Recent Archaeological Research and Dates from West Africa

Recent Archaeological Research and Dates from West AfricaAuthor(s): Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntoshSource: The Journal of African History, Vol. 27, No. 3 (1986), pp. 413-442Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/181410Accessed: 29/01/2009 22:35

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Journal of African History, 27 (I986), pp. 413-442 413 Printed in Great Britain

RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND DATES FROM WEST AFRICA

BY SUSAN KEECH McINTOSH AND RODERICK J. McINTOSH

THIS article continues the Journal's series on new research and dates from West Africa.1 In the four years since the last survey appeared, a large number of new dates have become available. Thanks to the continuing trend towards series of dates from either single sites or groups of related sites, some major blanks on the archaeological map of West Africa have been replaced by well-dated regional sequences. Other research reported here reconsiders several well-known sequences established in the I96os and 70s.

In organizing the text, we have followed de Maret's recent example2 of using three very broad chronological headings, with geographical sub- headings. This reflects a deliberate effort to avoid couching the discussion in terms of successive industries, such as Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic (both subsumed under Late Stone Age) or arbitrarily defined segments (Early, Middle, Late) of the Iron Age. Broader headings are much more accommo- dating of West Africa's complex and variable archaeological record.3 We have limited discussion to previously unpublished dates of primarily archaeological application. These are listed in the Appendix along with their lab numbers. New dates for palaeoenvironmental research are mentioned when relevant, but the interested reader should refer to the sources cited in the footnotes for details.

Our discussion of these new dates is conducted on a timescale of radiocarbon years4 (indicated by the convention of ad and bc), not calendar years, for which A.D. and B.C. are reserved. In the interest of simplicity, this has become standard procedure in these articles, permitting authors to sidestep the sticky issue of calibration. It has been known since 1958 that radiocarbon years do not correlate in a straightforward way with calendar years because of past fluctuations in atmospheric 14C. Scientists have spent years measuring the radiocarbon activity of bristlecone pine samples of known age (calculated dendrochronologically) in an effort to chart accurately the relationship between these two timescales. Unfortunately, the different laboratories engaged in this research obtained different results, even when they were measuring the same tree ring samples. Some calibration curves were relatively smooth, others wiggly, but because of the large measurement errors (up to + I20 years) produced by all the labs, it was impossible to tell which curve,

1 The two preceding articles were by J. E. G. Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa: a review of recent work and a further list of radiocarbon dates', . Afr. Hist., xxIII (1982), 291-313; and by D. Calvocoressi and N. David, 'A new survey of radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates for West Africa', J. Afr. Hist., xx (1979), 1-29.

2 P. de Maret, 'Recent archaeological research and dates from Central Africa', J. Afr. Hist., xxvI (I985), I29-48.

3 We discuss the important issue of archaeological nomenclature, with reference to the Burg Wartenstein recommendations, in S. K. McIntosh and R. J. McIntosh, 'Current Directions in West African Prehistory', Ann. Rev. Anth., xii (1983), 218-i9.

4 Based on a half-life of 5570 years.

i4 AFH 27

414 SUSAN KEECH McINTOSH AND RODERICK J. McINTOSH

if any, had gotten the placement and amplitude of the wiggles right.5 Small wonder that archaeologists have regarded calibration with some suspicion.

This situation has changed dramatically with the recent publication of virtually identical high-precision calibration curves for the last two millennia by the Seattle and Belfast laboratories.6 Space does not permit details here,7 but through a variety of refinements in the measurement process, high precision labs have improved both the accuracy and the precision8 of their measurements such that the total measurement error is +20 years.9 The most impressive aspect of this work is that the Seattle and Belfast curves were produced independently using different counting techniques on different tree species (sequoia, Douglas fir, oak) from different parts of the northern hemisphere. There is little doubt that we are seeing for the first time a highly reliable, well-defined representation of the true calibration relationship.10 The work of these high-precision labs has important implications for every archaeologist and historian who uses radiocarbon dating as a tool in recon- structing chronology. We feel that it is time to confront the issue of calibration directly.

First of all, there is the fundamental question of why calibration is important. The answer lies in the non-linear nature of the radiocarbon timescale. Past fluctuations in atmospheric 14C make it possible for samples formed at different points in time to have identical present-day radiocarbon activities, and, hence, identical radiocarbon dates. The converse may also occur - i.e. significantly different radiocarbon dates may come from samples that were formed close together in time. If we interpret radiocarbon dates using the assumptions of a linear timescale - i.e. that a given date represents a unique moment in time - then our conclusions are bound to be in error. We have noticed that archaeologists and historians are more and more frequently interpreting Iron Age radiocarbon dates at face value, as if they were equivalent to calendar dates. Indeed, we have tended to do this ourselves in assessing our own research results. But this can lead, as we shall see, to serious misinterpretations. Only a calibration table allows us to

5 The calibration tables published by J. Klein, J. C. Lerman, P. E. Damon and E. K. Ralph in Radiocarbon, xxiv (I982), 103-50, represent an effort at consensus among the many and divergent bristlecone pine calibrations.

6 M. Stuiver, 'A high-precision calibration of the A.D. radiocarbon scale', Radiocarbon, XXIV (I982), 1-26; G. W. Pearson and M. G. L. Baillie, 'High precision 14C measurements of Irish oaks to show the natural 14C variations of the AD time period', Radiocarbon, xxv (I983), 187-96.

7 A major source for anyone interested in any aspect of high-precision work is B. S. Ottaway (ed.), Archaeology, Dendrochronology and the Radiocarbon Calibration

Curve, University of Edinburgh, Department of Archaeology Occasional Paper No.9 (1983).

8 Accuracy and precision have different statistical connotations: accuracy denotes the nearness of a single measurement to the exact or true value; precision of a radiocarbon date refers to the dispersion of the measurement resulting from the random nature of radioactive decay. It is possible to measure an inaccurate value very precisely.

9 G. W. Pearson, J. R. Pilcher, M. G. L. Baillie, and J. Hillam, 'Absolute radiocarbon

dating using a low altitude European tree-ring calibration', Nature, CCLXX (November, I977), 25-8.

10 M. G. L. Baillie and J. R. Pilcher, 'Some observations on the high-precision calibration of routine dates', in Ottaway, Archaeology, 54. The Belfast lab has also published a calibration curve for the period 200-4000 B.C.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND DATES FROM WEST AFRICA 415

900

X' 700- D n \ _

I 600- - S

c 500-

400 - 0 :5 300 - ( 200-

100 -

0 I I I I I I I I 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 20

Calendar years A.D.

Fig. i. Calibration of radiocarbon dates from mound A at Nyanawase, Ghana, using the Seattle high-precision calibration curve (re-drawn from M. Stuiver, Radiocarbon (I982), 8). Dates are shown with one and two standard errors (0o), and lines projected from the 20 limit illustrate how the calibration is accomplished. The dated samples most likely formed between A.D. 1460 and I950. This large range of possible calendar ages reflects the fact that atmospheric '4C has fluctuated greatly during the past 300 years.

interpret what radiocarbon dates mean in terms of the linear calendric scale to which we are accustomed.1l

With regard to this last point, there seems to be some misapprehension about just what calibration is supposed to achieve. It does not, as Sutton supposes,12 'correct' or 'adjust' radiocarbon dates, any more than Fahren- heit corrected or adjusted mercury movements by providing a calibrated scale by which they could be interpreted. Nor does calibration necessarily produce more 'precise' dates. In regions where the calibration curve is steep and relatively smooth, calibration can reduce the range of possible ages for a sample. In those regions where the curve flattens or has re-entrant curves, however, the range of possible ages will be increased. Either way, calibration is doing its job, which is to identify the probable range of dates in calendric time to which the 14C activity in the dated sample corresponds.

