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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



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 .



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 .



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 -



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



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 .



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:



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:



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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 .



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 .



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.



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.



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.



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



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



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.



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



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


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) .



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



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



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



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



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



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



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 .



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.



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 .



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



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 .



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



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



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.



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 '.



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 .



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,


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



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



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



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 .



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



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 ,



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 .



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



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 .



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:



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



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.



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.



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 .



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).



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

nyame akuma issue 008

Documents