Komé to Ebomé: archaeological research for the Chad Export Project, 1999-2003

Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 3 (2), 2005, pp. 175-193 175

KOMÉ TO EBOMÉ: ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH FOR THE

CHAD EXPORT PROJECT, 1999-2003

Phillippe Lavachery, Scott MacEachern, Tchago Bouimon, Bienvenu Gouem Gouem,Pierre Kinyock, Jean Mbairo & Olivier Nkonkonda

Keywords: Central Africa, cultural heritage management, iron technology, food production, settlement systems.

Résumé

Au cours des cinq dernières années, des prospectionset des fouilles archéologiques ont été entreprises auTchad et au Cameroun, à la suite d’un accord de ges-tion du patrimoine culturel entre les gouvernementsdes deux pays, la banque mondiale et un consortiumde compagnies pétrolières internationales. Ce pro-gramme a été entrepris dans le cadre du «Chad ExportProject», qui comprenait la construction d’un oléo-duc reliant Komé au Tchad méridional à la côte at-lantique du Cameroun, à Ebomé. Cette recherche, ef-fectuée par des archéologues associés au projet, per-mis la découverte et la fouille de vestiges culturels lelong d’un transect de 1070 kilomètres, notamment dansdes régions de l’Afrique où très peu de recherche avaitété entreprise précédemment. Ce rapport préliminaireexamine les résultats majeurs de cette recherche, quiincluent: (1) la découverte de 470 sites au Tchad etau Cameroun; (2) la fouille d’un site stratifié cou-vrant toute la seconde moitié de l’Holocène au Came-roun méridional; (3) la découverte de sites à fossesdans les forêts du Cameroun méridional répartis defaçon continue entre la côte atlantique et Nanga Eboko,sur une bien plus grande aire de distribution qu’on nepensait précédemment, et (4) la découverte d’une in-dustrie métallurgique significative dans les savanesboisées du Nord-Est Cameroun et du Tchad méridional.

Abstract

Over the past five years, archaeological survey andexcavation has been undertaken in southern Chadand Cameroon, as the result of a cultural heritagemanagement agreement between the governments ofthe two countries, the World Bank and a consortiumof international oil companies. These initiatives wereundertaken as part of the Chad Export Project, whichinvolved the construction of an oil pipeline from Koméin southern Chad to the Atlantic coast of Cameroonnear Ebomé. Research by archaeologists associatedwith the project has resulted in location and excava-tion of cultural remains along a 1070-kilometretransect, in part through regions of Africa where lit-tle research had previously been undertaken. Thispreliminary report examines the results of this re-search. Major results include: (1) the discovery of470 sites in Chad and Cameroon; (2) the excavationof a mid- to late-Holocene stratified sequence in south-ern Cameroon; (3) the discovery of sites containingpit features in the forests of southern Cameroon be-tween the Atlantic coast and Nanga Eboko, a largerarea than had been indicated by previous research,and (4) the discovery of evidence for significant iron-working activity in the wooded savanna environmentsof northeastern Cameroon and southern Chad.

Scott MacEachern (corresponding author)Department of Sociology and AnthropologyBowdoin CollegeBrunswick, Maine 04011U.S.A.E-mail: [email protected]

Phillippe Lavachery, Bienvenu Gouem Gouem,Pierre Kinyock, Olivier NkonkondaUniversité Libre de BruxellesCOTCO

Tchago BouimonFaculté des Lettres et Sciences HumainesUniversité de N’DjaménaCameroun

Jean MbairoEsso Exploration & Production Chad, Inc.

DOI 10.3213/1612-1651-10049 © Africa Magna Verlag, Frankfurt M.

P. Lavachery, S. MacEachern, T. Bouimon, B. Gouem Gouem, P. Kinyock, J. Mbairo & O. Nkonkonda

Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 3 (2), 2005176

Introduction

Over the last five years, archaeologists have car-ried out a cultural heritage management programme inChad and Cameroon, as part of environmental manage-ment work associated with the Chad Export Project.The Chad Export Project (hereafter CEP), undertakenby a consortium of international oil companies withWorld Bank and national government involvement, isengaged in the extraction of oil from reservoirs discov-ered in southwestern Chad (CCDP 2003). The projecthas entailed the development of oil field facilities inthe Komé region of Chad, construction of a 1069-kilo-metre pipeline with accompanying support facilitiesand infrastructure development through eastern andsouthern Cameroon to the Atlantic coast, and devel-opment of a marine terminal off the Cameroonian coastat Ebomé, near Kribi (Fig. 1). The construction phaseof the CEP is essentially completed; first oil from Chadwas delivered to Kribi in September, 2003.

This project has the potential for significant dam-age to cultural resources in Cameroon and Chad, andso has required a substantial cultural heritage manage-ment programme, one of the largest archaeological ef-forts undertaken in this part of Africa to date. Field-work along the pipeline right-of-way constituted a con-tinuous archaeological transect across a large part ofCentral Africa, allowing us to examine cultural variabil-ity at a local scale over more than one thousandkilometers in a variety of different environments, fromSudano-Guinean woodland to tropical forest. Priorknowledge of the prehistory of areas impacted by theCEP varied from considerable – in the region aroundYaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, for example – to almostnil, as for example in the Oil Field Development Area insouthwestern Chad (COURTIN 1963; DE MARET et al. 1983;KADOMURA 1984; ESSOMBA 1992; MBIDA 1992a, b;WIRRMANN & ELOUGA 1998; MBIDA et al. 2001; EGGERT

2002). The transect also runs through the region impli-cated in the initial expansion of Bantu languages out ofthe core area of that language group in the Grassfieldsarea of northwestern Cameroon, between Belabo andEbomé. This process, beginning perhaps 5000 yearsago, appears to have been of central importance to thehistory of Africa south of the equator, but the linguis-tic, demographical and cultural characteristics of the‘Bantu Expansion’ remain controversial (VANSINA 1995;EHRET 2001; KLIEMAN 2003). This paper constitutes apreliminary report on the design and execution of theCEP archaeological programme, as well as a brief de-scription of some of the results of our research to date.

Heritage Management Considerations

The goals of the CEP heritage management pro-gramme have included: protection of the culturalheritages of Cameroon and Chad; support for and de-velopment of archaeological research resources (bothphysical infrastructure and training of personnel) inboth countries; and improvement of archaeologicalknowledge of the prehistory and history of Central Af-rica. In the context of a relatively unknown archaeo-logical record and significant weaknesses in availableCHM/archaeological resources in these two countries,the importance of a holistic consideration of all ofthese goals cannot be overstated (cf. GOODLAND &WEBB 1987: 8-21).

One of the most difficult issues in African archae-ology today involves control and management by Af-ricans of their own cultural heritage (MCINTOSH 1993;MACEACHERN 2001). In too many cases, archaeologicalresearch on the continent is still carried out by Euro-peans and North Americans, with little African input orcontrol. This situation can be traced in large part to alack of resources available for the training of studentsof archaeology, for control of national cultural heritageand for local programs of archaeological research andanalysis, to be carried out in Africa by Africans. Theseproblems are compounded in regions where relativelylittle is known of the archaeological record in general,because that lack of background information makesvery difficult the effective deployment of available ar-chaeological resources.