For purposes of illustrating the calibration procedure, we present here brief examples from two time periods of particular interest to readers of this journal: the historical period of the last 300 years, and the period from 800-400 B.C., which sees the transition between stone and iron technology in parts of West Africa. It has been known for some time that radiocarbon dates of < 300 bp are difficult to interpret. High precision calibration shows us the reason for this: the curve for the period A.D. I600-900o is wildly erratic, reflecting extreme fluctuations in atmospheric 14C (see Fig. i). The danger of accepting at face value any radiocarbon dates in this range is obvious, yet researchers are doing this with alarming frequency. In such cases, calibration provides a needed restraint against over-interpretation of

1 J. R. Pilcher, 'Radiocarbon calibration and dendrochronology - an introduction', in Ottaway, Archaeology, 5-6.

12 Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 29.

14-2


radiocarbon dates. Let us take as an example the three dates from mound A at Nyanawase, Ghana (see Appendix) on the basis of which a late i8th century chronology for the site has been claimed. We have plotted the dates in years bp to the left of the calibration curve in Fig. i, and indicated one and two standard errors (solid and dashed lines) where possible.13

To calibrate a plotted 14C date, we have drawn horizontal lines from the upper and lower error limits until they intercept the calibration curve. Projecting vertical lines down from these intercepts indicates the calibrated range of the date. In Figure i, we have used limits of two standard errors, rather than the I sigma limit frequently employed. With I sigma limits, the chances are high (I in 3) that a given measurement does not straddle the true age value of the sample. We drastically reduce to I in 20 the chance of missing the true date by using 2 sigma limits. The work of high precision labs on samples of known age has shown quite convincingly that 2 sigma limits must be used if serious misinterpretation is to be avoided.14 Thus in the Nyanawase example, the earliest dated sample is not likely to have formed before A.D.

1460, and the range of possible dates goes right up to I950. This range is larger than the corresponding range of the 14C dates at 2 sigma limits because the calibration curve has many re-entrant curves in this region. Since this situation will obtain for most dates of 300 years, tobacco pipes and imported pottery will provide more precise chronological information than 14C dates for sites of this period.

Also problematic is a dramatic flattening of the curve at 800-400 B.C., with the result that no 14C date between 550-350 bc (2500-2300 bp) can be resolved to better than 800-400 B.C. when calibrated.15 It is sobering to realize that samples formed up to 500 years apart can produce the same 14C age of c. 2450 bp (500 bc). For those interested in understanding the chronology of early iron use in West Africa, the implications are depressing.16

It is ironic that the advent of high-precision dating has virtually removed all hope that conventional 14C dates can be anything but a relatively low-precision tool for interpreting chronology. For archaeologists who had believed that increasingly precise 14C dates would eventually enable them to locate archaeological events accurately on the calendric timescale, this will be quite discouraging. It is now clear that for most conventional 14C dates, we must settle for a real calendar date range of no better than 300-400 years (using 2 sigma limits as recommended by the high-precision laboratories). This only reinforces Sutton's well-taken point that 'laboratory results should be seen not as dates in themselves but as evidence to be assessed'.17 Calibration constitutes the necessary first step in any assessment of radiocarbon evidence, in our opinion, and we recommend that it be routinely

13 Ideally, the error used in calibration should take into account both the sample error

(o sample) plus the uncertainty in the calibration curve (o calib.), normally ? 17 years. The formula used is /(o2 sample + o2 calib). For a typical radiocarbon determination with a sample error of ?50 years or more, the increase in error due to the uncertainty of the calibration curve is negligible.

14 Baillie and Pilcher, 'Some observations', 60. 15 Ibid., 58-9. 16 See the Belfast calibration curve for 200-4000 B.C.: G. W. Pearson, J. R. Pilcher,

M. G. L. Baillie, 'High precision 14C measurement of Irish oaks to show the natural

14C variations from 200 B.c. to 4000 B.C.', Radiocarbon, xxv (1983), 179-86. 17 Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 293.


employed by all scholars interested in the objective and realistic interpretation of 14C dates.

THE LATE STONE AGE The Sahelian States

Recent research in the southern Sahara has clarified the relationship between climatic change during the Holocene and LSA human occupation in this region. It has also raised serious questions about several well-known reconstructions of early Holocene economy and culture in the Sahara. The onset of humid conditions, resulting in the formation of extensive lakes and marshes by the eighth millennium bc, has already been well documented for coastal Mauritania, the Niger massifs, and Chad.18 An extensive program of research and 14C dating in northern Mali, directed since 1980 by Nicole Petit-Maire, has documented the duration of the early Holocene wet phase (c. 7500-4400 bc) in this previously unstudied area. A second major humid period (c. 3400-2000 bc) followed after an intervening dry episode.19 Similar evidence for a major lacustrine episode beginning in the eighth millennium bc comes from the Tichitt region of Mauritania, where I 3 dates on diatoms and peat chronicle a succession of fluctuating lakes.20 Recent work in Niger likewise confirms the existence of a major humid phase in the eighth/seventh and fourth/third millennia bc.21

The assumption that widespread human exploitation of a well-watered Sahara began with and continued throughout this early Holocene lacustrine phase is common in the archaeological literature dealing with this period.22 The abundant data available from Mauritania and Mali, however, suggest that human occupation in the western Sahara may have lagged two millennia or more behind the establishment of high lake levels. Along the Atlantic coast of Mauritania below the Tropic of Cancer, none of the many sites investigated by Petit-Maire et al. dates earlier than 4500 bc.23 Further east, in the Tichitt

18 Findings summarized in M. Talbot, 'Environmental responses to climatic change in the West African Sahel over the past 20,000 years', in M. A. J. Williams and H. Faure (eds.), The Sahara and the Nile (Rotterdam, i980), 37-62; and McIntosh and McIntosh, 'Current directions', 219-25.

19 Full listing of these dates can be found in N. Petit-Maire and J. Risier, Sahara ou Sahel? Quaternaire recent du Bassin de Taoudenni (Marseille, I983); G. Delibrias, N. Petit-Maire, and J. Fabre, 'Age des depots lacustres recents de la r6gion de Taoudenni- Trhaza', C. R. Acad. Sc. Paris, ccxcix, ser. II, no. I9 (1984), 1343-6.

20 G. Hugot, 'Les lacs quaternaires du Sahara meridional: l'exemple de i'lchitt (Mauritanie)', in C. Roubet, H.-J. Hugot and G. Souville (eds.), Prehistoire Africaine: Melanges offerts au doyen Lionel Balout (Paris, 1981), 263-73; and C. A. Diop 'Datations par la methode du radiocarbone, serie Iv', Bull.I.F.A.N., xxxIx (3), ser. B, 465-6.

21 F. Paris and A. Durand, 'Paleoenvironnements et prehistoire: prospection de la vallee de l'Azawagh', in Le Programme Azawagh: rapport de mission i984, privately circulated, I985.

22 See especially A. Smith, 'The Neolithic tradition in the Sahara', in Williams and Faure, The Sahara and the Nile, 452-3, and J. E. G. Sutton, 'The aquatic civilization of Middle Africa',J. Afr. Hist., xv ( 974), 527-46; J. E. G. Sutton, 'The African aqualithic', Antiquity, LI (I977), 25-34.

