Excavations at Walaldé: New light on the settlement of the Middle Senegal Valley by iron-using...

Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 4 (2), 2006, pp. 2**-2** 1

EXCAVATIONS AT WALALDÉ: NEW LIGHT ON THE SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE SENEGAL VALLEY BY IRON-USING PEOPLES

Alioune Deme & Susan Keech McIntosh

Résumé

Des fouilles à Walaldé révèlent que ce site, d’une su-perficie de 5 ha, fut occupé entre [800-550) cal BC et [400-200] cal BC par des agro-pastoralistes utilisant le fer. La phase d’occupation la plus ancienne semble témoigner une période de transition pierre-fer, avec une petite quantité de la pierre taillée associée aux objets en fer. La suivante phase d’occupation est associée à une présence importante de scories et de tuyères issues des activités de réduction et d’affinage et cinglage. En outre, du cuivre, portant la distinctive signature chimique des mines d’Akjoujt (Mauritanie) fut présent après 550 cal BC; démontrant des échanges et interaction de longue distance. La séquence de Walaldé comporte aussi d’autres importants aspects tels que poterie et plusieurs inhuma-tions saupoudrées d’ocre rouge. Les affinités culturels entre certains éléments de la culture matérielle de Walaldé et ceux des amas coquilliers du Delta du Sénégal et des sites pastoraux de la ‘Culture de Boudhida’ aux environs de Nouakchott sont aussi discutés. L’article termine par une considération de l’importance de Walaldé à propos du débat sur l’origine de la métallurgie de fer en Afrique de l’Ouest.

Abstract

Excavation of the five hectare site of Walaldé revealed an occupation by iron-using agropastoralists that began [800-550] cal BC, and continued until [400-200] cal BC. The earliest occupation phase appears to document a period of transitional iron use, with some worked stone in evidence. Smelting and forging slags and tuyeres are present in considerable quantities in the later phase. Cop-per with the distinctive chemical signature of the Akjoujt mines in Mauritania was also present after 550 cal BC, attesting to trade and interaction over long distances. Other important aspects of the Walaldé sequence include ceramic materials and a series of red ochre burials. Pos-sible cultural affinities with shell midden sites in the Sen-egal Delta, surface material from the Lac Rkiz region, and pastoralist sites of the ‘Boudhida Culture’ around Nouakchott are discussed. The article concludes with a consideration of Walaldé’s significance to the debate over the origins of iron metallurgy in West Africa.

Keywords:

Alioune DemexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxE-mail: @

Susan Keech McIntoshDepartment of Anthropology - MS20Rice UniversityP.O. Box 1892Houston, Texas 77251-1892E-mail: [email protected]

A. Deme & S.K. McIntosh

Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 4 (2), 20062

GALLEY PROOFSIn 1990, a multi-year, multi-phase research project

commenced in the Middle Senegal Valley (MSV) re-gion around Cubalel as a collaborative effort by Rice University and the University of Dakar-Ch. Anta Diop (Fig. 1). As part of the area traditionally identified with the historical polity of Takrur, this region was selected for investigation to better understand the development of larger-scale, more complex settlements, and regional polities, using a methodology similar to that previously employed in the Inland Niger Delta around Djenné. Oth-er objectives included the establishment of a chronology for the settlement and occupation of the region, which was poorly known. In the course of regional survey in 1991, we encountered the five-hectare site of Walaldé, which had surface ceramics that resembled the pottery recovered from the earliest deposits of sites we exca-vated in 1990-91, which were subsequently radiocarbon dated to the first century cal AD. We flagged Walaldé for future excavation in the hopes of recovering a larger sample of material from the period of what appeared to be the initial colonization of the MSV floodplain by iron-using societies. In 1999, one of us (AD) undertook these excavations as part of dissertation research funded by the National Science Foundation.

Walaldé proved to be deeply stratified, with 4.5 m of deposits, nearly all of which were far earlier than surface material had led us to expect. Radiocarbon dates and a remarkably consistent material culture that differed from any of the assemblages recognized during the 1991 and 1992 excavations indicated that the Walaldé occupation did not overlap with the previously-documented MSV occupation sequences. Occupation at Walaldé began in the period 800-550 cal BC and continued until ca 200 cal BC. The sequence appears to document the transi-tion from stone- to iron-based technology, with the use of iron objects and stone initially, followed by evidence for iron smelting and forging from 500-200 cal BC. Copper with the distinctive chemical signature of the Akjoujt mines in Mauritania was also present after 500 cal BC, attesting to interaction over long distances. Other important aspects of the Walaldé sequence in-clude ceramics and a series of red-ochre burials. This article describes these findings and discusses them in the context of debates regarding the nature and spread of early iron technology.

Site location and context

The archaeological site of Walaldé is located on the 9 m levee that enjoys some protection from annual flooding of the Senegal River (Fig. 2). At the time of occupation, the site was probably adjacent to the river, in a position analogous to that of modern Walaldé. The

river has since formed a northward loop, filled with recent meander trains. To the south of the 9 m levee is floodplain with seasonally filled backswamps.

Located in the semi-arid 300-500 mm annual rain-fall zone, the MSV has historically been exploited by many different groups dependent on the river and its seasonally moist floodplain. The river level falls low enough in the hot months of May and June, just before the rains begin, that it is easily fordable at numerous points. Fula (Peul) herders enter the floodplain from the north (Mauritania) and south (Ferlo) during the dry season (March/April-June/July), after the sorghum har-vest. Fishermen move to the main channel during the dry season and return to the floodplain during flood season (August-December). Farmers grow millet during the rainy season (July-October), and sorghum and garden crops on the moist flood-recession soils. Today, the sub-sistence system in this region displays a certain amount of specialization (although fishermen and herders grow some crops, and farmers – the agropastoral Tokolor – have some cattle), with considerable flexibility and mo-bility in response to the uncertainties of climate variation from year to year (BOUTILLIER 1962). The present-day distinction between transhumant Fula pastoralists and agropastoral Tokolor appears to have considerable time depth; ‘Felle’ and ‘Tochoror’ are identified in the MSV region on the 1339 map of Angelino Dulcert (LEVTZION 1974: 136). All these subsistence producers in the region today are Halpuular (“speakers of Puular”), a West At-lantic language closely related to Wolof and Serer. The Serer today live in the west central part of Senegal but are considered to have originally occupied the MSV until they migrated south in response to Islamization.

Walaldé and prior archaeological field research in the MSV

The MSV floodplain must have a long history as a strategic resource in an unpredictable and fluctuating semi-arid landscape. While we have some sense of this from traditional and written sources, these apply primarily to the second millennium AD. Even tradi-tions recounting the introduction of iron-working by the first ruling dynasty in the MSV, the Dia-Ogo, are not generally thought to refer to a period earlier than the ninth century AD (THILMANS 1980: 176-178). Ar-chaeology alone can provide a detailed understanding of the early chronology of settlement and development of human exploitation of the MSV floodplain. Well into the 1980’s, however, archaeological research was under-developed in the MSV, frequently comprising short field visits, surface collection, or brief excavations that often were never completed or published. Excavations in

New Light on the Settlement of the Middle Senegal Valley by Iron-using Peoples

Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 4 (2), 2006 3

GALLEY PROOFS

Siw

re

Walalde

Wala

lde

Fig. 1. The Middle Senegal Valley Archaeological Project study region and sites mentioned in the text.

Floodplain(Backswamps)

Road

Boki

Recent meander trains

Walalde site

Walalde

9m Levee

Recent meander trains

Senegal River

1 2 3 4 5km0

0 50 100m

X

X

W1

W2

Fig. 2. Geomorphological situation of Walaldé. Inset: sketch map of site with two excavation units -W1 and W2 - indicated.



GALLEY PROOFS1976 by R. Reeves at the huge multiple-mound site (now completely demolished by construction) of Jallowali, and by G. Thilmans in 1977 at Cubalel fall into this category (CHAVANE 1985: 65, 71). More extensive excavations were carried out by CHAVANE (1976, 1985), THILMANS & RAVISÉ (1980), and THIAM (1991) producing the first useful infor-mation from the MSV on assemblages of material culture from different time periods. Methodological problems in excavation and artifact analysis, especially at the important site of Sincu Bara, rendered the interpretation of change through time problematic, however (MCINTOSH & BOCOUM 2000; BOCOUM & MCINTOSH 2002). Important contribu-tions to site inventory were made by the historians Charles BECKER & Victor MARTIN (1974, 1984), who identified over 300 MSV sites as part of their vast Inventaire des Sites Protohistoriques de la Senegambie. Their site descriptions and maps remain an indispensable starting place for all archaeologists interested in the MSV (VAN CHI 1977).

In the 1980’s, archaeological interest shifted to in-tensive survey and excavation of MSV iron-working sites. H. BOCOUM’s (1986) excavations at Tulel Fobo focused on the introduction of iron to the eastern sector of the MSV and changes in the organization of technol-ogy through time. He was particularly interested in the question of when and why linear batteries of smelting furnaces were established. These arrangements are most spectacular on the north side of the river near Silla and Rinjaw, where up to 60,000 furnaces have been counted along a 15 km stretch of river (FALL 1982; ROBERT-CHALEIX & SOGNANE 1983; SOGNANE 1983; ROBERT-CHALEIX 1994). Radiocarbon dates indicate an early second millennium AD chronology for these.

