s rese ar ch

w i l l

t e l l

us

much about

ea r ly metal working i n c en tr al Africa.

Michael

w i l l

ret urn t o Santa Barbara

t o wri te h i s d iss er t a t io n i n summer 1973.

A t

present, owing t o fi na nci al s tringency,

w

have no plans t o

expand our graduate program i n African archaeology although from time t o time

w

w i l l be accepting students who f ee l th at th e i r in te re st s a re best sa+.is-

fied by working with us.

Future f i e l d work plans remain obscure un t i l a

number of pressing

publication commitmr~tshave been completed.

Large sc al e f i e l d work

i s

made

p a r t i cu l a r l y d i f f i c u l t bo th by heavy teaching commitments (over 1000 students

a year f o r me alon e) and such budget shortages th a t fa cu lt y going on leave

can no longer be replaced with s ub st it ut es during th e i r absence.

nyame akuma issue 001

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