23 N. Petit-Maire (ed.), Le Sahara Atlantique au Holocene. Peuplement et Ecologie, Mem. C.R.A.P.E. 28 (Algiers, 1979); also reported in Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 23-4.

fadrart

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/--^7_~~~~~~~ (V> > Site B119

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Bassar * Ulaira * region ) *

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Egbejoda j

Umukete AguleriJ

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Fig. 2. Map showing sites for which new dates are proposed.


region, the earliest dated human occupation (Gif-2884, Dak-52) is no earlier than the late third/early second millennium bc.24 The situation in northern Mali, where no occupation sites have produced dates earlier than c. 5000 bc, is summarized in Figure 3.25 Petit-Maire now suggests26 that human occupation in northern Mali corresponds with the first local formation of palaeosols c. 5000 bc, indicating the establishment of a savannah flora. It is particularly significant that the fifth millennium Malian site AR7 (Gif-5495) is one of the well-known kitchen middens of the Azawad region, where dense remains of fish, crocodile and hippo are associated with large quantities of bone harpoons and sherds of coarse impressed pottery. Both Smith and Sutton, among others, have routinely included the Azawad sites in discussions of the distinctive 'aquatic' or 'lacustrine' tradition of the eighth and seventh millennia bc. The available evidence from the western part of the Sahara in no way supports sweeping statements about an 'aquatic adaptation, with its pots and baskets, its spear harpoons and weighted nets... at its ascendant around the seventh millennium bc, between the Nile and the Atlantic'.27 Not only do the known 'aquatic' sites in the region appear to be occupied well after the seventh millennium bc, but the folly of excessively generalized statements about the Holocene Sahara overall has been demonstrated by Petit-Maire's documentation of the diversity of local responses to the same humid trend.28

We have pointed out elsewhere29 that the available evidence for human occupation of the Sahara during the early Holocene humid phase is concentrated in the central Saharan massifs along wadis. Recent work by J. P. Roset in the western Air has produced two eighth millennium bc dates for 'wavy line', 'dotted wavy line' and other impressed pottery associated with a lithic industry on flakes, edge-ground axes and a significant assemblage of grindstones at the open-air site of Tagalagal, located at an altitude of over I800 m.30 This discovery is congruent with eighth millennium bc dates for ceramics at sites in the Hoggar and Tadrart Acacus highlands.31 On the basis of this accumulating data, Roset has not hesitated to state that we are dealing here with an indigenous African invention of pottery.32

Three more eighth millennium dates come from Roset's work in the northeast Air, where assemblages with a blade and bladelet industry,

24 All currently available dates for Tichitt sites are reported in S. Amblard, Tichitt- Walata: civilisation et industrie lithique (Paris, 1984), 36-7.

25 Dates for human occupation are reported in Petit-Maire and Risier, Sahara ou Sahel?; N. Petit-Maire, J. C. Celles, D. Commelin, G. Delibrias and M. Raimbault, 'The Sahara in northern Mali: man and his environment between io,ooo and 3,500 years bp', Afr. Arch. Rev., I (1983) 105-25; G. Delibrias et al., 'Age des depots'.

26 We are grateful to Nicole Petit-Maire for discussing with us in June, 1985, the results of her most recent research near Taoudenni.

27 Sutton, 'African Aqualithic', 26. 28 Petit-Maire et al., 'The Sahara in northern Mali'; this point is discussed in

McIntosh and McIntosh, 'Current Directions', 231-2. 29 Ibid., 230-I. 30 J. P. Roset, 'Nouvelles donnees sur le probleme de la neolithisation du Sahara

meridional: Air et Tenere, au Niger', Cah. O.R.S.T.O.M., ser. Geol. xiI, no. 2 (1983), 119-142; J. P. Roset, 'Les plus vieilles ceramiques du Sahara', Archeologia, CLXXXIII (October, 1983), 43-50.

31 Summarized in McIntosh and McIntosh, 'Current Directions', 230. 32 Roset, 'Les plus vielles ceramiques', 47.


3500 B.P.

5500 B.P.

7000 B.P.

9000 B.P. _ p

Human occupation Pluvial geomorphological

formation

Fig. 3. Distribution of 63 radiocarbon dates on geological formations and human occupation in the Malian Sahara. The apparent pattern of human occupation beginning two millennia after the establishment of high lake levels does not support popular reconstructions of an early Holocene 'aqualithic' or 'lacustrine' adaptation by Late Stone Age groups in this region. (Redrawn from D. Commelin, 'La Ceramique Neolithique dans le Bassin de Taoudenni (Sahara Malien), (unpub. Ph.D thesis, Univ. Aix-Marseille II, I984).

geometric microliths, Ounanian points, grindstones, and pottery have been excavated at Temet and Adrar Bous.33 This work is significant, not only because it provides further confirmation of early Holocene ceramics in the Saharan massifs, but also because it directly contradicts conclusions drawn

by J. D. Clark and A. Smith based on their earlier work in the same area.34 Whereas Clark35 described an Epipalaeolithic blade and bladelet industry with Ounanian points which was succeeded by a microlithic industry with

pottery (the Adrar n'Kiffian industry described by Smith36), Roset finds all these elements in association, both at a series of newly discovered sites, and in excavations of sites previously surface-collected by Clark and Smith. At Temet and Site Io, the two dated eighth millennium sites, this assemblage is found in situ under deep diatomite deposits.37 Relevant to Roset's findings

33 Roset, 'Nouvelles donnees', I38; 'Les plus vieilles ceramiques', 50. 34 Calvocoressi and David summarized Clark and Smith's results in 'A new survey',

4-5. 35 J. D. Clark, 'Epipalaeolithic aggregates from Greboun Wadi, Air and Adrar Bous,

northwestern Tenere, Republic of Niger', in B. Abebe and J. Chavaillon (eds.), Proceed- ings, 7th Panafr. Congr. Prehist. Quat. Studs. (Addis Ababa, I976), 67-78.

36 A. Smith, 'A microlithic industry from Adrar Bous, Tenere Desert, Niger', in Abebe and Chavaillon, Proceedings, 181-96.

37 A date of 6615 ? I0 bc was run on a sample from the base of the diatomites at Temet. These diatomites developed in deep or flowing clear, cool, water: Roset, 'Nouvelles donnees', 134.


are recent reports of sites with ceramics, projectile points, and Ounanian points dating to the period 7400-4500 bc in the Azawagh valley of Niger.38 'Epipalaeolithic' industries associated with geometric microliths, Ounanian points, rare polished axes, grindstones and pottery are also reported in northern Mali.39 Clearly, a number of our existing reconstructions of the early Holocene prehistory of the Sahara need careful re-examination.

In Mauritania, as in Mali, the majority of dated LSA sites were occupied during and after the second Holocene humid phase. There is evidence that a 'bioclimatic optimum' occurred later in western Mauritania than elsewhere in the Sahara.40 The four dates reported here from coastal sites, all run on Arca shell from middens, are consistent with other dates from sites between Capes Tafarit and Timris, indicating that human occupation intensified around the second millennium bc as aridity decreased.41 Further south, another early second millennium date for initial LSA occupation comes from shell midden site KN2.42 The extension eastward in Mauritania of this second millennium humid period is confirmed by the dating of the vast site of Khatt Lemaiteg, as well as by new dates from the Tichitt escarpment. The remains of the mid-second millennium occupation at Khatt Lemaiteg extend for almost two kilometers along the dunes east of Akjoujt. Robert Vernet's investigations at the site are still in course, but preliminary findings include a large cemetery area (over I50 simple inhumations under sand tumuli), a workshop for the production or use of small quartz piercers, a stone industry predominantly composed of grinding material, and faunal evidence of numerous ovicaprids and cattle.43

Further east, LSA settlement flourished in the Tichitt region. Research over the past fifteen years directed by H. J. Hugot has resulted in ten new dates, the earliest of which confirm the presence of fisher/hunter/gatherers along the lake margins in the early 2nd millennium bc. The two earliest dates (Gif-2884, Dak-52) come from a site on the escarpment and a site on the baten (plain) below.44 This contradicts Munson's eight phase occupation chronology for the region, in which successive beaches below the escarpment were occupied initially, then the baten itself, then finally the escarpment.45

38 S. Bernus and E. Bernus, Le Programme Azawagh: rapport de mission I984, privately circulated, 1985. We thank Suzanne Bernus for sending us a copy of this report.