At the end of the 1980’s, archaeology was still in its very early phases of development in the MSV. Certain issues with broad comparative implications had been outlined – e.g., the emergence of complex society at Sincu Bara, and the development of specialized met-allurgical production – but there were few data avail-able concerning change through time in material culture or technology from which a framework for approach-ing processual issues could be fashioned. The Middle Senegal Valley Archaeological Project (MSVAP) was devised to address this problem.

The Middle Senegal Valley Archaeological Project – 1990-1993

Conducted jointly by Rice University and IFAN, the MSVAP identified a study region in the heart of the MSV, between Cubalel and Siwré (Siouré) within which con-trolled stratigraphic excavations at several deeply-strati-fied occupation sites and extensive mapping and survey

took place. An important research objective was the recovery of reliable baseline data on the chronology of change in material culture, technology, subsistence and trade (as indicated by the presence of exotics), and on the full range of sites present in the study regions with regard to location, size, access to productive resources, surface features, and chronology. With these data, preliminary descriptive and interpretive frameworks, including time-space systematics, site typologies and site distribution maps, could be established as a prerequisite to posing more sophisticated, processual questions. Three par-ticular problem orientations informed the design of the MSVAP and the nature of the data recovered: 1. changing environmental and geomorphological contexts for hu-man settlement and activity within the MSV; 2. emerging regional site hierarchies; and 3. changes in the political economy of the MSV, using studies of the production and consumption of metals to gain preliminary insights into shifting patterns of production control and access to wealth. Archaeological methods similar to those em-ployed earlier in research in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali (MCINTOSH & MCINTOSH 1980; S. MCINTOSH 1995) were used to insure comparability of the data recovered from the two floodplains.

These data and results are currently being final-ized for publication, but several aspects relevant to the Walaldé research can be mentioned here. Based on ex-cavations at 14 sites, a five-phase ceramic sequence was established and calibrated in absolute time by over 35 radiocarbon dates (MCINTOSH et al. 1992; S. MCINTOSH 2002). The archaeological sequence extended over the past two millennia. In view of the excavated sequences and the absence of any reported Late Stone Age sites (RAVISÉ 1975), it appeared that occupation of the flood-plain of the middle sector of the Senegal Valley was initiated at the beginning of the first millennium AD. Of the 119 sites discovered during survey (in addition to the 36 sites already recognized by MARTIN & BECKER [1984]), all appeared to be Iron Age in date. Copper and other exotics were not found in excavated levels pre-dating 900 AD, and most sites with pre-900 AD surface assemblages similarly lacked copper. Nearly all pre-900 AD sites were 2 ha or less in size (DEME 1991). Based on these preliminary patterns, one of us (SKM) suggested that the period from 100-900 AD in the study region seems to have been characterized by small-scale societies that underwent little change. By contrast, between the 10th century and the period of the Takrur polity in the 11th century, MSV societies seem to have undergone a rapid transformation in scale and complexity (S. MCINTOSH et al. 1992: 57).

The 1999 Walaldé excavations cast considerable new light on our understanding of the initial coloniza-



GALLEY PROOFS

tion of the MSV, pushing back the date by 700-1000 years, and linking the early colonists to both Neolithic and copper-using groups farther west and north. The Walaldé agropastoralists used and smelted iron, and wore jewelry crafted from imported copper. Further-more, the site itself is relatively large (5 ha) for the region and may represent an early period of settlement agglomeration in the MSV.

The excavations

The objectives for the Walaldé excavations ini-tially focused on expanding the available database on material culture, subsistence, and human populations for the period of Phase I (1-400 cal AD), in order to better understand similarities and differences among sites occupied during that period. The methodologies used, including stratigraphically-sensitive excavation, detailed ceramic analysis, and systematic recovery of organic remains by screening and flotation, proved to be fully appropriate, even when the deposits were found to be of considerably greater antiquity.

Walaldé measures 550 m along its longest axis, and comprises two connected mounds (Mounds 1 and 2). Two units were placed at high points on each mound: W1 (on Mound 1) measured 4 x 3 m. W2 (on Mound 2) measured 3 x 2 m. The deposits in both units posed major challenges due to the amount of ash and frequency of small burned hearth areas, which made detecting subtle color and texture changes in matrix deposits difficult. A further complication was the profusion of small pits (measuring <20 cm diam-eter and <10 cm deep) in some levels. The solution devised for this difficulty was to remove the deposits in 5 cm levels, mapping the location of all hearths, ash pockets, pits, and other features revealed by each scraping. Each scraping was recorded separately, but a level change was effected only when significant texture or color changes were noted. The method used was thus a compromise between excavation by natural stratigraphic levels and arbitrary ones.

Unit W1 (Figs. 3 and 4)

This unit, dug through 4.6 m of deposits, con-tained 25 cultural levels and 8 features. Features encountered included five inhumations and one house foundation. The archeological deposits were composed mostly of domestic debris and artifacts possibly associated with funerary activities. The upper levels (L.1-17) consisted primarily of wall collapse, domestic debris (trash pits, hearths) and

metallurgical remains (slag, tuyeres), with evidence for alternating occupation and abandonment levels (between L.12 and 17), suggesting episodic oc-cupation. A burnt house floor was encountered in L.18. The lower levels (L.20-25) involved funerary activities and rapidly accumulating domestic debris. An overview of the depositional events in W1 is pro-vided in Table 1. Seven charcoal samples from W1 early and middle levels were 14C dated. They suggest that the unit was occupied from [832-543] cal BC (reported at two sigma) through at least [380-171] cal BC. Due to the nature of the calibration data, it is difficult to identify a “most likely” date within these ranges. Brackets are used to indicate this impreci-sion and to discourage tendencies, common in the literature, to focus arbitrarily on the older end of the range when discussing the antiquity of iron.

The earliest stratigraphic horizon is represented by the hard, yellow sediment of Level 25 (4.0-4.6 m). The level had few artifacts and it marks the beginning of occupation at the site. Feature 9, an inhumation burial of a male, age 40+ years (Fig. 5), was recovered at the bottom of this first occupation level. The five burials encountered in W1 between 2.10 and 4.45 m (Features 5-9) are summarized in Table 2.

The burials are provisionally interpreted as hav-ing been laid out on the land surface and covered with a small mound, rather than interred in a pit grave. Two of the skeletons in W1 continue into wall section (Features 7 and 9 – see Tab. 2). The location of the bones in section is marked on Figure 3; in neither case is a burial pit in evidence. This fact is particularly significant in the hard-packed heavy loam/light clay of Level 25, where a burial pit, if present, should be easily detected. In addition, sequential scrapings prior to encountering skeletal material never revealed a pit (see, for example, the scrapings before and after Feature 8 – Fig. 6). The manner of burial will be discussed shortly.

Unit W2 (Figs. 7 and 8)

The 3 x 2 m unit placed on W2 revealed anthropo-genic deposits to a depth of 4.0 m. As in W1, several burials were encountered (see Tab. 2). Two of these (Features 2 and 3) penetrated the sections, again reveal-ing no evidence of burial pits. There was no evidence of wall foundations or metallurgy, unlike W1. Based on material culture, burial ritual, and radiocarbon dates, the deposits seem contemporary with those in W1. A summary of the depositional episodes reconstructed for W2 is presented in Table 3.



GALLEY PROOFS

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

C14Feature 0 1 m

0 1 m

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

Yellow loam

Hole

Green colored sediment

Friable loam; root intrusions

Fire-blackened

Ash

Clay

Disturbed sand and clay

Loam and ash

human skeletonSKL

SKL

SKL

Fig. 4. W1 summary of excavated levels. Vertical position of dated 14C samples is indicated by a . Vertical position of burial features is shown by a .

Fig. 3. W1 profiles of natural strata. White boxes show location in section of bones from skeletons of Features 7 and 9.



GALLEY PROOFS

Tab. 1. Overview of depositional events in W1.

Ash

Ashy pit

Fire- blackened or- reddened earth

Soft and dark sediment

Ochre

Levels Depositional Events Features

Surface Surface deposits L 1 mixture sand-loam _____________ L 2,3 Soft sediment associated with ash, and hearths. Post-depositional disturbance – several collared rimsherds (800-1200 AD) L 4,5,6 Mixture of loam, ash, clay; heterogeneous.

Evidence of small hearths and pit digging. Domestic debris, slag, tuyere fragment, trash pits.

L 7, 8 Slow accumulation. Evidence of pit digging and hearths. L 9,10,11 Slag and tuyere fragments. Pits and hearths. L 12,13,14,15,16,17 Alternating layers of yellow accumulation sediment with many artifacts and

large sherds, and artifact-poor gray sediments (abandonment levels). ______________ L 18 Slow accumulation. Clay cap associated with Feature 5?