Under those circumstances, a conventional NorthAmerican cultural heritage management strategy, withavoidance of all sites as the primary goal of theproject, did not appear appropriate to the circum-stances at hand. The CEP archaeological program wasdesigned to help address some of these issues inCameroon and Chad, by providing training in culturalheritage management and by making possible researchin regions unreachable without CEP logistical and tech-nical support. Training will continue beyond the periodof active field research, as support for further post-graduate work will be provided for two of the Africanarchaeologists who have been involved on the project.

Design of the CEP archaeology programme wascomplex, for a number of reasons. The project spannedtwo countries, with construction and infrastructure de-velopment work carried out in parallel by three oversightcompanies, Esso Exploration & Production Chad, Inc.

Komé to Ebomé: Archaeological Research for the Chad Export Project, 1999-2003

Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 3 (2), 2005 177

(EEPCI) in the Oil Field Development Area (OFDA) andTOTCO along the pipeline route in Chad, and COTCO inCameroon. Both countries legitimately wished to makeindependent decisions about their separate cultural her-itage, and thus archaeological work similarly proceeded,separately but in parallel. The national infrastructuresavailable for cultural heritage management and archae-ology in the two countries are also quite different, withconsiderably more resources (in terms of infrastructureand people) available in Cameroon than in Chad.

These factors, as well as the differing amounts ofarchaeological research to be undertaken (oil fieldsand 169 km of pipeline in Chad, versus a variety ofsupport stations and approximately 900 km of pipelinein Cameroon) have led to somewhat different ap-proaches to cultural heritage management in the twocountries. Initial archaeological research in Chad dur-ing 1999 and 2000 was undertaken by a Chadian ar-chaeologist (Bouimon) and an expatriate (MacEachern)working together. Bouimon and his students from the

Université de N’Djaména have carried out work sincethat point in Chad, with direct support from COTCOarchaeologists from Cameroon and from MacEachern.In Cameroon, a full-time expatriate researcher (Lavachery)has directed the archaeological programme, workingwith a number of Cameroonian archaeologists also em-ployed and further trained by COTCO. MacEachernprovided some initial support in Cameroon. TOTCO,working in conjunction with EEPCI, was responsiblefor archaeological oversight in Chad, but without thenucleus of archaeologists directly employed by thecompany before 2003. One challenge for the archaeo-logical programme as a whole has thus involved main-taining commonality in research design and method-ologies across these national and bureaucratic bor-ders, since the geographical scope of the research pro-gramme makes an integrated viewpoint particularlyvaluable. Another challenge lays in ensuring the wid-est possible involvement in the project of archaeolo-gists from Chad and Cameroon, consistent with theefficient and timely completion of project goals.

Fig. 1. Map of the pipeline right-of-way.



Research design

The initial phases of cultural heritage manage-ment work for the CEP began along the pipeline right-of-way in that country, through the period March –May, 1999. The main archaeological project has pro-ceeded in five phases, and was designed to comply withthe CEP Management Plans for Cultural Resources forCameroon and Chad. In addition, other elements of theoverall archaeological research effort have included:(a) initial survey and mitigation work on fixed facilitysites in Cameroon that took place through late 2000(OSLISLY et al. 2000); (b) preparation of a handbook onregional archaeological occurrences (MACEACHERN

2000), for use by CEP subcontractors; and (c) construc-tion/amelioration of archaeological laboratory facilitiesin both N’Djaména (Chad) and Yaoundé (Cameroon).

The five phases of the main archaeologicalCHM effort on the pipeline ROW are as follows.Pre-construction survey took place betweenMarch, 1999, and February, 2003, although not con-tinuously through this period. The survey covered100 % of the 30m-wide pipeline route in Chad andCameroon, while survey samples were also establishedin the OFDA in Chad and on fixed facilities sites andalong access routes in both countries. The terrain sur-veyed was in many areas exceptionally difficult, par-ticularly in the tropical forests in southern Cameroonand along the Mbéré River Valley in the east of thatcountry. This phase involved both a surface surveyand an augering programme, with the latter adapted tolocal geomorphological conditions. There was no sys-tematic collection of artifacts during the pre-construc-tion survey; however, particularly significant objectsin imminent danger of destruction or disappearancewere collected and catalogued. This survey work con-tinues periodically in the OFDA, as further oilfield de-velopment takes place.

Archaeologists conducted construction monitor-ing during all phases of project construction activities,including pipeline grading and trenching, betweenOctober, 2001 and the present. Grading operations re-sulted in the removal of 20 to 50 cm of topsoil from theright-of-way, exposing large surfaces of bare groundideal for the detection of archaeological sites and ar-tifacts. The pipeline trench was dug to a depth of 1.5to 3 meters below the graded surface, with a width of1.5 to 3 meters. Mitigation activities varied accordingto the phase of construction in which sites were un-covered. Archaeological sites uncovered by grading

were typically left for project archaeologists to studywithout interference by further pipeline constructionactivities for several weeks, while sites uncovered bytrenching had to be examined and analysed muchmore quickly. By the beginning of 2004, monitoring wasexclusively associated with well-pad construction andrelated activities in the OFDA in Chad.

Post-discovery site treatment was decided uponaccording to a prioritization system set up in collabo-ration with the governments of Cameroon and Chad,this prioritization then informing the Site TreatmentPlan developed for each site. Criteria for prioritizingsites included site type (with some particular sitetypes – burials, megalithic/tazunu sites [ZANGATO

1999], Early Stone Age sites and palaeontologicalsites – automatically accorded high priority), site age,density and variety of artefacts and features, degreeof disturbance and prior archaeological knowledge ofthe area in which the site was found. Treatment vari-ously involved no intervention (that is, allowing sitesdeemed not sufficiently significant to be impacted byconstruction), further monitoring, site avoidance(through pipeline deviation and right-of-way restric-tion), deliberate site burial and data recovery/excava-tion of selected high-priority sites. This work began inOctober 2001 in Cameroon and is still continuing inChad. For that reason, site numbers, site types andother data given below for Chad are not final, butrather reflect the situation as of 1 January, 2004.

Laboratory work and specialized analyses beganin March 2003, and is ongoing. This has included asubstantial radiocarbon dating programme, with ap-proximately 90 dates obtained by the beginning of2004. The final stage of the CHM effort will be thepreparation of a substantial publication on the ar-chaeological programme. This is now in preparation.

Site distributions

A total of 470 archaeological sites have been lo-cated as a result of research between early 1999 andthe end of 2003 (Fig. 2), for an average site density of0.44 sites/kilometer. Of these, 302 have been found inCameroon (almost all on the pipeline right-of-way) and168 in Chad (on the pipeline right-of-way and in theOFDA). Approximately two-thirds (325 sites) of thesites discovered are surface scatters of different arte-fact types, including ceramics, lithics and iron-workingdebris (Tab. 1), along with grinding hollows on rock



Fig. 2. Sites along the pipeline route.

SURFACE SITES BURIED SITES

Cameroon Chad Cameroon Chad

Site type Number HighPriority

Number HighPriority

Site type Number HighPriority

Number HighPriority

Ceramic scatter 103 1 67 2 Ceramic horizon(s) 56 14 9 3Diverse artefact scatter 48 0 41 0 Diverse artefact horizon(s) 43 25 19 12Grinding stone/hollow 10 0 0 0Iron-working scatter 7 0 17 2 Iron-working horizon(s) 5 3 11 9Lithic scatter 23 3 5 0 Lithic horizon(s) 2 1 0 0Modern tomb 3 3 1 1

Total 194 7 131 5 Total 106 43 39 24

Tab. 1. Archaeological site types discovered during CEP Archaeological Programme activities.

faces and modern tombs. (Two possible small mega-lithic tazunu sites [ZANGATO 1999] were located inCameroon. Upon further examination, it was deter-mined that these latter were stone outcrops of naturalorigin and unusual configuration. They have thusbeen eliminated from the site inventory.) Most of these

surface sites were designated as low priority. Buriedsites make up the other third of the sites discovered,a significant number of which were located in thecourse of construction monitoring. These sites makeup the majority of sites accorded medium and high pri-ority designations and the majority of excavated sites.