39 Petit-Maire et al., 'The Sahara in northern Mali', 115-17. 40 N. Petit-Maire, 'Cadre ecologique et peuplement humain: le littoral ouest-saharien

depuis I0,000 ans', L'Anthropologie, LXXXIII (1979), 69-82. 41 These dates (Gif-2498, 2499, Ly-444, 445) complete the series reported by Calvo-

coressi and David, 'A new survey', 23-4. A fifth date, Gif-2524, represents a correction to that report: Petit-Maire, Le Sahara Atlantique, I49.

42 N. Lambert, 'Nouvelle contribution h l'etude du Chalcolithique de Mauritanie', in N. Echard (ed.), Metallurgies Africaines. Nouvelles Contributions, Mem. Soc. des African- istes, ix (1983), 68.

43 We are extremely grateful to Robert Vernet for sending us his encyclopaedic thesis, 'La Prehistoire de la Mauritanie: etat de la question' (Univ. Paris I, 1983), which contains a summary description of his unpublished excavations at Khatt Lemaiteg.

44 G. Hugot, 'Les lacs', 269-71, reports that Gif-2884 dates hearths with bones of hippopotamus, crocodile, silurid fish, and panther, associated with the remains of pottery and stone-working workshops on the baten.

45 P. J. Munson, 'Archaeological data on the origins of cultivation in the southwestern Sahara and their implications for Africa', in J. R. Harlan, J. M. J. deWet, and A. B. L. Stemler (eds.), The Origins of African Plant Domestication (The Hague, 1976), 187-209.


The dating evidence for an occupation at Akreijit lasting throughout much of the second millennium bc poses other problems for Munson's fine-tuned chronology, according to which this stone architecture site on the escarpment should have been occupied from c. IO1-900o bc. Several French researchers who have investigated the Tichitt sites have criticised Munson's chronology and methods.46 Full evaluation of their critique will not be possible, however, until H. J. Hugot finally publishes a detailed account of his team's investigations.

The Forest States

It has been a decade since any dates for the Kintampo culture were reported in this journal. That hiatus is ended, however, with the availability of twelve new dates from two different sites. Ann Stahl's re-excavation of the K6 rockshelter at Kintampo has provided new data on the chronology and nature of the transition from the LSA Punpun industry to the succeeding Kintampo industry.47 The sequence is an important one, documenting the shift from hunting-gathering to food production. Overall, the site stratigraphy described by Stahl and the radiocarbon dates she obtained (UCR-I69o-I694) agree with the published results of Flight's earlier excavations at K6.48 In contrast to Flight's interpretation of the sequence, however, which emphasized the differences between the two industries and suggested that Punpun hunter- gatherers were displaced by immigrant Kintampo communities, Stahl finds persuasive evidence for the continuation of Punpun material culture into Kintampo levels. The overlap of available Punpun and Kintampo dates further buttresses the argument for their coexistence.49

Among the various changes in technology and subsistence documented by Stahl in the K6 sequence is the disappearance of fauna associated with high forest (e.g. certain primate species) and the increased exploitation of wild fauna associated with cleared areas and/or savanna woodland vegetation.50 This shift is accompanied by the introduction of domestic goat. New evidence from Lake Bosumtwi for a dramatic decline (at least 50 m) in lake level at around I8oo bc51 emphasizes the possible role of environmental

46 Amblard, Tichitt-Walata, 35-6; Vernet, La Prehistoire, 668-70; A. Holl, 'Essai sur l'economie neolithique du Dhar Tichitt (Mauritanie)', (unpub. thesis, Univ. Paris I, 1983), 186-98.

47 A. B. Stahl, 'Reinvestigation of Kintampo 6 rock shelter, Ghana: implications for the nature of cultural change', Afr. Arch. Rev., iii (1985), 117-50. We are indebted to Ann Stahl for sending us this manuscript in advance of publication.

48 C. Flight, 'The Kintampo culture and its place in the economic prehistory of West Africa', in Harlan, de Wet and Stemler, Origins, 21 -21.

49 New date UCR-I693 agrees well with Birm-29 for Punpun levels at K6, and 1-2699 on Punpun deposits at Ki. These dates overlap Kintampo culture dates from K6

(UCR-I690-I692), KI (1-2698), Mumute (N-I984) and Ntereso (SR-52, SR-8I) when two standard errors are considered. See F. Willett, 'A survey of recent results in the radiocarbon chronology of western and northern Africa', J. Afr. Hist., xII (1971), 352; and M. Posnansky and R. McIntosh, 'New radiocarbon dates for northern and western

Africa', J. Afr. Hist., xvII (1976), 189 for these dates. A fifth new date (UCR-I694) is associated with a LSA quartz industry and rare pottery in the lowest level at K6.

50 Stahl, 'Reinvestigation', 143. 51 M. R. Talbot, D. A. Livingstone, P. G. Palmer, J. Maley, J. M. Melack, G. Delib-

rias, S. Gullicksen, 'Preliminary results from sediment cores from Lake Bosumtwi,


change in the emergence of the distinctive Kintampo adaptation. Stahl suggests that Kintampo origins likely involved a fusion of local and exotic traits rather than the wholesale population replacement postulated by Flight.

Further to the north, excavations conducted at Daboya by Peter Shinnie and Frank Kense have produced seven dates associated with Kintampo cultural material.52 Kense comments that while the Daboya dates are generally consistent with the conventional dates bracketing the Kintampo period (i.e. second half of the second millennium bc), there are hints that the Kintampo culture may have appeared earlier in this region than in areas further to the south and lasted longer than was hitherto suspected. This possibility cannot be fully evaluated until details on the stratigraphy and context of the samples dated are available. The various possible reasons for the frequent co-occurrence at the site of Kintampo comb-stamped ware and Early Iron Age twine-impressed pottery require careful consideration. The fact that dated sample 4-CX, 'although chronologically correct for the Kintampo period, was removed from a level clearly associated with Early Iron Age material'53 suggests that some later mixing of deposits may have occurred. This situation has obscured any preliminary insights from Daboya concerning the nature and chronology of the transition from stone to iron technology. 'There is an ambiguous period between the early and late first millennium bc when it is not clear when the Kintampo culture terminated and the Early Iron Age commenced, or how the two traditions related to each other, if at all'.54 By the late first millennium bc, however, Iron Age culture was clearly established at Daboya.55

An early fourth millennium date (P-2746) for the LSA shell mound with pottery at Gao Lagoon in Ghana completes the date series for the site.56 These shell mounds were apparently deposited in the fourth and third millennia bc,57 after which time they were covered by aeolian sands.58 Excavations at the shell mound of N'Gaty in Ivory Coast have revealed a quartz industry similar to that from Gao Lagoon, but possibly younger in age (Gif-3377, Gif-3674).59 The N'gaty dates are consistent with previously reported dates on other shell mounds from the coastal lagoons near Abidjan,

Ghana', Palaeoecology of Africa and the Surrounding Islands, xvI (1984), 173-92, reports 25 new '4C dates on sediment cores.