Burnt floor of wattle-and-daub structure L 19 Loam matrix associated with clay, ash and reddened soil. Small pits. Feat. 5 INHUMATION L 20 Loam matrix associated with clay, ash and reddened sediments. Small pits. Feat. 6 INHUMATION _____________ Level 21 Mostly ash associated sometimes with clay and loam. Many small pits. Iron, one tuyere fragment. Feat. 7 INHUMATION L 22,23 Light loam associated with white ash, reddened spots, and important volume of artifacts, including

chert and quartz, iron, a small piece of iron slag. Rapid accumulation. Charred postholes, possibly associated with Feature 8.

L 24 Heavy loam matrix associated with clay, ashy pits, and hearths. Feat. 8 INHUMATION Slow accumulation ______________ L 25 Slow accumulation Feat. 9 INHUMATION

Sterile Levee – light clay

Fig. 5. Extended burials (Features 5, 6 and 9) were found in W1; a flexed burial (Feature 4) was encountered in W2. Beginning and ending depths for each burial are indicated.



GALLEY PROOFS

Tab. 2. Summary of burial features at W1 and W2.

Feature Unit, Level

Depth(m)

Position Orientation Grave goods

Burial Ritual Osteological analysis

1 W2, L.3

1.10-1.25

extended, on right side

E-W clay bead on ash, bones superficially burned, covered by clay

none, no bones lifted due to poor condition

2 W2, L.5A

1.90-2.00

extended (legs only; torso disappears into S section)

ESE-WNW ? on ash layer, surrounded by yellow-white sand, bones

superficially burned

none

3 W2, L.5B

2.35-2.50

skull only; torso disappears into

W section

ESE-WNW, facing N

? on ash layer none

4 W2, L.7

3.70-3.90

partially flexedon right side, hands at face

ESE-WNW, facing N

ochre fragment

on ash layer, surrounded by red ochre, bones superficially burned

probable male, aged 40+, osteophytic lipping on lumbar vertebrae, most post-canine mandibular

dentition lost antemortem, healed fracture rt.5th

metatarsal

5 W1, L.19

2.10-2.30

extended E-W, facing N

iron bracelet, 2 copper earrings

on ash layer Male, 40-50 years old, shoveled incisors, injury to 5th cervical vertbrae,

1 carious lesion

6 W1, L.20

2.50-2.70

extended ESE-WNW facing S

none On ash layer, surrounded by red ochre

Probable male, 18-25 yrs., 2 carious lesions

7 W1, L.21

2.75-2.90

extended (legs only; torso disappears into E section)

ESE-WNW ? on ash layer, surrounded by red ochre, covered with clay, bones superficially calcined

by fire.

no analysis

8 W1, L.24

3.90-4.0

extended, on left side

E-W, facing S

none on ash layer child; skull lifted, no analysis

9 W1, L.25

4.45-4.65

extended on left side; feet in W section

E-W, facing S

none on ash, surrounded and covered with red ochre,

bones superficially burned

male, 40+yrs, postcanine maxillary dentition lost

antemortem, mandibular dentition intact, but worn.

Only cranial remains analysed

Levels Depositional Events Features

Surf. Surface deposits L1 Loam sediment associated with fire activities.

Post-depositional disturbance - fragmented bone L 2 Loam sediment mixed with ash matrix

Funerary elements (pits, horned terracottas) possibly associated with Feat. 1 ______________ L 3-A Loam with ash, fire activities, pits. Funerary Activities associated with F.1 Feat. 1 INHUMATION ______________ L 3-B, 4-A, 4-B, 5-A Large potsherds associated with funerary practice (fire-reddening, horned terracottas, pit digging,

large mammal bones and Feat. 2 Feat. 2 INHUMATION Slow accumulation ______________ L 5-B Rapid accumulation. Fire-reddening, horned terracottas, small pits, large mammal bones and Feat 3) Feat. 3 INHUMATION L 6 Slow accumulation associated with hematite, large potsherds, pebble fragments, basalt

heavy loam sediment ________________ L 7 Slow accumulation, heavy loam

Funerary elements associated with Feat. 4 Feat. 4 INHUMATION

Sterile Levee – light clay

Tab. 3. Overview of depositional events in W2.



GALLEY PROOFS

Fig. 6. Sequence of scrapings immediately above and under the Feature 8 burial. No burial pit was detected.



GALLEY PROOFS

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

0

0 1 m

SKL

SKL

Yellow loam

Sandy loam

Green colored sediment

Friable loam; root intrusions

Fire-blackened

Ash

Clay

Disturbed sand and clay

Loam and ash

human skeletonSKL

C14Feature 0 1 m

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

0

Fig. 7. W2 profiles of natural strata. White boxes show location in section of bones from skeletons of Features 2 and 3.

Fig. 8. W2 summary of excavated levels. Vertical position of dated 14C samples is indicated by a . Vertical position of burial features is shown by a .



GALLEY PROOFS

Summary of excavated deposits

Despite the challenging, heterogeneous nature of the deposits, it is clear that a variety of activities took place at Walaldé: domestic (food preparation and/or consumption, trash deposition, house construction), metallurgical (smelting and forging of iron) and ritual (numerous burials). The burial ritual at Walaldé is not yet fully understood, but certain common elements are clear. A burial surface was prepared with a bed of dried grass or other fast-burning organic material. Red ochre was sprinkled on and around the corpse in half the ex-cavated cases. Five of the skeletons showed superficial burning, suggesting that an organic shroud or some fast-burning material has covered the corpse and was set alight. Clearly, cremation (which involves reduction to ash) was not intended. The fire was low temperature and brief. Charred posthole timbers were found in possible association with three burials, opening the possibility that a tent was erected and burned. A low mound was likely erected, and capped with hard clay, which was noted in two cases. Further work is needed to clarify how frequently all these elements are in fact associated with the burial ritual and what variations occur. Indica-tions of variations are given in Table 2. Horned terracot-tas (see below) seemed to co-occur with inhumations, but as their findspots were not mapped with three-point measurements, this observation cannot be verified.

Particularly in W1, the deposits indicated multiple periods of occupation and abandonment. Some levels, especially between 4.0 and 3.0 m depth, had large quantities of large potsherds and other classes of mate-rial culture, suggesting intensive occupation. Farther up the W1 stratigraphic sequence, there is evidence after Level 20 for alternating periods of light occupation and abandonment. Another period of fairly intensive oc-cupation, involving considerable metallurgical activity, occurs in the top meter of W1 deposits.

W1 and W2 are similar in many aspects, despite the distance that separates them. However, W2 had less evidence of metallurgical activity and intermittent oc-cupation. In both units, the earliest occupation on the 9 m clay levee at Walaldé was by iron-using people still using some chert and struck stone. This initial occupa-tion was sparse.

Chronology

Ten samples of wood charcoal from Walaldé were radiocarbon-dated in order to help assess the chrono-logical relationships among sites and units. Dates are listed in Table 4.

One difficulty with interpreting the chronology of Walaldé is illustrated in Figure 9, which presents CALIB plots of the two sigma probability distri-butions of these dates. Many of the Walaldé dates fall within the flat portion of the calibration curve in the mid-first century BC. Extensive testing of wood samples of known dendrochronological age has demonstrated that organic materials living at different times within the period 800-400 BC tend to produce similar 14C results, making it impossible to talk realistically about the “dates” as anything but a broad time bracket (for discussion and illustration of this issue, see KILLICK 2004, S. MCINTOSH 2005). The “real date” lies somewhere within this range (with 95 % probability), but in order to narrow the chronological bracket, we must assess other chrono-logical evidence, which may include stratigraphy and ceramic sequence data.

Evaluation of the dates with reference to strati-graphic ordering at Walaldé suggests that there are two main chronological periods of occupation repre-sented. The earlier period involves Levels 25-20 in W1. All four of the 14 C dates fall broadly within the problematic 800-400 cal BC range, yet stratigraphic principles permit us to reason that since Level 22 [832-543 cal BC], stratified above Level 25 [789-413 cal BC], cannot be earlier than it, a maximum range of ca 790-550 cal BC can be identified for this early oc-cupation phase (assuming that the Level 22 date is not on heartwood and thus misleadingly old) (Fig. 10). The two dates from Levels 12 and 5 do not overlap the earlier dates at two sigma and a single date from Level 17 is intermediate between these two groups. Although the total two sigma range for the Level 17 date is very large, the fact that 98 % of the probability distribution lies between 543-362 cal BC permits us to suggest that the later period of occupation started during this time bracket. Thus, the proposed chronol-ogy for occupation at W1 is: Early occupation: 800-550 cal BC; Later occupation (lower): 550-400 cal BC; Later occupation (upper): 400-200 cal BC. [The Early and Later occupation phases are distinguished by difference in material culture, as will be explained shortly.] The entire occupation at W1 could cover a period as short as ca 600-300 BC or as long as 800-200 BC. We have no way yet of evaluating duration more precisely.

The three W2 dates clearly overlap the first two of these chronological periods, but stratigraphy and the dates in conjunction do not serve in this case to narrow the range. Our best bet will be to evaluate the material culture in these levels and attempt to link the W2 sequence with that from W1.



GALLEY PROOFS

Fig. 9. 14C dates from Walaldé, calibrated at 2 sigma.