The higher frequencies of iron-working sites in Chad,and of grinding hollows and lithic sites in Cameroon,are particularly noteworthy. These may in part reflectreal differences in prehistoric activities along the pipe-line route, but the larger number of relatively olderlithic sites in Cameroon may also be a reflection of dif-ferent erosional contexts. In Chad, most of the areasurveyed consisted of flat plain mantled with relativelyrecent sediment, while hilly terrain, characterized bydeeply dissected valleys, was more commonly en-countered in Cameroon.

In Cameroon, 108 (36 %) of the sites discoveredwere accorded medium or high priority, thus necessi-tating some post-discovery treatment, while in Chad 71(42 %) sites were accorded these priorities. Table 2presents a summary of treatments on high-/medium-priority sites. These treatments varied according tothe characteristics of the sites. Monitoring during con-struction was applied to medium-priority sites whenfurther treatment was not deemed to be necessary,given information available at the time of discovery. Insome cases, monitoring resulted in a site beingredesignated as high priority, with further treatmentapplied. In particular cases, impacts to sites could belimited by narrowing the right-of-way around the site

or by intentional backfilling of the constructiontrench. Different site evaluation practises account formost of the greater proportion of sites excavated inChad compared to Cameroon. Excavations have takenplace on 32 sites in Cameroon and (to the beginningof 2004) on 39 sites in Chad. In some cases, these ex-cavations consisted of small test pits: in other cases,they were substantially larger.

Sites were located in all areas along the pipelineright of way, albeit with significant differences in sitedensity. In general, site densities are highest in the de-ciduous wooded savanna found along the northernpart of the pipeline right-of-way, in Chad and alongSpread 1, the northern extent of the pipeline inCameroon (Tab. 3). This is due in large part to thegreater visibility of small surface sites in this ecozone,compared to the savanna-forest mosaic and tropicalforest regions to the south, but also appears to reflectreal increases in site densities in the deciduouswooded savanna. Chadian site densities are not di-rectly comparable to those in Cameroon, since the fig-ures for the former country include sites located dur-ing pre-construction survey in the OFDA, as well assites found along surveyed roads in Chad. Sites lo-cated during road surveys are not yet included in

Tab. 2. Site treatments.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF DISCOVERY

Chad(178 km + OFDA)

CameroonSpread 1(467 km)

CameroonSpread 2(602 km)

Pre-construction Survey (PCS) 110 94 29% of Total 66 51 25Density (site/km) (0.63) 0.20 0.04Construction Monitoring (CM) 58 90 89% of Total 34 49 75Density (site/km) (0.33) 0.19 0.15Total (PCS + CM) 168 184 118Density (site/km) (0.96) 0.39 0.20

Tab. 3. Circumstances of site discovery.

Cameroon ChadSITE TREATMENT # % # %

Monitoring during construction 47 43 21 29Data recovery (excavations) 32 30 39 55Avoidance (narrowing of the right-of-way) 18 17 4 6Intentional backfill of the trench 11 10 7 10Total 108 100 71 100



Cameroonian totals. The difference in site density is,however, still significant when only savanna and for-est zones in Cameroon are compared, thus avoidingthe bias of roads and OFDA.

Also notable are a number of regions where sitedensities are considerably reduced (Fig. 2), as for ex-ample east of Nanga-Eboko, along the Lom River andin the Ngoumou-Lolodorf area in Cameroon. These ar-eas are to be found in tropical forest and savanna-for-est mosaic ecozones, but modern environment typesand human population densities do not appear to beconsistently different from those found in neighbour-ing areas with higher site densities. An exception is theAdamawa area north of the Lom River, which is knownto be very sparsely populated even today, and issometimes called the ‘Adamawa Desert’ (DIEU &RENAUD 1983). Reasons for this variability in land useare at present unknown, but may well be different foreach area. Along the pipeline right-of-way in Chad,distinct clustering of sites on a smaller scale is asso-ciated with proximity to rivers and areas where ironworking takes place (see below).

Estimates of site ages are derived from radiocar-bon dates where these are available, from the generaltypological characteristics of ceramic and lithic mate-rials, and from the rather rarer occurrence of datable(almost always European) artefacts on sites. Given thelack of background data for most of the area coveredby the CEP archaeological programme, as well as somepotential mixing of assemblages from multi-compo-nent sites, the typologies use to date these sites werefairly basic and our initial estimates of site ages inmany cases approximate. It is for this reason that wecontinue to use general culture-historical designationsbased on technology alone – Middle Stone Age, Late

Stone Age, Neolithic and Iron Age – to categorisesites located in the course of the CEP archaeologicalprogramme.

It is also the reason for some overlap in the agecategories in use (see Tab. 4). Many of the sites locatedin the course of this research are probably relativelyrecent in date. Approximately 11 % of the sites haveyielded colonial-period or more modern artefacts, usu-ally in surface contexts, and are designated as ‘recent’.About 72 % are dated to the Iron Age broadly defined(the last 2000 - 2500 years), from radiocarbon dating,ceramic morphologies and decoration, and/or the pres-ence of iron artefacts or smithing/smelting debris.There is obviously no clear-cut dividing line betweenthe Iron Age and the colonial period, and some ofthese sites are almost certainly less than a century old;they are thus designated ‘Iron Age/Recent’. Not allIron Age sites yield evidence of iron working, andsuch sites can be difficult to distinguish from Neolithicoccurrences, especially when lithics and iron-workingare sometimes found in association. Approximately7 % of sites are thus tentatively dated to the Neolithic/Iron Age period (ca 5000 – 1000 years ago), througha combination of ceramic typology, presence of lithics(especially ground stone tools) and/or absence ofsmithing/smelting debris.

The social and cultural processes now associatedwith the early ‘Bantu Expansion’ took place during theperiod we designate as Neolithic. Very little materialfrom this period (5000 – 3000 years ago) has been lo-cated in southern Cameroon, and the material basis ofthis phenomenon obviously requires further study. Inparticular, we need to better understand the food-pro-duction and settlement systems associated with the‘Bantu Expansion’. In the long run, it is unlikely that

Chad Cameroon Total

CULTURE-HISTORICAL PERIOD Approximate agerange (years bp)

# % # % # %

MSA/LSA >40,000 - 3000 1 0.6 25 8.3 26 5.5Neolithic/Iron Age 5000 - 1000 0 0 32 10.6 32 6.8Iron Age/Recent 2500 - <100 149 88.7 188 62.3 337 71.7Recent <100 14 8.3 39 12.9 53 11.3Multiple occupations 1 0.6 8 2.6 9 1.9Undetermined 3 1.8 10 3.3 13 2.8Total 168 100 302 100 470 100

Tab. 4. Estimated ages of sites, at time of site discovery.



simple dichotomies between ‘LSA’ and ‘Neolithic’ ar-chaeological occurrences, or between ‘non-agricul-tural’ and ‘agricultural’ food-production systems, willhelp us understand the dynamics of this very complexphenomenon. However, data recovered in this projectmay indicate that this early phase of the phenomenontook place only in the Grassfields region of northwest-ern Cameroon, with the movement of Bantu-speakingcommunities – increasingly engaged in the control andcultivation of plant species, including domesticates –toward southern Cameroon beginning only around3000 years ago (LAVACHERY 1998). One element thatmust be considered in the examination of this move-ment is the introduction of iron technology into theregion, together with the attendant replacement ofstone tools. None of the pit sites found along the pipe-line route in southern Cameroon (see below) containa significant stone tool industry, and all of these sitesmay thus be Iron Age in date.