52 S-2370, 2371, 2373, 2376, 4-CX, 6-CX, SFU-390: see Appendix. We are grateful to Frank Kense for providing dates and extensive comments in advance of publication.

53 F. Kense, pers. comm. 54 F. Kense, pers. comm. 55 Relevant dates reported here are SFU-389, 273, 274, and Alpha 562 (a TL date).

These dates support the previous results from related areas and levels (S-I855, 1858, GX-6I33, 6134, SFU-I2, 13) reported by Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 298.

56 A. Meulengracht, P. McGovern, and B. Lawn, 'University of Pennsylvania radiocarbon dates xxi', Radiocarbon, xxII (1981), 233.

57 P-2746 agrees well with P-2745 (Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 312) and Gif-4241 and N-2982 (Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 22) from the same site.

58 S. E. Nygaard and M. R. Talbot, 'Stone Age archaeology and environment on the southern Accra Plains, Ghana', Norw. Arch. Rev., xvII (1984), 19-38.

59 R. Chenorkian, 'Note sur l'industrie lithique de l'amas coquiller de N'Gaty (Basse Cote d'Ivoire)', Travaux du Lab. d'Anthrop. et de Prehist. des pays de la Medit. Occident. (Aix-en-Provence, 1981). No details on the context or provenance of the dated samples have been provided by the collector, R. Pomel.


most of which date to the last two millennia bc and the first millennium ad60 This chronology spans the introduction of iron, and it is an interesting aspect of the shell mound phenomenon that these societies seem to have integrated a major new technology within an apparently invariant subsistence economy. Two previously unpublished first millennium ad dates from the Dabou Tchotchoraf (Gif-2863, 2864) shell mounds are associated with evidence of metallurgy.61 Other samples from this site have produced dates several centuries older for a LSA assemblage.62 Similarly, at the nearby Nyamwan mound, iron slag was found in the level dated to the first century ad, but was absent from a lower level dated to the seventh century bc.63

The only other new date for the LSA of the forest states is a twelfth millennium bc estimate on charcoal associated with quartz artifacts turned up in the course of highway construction between Abidjan and Bingerville.64 These artifacts are described as microlithic by the excavators, although there is little resemblance between these tools and the contemporaneous geometric microlithic industry from Iwo Eleru in Nigeria.

FROM STONE TO METAL

Several new dates are available for copper-working sites in Niger and Mauritania. The evidence for copper-working in Niger as early as the end of the third millennium bc has caused considerable excitement, since it raises questions about the origins of the technology, and its possible role in the later emergence of iron metallurgy. Now that more detailed publications on the nature of the evidence are available65 it is possible to put this material in better perspective. Grebenart recognizes two phases (I and II) of copper working, concentrated at a number of sites to the northwest and to the southwest of Agades. Ten of the fourteen dates available for Copper I cluster comfortably in the second millennium bc ;66 three are more recent.67 Copper I is thus contemporaneous with sites of Grebenart's 'Neolithique Saharien',

60 Summarized in R. Chenorkian, 'Ivory Coast prehistory: some recent developments', Afr. Arch. Rev., I (1983), 127-142. This includes a number of unpublished 14C dates which are not reported here in view of the lack of even the most meagre detail on the dated samples.

61 G. Delibrias, M. Guillier, and J. Labeyrie, 'Gif natural radiocarbon measurements

IX', Radiocarbon, xxiv (1982), 306. 62 C. Flight, 'A survey of recent results in the radiocarbon chronology of northern and

western Africa', J. Afr. Hist., xIv (1973), 547. 63 J. Polet, pers. comm. dated 8/6/82. The Nyamwan dates (Dak-202, Ny-408) were

previously reported by Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 299. 64 R. Chenorkian, G. Delibrias, G. Paradis, 'Une industrie microlithique datee de

I3050 bp environ decouverte en Cote-d'Ivoire dans la terre-de-barre', Trav. du L.A.P.M.O. (Aix en-Provence, 1982).

65 D. Grebenart, 'Les metallurgies du cuivre et du fer autour d'Agadez (Niger), des

origines au debut de la periode medievale', in Echard, Metallurgies, I09-25; D. Grebenart, Le Neolithique final et l'age des metaux autour d'Agadez, Niger, vol. XLIX of Etudes

Nigeriennes, in press. 66 Sutton's report ('Archaeology in West Africa', 313) of five of the Copper I dates

for Afunfun, site 175, was in error. Dates GIF-5173-5177 in the Appendix correct the earlier report.

67 Grebenart, 'Les metallurgies', 120.


of which the extensive site of Chin Tafidet68 is an example. A platform tumulus excavated by Grebenart at Asaqura (Gif-3924) is also contemporaneous.69 The association of Saharan Neolithic pottery and lithics with several of the Copper I furnaces suggests the LSA context of this phenomenon. Contrary to earlier reports in this journal,70 these were not smelting furnaces. Rather, they were small bowl hearths related to a simple native-copper melting technology71 exploiting the abundant native copper of the region. The reduction of ores was not involved. Copper I is thus, in Grebenart's words, pre-metallurgical.72

The low cylindrical or tronconic furnaces of Copper II have produced dates that cluster convincingly from the eighth to the third centuries bc. In addition to the four new dates for Ikawaten and Azelik reported here,73 five other unpublished dates ranging from the fifth to the seventh centuries bc come from Afunfun, Sekiret, Azelik, Tuluk, and Tyeral.74 Analysis of the residue in some of the Copper II furnaces demonstrates that ores were smelted, but the small volume of slag associated with the cylindrical furnaces indicates that the scale of copper production was very limited.75 The resulting copper was heated and hammered into a variety of small pins, arrow points and blades, apparently intended for use elsewhere, since only ephemeral occupation debris is found in the vicinity of the furnaces. A hint of where some of the copper ended up comes from Kori Iwelen, located over 300 km northeast of Azelik, in the Air. From habitation areas that extend 600 m along a wadi, Roset has recovered several copper spearpoints and abundant examples of channelled, comb-impressed bowls that appear to be remarkably similar to the bowls Grebenart always finds associated with the Copper II furnaces around Agades.76 Two first millennium bc dates for Kori Iwelen

68 A fifteenth-century bc date for Chin Tafidet agrees with GIF-4173 (Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 25) from Oroub, which has similar pottery and lithics: D. Gr6benart, 'Recherches de pr6histoire au Niger- compte rendu de missions', in Recherches Sahariennes (Paris, 1979), 213.

69 The long duration of this mode of burial is demonstrated by a thirteenth century ad date (Gif-4237) on another quadrangular funerary monument at Shi Mumenin: Gr6benart, 'Recherches', 222-4.

70 Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 9; Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 296-7.

71 R. F. Tylecote, 'Early copper slags and copper base metal from the Agadez region of Niger', J. Hist. Met. Soc., xvI (1982).

72 Gr6benart, 'Les m6tallurgies', I77. For precisely this reason, Bernus objects to considering this phenomenon as part of a 'Copper Age': S. Bernus, 'Decouvertes, hypotheses, reconstitution et preuves: le cuivre m6di6val d'Azelik-Takedda (Niger)', in Echard, Metallurgies, 168-9.