Tab. 4. Radiocarbon dates from W1 and W2 (calibrated ranges are calculated at 2 sigma using CALIB 3.0, STUIVER & REIMER 1993).

Unit Level Sample Ident. �13C Radiocarbon age Calibrated 14C age

W-1 5 AA41040 -25.2 2,201 ± 39 bp 380-171 BC W-1 12 AA41041 -26.1 2,218 ± 38 bp 384-180 BC W-1 17 AA41042 -26.6 2,364 ± 43 bp 660-261 BC W-1 20 AA41043 -24.5 2,497 ± 43 bp 790-413 BC W-1 22 AA41044 -26.1 2,592 ± 43 bp 832-543 BC W-1 24 AA41045 -24.5 2,470 ± 53 bp 765-409 BC W-1 25 AA41046 -25.3 2,496 ± 43 bp 789-413 BC W-2 4-A AA41047 -24.7 2,394 ± 43 bp 760-389 BC W-2 5-A AA41048 -25.1 2,412 ± 43 bp 761-396 BC W-2 6 AA41049 -25.2 2,543 ± 43 bp 804-454 BC

Fig. 10. Plot of calibrated, two sigma date ranges for Walaldé samples. Using both stratigraphic and radiometric data from W1 suggests narrower ranges (shaded boxes) for successive occupation phases.



GALLEY PROOFS

Ceramics

Recovery and recording procedures

Approximately 450 kilograms of potsherds were recovered from the W1 and W2 excavations. After processing, which included washing, dry-ing, and re-bagging sherds from each level and LRF separately, weighing, separating feature sherds (rims, lugs, bases) and body sherds, and counting and discarding small sherds (<4 cm2), the sherds remaining for recording totaled 10,500 body and 850 rim sherds from W1, and 4800 body and 400 rims from W2. Body sherds, rim sherds, and other feature sherds were each recorded separately ac-cording to the protocols described below and also those used on the MSV project (S. MCINTOSH 2002). No complete pots were found. It was impossible to reconstruct pots, given the fragmented nature of the sherds.

Body sherds were recorded with regard to a variety of decorative variable motifs involving slip, impression or appliqué. Absence of any decora-tion was recorded as Plain. The decorative vari-ables followed usage in S. McIntosh’s study of the Jenne-jeno and the Middle Senegal Valley pottery assemblages (S. MCINTOSH 1995, 2002), as well as SOPER (1985), RICE (1987), and HURLEY (1979). Illustrations of decorative motifs are presented in Figure 11.

Body sherds with no decoration or single at-tribute decoration were counted by attribute groups and recorded for each level. Multiple attribute sherds were recorded separately to maintain full informa-tion on all motifs present.

Rim sherds were recorded individually to pre-serve information on a large number of provenience, technological, and decorative variables: unit number and level, non-plastic inclusions, paste texture, paste color, presence or absence of black core, presence or absence of fire-clouding, wall thickness, rim diameter, rim type and decorative variables (as above). All rim sherds were drawn. Theoretical perspectives on the use of multivariate recording and analytical strategies for ceramic analysis have been discussed in earlier publications (MCINTOSH 1995: 130-131). Five basic classes of rims were recognized: simple (uninflected) open; simple closed, short-lipped everted (distance between neck and lip <3 cm), medium-lipped everted (3-4 cm) and long-lipped everted (neck-lip >4 cm) (Fig. 12).

Results of the analysis

Stylistically, the pottery assemblages recovered from W1 and W2 proved to be very similar. All levels in both units were dominated by simple open rims (40+ % of all rims) and medium everted rims (>30 % of all rims). Due to the outward curvature of a number of simple open rims, we suspect that they are long-everted rims which had broken off at the neck. Vessels with long everted rims were prob-ably quite common in the assemblage. Very few base sherds were recovered, suggesting that the great majority of vessels were round-bottomed. Plain and single motif body sherds comprised over 90 % of the body sherd assemblage: slipping and twine-roulette motifs dominate. Simple rims were usually decorated with twine impression over the body up to 1 cm from the lip. Then a second decoration (comb impression and/or slip) was applied just below the lip (see Fig. 13). Everted rims are commonly slipped or undecorated (Fig. 14). In terms of paste and firing technology, the Walaldé assemblage is very con-servative and shows little variation through time (VAN DOOSELAERE 2000). Temper in both earlier and later assemblages is 80-90 % grog plus organic. Paste color is predominantly well-oxidized reds and yellowish reds. Paste texture is well-consolidated with medium-sized inclusions (1-3 mm) in the ma-jority of sherds.

Since formal variables [meaning variables refer-ring to intrinsic properties of the artifact, as opposed to extrinsic variables such as provenience] relating to technologies of paste preparation, tempering and fir-ing did not vary through time, other formal variables were scanned statistically to identify any attributes that reliably track change through time. Identifying change through time is important, not for its own sake, but as an independent means of verifying chro-nology and evaluating stratigraphic integrity. The raw material from which archaeologists fashion their interpretations is of two basic kinds: patterning of material culture through time and patterning across space. Only when we have determined which patterns likely concern time can we begin to focus on teasing out the potential significance of patterning across space. Since the spatial sample at Walaldé was very limited, owing to the preliminary nature of the inves-tigations, it makes sense to focus our initial analysis primarily on detecting temporal patterning, in addition to providing a general description of the assemblage. The analysis is concerned with identifying general time-sensitive trends throughout the assemblage and not with the designation of diagnostic pottery “types”.



GALLEY PROOFSR

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GALLEY PROOFS

Simple Open

Simple Closed Vertical

Everted SL Everted ML

Everted LL Fig. 12. Rim sherd categories identified at Walaldé.

0 5 cm

Fig. 13. Representative potsherds from major rim groups at Walaldé.



GALLEY PROOFS

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

1–3

4–6

7–11

12–15

16–19

20

21

22

23

24,25

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els

Percentage

Plain

Slipped

Twine imp

Other

n = 230

n = 337

n = 822

n = 579

n = 404

n = 414

n =1146

n = 1066

n = 1102

n = 677

W1 Levels 1–17

0

10

20

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40

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80

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W1 Levels 20-25

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

ShortEverted

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Rim type

Plain Slip Twine Roul Twine Stamp Other Plastic Slip+Twine Slip+Other

W1 Levels 20-25

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

ShortEverted

Med.Everted

LongEverted

S. Closed S. Open

Rim type

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Twine Roul Twine Stamp

Other Plastic Slip+Twine

Slip+Other

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Fig. 14. W1 Rim forms and decoration: Phases I and II.

Fig. 15. Frequency of single motifs on body sherds through time at W1.



GALLEY PROOFS

The database of multiple variables recorded for every individual rim sherd can be analyzed again in the future for spatial or other kinds of patterning when more of the site has been excavated. The strength of the method lies in the possibility for multiple analyses and groupings for different purposes, including tech-nology. Diachronic stylistic change is only a starting point of preliminary analysis at this early stage of research.

Two different stylistic phases were recognized based on the changing popularity of decorative motifs and pottery forms.

Phase 1 (W1 Levels 25-20; W2 Levels 7-5B)Twine impression occurs on >70 % of body

sherds (Fig. 15). Cord-wrapped stick and twisted twine roulette motifs dominate. HURLEY (1979: 37) motif 64 is the most popular (60-70 %) twisted twine motif (Fig. 16). Distinctive, although relatively rare, decorative motifs include the use of pressed, rather than rolled, cord-wrapped stick and cord to produce curved or straight single or double rows of X’s (cross-wrapped) or beaded impressions (simple wrapped). These motifs most frequently occur on narrow-mouth, long-necked jars (for an example, see Fig. 13) or on simple, closed rims. Another distinctive decora-tive technique is the use of cord-wrapped spatula on raised ridges of clay, creating a “guilloche” effect (see Fig. 11).

Phase II (W1 Levels 1-16; W2 Levels 5A-1)Slip increases to >40 % at the expense of twine

decoration, which decreases to <50 % (Fig. 15). Cord-wrapped stick roulette remains popular; TW6 is the most popular twisted twine motif. Pressed, cord-wrapped stick and cord-wrapped cord disappears. A rare, but distinctive type of shallow bowl with a band of twine impression along the inner rim seems largely confined to this phase.

Other artifacts: Fired clay, stone, bone, shell

Fired clay

A variety of indeterminate animal figurines, some with clearly modeled horns on a legless body (Fig. 17) dominated the small finds. These occurred throughout the sequence, but are more frequent in Phase I, which probably reflects the greater intensity of occupation during that phase (Tab. 5). Given the importance of herding in the Walaldé economy, the horned terracottas may be schematic representations of cattle.

Lithics, shell and bone

Stone artifacts and manuports at Walaldé in-cluded two perforated basalt pendants, fragments of hematite (some polished), two cornaline beads, two

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Percentage

1–3

4–6

7–11

12–15

16–19

20

21

22

23

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H 64

H 129-32

n= 38

n= 46

n= 103

n= 366

n= 416

n= 227

n= 47

n= 103

n= 50

n= 34

Fig. 16. Twisted twine roulette patterns; TW6 and H64 are time sensitive.