Probable Middle/Late Stone Age sites (>40,000 –4000 years ago) make up approximately 6 % of the sam-ple, based primarily upon lithic morphologies and ab-sence of other artefact types. These early sites were mostcommonly encountered in erosional contexts on hill-sides near the Mbéré River Valley in eastern Cameroon.A number of these sites, and about 15 % of the high pri-ority sites, show evidence of occupations across mul-tiple cultural-historical periods. These include ECA-43(Sokorta Manga), ECA-68 (Ndtoua Rock Shelter), ECA-84 (Koukony), ECA-192 (Bikoué Rock Shelter), ECA-250(Leboudi) and ECA-272 (Ezezang). These sites are multi-component open-air sites on hilltops or in rock shelters,yielding MSA/LSA assemblages (with macrolithic bifacialtools) and Iron Age occupations (with pits when open-air). Both ECA-243 (Beka Petel) and ECA-279 (Ongot)clearly present two distinct Iron Age occupations.

Preliminary research results

The CEP archaeological programme has involvedthe first substantial research done along most of thepipeline route, and has generated a great deal of newdata, much of which is now undergoing interpretation.We hope that, in future, the Chadian and Cameroonianarchaeologists that have been involved in this projectwill have the opportunity to further investigate someof the sites that they have had a hand in locating. Atthis point, however, a number of issues raised by thisresearch have already proven particularly interesting,and deserve to be discussed in somewhat more detail.

Occupation of the tropical forest

Until this archaeological programme, rather littlewas known of the period spanning the transition fromhunting and gathering to farming in the tropical forestof southern Cameroon. A sample of lithic materials, in-cluding formed tools, cores, flakes and shatter in dif-ferent materials, was collected from surface localitiesnear the Atlantic coast and around Yaoundé (OMI

1977). DE MARET (1992) located microlithic LSA mate-rial in the stratigraphy at the Obobogo site in Yaoundé,dated to approximately 6000 bp. Project excavations onthe site of ECA-68 (Ndtoua Rock Shelter) have yieldeda similar date in the lower part of the stratigraphy,which in total provides initial data for the constructionof a chronocultural sequence for this area.

The Ndtoua Rock Shelter site was located ap-proximately 27 kilometers from the Atlantic coast andwas almost inaccessible without the access providedduring the period of pipeline construction (Fig. 3). Acoring programme in and around the shelter indicatedthat the cultural materials existed in a restricted area,and excavation was undertaken in that area of sedi-ment accumulation. After excavation, the rock over-hang was destroyed. It is unlikely that significant cul-tural deposits went undetected by the coring pro-gramme; if they did, they would have been very deeplyburied and so protected from the effects of gradingactivity. The excavation yielded a two-metre stratigraphicsequence, with four well-separated cultural levels: (1)a quartzite and quartz microlithic assemblage with asignificant macrolithic component found in the lowestlevel, with one date of ca 5500 bp (Tab. 5); (2) amicrolithic assemblage, characterized by very smallflakes on quartz and rock crystal, in an undated inter-mediate level; (3) a level with rare pottery and abun-dant microlithic artefacts on quartz, dated to ca 1900bp; and (4) an upper level with ceramics, iron andsome stone tools dated to ca 700 bp. The variation inlithic assemblages over the period ca 5500 – 2000 bpis of interest; the larger artefacts from the lowest levelwere initially identified as late MSA/early LSA, and aLate Pleistocene/Early Holocene age was assumed.

The Shum Laka site in the Grassfields area ofNorthwest Province in Cameroon also yielded amacrolithic stone tool assemblage of mid-Holocenedate (LAVACHERY 2001), but with basalt as the prevalentraw material and, more importantly, a polished stonetool component and pottery. The ceramics and pol-ished stone tools found at Shum Laka are more usu-



ally associated with Neolithic occupations in West andCentral Africa, while the artefacts recovered fromNdtoua, without ceramics or polished stone, are morereminiscent of LSA assemblages. These data, as wellas the recovery of incense tree (Canarium schwein-furthii) remains at Shum Laka, raise the prospect of anappreciably more intensive occupation in theGrassfields at 5000 bp than in the forests of southernCameroon. More data on subsistence systems wouldof course be required to confirm this possibility. Thecontinuing evidence of stone tool use at Ndtoua after2000 bp, and so after the acquisition of iron in villagecommunities in the same region (see below), has anumber of implications. Excavations at Shum Laka(LAVACHERY 2001: 233-235) show a similar persistenceof lithics associated with iron objects and ceramicsuntil at least 900 bp. On the island of Bioko, use ofstone tools persisted until the arrival of the first Euro-peans. This combination of artefact types may also in-dicate the persistence of forager lifeways alongsideagricultural activities, possibly paralleling more recentrelations between Pygmy and farming populations.

The closest regional parallels to this site are probablywith Gabonaise sites like Ikengué (CLIST 1995), al-though use of stone tools appears to persist until onlyabout 2500 bp at the latter site.

Perhaps the most characteristic archaeologicalphenomena discovered to this point in southernCameroon are the somewhat enigmatic pit features,discovered until now primarily on sites in the areaaround Yaoundé and near the Atlantic coast (ESSOMBA

1992; MBIDA 1992a; DE MARET 1994; EGGERT 2002).These substantial features are usually 1.5 – 3 m deep,and contain large amounts of artefactual and organicdebris, including ceramics, iron and slag in some casesand rare lithics and faunal remains (includingovicaprids), as well as charred incense tree (Canariumschweinfurthii) pericarps and oil palm (Elaeisguineensis) nuts, and possibly Pennisetum. On previ-ously excavated sites, pits appear in large numbers(more than 120 at Nkometou, approximately 30 at Nkang[ESSOMBA 1992; MBIDA 1992b]), and indeed are thedominant features on such sites.

Fig. 3. ECA-68 – Ndtoua Rock Shelter, Cameroon. For location, see Fig. 7.