73 D. Gr6benart, 'Vues g6enrales sur les d6buts de la m6tallurgie du cuivre et du fer autour d'Agades', presented at the Ioth Congr. Int. Union Pre- and Protohist. Sci. (Mexico, 1981).

74 These dates are presented graphically only in D. Gr6benart, 'Les m6tallurgies', 120.

75 Gr6benart estimates that the combined annual production from all sites in the region did not exceed a few kilograms: ibid., 17.

76 J. P. Roset, 'Iwelen, un site arch6ologique de l'6poque des chars dans l'Air

septentrional, au Niger', presented at UNESCO colloquium on Libya Antiqua (Paris, i6-I8 Jan., 1984). Adjacent to the habitation sites are rock engravings of chariots, animals and people portrayed in a 'tulip-headed' style.


confirm its contemporaneity with Copper II. A similar date from a copper point and nodules of native copper, associated with a LSA lithic industry, comes from Takne Bawa 3, over I50 km west of Azelik.77

In Mauritania, the exploitation of the malachite ores of the Akjoujt region has been firmly dated to the 8th to 3rd centuries bc. Two new dates (DAK-I4I, I42)78 on the guano deposits that cap the eight metre deep deposits of ash, crushed ore, and rubble at the Grotte aux Chauves Souris represent a terminus ante quem for the first millennium bc metallurgical phenomenon.79 The analysis of over I60 copper objects recovered from sites throughout the western and southern half of Mauretania suggests that the origin of all the copper involved was Akjoujt.80 That ore itself was sometimes exported from Akjoujt is indicated by the discovery of a pile of malachite near 15 circular smelting hearths at the coastal site of Dhraina. Six copper objects, including a needle and a small ingot, were associated with LSA pottery and lithics. A first-millennium bc date (LY-2579) demonstrates the site's contemporaneity with the Grotte aux Chauves Souris.81 Over 300 km to the northeast of Akjoujt, the habitation site of Assabet el Maddahia has also revealed copper fragments and smelting residues, although the composition of the slag suggests that iron, rather than copper, was being worked. Based on this evidence and the discovery of an iron needle, Lambert suggests that this could possibly be the atelier of a smith working at the beginning of the Iron Age.82 Two mid-first millennium bc dates (GIF-5322, 5323) come from

cooking hearths at the site. As in Niger, one is struck by the limited nature of early copper production

in Mauritania. Not only are the known production sites small in number and size, but the smallness of the artifacts manufactured probably reflects the rarity of the material.83 Vernet reminds us that the copper objects are always found in a Neolithic (i.e. LSA) context, and that, even at Akjoujt, copper exploitation scarcely seems Chalcolithic; copper objects are simply too few.84 This observation is relevant to speculation on the possible preparatory role of these sahelian copper industries in a local invention of iron smelting. There is no apparent sign thus far in Mauritania and Niger of the evolving pyrotechnology associated with copper metallurgy on an important scale that elsewhere in the Old World preceded the discovery of iron production.85 The

77 Reported by F. Paris in Le Programme Azawagh: rapport de mission 1984. 78 C. A. Diop, 'Datations par la methode du radiocarbone', Bull. I.F.A.N., xxxix, ser.

B (i977), 466. 79 Three dates reported by Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 25, were also run

on the guano that forms the top I-5 m of the deposits at this site: N. Lambert, 'Mines et m6tallurgie antique dans la region d'Akjoujt', Annales Inst. Maur. Rech. Sci., I (I975),

6-25. 80 N. Lambert, 'Nouvelle contribution h l'6tude du Chalcolithique de Mauritanie', in

Echard, Metallurgies, 72. 81 Robert Vernet's unpublished work at Dhraina is reported in Vernet, La Prehistoire,

550- 82 Lambert, 'Nouvelle contribution', 70. 83 Ibid., 73. 84 Vernet suggests in his thesis (p. 546) that what we are really seeing is a local facies

of the Neolithic that was rapidly changed by local invention or outside influence. 85 The role of copper smelting in the development of the sophisticated pyrotechnology

necessary for the reduction of iron ores is discussed in T. Wertime and J. D. Muhly, (eds.), The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven, 1980).


available evidence from these countries does not suggest that a local, in situ development of iron metallurgy out of copper working took place in the areas studied.86 However, neither does it provide any definitive argument either for or against independent invention or outside influence as the source for West African iron metallurgy in general.

THE AGE OF METALS

The Sahelian States

One of the most exciting recent archaeological accomplishments in the Sahelian states has been the demonstration that complex societies and long-distance trade arose in certain areas by the mid-first millennium A.D., effectively pre-dating any Islamic influence. We suggested several years ago in this journal, based on our 1977 excavations at Jenne-jeno (Mali), that participation in both regional and long-distance trade networks fuelled the settlement's growth into an urban centre of significant proportions by A.D. 750.87 We went even farther and suggested that 'the key to political and economic development in the Western Sudan lies in the growth of increasingly complex indigenous trade networks throughout the first millennium A.D.'.88 Recent research and radiocarbon dates unequivocally support both statements.

The limited I977 excavations at Jenne-jeno have been supplemented by much more extensive excavation and survey undertaken at Jenne-jeno and surrounding sites in i98i. Fourteen new dates are available for Jenne-jeno, two for the adjacent tell of Hambarketolo, and one for Kaniana, a vast, shallow site three kilometers to the northwest.89 These dates confirm the basic chronology outlined for the site on the basis of the 1977 work.90 The early phase (c. 250 bc to ad 300) of Jenne-jeno's occupation covers the settlement of the site by immigrant iron-using people and its subsequent, rapid expansion to a size of at least 25 hectares by the end of the phase.91 Hambarketolo was also occupied at this time (RL- 580). It is interesting to note that flow slag from iron-smelting furnaces is particularly abundant in Phase I/II deposits at Jenne-jeno, despite the fact that the closest ore sources are 50 kilometres distant. The lack of such basic resources as metal and stone in the floodplain undoubtedly encouraged early regional exchange.

86 Grebenart, for example, mentions the lack of cultural affinity between Copper II sites and the earliest iron-using sites, despite the fact that they overlap in time: 'Les metallurgies', I I 5.

87 R. J. McIntosh and S. K. McIntosh, 'The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: evidence from Jenn6-jeno', J. Afr. Hist., xxii (1981), 1-22.

88 S. K. McIntosh and R. J. McIntosh, Prehistoric Investigations in the Region of Jenne, Mali, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 2 (Oxford, 1980), 448.

89 R. J. McIntosh and S. K. McIntosh, 'The I981 field season at Jenn-jeno: preliminary results', Nyame Akuma, xx (1982), 28-32.

90 The nine dates resulting from this work have already been reported in this journal: Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 23; Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa' 31 1.

91 The following dates reported in the appendix are associated with pottery of this early period: RL- I574, 1575, I576, 580, 158 , 16 I9, I620, I62I, 1622. Of these, only RL- I 575 is anomalous. These dates agree very well with Phase I/II dates already reported: RL-8o7, P-2679, P-2742.


Between ad 300-800 (Phase III), Jenne-jeno and Hambarketolo reached their maximum combined size of 41 hectares. This expansion, which culminates in the construction of a city wall 2 km long, is associated with the appearance of copper (by ad 400) and gold (by ad 800) at Jenne-jeno, suggesting the settlement's participation in long-distance trade. The pottery of this period includes distinctive polychrome painted pottery and deep-red burnished wares with white geometric painted designs.92 Jenne-jeno and Hambarketolo remain at peak size during the early part of the subsequent phase (IV), characterized by comb-impressed rather than painted pottery. Kaniana is settled early in Phase IV (RL-I579). Around ad Iooo, however, both Kaniana and Hambarketolo are abandoned, and Jenne-jeno begins a period of decline that similarly ends in abandonment by ad I400.93 This decline corresponds with the first evidence at the site of contact with Islamic North Africa: glass beads, spindle whorls, and the introduction of rectilinear house plans.