GALLEY PROOFS

chert scrapers, and a large volume of laterite chunks, plus river pebbles (2-3 cm long) that appeared to have been struck and fragmented, and small pieces of sand-stone, and quartz. A few of the sandstone pieces were shaped into probable grinders. The occurrence of lithics showed potentially significant temporal differences between Phase I and Phase II. Recalling that occupation was more intensive during Phase I, greater numbers of artifacts are expected in those levels (W1 levels 20-25; W2 levels 5B-7).

The nature and use of the small, fragmented river pebbles during Phase I is open to interpretation. Stone tools were marginally still in use, indicated by two chert scrapers. Chert is not a local material, and it may be that people experimented with knapping river pebbles, the only possible local raw material for small tools. Other exotics (cornaline and basalt) were quite rare. Most of the other stone materials, including laterite, were locally available from within a 5-10 km radius. While laterite may have been used in iron smelting at the site,

W2L5B W2L5B

Fig. 17. Fired clay figurines of bull hindquarters, human head and enigmatic horned figures.

Fired Clay Stone Shell/Bone

UNIT PH. LEVELS horned animal beads/ pendants/ struck chert hematite sandstone laterite disc perf.figurines figurines netwts beads pebbles scrapers (gr.) beads A. Senilis

W1 II 1–4 5 3II 5–9 5 1 5 1140

II 10–14 2 12 2040II 15–19 3 8 2 4 1135

I 20–25 27 50 1 21 2 33 88 2620 3 2

W2 II 1–5A 12 2 36 3225 2I 5B-6 11 1 12 7 26 325 2

Tab. 5. Small finds in fired clay, stone, shell, and bone.



GALLEY PROOFS

the occurrence of laterite chunks does not correlate with the occurrence of slag at Walaldé, as we will see. The positioning of some of the blocks near fire pits sug-gests that they may have been used in cooking areas to elevate pots. This practice continues today.

Bone artifacts seem to be restricted to Phase I, but the sample is small enough to make that conclu-sion suspect. Shell artifacts are rare, but the perforated Anadara senilis cockleshell beads are of great interest, as they indicate contact with the Atlantic coastal lagoon where this species lives.

Metals

A total of 24 iron artifacts from the excavations have been examined and verified [a larger number was initially recorded and reported (DEME 2002, 2003], but a number of these turned out to be stone or could not oth-erwise be verified). The iron was heavily corroded and most of the artifacts were consequently unidentifiable. Of special interest was the large iron bracelet on the left arm of the Feature 5 burial. Two copper earrings were recovered near the left temporal of this burial. Three other copper objects were recovered from other contexts: another earring and two beads (Fig. 18 and Tab. 6).

Chemical and metallographical analyses con-ducted by T. FENN & D. KILLICK (2003) show that the three earrings and one of the beads were copper with between 1-3 % arsenic. The Walaldé earrings were produced on copper that was cast, then hammered, and annealed at a temperature exceeding 300º C. The second bead contains zinc, tin, and antimony, and its chemical composition is similar to copper-based arti-facts from the Cubalel sites that date to the period AD 900-1400 (FENN & KILLICK, forthcoming). The presence in the uppermost levels of Walaldé of several sherds of collared rim pottery (date: 800-1200 AD) indicate some intrusion of material from that period, to which the bead likely belongs (DEME 2003: 126). The intru-sion is limited or there would be more than a handful of pottery dating to this later period of time.

The distinctive chemical composition of the ear-rings – with arsenic, as already mentioned, and minor levels of nickel – is similar to copper from the Mau-ritanian mines at Akjoujt, which is the presumed ore source. The date of the Phase II occupation at Walaldé, from which all the copper (save the bead just discussed) comes, overlaps convincingly with the radiocarbon dates for the Akjoujt mines in the period ca 500-200 cal BC. There is no evidence for copper smelting at Wala-ldé, so these objects were likely made elsewhere. There

Fig. 18. Left: Copper earrings and beads (lower earrings are from Feature 5); Right: Fragmentary iron bracelet from Feature 5.



GALLEY PROOFS

is ample evidence, however, that iron was smelted locally, particularly during Phase II of site occupation. We turn to a description of the evidence for metallurgy at Walaldé.

Remains of metallurgical production

Approximately nineteen kilograms of slag were recovered from Walaldé along with 47 tuyere frag-ments (Tab. 7). Most of the slag and 46 of the tuyere pieces came from Walaldé Unit W1, which clearly was the locus of significant metallurgical activity during the later phase of occupation - i.e., after 500 cal BC. Of over eighteen kilograms of slag in W1, all but 120 grams were recovered from levels 18 and later.

Samples of the slag from W1 were analyzed by

Dr. David KILLICK (2003) of the University of Arizona. The analysis will be fully published elsewhere; here we present a brief summary.

All of the slags were relatively small pieces bro-ken from larger pieces and appeared to be related to iron production. Three basic groups of slag were recognized: 1. dense blocks of slag with part of fur-nace bottom curvature present suggesting a diameter

of ca 30 cm; 2. convex-concave slags from tiny basins ca 10 cm diameter and up to 2 cm deep; 3. small, light pieces of irregular, rough-surfaced material. Thin sec-tioning was performed on fifteen samples to determine their texture, mineralogical and chemical composition. From the samples of ore, fragments of tuyeres, and slag, some details on the technology in use at Walaldé can be reconstructed (Tab. 8).

Estimates of furnace size (25-30 cm; 10 cm) are based on the curvature and diameter of slags; no in situ furnaces were encountered at Walaldé. No tap slags were found, so the smelting slags analyzed all solidified within the furnace. Killick concludes from the homogeneity of microstructures in the fur-nace bottoms that the molten slag was very fluid, and temperatures in the range of 1200-1300ºC were achieved. These temperatures imply good insula-tion, which probably means the furnaces had shafts. All the furnaces were very shallow (2-6 cm) which must mean that relatively little ore was processed in each run of the furnace. The presence of wüstite in many of the smelting slags indicates that the Walaldé smelters were able to maintain a sufficiently reduc-ing atmosphere to produce iron metal. Two of the slags (from Levels 10 and 14) are likely the products of unsuccessful smelts, one due to a too-oxidizing atmosphere and the other due to the presence of alu-minum in the ore, which binds most of the available iron as hercynite. Clearly, a low-grade ore rich in aluminum was available, as well as a better-grade ore without it. D. Killick, who has excavated furnaces elsewhere in the Middle Senegal Valley, points out that laterite sheets are ubiquitous along the north bank of the river, so the ores at Walaldé probably came from within a few kilometers of the site. Two of the analyzed slags were forging slags, suggesting that several stages of production were carried out at Walaldé during Phase II.

Iron Copper

UNIT PH Levels Bracelet Pointed Blade Other Earring Bead

W1 II 1–4 1 2 1 1

W1 II 5–9 3 1

W1 II 10–14 4

W1 II 15–19 2 2 2

W1 I 20–25 3 1

W2 II 1–5A 3

W2 I 5B–7 1 2

Tab. 6. Metal artifacts.

W1 Level 1-4 5–9 10–14 15–19 20-25 Tuyeres 4 24 17 1 1

Slag (gr.) 5750 7525 4200 905 120

W2 Level 1–5ATuyeres 1

Slag (gr.) 835

Tab. 7. Metallurgical debris



GALLEY PROOFSTab. 8. Summary of slag analyses by Dr. David KILLICK (2003).

W1Level

Sample type Details Inferences

2 slag small amount of dendritic wustite homogeneous iron smelting slag, est. temp 1200ºC. within elongate laths of fayalite probable shaft furnace ca 30 cm at base; shallow depth

suggests smelt of short duration

6 slag wustite-fayalite smelting slag inhomogeneous smelting slag, furnace diam. 20-25 cm substantially corroded by water shallow depth (2 cm) suggests very short smelt

producing small amount of iron

7 slag abundant dendrites of wustite homogeneous smelting slag enclosed in fayalite crystals

8 tuyere fragment 15 cm external diam, 9 cm I.D. wall thickness 3 cm

8 ore/reduced iron magnetite, iron hydroxides, ferrite silicates

laterite ore partially/wholly reduced to iron metal; carburized in parts to hypereutectoid steel quartz grains indicate furnace shut down before all ore completely processed

9 slag wustite-fayalite slag, corroded appears to be smelting slag, but basin diam. only 10 cm; max. slag depth: 4 cm.

10 slag wustite dendrites, magnetite cubes enclosed within probable fayalite

similar to slag in Level 9, but produced in a less reducing atmosphere. Unsuccessful smelt?