ECA-24 Bemboyo I-K 13, 30 cm 182529 Modern ModernECA-24 Bemboyo Fourneau 182530 90 ± 70 AD 1660 – 1950ECA-43 Sokorta Manga D10, layer 2 (20-40 cm) 182531 830 ± 40 AD 1155 – 1275ECA-43 Sokorta Manga O"60, layer 2 (20-40 cm) 182532 1040 ± 40 AD 960 – 1040ECA-47 Djaoro Mbama C4, layer 5 (37-47 cm) 182533 1950 ± 60 60 BC – AD 215ECA-47 Djaoro Mbama C10, layer 13 (125-145 cm) 182535 2010 ± 60 170 BC – AD 115ECA-47 Djaoro Mbama Ferrrier, couche 4- 6 (40-60 cm) 182534 1980 ± 70 160 BC – AD 155ECA-47 Djaoro Mbama Fourneau B, couche 4 (30-40 cm) 182536 1770 ± 80 AD 75 – 430ECA-47 Djaoro Mbama Structure C (fosse), couche 12- 13 (120-130 cm) 182537 1880 ± 60 AD 5 – 255ECA-68 Ndtoua 20-30 cm 182538 700 ± 60 AD 1225 – 1400ECA-68 Ndtoua C6 40-50 cm 182541 1910 ± 60 40 BC – AD 240ECA-68 Ndtoua C6 80-90 cm 182540 1920 ± 70 55 BC – AD 245ECA-68 Ndtoua C6 170-180 cm 182539 5490 ± 70 4460 – 4225 BCECA-84 Koukony -100 cm 182542 1910 ± 60 50 BC – AD 250ECA-124 Makouré Fourneau, 40-60 cm 182544 2210 ± 60 395 – 100 BCECA-130 Dombe Fosse A, 40 – 80 cm 182547 2440 ± 60 785 – 390 BCECA-130 Dombe Fosse B, 80 – 120 cm 182546 2540 ± 60 815 – 420 BCECA-138 Bissiang Fosse A 182548 2550 ± 60 820 – 500 BC

465 – 425 BCECA-138 Bissiang Fosse B, 80 – 100 cm 182549 2770 ± 70 1105 – 805 BCECA-160 Bidjouka Fosse E, 60 cm 182551 1580 ± 80 AD 260 – 290 (1.9%)

AD 320 – 640 (93.5%)ECA-160 Bidjouka Fosse A, 80 cm 182552 1480 ± 70 AD 420 – 670ECA-228 Binguela II Fosse A, 40 – 60 cm 182557 1590 ± 60 AD 350 – 610ECA-228 Binguela II Fosse B, 40 – 60 cm 182558 1670 ± 70 AD 230 – 545ECA-228 Binguela II Fosse D, 80 – 100 cm 182559 1630 ± 70 AD 250 – 585ECA-243 Beka Petel 0-30 cm 182563 750 ± 70 AD 1060 – 1090 (1.1%)

AD 1120 – 1140 (1.1%)AD 1150 – 1400 (93.2%)

ECA-243 Beka Petel 90-100 cm 182562 870 ± 60 AD 1025 – 1275ECA-272 Ezezang Carré K, 0-20 cm 182567 2220 ± 70 400 – 80 BCECA-272 Ezezang Carré K, 20-40 cm 182568 2250 ± 40 395 –195 BCECA-272 Ezezang Carré K, 40-60 cm 182569 2220 ± 40 385 – 180 BCECA-272 Ezezang Fosse D, 80-100 cm 182565 2120 ± 70 375 – 30 BCECA-272 Ezezang Fosse M, 40-60 cm 182566 2410 ± 60 774 – 385 BCECA-279 Ongot 85-105 cm 182571 1410 ± 60 AD 530 – 780ECA-279 Ongot 145-165 cm 182570 2240 ± 100 800 – 700 BC (1.9%)

550 BC – AD 1 (93.5%)ECA-315 Ndjore Fosse D, 60-100 cm 182574 2020 ± 60 190 – 90 BC (94.2%)

AD 100 – 120 (1.2%)ECA-315 Ndjore Fosse C, 80-100 cm 182573 1930 ± 60 50 BC – AD 240 ECA-315 Ndjore Fosse B, 40-60 cm 182576 1870 ± 40 AD 50 – 240 ECA-315 Ndjore Fosse B, 120-135 cm (human bone) 182577 Modern ModernECA-315 Ndjore Fosse E, 40-60 cm 182575 1810 ± 60 AD 70 – 380 ECA-323 Zili Fosse, 170-190 cm 182579 2630 ± 70 940 – 530 BCECA-333 Nanga Fosse E, 20-60 cm 182581 2190 ± 60 390 – 90 BC ECA-333 Nanga Fosse F, 20-60 cm 182582 2040 ± 80 360 – 290 BC (4.4%)

230 BC – AD 130 (91%)ECA-335 Meyang Fosse B, 60-80 cm 182584 2110 ± 60 360 – 270 BC (14.1%)

260 BC – AD 20 (81.3%)ECA-335 Meyang Fosse C, 100-120 cm 182583 2360 ± 60 800 – 350 BC (91.1%)

300 – 200 BC (4.3%)ETA-25 Begon II Fourneau 1, 80 cm 175341 1000 ± 40 AD 970 – 1160ETA-35 Bedia Fourneau 2, 66 cm 175342 980 ± 40 AD 980 – 1170ETA-40 Kolle Fourneau 2, 115 cm 175343 1000 ± 70 AD 890 – 1220ETA-40 Kolle Fourneau 4, 70 cm 175344 620 ± 80 AD 1260 – 1440ETA-46 Beboura Sondage 2 A3, 18 cm 175345 150 ± 60 AD 1660 – 1950ETA-58 Sondage A, 20 cm 163965 Modern ModernETA-69 Mban I Fourneau 1, 40 cm 163966 3160 ± 70 1610 – 1250 BCETA-69 Mban I Fourneau 1 , 65 cm 169033 1020 ± 50 AD 890 – 1160ETA-69 Mban I Fourneau 1, 60 cm 175346 920 ± 40 AD 1020 – 1220ETA-69 Mban I Fourneau 2, 50 cm 163977 390 ± 40 AD 1430 – 1530 (61%)

AD 1540 – 1640 (34.4%)ETA-97 Mayongo Carré A5, 60 - 80 cm 185378 1880 ± 40 AD 30 – 40 (1.1%)

AD 50 – 240 (94.3%)ETA-97 Mayongo Carré A2, 160-180 cm 187929 Modern ModernETA-164 Missi Madji Fourneau 1, 50-60 cm 187930 1230 ± 40 AD 685 – 890ETA-165 Ngon Mbang Unit A1, 25 cm 185381 120 ± 50 AD 1660 – 1950ETA-165 Ngon Mbang Unit A4, 20-30 cm 187931 240 ± 60 AD 1480 –1700 (54.7%)

AD 1720 – 1820 (28.8%)AD 1830 – 1880 (3.8%)AD 1910 – 1960 (3.1%)

ETA-166 Begon II Fourneau 16, 20-40 cm 185382 880 ± 50 AD 1030 – 1260ETA-166 Begon II Fourneau 16, 40-60 cm 185383 1070 ± 40 AD 890 – 1030ETA-166 Begon II Fourneau 20, 10-20 cm 185384 880 ±- 40 AD 1030 – 1260ETA-166 Begon II Fourneau 20, 20-40 cm 187932 930 ± 60 AD 1000 – 1240ETA-167 Karmankass Sondage 1, 195-215 cm 185385 1510 ± 70 AD 410 – 660ETA-167 Karmankass Sondage 2, 120-140 cm 187933 1600 ±130 AD 130 – 670ETA-173 Badila Fourneau 1, 70 cm 163963 910 ± 40 AD 1020 – 1220ETA-173 Badila Fourneau 2, 55 cm 163964 890 ± 70 AD 1020 – 1270ETA-175 Bekia Fourneau 6, 130-150 cm 187934 1000 ± 50 AD 970 – 1160ETA-188 Dodang Carré A6, 10-20 cm 187935 630 ± 50 AD 1280 – 1420

Uncalibrated date bp

Radiocarbon age (2-sigma)

Lab # (Beta-)

Site number Site name Context (cm BD)

Tab. 5. Radiocarbon dates from selected sites noted in the text. All dates are on charcoal unless otherwise noted.