Late Phase III and the entirety of Phase IV at Jenne-jeno correspond to the 'classic' period of Inland Delta civilization, which saw a homogeneous material culture spread over a wide area.94 To the dates already reported for the Inland Delta sites of this period excavated by Bedaux et al. and Barth,95 we can add two thermoluminescence dates on potsherds from Koina.96 Pottery similar to the red-slipped wares with white painted or comb- impressed geometric designs from Jenne-jeno has been found in tumuli on the Niger Bend, suggesting the extent of early contacts along the middle Niger. The appearance of these rich tumuli in the lakes region may reflect the effects of trade activities, possibly among groups in a position to control the flow of goods. Tumuli associated with the megalithic alignments at Tondidaro have produced three seventh century ad dates.97 These massive erosion-resistant monuments, with deliberately fired surface features, appear to be of the same type as El Oualedji, now dated to the early eleventh century (C-227i).98 Excavations early in this century at El Oualedji and Killi tumuli revealed wooden burial chambers with rich grave goods and probable human sacrifices, closely reminiscent of the burial ritual for the pagan king of the Ghana Empire described by al-Bakri in io68. Three other tumuli in the lakes

92 Relevant dates are RL-I573, 1577, 1578, I618, which agree very well with previously

reported dates RL-8o8 and P-2682. 93 Dates RL-I57I and 1617 agree with RL-8o6 and P-2772, previously reported.

RL- i6 I 6 dates the most recent feature excavated, a house foundation lying just below the

surface. 94 Detailed in McIntosh and McIntosh, Prehistoric Investigations, 45I-2. 95 See Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 23, and Sutton, 'Archaeology in West

Africa', 311. 96 A. Person, H. Valladas, P. Fontes, I. Barry, J.-F. Saliege, 'Prospection archeo-

metrique de sites du delta interieure du Niger: quelques datations et donnees ceramo-

logiques', presented at 3rd West Afr. Arch. Assoc. meeting (Dakar, 8-io December

I98I), kindly provided by Alain Person and Jean-Francois Saliege. 97 J-F. Saliege, A. Person, I. Barry, P. Fontes, 'Premieres datations de tumulus pre-

islamiques au Mali: site megalithique de Tondidarou', C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, ccxcI, ser. D (8 decembre I980), 98I-4.

98 P. Fontes, M. Dembele, M. Raimbault, S. Sidibe, 'Prospection archeologique de tumulus et de buttes tumuliformes dans la region des lacs au Mali', C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris,

ccci, ser. III, no. 5 (1985), 207-I2. We are grateful to Pierre Fontes for sending us this information when it was in press.


region (Toyla, Tissalaten, Kawinza) have also produced dates ranging from the eighth to the eleventh century ad.99

Material with clear affinities to the Inland Delta and lakes region artifacts comes from the neighbouring Mema region. A thirteenth century date (C-1632) on charcoal from one of the many smelting furnaces at Kolima'00 is relevant to previously reported dates ranging from the eighth to the twelfth century for the region's iron industry.101 Haaland has suggested that iron production in the Mema was controlled by the Empire of Ghana.102

Excavations conducted by Robert and Berthier at Koumbi Saleh, putative capital of the Empire of Ghana, may verify the existence of relations between that town and the Mema/Middle Niger region. However, few details other than radiocarbon dates are available so far. Berthier's 1980-I excavations of a house located just south of the Koumbi Saleh mosque have produced 19 new dates.103 At least two building levels with different architectural plans were recognized within the top six metres of deposit, underlain, at six to seven metres depth, by a pre-urban occupation.104 Two dates from this lowest level (Ly-3 146, 3147) confirm that Koumbi Saleh was occupied by the mid-first millennium ad. Of the remaining 17 dates obtained from the five stratigraphic levels identified by Berthier, thirteen are statistically contemporaneous.105 In the absence of any convincing directionality through time in these dates, Berthier's claim for continuous occupation of the house from the late ninth to the early fifteenth century must stand on primarily stratigraphic and artifactual data, which, unfortunately, are not yet published. On the basis of these and other, previously reported dates,106 Jean Devisse suggests that the urban settlement of Koumbi Saleh had begun by the late ninth century and reached its maximum expansion from the twelfth to the fifteenth century.107 It now seems likely that the emergence of specialized industrial centres in the Mema, the consolidation of the Soninke Empire of Ghana, the appearance of massive, richly appointed funerary monuments along the Niger Bend, and the rise of Soninke towns like Jenne-jeno were all intimately related to the development of the indigenous long-distance trade in the first millennium A.D.

99 Ibid., 209. Although the charcoal samples from these sites were associated with fired clay features characteristic of funerary tumuli in the region, the authors describe these as 'buttes tumuliformes' rather than tumuli, leaving open the question of their function.

100 Person et al., 'Prospection archeometrique'. A fifteenth century TL date on a surface sherd is also available for this site, although only limited significance can be claimed for a date on contextless, undescribed material.

101 Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 305. 102 R. Haaland, 'Man's role in the changing habitat of Mema during the Old Kingdom

of Ghana', Norw. Arch. Rev., xiII (1980), 3 -46. 103 J. Evin, J. Marechal, G. Marien, 'Lyon Natural Radiocarbon Measurements x',

Radiocarbon, xxvII (I985), 418. 104 S. Berthier, 'Fouille d'un ensemble d'habitations, quartier de la mosquee, site de

Koumbi Saleh', presented at 3rd West Afr. Arch. Assoc. meeting (Dakar, 198I). 105 This is evident when the following dates are plotted with just one standard error:

Ly-2532, 2533, 2504 (basal Level o); 2534, 2535, 2536 (Level I); 2537, 2538, 2505, 2506 (Level II); 2508 (Level III); 2540 (Level IV); 2509 (Level V).

106 See Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 304-5. 107 J. Devisse, 'L'apport de l'archeologie h l'histoire de l'Afrique Occidentale entre

le Ve et le XIIe siecle', C. R. Acad. Inscrip. et Belles-lettres (Paris 1982) I56-77.


A similar picture of first millennium developments is beginning to emerge along the Senegal River, although fewer details are available. Thilmans and Ravise's excavations at Sinthiou Bara have produced several new dates confirming that this 67-hectare mound was occupied from the fifth to the eleventh century ad.108 Throughout this time, various imported goods were reaching the site: shells from the mouth of the Senegal River, cowries, beads of amazonite and other stones from several hundred kilometres to the east in the Sahara, silver and copper alloys from Spain or the Maghreb, enamelled pottery (i fragment) from North Africa. The use of slag-tapping furnaces at the site, plus knowledge of the techniques of repousse, cire-perdu, and wire-drawing all indicate a sophisticated metal technology. The discovery of copper-alloy bracelets and small bells very similar to those from Sinthiou Bara at sites 200-300 km away suggests to G. Thilmans the widespread influence of the middle Senegal metal craftsmen.109 Four dates from one of these sites, Sare Tioffi near Podor, similarly indicate a first millennium/early second millennium occupation.10 These dates are relevant to the 36 kg of copper-base manillas and jewelry uncovered at Sare Tioffi in 1958 as a result of construction work.