10 slag/fuel ash product not a typical smelting slag slag from base of forge fire

12 tuyere fragment 15 cm external diam, 9 cm I.D. wall thickness 3 cm

12 slag wustite, hercynite, clinopyroxenes fayalite

smelting slag from 30–40 cm diam. furnace bottom; 5 cm depth; more prolonged operation than others

13 partly reduced ore metallic iron oxidized to magnetite incompletely reduced ore with substantial amount of quartz grains metallic iron

13 slag wustite, voids, metallic iron, fayalite smelting slag

14 slag no wustite or magentite, dominated by hercynite

smelting product of impure ore with much aluminium

16 slag fayalite, no wustite, no hercynite smelting slag from low-grade but aluminium-free ore

16 slag abundant magnetite oxidizing atmosphere suggests slag from bottom of forge

23 slag wustite, hercynite, fayalite inhomogeneous smelting slag produced from a laterite ore containing aluminium

24 ore 35 % silicate grains, goethite, leidocrocite low-grade laterite ore



GALLEY PROOFS

Subsistence economy

Fauna

Over 6000 pieces of animal bone were recovered during the W1 and W2 excavations, in which screening of deposits with 5 mm mesh was carried out. Bones from each level were put in a separate bag and labeled. They were then washed, dried, weighed and put back in their separate bag for further analysis. All non-fish bones were analyzed by Chester CAIN (2003), who studied them in the zooarchaeology laboratory in the Department of Anthropology (Washington University) and in the Department of Zoology of the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago). The fish bones, which comprised a surprisingly small portion of the material, still await analysis.

For non-fish bones, unidentifiable fragments great-er than one centimeter were recorded and quantified. Identifiable fragments were given a specific number and recorded separately using the following criteria: provenience information (Unit, Level, Level Record Form number), specimen number, number of frag-ments, body part, side, age and taxonomic category, modification (burning, cut marks, weathering and gnaw marks). Similar fragments were given the same speci-men number.

Most of the identifiable remains are domestic stock. Over half were cattle, and approximately 10 % were ovi-caprines (Tab. 9). Domestic dog and cat are present. One possible camel bone was identified from W2. If verified, this would push back the earliest occurrence of camel in this region by several centuries. Guinea fowl was rare, as were remains of wild animals that included possible frag-ments of a cheetah-size wild felid, monkey, a large sample of tortoise, frog, rodent, hare, crocodile and fowl. Most of the taxa are consistent with a riverine environment.

The ratio of cattle to ovicaprines changes signifi-cantly between earlier and later occupation levels at W1. In levels 25-20 the ratio is 61:3. In levels 19-1, it is 13:10. Levels with high bone density (e.g., L.21 of W1 and L.5 of W2), had all body parts represented in the assemblage, suggesting that whole animals were ac-quired and consumed at Walaldé. There is no evidence for specialized meat production, according to Cain.

Flora

Macrobotanical remains were recovered through sys-tematic flotation of one-liter soil samples from each level and large pit. The flots are currently under analysis by Dr. Shawn Murray, who has thus far definitively identified domestic Pennisetum millet (S. Murray, pers. comm.).

W1 Levels W1 Total W2 Levels W2 Total Grand Total

Taxon 1–4 5–9 10–14 15–19 20–25 1–5A 5B

cattle 5 2 6 61 74 21 34 55 129caprine 1 3 1 2 7 2 1 3 10

Capra 1 2 2 1 1 6 6 1 7 13Ovis 1 1 1 3 1 1 4

Alcelphus antilope 1 1 1camel? 1 1 1

donkey 1 1 1Kobus antilope 1 1 1

Redunca reedbuck 1 1 1Aves 3 5 1 2 4 15 1 1 16

Canis 2 2 2carnivore 2 7 9 1 1 10

Felis 1 1 2 1 1 2 4primate 1 1 1

crocodile 1 1 10 12 1 1 13tortoise 1 1 2 10 14 2 2 16

cf. reptile 1 1 1 2 5 2 1 3 8frog 1 1 1

rodent 1 2 2 5 1 1 6lagomorph 1 1 1

Grand Total 15 18 10 13 104 159 34 46 80 239

Tab. 9. Summary of faunal identifications by Dr. C. CAIN (2003).



GALLEY PROOFS

The first millennium BC occupation at Walaldé: Overview and discussion

Walaldé Phase I occupation (800-550 cal BC)

Agropastoralists with millet and cattle, plus a few sheep and goat, first occupied Walaldé sometime between 800 and 550 cal BC. Because of the impreci-sion of the calibration curve, it is impossible to state whether their arrival was in the earlier or later part of this range. Regardless, this is the earliest occupa-tion of the Middle Senegal Valley floodplain to be archaeologically documented thus far. Occupation was initially sparse and episodic, with low artifact densities in the earliest levels, but a high degree of comminution of potsherds suggests exposure of mate-rial on the surface to trampling during periods of slow accumulation. Among the earliest depositional events were two flexed inhumations (Features 4 and 9) of males aged 40+ years. In both cases, it appears that the body was sprinkled with red ochre and wrapped in an organic shroud (grass mat? animal skin?) and/or placed under a tent that was set alight and which burned very quickly and at relatively low temperatures. This caused superficial calcining and burning of some bones. Com-parative multivariate craniometric analysis by Isabelle RIBOT (2003) of the Feature 9 skull indicated that it was more similar to present-day West African groups such as Ashanti than to North Africans and modern Serer. The vault appears to be long and broad, the face is high and prognathic with long zygomatics, the nose is moderately high and wide, and the mandible is relatively large.

The material culture of these early inhabitants consisted notably of iron artifacts and stone (hematite, laterite chunks, and fragmented pebbles) and bone, in addition to pottery and a variety of fired zoomorphic figurines. Most materials were locally available from within a 5-10 km radius. Only stone beads (cornaline and basalt), chert, and A. senilis were obtained over substantial distances. These exotics were quite rare. The early assemblage is provisionally assessed as tran-sitional Iron Age. While iron artifacts are present in the earliest levels, two very small pieces of slag and a tuyere fragment are the only evidence for smelting in this early phase. Although we feel that it is likely that the Walaldé Phase I iron artifacts, which are among the earliest, well-dated, in situ iron in West Africa, were produced locally, more evidence is required to confirm this.

The affinities of this early assemblage are sug-gested by the pottery, which shares some similari-ties in vessel rim form and decoration with pottery

to the west and north. Ceramics collected from the surface by R. Vernet (pers. comm.) in the Lac Rkiz area show close affinities, as do ceramics excavated by M.A. MBOW (1997) from the oyster shell middens at Poudioum and Bole de Mengueye near St. Louis on the Senegal River delta. Both forms and certain distinctive decorative motifs recall Walaldé: in the midden sites, cord-wrapped stick, both rolled and pressed to produce X-impressions, dominates, and plaited grass roulette and pastilles are also present. Poudioum produced three radiocarbon dates between 2500 and 2100 bp (MBOW 1997: 107). To date, no copper or iron has been recovered from the Senegal delta shell middens. The Lac Rkiz material has also produced examples of impressed cord-wrapped stick on long everted rims (Fig. 19), made in a grog-tem-pered fabric similar to that at Walaldé. Further north, beginning 20 km south of Nouakchott and continuing 100 km to the north, VERNET (1993: 343-352, 2000) has documented an assemblage that has this same distinctive impressed motif, as well as guilloche decoration, but the fabric is heavily tempered with chaff, not grog. Occupied by semi-sedentary pasto-ralists, the Boudhida sites include large settlements on inland dunes and small coastal shell middens. The Boudhida assemblage differs significantly from Walaldé in its wealth of lithics, such as flaked points, ground stone axes, grinding stones, bone and shell tools, and its diverse copper industry (Fig. 19). In-terestingly, there is no sign of iron in the Boudhida assemblage.

The chronological duration of the Boudhida as-semblage is not well documented, as the assemblage is primarily known from surface collections. There is one date (2690 ± 80 bp) on organic temper in a potsherd (VERNET 1993: 343), but due to the abundance of cop-per from the Akjoujt mines, Boudhida is presumed to be largely contemporaneous with the Akjoujt Chalco-lithic – 2600-2200 bp.

The nature of a possible cultural affiliation among these three areas is unclear. It may have involved sea-sonal movements, exchange, common cultural roots, or some other factor. The presence of pierced A. senilis shells at Walaldé demonstrates interaction, either direct or indirect, with the coast.

Walaldé Phase I reached its peak in both W1 (Lev-el 23-22) and W2 (Level 5B) with a period of rapid accumulation and intensive use, as indicated by high sherd and animal bone densities. Subsequently, both areas were again used for inhumation (Features 2, 6, 7), observing a ritual similar to that used for earlier burials.



GALLEY PROOFS

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GALLEY PROOFS

Walaldé Phase II occupation (550–200 cal BC)

Intensity of site usage fell at the beginning of Phase II, which opened with a period of slow accumulation. Artifact and bones densities were fluctuating and low, suggesting episodic occupation, especially in W1. One of the earliest depositional events of Phase II appears to have been the inhumation of a male wearing an iron bracelet and copper earrings (Feature 5). Attempts to AMS date the bone and teeth were unsuccessful. There is no indication that the burial was intrusive from much higher up, however, as the documentation for succes-sive scrapings through the meter of deposits above the feature did not reveal a pit. The 14C date of 2500 bp in Level 20 provides a terminus post quem.