Calibrated age



There has been some debate about the uses ofthese pits. Researchers have posited a primary storagefunction for these features, with refuse disposal as anadditional function when such storage had ended, buttheir uses may well have been more varied. There isevidence that in at least some cases such pits wereused as wells or latrines (MBIDA 1998: 210), while pitson Gabonese sites in similar contexts appear to havebeen used as quarries for clay used in house construc-tion, and were thereafter filled quite quickly (BernardClist, personal communication 2005). It is probablethat the pit features found in the course of this surveyserved a variety of different purposes, at differenttimes during their use cycle. The recent discovery ofbanana phytoliths in two pits at the Nkang site (MBIDA

et al. 2000; MBIDA et al. 2001), dated to ca 2500 bp,yields valuable data on subsistence patterns in thisarea at this time, and may help to explain the presenceof sedentary communities in tropical forest during thethird millennium bp. The discovery of bananaphytoliths in southern Cameroon at that period willalso force a reconsideration of economic reconstruc-

tions for East and Central Africa, since it indicates dif-fusion of this crop across the Indian Ocean and acrossAfrica at least 1000 – 1500 years earlier than previ-ously thought.

In the course of fieldwork along the pipelineright-of-way, these pit features have been located on29 sites in the forest zone of Cameroon, from east ofNanga Eboko to the Atlantic coast at Kribi, a consid-erably wider distribution than had been indicated byearlier discoveries (Fig. 4). Provisional examination ofmaterials and radiocarbon dates from excavated pitson a number of these sites (see for example ECA-130[Dombe], ECA-138 [Bissiang], ECA-228 [Binguela II] –Tab. 5) indicates that there is complex internal differ-entiation in this sample along different parts of theright-of-way. There appear to be two series of dates inthe south between Kribi and Yaoundé, with one seriesof pit sites dated to approximately 2900-1800 bp, witha ceramic assemblage dominated by walking-comb andcomb-stamped decoration on pottery, and a secondset dated to ca 1700-1400 bp, where pottery decora-

Fig. 4. Sites with pits along the pipeline route.



tion was primarily stick- and comb-grooving but withsome use of carved wooden roulettes. In the Yaoundéarea, at sites like ECA-236 (Zoatoupsi), ECA-250(Leboudi) and ECA-272 (Ezezang), pottery decorationis characterized by more or less equal percentages ofcomb-stamping, walking-comb and stick- and comb-grooving between 2400-2100 bp. Further to the north-east, in the Nanga Eboko area, the early pit site ofECA-323 (Zili) yielded pottery decorated using thosefour techniques at 2600 bp, while at the later sites ofECA-335 (Meyang) and ECA-333 (Nanga) ceramicdecoration is entirely dominated by comb-groovingbetween 2400-2000 bp. A number of sites with smallerand more recent (ca 1000-500 bp) pits have also beendiscovered in the wooded savanna in southwesternChad, although their primarily roulette-decorated ce-ramics do not appear to be closely related to thosefound on the southern Cameroonian sites. Pit featuresare also found on sites considerably north of the for-est zone in Central and West Africa, although, as inChad, they are not usually a dominant feature on suchsites.

These pit features represent the most substantialevidence for prehistoric settlement in this region.Most radiocarbon dates extracted from pit sites insouthern Cameroon before this time have yielded re-sults in the period between ca 3000 – 1500 bp, and soare very comparable to the results of the present sur-vey. The sites probably span the time during whichiron technology was introduced to the region, but therarity of stone tools indicates that iron was primarilyused in most of these communities. The nature of set-tlement associated with these pit sites requires furtherresearch. Their presence and function(s) certainly in-dicate the existence of sedentary lifeways in southernCameroon during this period, but do not of themselvesindicate settlement size or duration. If radiocarbon evi-dence indicates that all of the pits on a single site werecontemporaneous, we will probably derive a very dif-ferent picture of ancient occupation than would begenerated if dates for those pits covered a span ofmany centuries. In the former case, occupation in rela-tively large villages would be indicated, while the lat-ter case would imply that these pit sites arepalimpsests, built up through repeated excavation epi-sodes in small settlements over time. There is evidencefor a considerable range of dates from different pits onsome of the pit sites previously discovered, while theresults from sites discovered during the course offieldwork along the pipeline right-of-way are complex.Charcoal samples from multiple pits at ECA-130

(Dombe – 2 pits), ECA-160 (Bidjouka – 2 pits), ECA-228 (Binguela II – 3 pits) and ECA-333 (Nanga - 2 pits)have yielded dates that are statistically indistinguish-able (Tab. 5). Dates on charcoal recovered from fourpits at ECA-315 (Ndjore) indicate occupation over alimited time-span around the turn of the second millen-nium BP, but bone from a human skeleton recoveredfrom one of those pits yielded a modern date. Thedates recovered from two pits at ECA-272 (Ezezang)are some centuries apart, although the date from onepit is in agreement with dates recovered from other ex-cavations on that site. There is, on the other hand,very little overlap in dates from pits at ECA-138(Bissiang – 2 pits) and ECA-335 (Meyang – 2 pits), in-dicating that these pits were dug at different times.These results paint a mixed picture, with evidence forcontemporaneity of multiple pits (often some distanceapart along the right-of-way) at many sites but withevidence of occupation over a significant time-span atothers. In the latter cases, we of course do not knowwhether occupation was continuous over the inter-vening period, or not.

The earliest evidence for iron use in the forestarea of southern Cameroon comes from the site ofECA-323 (Zili), near Nanga Eboko, where slag wasfound in a pit dated to ca 2600 bp. Direct evidence foriron smelting dates to approximately 2200 bp at ECA-124 (Makouré), a production site about 35 kilometresfrom the Atlantic coast. Excavation of four 1m2 test pitsto sterile levels on the latter site yielded furnace frag-ments, including pieces of tuyères, as well as slag.This is the first iron-processing site to be excavated inthe tropical forest of Cameroon. The dates recoveredare generally comparable to other occurrences of ironon forest and forest/savanna limit sites in Cameroonand in neighbouring areas of Gabon and Congo (CLIST

1987, 1989; DENBOW 1990; HOLL 1991; OSLISLY 2001).This late third millennium bp date for iron production,with the later persistence of stone tool technology atthe Ndtoua Rock Shelter site noted above, attests tothe complexity and the progressive nature of the proc-ess by which iron technology replaced stone tools insouthern Cameroon.

The existence of pit sites over a distance of morethan 350 kilometers along the pipeline transect indi-cates that significant sedentary communities, probablyexploiting domesticated crops and also manipulatingwild resources including oil palm, were not confined toObobogo Group sites in the area around Yaoundé (DE

MARET 1992). These settlements were in fact a general



feature of the southern Cameroon tropical forest, aswell as the transitional forest-savanna zone to thenorth, by the second half of the third millennium bp,with at least three different contemporary cultural en-sembles (Littoral, Yaoundé and Mbandjock-Nanga).Along with the Okala Group sites in Gabon (CLIST

1997), they form the core of a transitional Neolithic-to-Iron Age occupation of this region comparable toother, contemporary traditions in West and CentralAfrica. The relation of this archaeological phenom-enon to the linguistic processes involved in the ‘BantuExpansion’ certainly warrants further investigation,especially given the correspondence between the dis-tribution of pit feature sites and the modern distribu-tion of Bantu languages in Cameroon.

