The Archaeology and Ethnography of Central Africa

The Archaeology and Ethnography of Central Africa provides the first detailed description of the prehistory of the Loango coast of west-central Africa over the course of more than 3,000 years. The archaeological data presented in this volume comes from a pivotal area through which, as linguistic and historical reconstructions have long indicated, Bantu-speaking peoples expanded before reaching eastern and southern Africa. Despite its historical importance, the prehistory of the Atlantic coastal regions of west-central Africa has until now remained almost unknown. James Denbow offers an imaginative approach to this subject, integrating the scientific side of fieldwork with the interplay of history, ethnography, politics, economics, and personalities. The resulting “anthropology of archaeology” highlights the connections between past and present, change and modernity, in one of the most inaccessible and poorly known regions of west-central and southern Africa. Cover The Archaeology and Ethnography of Central Africa Title Copyright Contents Figures Tables Acknowledgments 1 Behind the Scenes of Research Introduction Arrivals Landscapes and Constructed Meanings The Mayombe Mountains: Guardian of the Eastern Gateway to Loango The Mundane Logistics of Archaeological Fieldwork 2 Pride and Prejudice: Big Oil, Eucalyptus, and the People without History Beginnings The Oil Business Back at Camp Eucalyptus and the People without History Larger Issues of Prejudice Bernard Gets the Last Word 3 Natural and Cultural Environment Geomorphology Late Holocene Climate The Cultivated Environment Agriculture Domesticated Animals Hunting and Fishing The Contemporary Environment Dryland Savanna Seasonally Flooded Grassland, Forest, and Marsh Coastal Thickets, Cirques, and Mangrove Forests Rainforest Sacred or Medicinal Trees of the Coastal Savanna Fishing Marine Freshwater Hunting Bush Meat (Gibier) 4 Preservation: Heritage and Reconnaissance Where Legend and Archaeology Intersect Archaeological Surveys Initial Discoveries Reconnaissance of the Eucalyptus Plantations Methodology Results Pre-Ceramic Later Stone Components (1300–100 BC) Ceramic Later Stone (1300–50 BC) Phase 1 (1300–500 BC) Phase 2 (500–50 BC) Early Iron Age (150 BC–AD 800) Herringbone Ware Sites (150 BC–AD 650) Carinated Broadly Grooved Ware (AD 400–600) Spaced Curvilinear Ware (AD 600–900) Later Iron Age Precontact LIA (AD 1100–1500) Historic Period (AD 1500–1900) European Imports Shell Middens Spatial and Cultural Chronology The Serendipity of Beautiful Objects 5 Ceramic Later Stone Age Excavations The Ceramic Later Stone Age or “Neolithic” Archaeology and Cultural Classifications Later Stone Age Occupations: Gray Sand, Kayes, and BP 113 Gray Sand Kayes BP 113 Ceramic LSA Sites: Tchissanga, Mvindou, and Lamba Phase 1 CLSA: 1300–400 BC Tchissanga Lamba Ceramics Non-Ceramic Materials Phase 2 CLSA: 500–100 BC Mvindou Feature Descriptions Ceramics Conclusion 6 The Early Iron Age Introduction Early Iron Age (EIA) Phases 1 and 2: Excavations at BP 113 and Kayes BP 113 Features Pits Hearth Iron and Copper Lithics Ceramics Shape Temper Firing and Surface Finish Vessel Typology Summary Iron and Lithics Ceramics Shape Temper, Firing, and Surface Finish Decoration Vessel Classes Kayes Summary Kayes Early Iron Age Phase 3: Madingo-Kayes and Lac Ndembo Madingo-Kayes Lac Ndembo Iron and Lithics Ceramics Shape Temper, Firing, and Surface Finish Vessel Classes Lac Ndembo Summary An Unexpected Digression from Research 7 Later Iron Age Sites and the Historic Period The Later Iron Age Phase 1 Later Iron Age: AD 1100–1500 Condé Loubanzi Ceramics Lithics, Fauna, and Metal Lithics Fauna Metal Phase 2 Later Iron Age: The Historic Period (AD 1500–1900) Bwali or Bouali, the Capital of Loango Indigenous Money: Salt and Weaving Cloth and the Slave Trade The End of the Slave Trade and Colonial Rule A Less-Well-Known, but Lasting, Consequence of the Slave Trade 8 Opening Pandora’s Box: From Loango to the Okavango Introduction Languages Bantu Languages “Khoisan” Languages Pygmy Languages? Food Production Domesticated Crops Domesticated Animals Goats Sheep Cattle Pottery and Iron Working Early Iron Age Ceramic Traditions Metalworking The Later Iron Age: AD 1100–1800 9 Summation The Ceramic Later Stone Age The Iron Age The Late Prehistoric and Historic Periods The State of Cultural Heritage Management It Takes a Village ... Appendix Notes Behind the Scenes of Research Pride and Prejudice: Big Oil, Eucalyptus, and the People without History Natural and Cultural Environment Preservation: Heritage and Reconnaissance Ceramic Later Stone Age Excavations The Early Iron Age Later Iron Age Sites and the Historic Period Opening Pandora’s Box: From Loango to the Okavango Bibliography Index Behind The Scenes Of Research -- Pride And Prejudice : Big Oil, Eucalyptus, And The People Without History -- Natural And Cultural Environment -- Preservation : Heritage And Reconnaissance -- Ceramic Later Stone Age Excavations -- The Early Iron Age -- Later Iron Age Sites And The Historic Period -- Opening Pandora's Box : From Loango To The Okavango -- Summation. James Denbow. Available In 2013. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 213-226) And Index.