The chemical compositions of the copper earrings and two other Phase II copper objects are consistent with a source at Akjoujt. Radiocarbon date ranges for Phase II Walaldé and the Grotte aux Chauves Souris mines at Akjoujt fully overlap. From the extensive sur-face collections studies done in Mauritania by R. Vernet and others, it appears that, prior to 2200 bp, copper was the only metal used in the better-studied western half of the country (VERNET 1993: 331, 356). Vernet’s stud-ies have expanded the number of documented copper objects from the hundred or so that have been published (LAMBERT 1972, 1983) to an inventory in the thousands (VERNET, pers. comm.) The distribution of findspots (see Fig. 20) may indicate that copper moved with and among pastoralists who pastured herds seasonally in the depressions between the SW/NE trending dunes cordons, especially the Amatlich (VERNET 1993: 330). The persistent absence of iron from early Mauritanian assemblages with copper makes the early presence of iron at Walaldé in a context with certain material cul-ture links to the Lac Rkiz and Nouakchott regions even more intriguing. Clearly we do not expect the source of Walaldé iron to be found in that area. Little research has been conducted to date further east and south. These may prove to be fruitful areas for investigation.

The Phase II pottery assemblage is very similar to that of Phase I, suggesting a single, evolving ceramic tradition. The major rim forms from Phase I continue. The distinctive elements shared with Boudhida/Poudi-oum/Lac Rkiz disappear, however. With the appearance of copper and iron smelting in W1, stone drops out of the assemblage.

Iron slag is present in almost every level of W1 from 18-1. In the early part of Phase II (550-400 cal BC), it appears that iron working is part of seasonal and episodic occupation of W1. Artifact-rich levels alternate with abandonment levels (Levels 17-12). Iron working

is concentrated in the more intensively occupied levels of later Phase II (400-200 cal BC). The furnaces appear to be low shaft, non-slag-tapping furnaces 20-30 cm in diameter, which were fired for short periods of time at temperatures up to 1300º C. These were small furnaces processing small quantities of ore per smelt. Laterite, smelting slags, tuyeres, and forging slags are found at Walaldé, indicating that all steps in the operational chain from procurement to bloom production to forging occurred there at various points in time. This smelting evidence is among the earliest anywhere in Africa, and places the MSV squarely in the discussion about early iron metallurgy.

Walaldé and the debate over the origin of metallurgy in Africa

The various hypotheses for origins of metallurgy, ranging from introduction via population movements or stimulus diffusion from somewhere in northern Africa to independent invention have been well-summarized recently (KILLICK 2004; ALPERN 2005). Archaeometal-lurgists have argued that no clear evidentiary mandate for any position on origins currently exists; much more evidence on smelting technology in different areas needs to be collected before arguments for technology transfer vs. independent invention can be evaluated (OKAFOR 1995; KILLICK 2004). The case for independent inven-tion has generally relied extensively on some very early radiocarbon dates (3700-2700 bp) on charcoal samples that were thought to be in association with iron or slag. In recent years, excavators of several of these sites have reconsidered the case for the association of the dated samples and metallurgy and concluded that it is uncertain (discussed in KILLICK 2004). Others remain resolutely convinced of the association (thoroughly discussed in ALPERN 2005). The difficulty of reliably assessing the association of smelting and charcoal is admirably illus-trated by DUPUY et al.’s (2001-2002) 14C dating of several closely proximate charcoal samples around a smelting furnace in western Mali. The dates differ significantly, from 2920 to 725 bp. Only the sample extracted from slag itself (1715 ± 55 bp) is considered to provide the correct date of the smelting episode.

Currently, only three sites in West Africa – Taruga and Opi in Nigeria and Walaldé in Senegal –have pro-duced a combination of evidence that includes first millennium cal BC 14C dates in undoubted, stratigraphi-cally-sealed association with metallurgical remains, published metallurgical analysis of slags and other residues, and descriptions or reconstructions of fur-nace type and technology. Dekpassanware in Togo will soon join this small group once Killick’s analyses are



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available (DE BARROS 2003, 2006). Interestingly, the smelting furnaces at these three sites show important differences. At Taruga, the thirteen furnaces excavated by FAGG (1969) were forced draft (bellows-driven), non-slag-tapping furnaces ranging in diameter from 40-100 cm consisting of a low shaft over a shallow pit dug approximately 30 cm into the ground (TYLECOTE 1975). Some 300 km further south in Nigeria, the con-temporaneous furnaces at Opi, on the ore-rich Nsu-kka-Udi cuesta, were low-shaft, forced draft furnaces ranging in diameter from 85-125 cm. In contrast to the Taruga furnaces, however, the Opi furnaces had slag-tapping pits connected by channels (OKAFOR & PHILLIPS 1992; OKAFOR 1993). The Walaldé furnaces were much smaller – as small as 25-30 cm in diameter – with slag accumulating to a depth of only 2-6 cm, indicating that very little ore was processed in each smelt. As with the Taruga furnaces, these were non-slag-tapping.

At both Opi and Walaldé, the presence of consid-erable wüstite in the slag indicates that smelters were able to maintain a suffi ciently reducing atmosphere to produce iron metal, but that the smelts were rela-

tively ineffi cient at reducing all the iron oxide present. OKAFOR (1995) noted that later smelting furnaces on the Nsukka plateau achieved greater efficiency. At Walaldé, by contrast, KILLICK (in prep.) observes that slags from Walaldé look very similar to thin-sectioned slags from the furnaces at Juude Jabé, only 50 km to the east and dated to 1000-1450 cal AD. The major differences between the samples lie in the inferred di-ameters of the furnace bases and the depth of the slag beds. Non-tapping furnaces were used at both sites, but those employed at Juude Jabe had internal diam-eters at the base of between 100 and 140 cm, and fl at bases that were partly or wholly occupied by massive furnace bottom slags up to 25 cm deep. The smelting technology at Walaldé was just as well developed as at Juude Jabe with respect to furnace chemistry – attain-ing the diffi cult balance between high temperature and highly reducing furnace atmosphere – but the Walaldé furnaces were much less productive because they were smaller and processed less ore per smelt.

It is not clear what can be made of these data. Do they in any meaningful way support the case

copper minecopper smelting sitecopper object

AmatlichAkjoujt

Awkeroccidental

Nouakchott

ALGER I E

MAL I

S EN EGAL

MAROC

Boudhida

PoudioumWalalde

large concentrations of coppershell midden

Lac Rkiz

Fig. 20. Distribution of copper objects, mines, processing sites in Mauritania and the MSV (redrawn from VERNET 2003: 112).



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for technology transfer? One could argue that the ap-pearance of iron metallurgy at Walaldé and its persist-ence without perceptible technical change in smelt-ing chemistry over a 2000-year period in the region is more consistent with a technology transfer scenario. Equally, however, one could point to the early diversity of furnace types at Taruga, Opi, and Walaldé and the evidence for continuing innovation at Opi to make a case for early metallurgical experimentation resulting in independent invention, perhaps in more than one locale. The fact is that three data points are insufficient to reconstruct historical patterning in early technological style and innovation. Much more careful excavation and archaeometallurgical analysis at a wide variety of first millennium BC smelting sites are required before such interpretations can be attempted.

Particularly relevant to the origin of iron metal-lurgy at Walaldé is the history of copper metallurgy in Mauritania. Although the expectation that a com-plex metallurgical technique such as iron smelting should have developed from earlier pyrotechnologies is sometimes dismissed as ideologically motivated evolutionism, there are sound technological reasons for supposing that metallurgical experimentation and mastery developed progressively. These are based on the observation that some of the rarest metals in the earth’s crust were among the earliest used, because they existed in a pure state (gold, copper, silver) or could be liberated from their ores by application of low heat (copper). Iron, although far more abundant, was discovered only after considerable experimenta-tion with “simpler” metals and the development of pyrotechnology that involved not only higher tem-peratures but control over the amount of free oxygen in the furnace. (CHARLES 1980; WERTIME 1980; KIL-LICK 2001). The narrow window of temperature and gas composition required for a successful smelt is achieved, as REHDER (2000: 122-124) has pointed out, through the use of several technical operations/inno-vations whose origins are most easily envisioned in the context of prior metallurgy, such as the smelting of copper:

1. Use of bellows and tuyeres to maintain an air flow rate adequate to produce high enough temperatures to smelt iron. Bellows can produce furnace tempe-ratures 400º C. higher than what can be achieved with a blowpipe (REHDER 2000: 7). Of course, na-tural (induced) draft furnaces, such as the 3-4 meter high shaft furnaces described historically in parts of Africa, dispense with the need for bellows. The anti-quity of natural draft furnaces in Africa is unknown however. In Nsukka, Nigeria, where a sequence of smelting technologies has been described from the

eighth-first centuries BC to the nineteenth century AD, natural draft furnaces appeared last, after 1500 AD (OKAFOR & PHILLIPS 2002).

2. Use of charcoal for fuel. The chemical nature of the products of combustion of charcoal in the fuel bed is different than that of “biomass fuels” such as wood or dung and provides the re-ducing environment (abundant carbon monoxide, little oxygen) that is necessary for reduction of iron (REHDER 2000: 6; 55-69).

3. Use of cleaned, crushed ore. The surface area of the ore must be increased by crushing because reduction to metallic iron proceeds as the iron oxide at the surface of each piece of ore reacts chemically with carbon monoxide.