Occupation of wooded savanna

Primarily dry-season survey work in the woodedsavanna and forest-savanna mosaic zones ofCameroon and Chad, with significantly greater surfacevisibility in most areas, resulted in considerably morefrequent detection of small surface sites than was thecase further to the south. Site densities during themonitoring phase of pipeline construction were muchmore comparable. Pits were not dominant features onsites found in these areas, although as noted above anumber were found on sites in Chad. Site densitiesvaried considerably through this area, as they did inthe forest zone to the south and west. Relatively fewsubstantial sites were found on poor lateritic soils andswampland southwest of Doba in Chad, for example,while habitation sites were more common within two –three kilometres of the permanent rivers in the re-gion.

In Chad and near the Mbéré River just across theborder in Cameroon, a number of habitation sites werecharacterized by extensive, low-density scatters of ce-ramics, slag, grindstones and grindstone fragmentsand other artefacts, sometimes extending over areas ofmore than a kilometer along the pipeline right-of-way.These large, diffuse sites include ETA-46, ETA-63,ETA-165 (Ngon Mbang) and ETA-185 (Begada) inChad, and ECA-8 and ECA-9 in Cameroon. Settlementin this region was quite mobile during the pre-colonialand colonial periods (E. Brown, personal communica-tion, 1999), with villages being relocated periodicallyto take advantage of fresh soils and (during more re-cent periods) to avoid attack by slave-raiding groups.Such behaviour can still be seen in the study area to-

day, where communities are located to take advantageof changes in resource distribution and access totransportation facilities. In addition, housing duringthe pre-colonial period was constructed primarily oforganic materials, with little use of mud or fired brick,leaving relatively small amounts of permanent residue.Radiocarbon samples taken from such sites, includingETA-46, ETA-58, and ETA-165 (Ngon Mbang) (seeTab. 5), have yielded recent to modern dates, indicat-ing either that this adaptation is relatively recent or(more probably) that the period of archaeological vis-ibility for such diffuse sites is limited. The very lowdensity of material distributions in these sites rendersonly recent examples relatively detectable through sur-face survey, while earlier sites would probably not beeasily detected either by auger testing or during con-struction monitoring.

Older, large settlement sites with much higher ar-tifact densities are present in Chad, but are generallyencountered in sub-surface contexts. These includeETA-97 (Mayongo), ETA-167 (Karmankass) and ETA-188 (Dodang). These sites, with abundant ceramicsbut no real stone industry, show evidence of signifi-cant settlement before the expansion of iron-workingca 1000 bp (see below). A different settlement patternwas evident on the escarpment north of the MbéréRiver Valley in Cameroon, where a number of largeIron Age habitation sites, including ECA-43 (SokortaManga) and ECA-243 (Beka Petel) were located on hill-top features along the edge of the escarpment. Thisarea occupies an intervening position between tworather different ecozones, with relatively open plainsbelow and wooded plateau above, and also has a con-siderable defensive potential. Both of these sites havebeen dated (Tab. 5), indicating occupations at approxi-mately 1000 – 750 bp as well as within the last century.It is probable that the Iron Age occupation at ECA-24(Bemboyo) actually dates to the same time period, butwas not dated because Iron Age charcoal had beenwashed down the slope during site formation. Theonly charcoal samples found on that site dated morerecent features (a probable tomb and a small hearth).

Iron-working sites

If pit sites are perhaps the most striking archaeo-logical occurrences along the southern part of thepipeline route, iron-working sites are their equivalentsfurther to the north. A total of 40 iron-working siteswere found in the course of CEP archaeological field-



work, 35 of them in the wooded savanna and forest-savanna mosaic zones of Chad and Cameroon (Fig. 5).These sites consisted of varying combinations of insitu furnace remains, slag heaps and surface distribu-tions of furnace wall and tuyère fragments, slag andother artifacts. Sites with small amounts of slag locatedon the surface or in excavation units are much morecommon. There is substantial clustering of these iron-working sites in a number of areas along the pipelineright-of-way, in the Kouloulou – Kagopal andGadjibian - Mbann areas of Chad, for example, andeast of Belel on the Mbéré River Valley escarpment inCameroon, with such sites much less numerous or en-tirely absent in the intervening sections of the pipelineroute. These areas offer ample supplies of lateritic oreand charcoal for iron processing, but it is unclear thatsuch resources are more prevalent around these siteclusters than they are elsewhere along the right-of-way. It is likely that this clustering of sites indicatescommunity-based specialization for iron working dur-ing the past in this region, with iron being exchangedwith neighbouring communities in the larger area.

These iron-working sites are predominantly foundalong the banks of seasonal watercourses, and insome cases they extend away from the easement forhundreds of metres along those watercourses. Treesuseful for charcoal production may be more prevalentin the comparatively well-watered area near such sea-sonal water sources. There is little evidence for do-mestic architecture or habitation on these iron-workingsites, which supports limited ethnohistorical accountsgathered among Sara communities in 1999. Informantsagreed that such iron-working sites would be locatedat some distance from settlements and that particularareas would be repeatedly chosen for iron-workingactivities if they were convenient to settlements and tonecessary resources. The internal patterning of thesesites, in both Chad and Cameroon, is also in agree-ment with the memories of informants, with furnace re-mains paired with large slag heaps where waste fromsmelts was discarded. The same pattern exists inCameroon, both close to the Chad border and in thesouth. Small amounts of slag are found on habitationsites may indicate that iron processing was going on

Fig. 5. Iron-working sites along the pipeline.



in villages once smelting was finished. Alternatively,slag may also have had entirely different ritual or me-dicinal uses, as is the case elsewhere in Africa(HERBERT 1993).

Excavations have taken place on a number ofthese iron production sites, most extensively at ECA-47 (Djaoro Mbama) north of the Mbéré River Valley inCameroon. At that site, a 12 m2 excavation yielded cul-tural deposits to a depth of 1.70 metres below the sur-face. Two in situ smelting furnaces were discovered,in deposits with very high densities of slag, tuyères,furnace wall fragments and a few potsherds (Fig. 6).Dates on these structures place iron production activi-ties at Djaoro Mbama firmly in the period 1800 – 2000bp (Tab. 5). This is the first time that well-preservedsmelting facilities of this kind and of this period havebeen discovered in Cameroon, allowing insights intothe state of iron production technology early in theIron Age. They appear to be quite substantial struc-tures, ca 1.5 metres in diameter with a single tuyèreassembly and a slag-tapping hole at the base. It is in-

teresting to note that this construction closely paral-lels the descriptions of pre-colonial furnaces given bySara informants in Chad in 1999. As noted above,ECA-124 (Makouré), an iron production site in the for-est zone close to the Atlantic coast, dates to perhaps200 years earlier.