4. Maintenance of proper ore:fuel ratio to prevent temperatures from rising so that carbon dissolves into the metallic iron, lowering its melting point, and creating a pool of cast iron instead of a forgeable bloom. With its high carbon content, cast iron is very hard and lacks ductility, so it is virtually unforgeable and useless. REHDER (2000: 122) cites the solubility of carbon in iron above temperatures of 730º C. as the primary reason that iron-smelting is so complex and unpredictable.

Beyond the technical complexities of the smelt, there is the need to reheat and forge the spongy, dense bloom that results from a successful smelt, in order to squeeze out slag and create and shape a usable object. Unlike smelted copper, an iron bloom does not resemble its consolidated, shiny, usable metallic form. It is hard to imagine how people lacking any prior experience with the application of heat and hammer to forge metal would decide to undertake this lengthy and energy-in-tensive process on a bloom produced unintentionally, assuming that such a thing can indeed occur.

Nicole LAMBERT (1972) first documented the copper industry based on the extraction and smelting of copper ores distinctively high in arsenic (>1+ %) at the mines of La Grotte aux Chauves Souris, near Akjoujt, Mauri-tania. Since her initial excavations, five additional sites for the extraction, preparation, and treatment of copper ore have been located (LAMBERT 1983). The copper was fashioned by casting in a one-piece mold and then ham-mering into a variety of points, axes, and jewelry. The distribution of these artifacts over a wide area of western central Mauritania (LAMBERT 1983; VERNET 1993: 331) has already been discussed. The people who mined copper at Akjoujt had contact of some kind with North Africa, since a bronze fibula and several earrings in 6th



GALLEY PROOFScentury BC styles known from Morocco were discovered nearby (LAMBERT 1972). Radiocarbon dates on the mine at the Grotte aux Chauves Souris all (except one slightly earlier date) have a range from 800 to 300 or 200 cal BC. Akjoujt is a potential candidate for metallurgical practice that predates the appearance of iron at Walaldé. The ores of Akjoujt are rich in iron (45 %). The malachite mined from the Grotte aux Chauves Souris occurs in a matrix of hematite and magnetite that was removed and left as fill. Only the copper ores were smelted, but the smelts pro-duced extremely iron-rich slags (GRÉBENART 1988: 131). Under similar circumstances at Timna, in modern Israel, Egyptian smelters produced some iron as a by-product of smelting malachite ores in the 13th c. BC (Age of Iron: www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~GEL115/115CH5.html).

Thus far, however, no evidence for iron production or use has been associated with the Akjoujt copper, aside from the iron pin section of the 6th century bronze fibula found at Akjoujt. The smelting activity and the objects produced occurred within a context in which the use of stone tools persisted. It appears that copper production at Akjoujt ceased by 2000 bp (LAMBERT 1983; VERNET 2000). In the region of Nouakchott, where some affinities to the pottery assemblage at Walaldé have been noted, iron is used only exceptionally after copper disappears, and there is little evidence of local iron production.

The question of the source of the iron objects in the earliest phase of occupation at Walaldé is therefore of great interest. Were the earliest occupants of Walaldé smelting iron or obtaining it through exchange? It is impossible to know based on two small excavation units whether the virtual absence of slag from the earliest oc-cupation levels is real or a sampling artifact. The fact remains, however, that there are iron objects in the earliest levels, implying that an established smelting technology was in place regionally, if not locally, within the period [800-550] cal BC. This pushes back the earliest known iron use in Senegal by several centuries. There is little available data to help us place the use of iron at Walaldé in regional context. First millennium BC iron has not been documented south of the MSV in Senegal. North of the MSV in Mauritania, it is scarce to non-existent. It should be recalled, however, that much of the reconnaissance that has been conducted in the western half of Mauritania has focused on surface remains (VERNET 1993). Excavation may ultimately change the picture. Farther east in Mau-ritania, K. MacDonald has found iron furnaces near Dhar Nema on Bou Khzama, a site with Late Tichitt (800-300 cal BC) occupation deposits. While a jar has been directly dated to 2430 ± 40 bp, AMS dates on the furnace are still awaited (MACDONALD et al. 2003). There is a pressing need for much more basic research on iron use and pro-duction throughout Senegal and Mauritania.

Concluding Remarks

Walaldé offers some new pieces in the puzzle of the transition to iron in sub-Saharan West Africa, although we are still a long way from being able to see the entire picture. Several points seem potentially significant. First, at Walaldé, as at other first millennium BC smelt-ing locales in the Sahel (Jenne-jeno, Do Dimmi, Bou Khzama (pending 14C dating)), early iron appears to arrive with pastoral or agropastoral peoples who tran-shume and have wide-reaching networks for movement and exchange. Copper artifacts from Akjoujt ores testify to the circulation of pastoralists/agropastoralists and objects in western Mauritania ca 2600-2200 bp. The Walaldé settlers seem to have arrived from the north ca 2500 bp, bringing pottery with similarities to that of coastal groups in both the Senegal Delta (Neolithic oyster collectors) and the coastal bays and lagoons and inland dunes near Nouakchott (Chalcolithic agropasto-ral/hunters/shellfish collectors). Yet the source of the iron artifacts they used is a mystery: at that time, the Senegal Delta oyster collectors appear to have used nei-ther iron or copper, and the fisher/herders of Boudhida used copper and stone tools, but not iron. At Walaldé, stone tools were present, but rare, copper was used for jewelry (no copper tools were recovered) and iron was used for jewelry and tools. Over 20 years ago, one of us (SKM) observed that the small amount of available evidence suggested a “mosaic pattern of acceptance, involving different local processes and chronologies” (MCINTOSH & MCINTOSH 1983: 243), a conclusion that continues to be appropriate today.

Ribot’s craniometric study of Feature 9, a Phase I burial, reminds us that agropastoralists in the Sahel ca 2500 bp were not necessarily gracile and, orthognathic like the Peul today. Their burial ritual involved fire and red ochre, a combination that has not previously been documented archaeologically in the region, probably due to the rarity of sub-surface investigations in de-posits of this age. Other novel material manifestations include the enigmatic horned statuettes and a human head statuette with a long nose and large cornrows (Fig. 17). Future research will surely document the distribution of other sites with these features, helping us to contextualize the Walaldé settlers.

After several centuries of recurring occupation at Walaldé, the site was abandoned by ca 200 cal BC, at least in the areas excavated. Subsequent settlement in the study region is dated at several sites to the period between 100 cal BC and 100 cal AD, and involves agropastoralists who use a material culture that is not obviously related to the Walaldé assemblage (Cubalel Phase I - MCINTOSH et al. 1992; DEME 2003). Copper



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seems to disappear throughout western Mauritania at this time as the Akjoujt mines cease to be exploited, according to Vernet. Interestingly, it is approximately at this time that a major dry episode reduced the flow of the Senegal River so severely that seawater flowed eastward into the main river channel for a distance of over 200 km (MONTEILLET et al. 1981). The oyster shell middens of the Delta region were abandoned as freshwater no longer reached them. One can only im-agine the effects of such a drought on agropastoralists who found not only seasonal ponds desiccated, but the river itself running salty and brackish. Transhumance patterns, river exploitation, and exchange may have been totally disrupted and subsequently reconfigured as a result. Walaldé thus brackets a fascinating period in the history of the Western Sahel that includes extensive networks of copper exchange, the appearance of iron metallurgy, and the possibly catastrophic disruption of these activities around 2000 years ago.

Acknowledgements

The Walaldé research is the product of the collabo-ration and support of many people, to whom the authors extend their gratitude : Mamadou Ndiaye (“Anglais”), Moussa Niang and Barbara van Dosselaere participated in the fieldwork, sharing heat waves, dust winds, and general exhaustion. Barbara van Dooselaere’s dedicated and careful recording of pottery data deserves special recognition and thanks. Professor David Killick, Tho-mas Fenn, Dr. Isabelle Ribot, Dr. Chester Cain, and Dr. Shawn Murray generously undertook specialist analyses on the metallurgical remains, the copper arti-facts, the human skeletal remains, the faunal remains, and the macrobotanical remains, respectively, adding greatly to the significance of the research results. Dr. Ibrahima Thiaw, Dr. Moustapha Sall and Dr. Ndèye Sokhna Gueye and Dr. Hamady Bocoum provided support, friendship and a forum for discussing ideas about interpreting the Walaldé findings; dissertation committee members and mentors Professor Roderick McIntosh and Professor Atieno Odhiambo guided the development of the dissertation, emphasizing rigor and clarity in analysis and argument.

The research could not have been accomplished

without funding from three sources: the Wenner-Gren Foundation, which provided a fellowship for graduate study at Rice; the National Science Foundation (Disser-tation Improvement grant SBR 9820919); the Bremen Stiftung für Geschichte, which provided a grant for five radiocarbon dates and other research expenses. Thanks are extended to all these foundations for their indispensable support.

David Killick and Rod McIntosh read and com-mented in detail on drafts of this paper. Their input, plus that of two anonymous reviewers, has resulted in significant improvements, for which we are grateful. Only our stubbornness can be blamed for the faults that remain.

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