Excavations have also taken place at 11 iron-processing sites in southern Chad. The furnacemorphology in use at these sites appears to havebeen generally similar to that at Djaoro Mbama.Most of the available dates from Chadian iron-work-ing sites (ETA-25 [Begon II], ETA-35 [Bedia], ETA-40 [Kolle], ETA-69 [Mban I], ETA-166 [Begon II], ETA-173 [Badila], ETA-175 [Bekia]) cluster over the pe-riod 1100 – 900 bp. If these results are representa-tive of the larger sample of iron-processing sites lo-cated in southwestern Chad, they indicate an ex-traordinary concentration of effort in iron workingabout 1000 years ago, in spatially demarcated areas.There appears to be much less evidence of ironworking in the periods between and after these peaks

Fig. 6. Furnace remains at ECA-47 – Djaoro Mbama, Cameroon. For location, see Fig. 7.



of activity, during the periods 1800 – 1100 bp and af-ter 600 bp. ETA-102 (Beto) and ETA-107 are settlementsites dated to between 1000 and 800 bp, contempo-rary with the furnace sites around 1000 bp. ETA-188(Dodang) is dated to ca 650 bp and is also a large set-tlement, albeit with a more diffuse archaeologicalrecord.

It appears that, through the period 1900-800 bp,delimited areas in the OFDA and along the pipelineroute in Chad were heavily populated by iron-usingcommunities, with a significant increase in iron pro-duction again at 1100 – 900 bp. Population densitiesmay have diminished after that. SCHMIDT (1997) notessimilar periodicity in Iron Age occupation in theBuhaya area of Tanzania, and relates this to cyclicalprocesses of deforestation and environmentaloverexploitation associated with the demands for char-coal to be used in the smelting process (see also DIEU

& RENAUD [1983]). It will require a great deal more field-work to test such hypotheses in eastern Cameroon andsouthwestern Chad.

MSA/LSA lithic sites

As noted above, stone tool sites were most com-monly encountered in surficial erosional contexts onhillsides along the Mbéré River Valley in easternCameroon. Most of this material is made on local quartz-ite; the sites occur as small numbers of artefacts foundamong much larger proportions (> 99.9 %) of naturallyproduced fragments of the same material. Expedient toolproduction techniques predominate. The stone tools lo-cated are for the most part very casually made and arenot extensively shaped; most of these artefacts are un-retouched or minimally retouched flakes and shatter, withrare irregular and discoidal cores and rarer formed tools.Some of the cores show some evidence of batteringand/or use-wear around their peripheries, and are veryprovisionally designated as cores reused as hammer-stones. The formed tools include both unifacial andbifacial examples, although the latter are more common.

Such cultural material can probably be foundthroughout this region of Cameroon (see also OMI [1977]

Fig. 7. Named sites along the pipeline route.



and MARLIAC et al. [2000]), appearing on the surface insuitable geomorphological contexts. Certainly many ofthe mixed scatters of artefacts and naturally occurringquartz and quartzite shatter that we located extendeddozens of metres beyond the limits of the pipelineright-of-way. It is likely that the erosional contexts ob-served in some cases contained mixed assemblagesfrom different industries and dating from different timeperiods. Formal tools located during fieldwork appearto be generally Middle Stone Age in technological af-filiation, with the bifaces and cores (especially thepieces showing some evidence of use of Levalloistechnique) most characteristic of MSA archaeologicaloccurrences. A number of MSA points were found, oneat ECA-43, for instance, probably associated with anundated occupation layer some 40 cm below the IronAge horizon, with large quartzite flakes and cores. Atthis point, we do not have enough data for firm con-clusions about cultural affiliations or ages for thesesites. The late occurrences of macrolithic assemblagesat Ndtoua (ECA-68), on basalt at Shum Laka in theGrassfields (LAVACHERY 2001) and on a number of sitesacross West Africa (MACDONALD & ALLSWORTH-JONES

1994) warrant caution in ascribing these rather unin-formative occurrences to the Middle Stone Age.

A small number of surface sites with microlithiccomponents from southern Cameroon may date to theLate Stone Age, but their resemblance to LSA occur-rences from other parts of Central Africa is similarlygeneral. Such materials have been recognized in anumber of stratified sites, and these levels have beendated at ECA-68 (Ndtoua Rock Shelter). A similar oc-currence at ECA-192 (Bikoué Rock Shelter), with twostratified layers, one with LSA materials and the otherwith pottery, remains undated. These sites indicate thepersistence of technologies associated with the LSAin the area until approximately 2000 bp, but unfortu-nately we still know little about the chronology ofstone tool use in the forest.

Conclusions

The fieldwork component of the Chad ExportProject’s archaeological programme is completed inCameroon. For the most part, fieldwork is also com-pleted in Chad, although mitigation activities associ-ated with road, well-pad and feeder pipeline construc-tion will continue as the oilfields in the Komé area con-tinue to be developed. A significant amount of analy-sis on recovered archaeological materials remains to

be done in both countries, and our interpretations mustremain preliminary. At the same time, work to this pointhas yielded very valuable data on Central African pre-history. There appears to be a much wider distributionof pit sites of the third and second millennia bp in theforests of southern Cameroon than has been indicatedby previous survey work around Yaoundé. The fre-quency with which such sites were encountered alongthe pipeline transect suggests that substantialpopulations lived in this area. Further analysis of theorganic material from these pit sites may yield moreinformation on the economic basis of the associatedsettlements, and it remains to be seen whether the re-gional differences in dates for these sites is supportedby further fieldwork.

Excavations at ECA-68 (Ndtoua Rock Shelter) indi-cate the persistent use of stone tools in the area untilafter 2000 bp, associated with pottery use and in a mid-/late-Holocene sequence that seems generally similar tothat found on more northerly sites like Shum Laka. In thewooded savanna and forest-savanna mosaic environ-ments of north-eastern Cameroon and southern Chad,we found evidence for significant iron-working activ-ity at ca 2000 bp (some centuries later than in southernCameroon), and especially around 1000 bp. The spatialdistribution of these iron-working sites may indicatesome regional specialization in iron working, while theirtemporal concentration remains to be further studied.

Archaeological heritage management programmesin sub-Saharan Africa face a number of challenges,many of which involve the serious lack of resourcesavailable to dedicated researchers on the continent.Collaborations of the kind undertaken by the Chad Ex-port Project can play an important part in addressingthese challenges, but this requires support and coop-eration from many different quarters: national govern-ments, international financial organisations, multina-tional corporations and archaeologists, both citizensof African countries and expatriates. The CEP’s culturalheritage management programme certainly did not solveall of the problems associated with such collaborations,although we believe that on balance the configurationand scheduling of the project worked fairly well. It isvitally important that African archaeology develop aninstitutional memory for the procedures and problemsinvolved in setting up and prosecuting such initia-tives, so that future research and heritage protectionprogrammes can make the best use of limited financialand infrastructure resources – and the very rich humanresources – available for research on the continent.



Acknowledgements

The research described in this report was under-taken as an element of the Chad Export Project. Theauthors would like to acknowledge the valuable assist-ance provided by personnel associated with theMinistère de la Culture (Cameroon), the Ministère dela Culture, de la Jeunesse et des Sports (Chad),Université de Yaoundé (Cameroon), Université deN’Djamena (Chad), TOTCO, COTCO, EEPCI andExxonMobil Corporation. We want particularly ac-knowledge the help and interest of a number ofProject personnel: Grant Batterham, Ellen Brown, EdCaldwell, Elizabeth Kostiuk, Pandora Snethkamp andJoey Tucker. We also wish to thank the editors of theJournal of African Archaeology for their valuable as-sistance, as well as two anonymous reviewers for theirvery useful comments. Nicholas David and BernardClist also provided comments and suggestions on thispaper, which were very much appreciated.

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Komé to Ebomé: archaeological research for the Chad Export Project, 1999-2003

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