The distribution for 250 km along the middle Senegal of red-slipped and burnished, channelled pottery conforms, in Thilmans and Ravise's terms, to the Sinthiou Bara culture. The small site of Ogo, dated to the tenth to the twelfth century (Ly-2034, Gif-4529, 4530) lies within this culture area."l Bruno Chavanne, Ogo's excavator, refers to both Sinthiou Bara and Ogo as part of 'the same Iron Age culture of the ancient Takrur kingdom',12 but Thilmans and Ravise have made a strong case for equating the Sinthiou Bara culture with the kingdom of Silla during the rule of the Dia-Ogo dynasty.ll3 It is interesting to note that the densely concentrated iron smelting furnaces recorded on the Mauritanian side of the Senegal river around Kaedi are associated with Sinthiou Bara pottery.ll4 According to oral tradition, the Dia-Ogo were a smith dynasty responsible for introducing iron-working to the region. Dates from Tioubalel (Ly-2o48, 2049) refer to another first millennium culture, with affinities to the Sinthiou Bara pottery group.ll5

108 G. Thilmans and A. Ravise, Protohistoire du Senegal, II: Sinthiou Bara et les Sites

duFleuve, Mem. de 1'I.F.A.N., no. 9I (Dakar, 1980), 86-7. Dates Ly- 741-45 and Gif-4522 agree well with dates previously reported by Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', I4, 28.

109 These sites include Kiffa and Kroufa in southern Mauritania, and Podor, 200 km downriver from Sinthiou Bara. G. Thilmans, 'Sur les objets de parure trouves a Podor

(Senegal) en 1958', Bull. de l'I.F.A.N., xxxix, ser. B (I977), 687. 110 DAK-213, Ly-2033, Ly-I937. Ly-I6o3 is anomalous. J. Evin, J. Mar6chal,

G. Marien, 'Lyon Natural Radiocarbon Measurements ix', Radiocarbon, xxv (1983), 89; C. A. Diop, 'Datations par la methode du radiocarbone: serie v', Bull. de l'I.F.A.N., XLIII, ser. B (1981), I-I2.

11 Evin et al., 'Lyon ix', 90. A fourth date, Ly-2I59, is too old, probably due to older

organic matter incorporated into the burned wall material that was dated. 112 Ibid., 89. 113 Thilmans and Ravise, Protohistoire, I34-89. 114 Over 40,000 low furnaces were counted in this small area alone. D. Robert-Chaleix

and M. Sognane, 'Une industrie metallurgique ancienne sur la rive mauritanienne du fleuve Senegal', in Echard, Metallurgies, 45-62.

115 Thilmans and Ravise, Protohistoire, I32.


A series of modern dates (Ly-I992-1997) refers to the fill of underground galleries at Kandiama, reported by oral traditions to be hiding places dating to the kingdom of Takrur. The dates do not confirm the age attributed to them, and they suggest that previously published first millennium dates116 should not be viewed as supporting this ethnological hypothesis for the origin of the galleries."7 Two other dates from Senegal (CRG 231, 235) also failed to conform to an expected chronology. These fifth millennium bc dates on charcoal from the base of a tumulus at Mbolop Tobe are clearly too old for a monument whose structural and cultural affinities lie with the megaliths and tumuli of western and central Senegambia, dated to the first millennium ad.118

For the medieval period in Mauritania, four more dates are published from Tegdaoust, apparent site of Awdaghost. Calvocoressi and David, in reporting the bulk of the published dates for the site, have already mentioned that the commentaries for the dates are 'woefully inadequate'.119 The only information available for Dak-i80, I93, 195, and 206 is that they 'date the medieval site of Tegdaoust'.120 Incredibly, in a report by the director of a radiocarbon laboratory, one of the dates has no standard error.

Several dates are available from Bernard Saison's excavations at Azugi, possible site of al-Bakri's 'Arki', the fortress built by the brother of Yahya and Abu Bakr ibn 'Umar, the principal commanders of the Almoravid movement under its founder Ibn Yasin. Excavations at secondary tells outside the 'citadel' revealed a superficial and a deeper level of stone building foundations, separated by c. 50 cm of sterile wind-blown sand. Two eleventh century dates (GIF-5337, 5340) for the upper building levels correspond to dates for deposits under the walls of the citadel (GIF-5336, 5338), suggesting an occupation contemporaneous with the Almoravid movement.121 The citadel itself, however, has produced three dates between ad I610 and 1690, all with a standard error of + 80,122 indicating that the existing stone walls of the citadel are not Almoravid structures.

From Niger, recent research near Niamey has focussed on site clusters comprising settlement, funerary and cult sites, frequently associated with anthropomorphic statuettes. At Kareygourou, the context of the statuettes in areas with domestic architecture and debris suggests their use in domestic rituals.l23 Three widely divergent dates (GIF-4255, 4256, 4257) on samples from similar depths pose interpretative problems. In Gado's view, the sixth

116 Ly- I 56, 1781, 1782: Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 304, 311. 117 Evin et al., 'Lyon Ix', 88. 118 A. Gallay, G. Pignat, P. Curdy, 'Mbolop Tobe (Santhiou Kohel, Senegal). Contri-

bution a la connaissance du megalithisme senegambian', Archives Suisses d'Anth. Gen. 4, 6, 2 (Geneva, 1982), 217-59.

19 Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 3. 120 Diop, 'Datations IV', p. 464; Diop, 'Datations v', 9-I0. 121 B. Saison, 'Azugi, archeologie et histoire', Recherche, Pedagogie et Culture, no. 55,

ix (I98I), 66-74. 122 Gif-533I, 5332, 5333. This is the only information provided on these three dates

in Saison, ibid., 74. These dates agree with Gif-5334 obtained on charcoal from a rubbish pit inside the citadel.

123 B. Gado, 'Boura: une necropole h inhumation secondaire dans des jarres anthro- pomorphes', presented at the West Afr. Arch. Assoc. meetings (Nouakchott, I984). We are grateful to Lisa Wayne for bringing this communication to our attention.


and eleventh century dates likely encompass the actual period of statuette production.124 Excavations at nearby earthen tumuli, claimed by oral traditions to be the tombs of Gourmantche kings, produced two fourteenth to fifteenth century dates.125 No burial chamber has yet been found in any of the excavated tumuli, even in the case where almost half of a 25 x 20 m mound was removed.126 Further to the northwest, a sixteenth-century date comes from the Boura necropolis, where Gado has uncovered hundreds of inverted anthropomorphic jars containing secondary inhumations.127

From the Air, a thirteenth-century date (DAK-I46) for the small village site of Kori Ibine relates to the discovery of a red-burnished pitcher with black painted designs of North African inspiration. This is the first reported polychrome ware from the Air.128 Another site with rectilinear stone wall foundations apparently of medieval date is In Teduq, also in Niger. In addition to a possible mosque, there is a large Muslim cemetery. Neolithic material is scattered everywhere over the site. The absence of significant occupation deposits over the Neolithic material suggests that In Teduq may have been visited only occasionally by pastoral nomads for whom it was a religious centre. Human bone from a burial and charcoal from an overlying hearth that was disturbed by the burial produced sixth century bc and fourteenth century ad dates, respectively.129

We note in passing that four new dates evidently have been obtained from Marandet - one in the third century ad, two c. ad 900, and one sixteenth

century - for which details were not provided.130 Analysis of several crucibles from among the tens of thousands present at Marandet suggests they were used to melt a copper-lead alloy, not gold as Posnansky and McIntosh reported.131

Excavations at several gold mining and encampment sites near Poura along the Black Volta in Burkina Faso have produced seven dates ranging from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century.132 On the basis of these dates, plus information from oral traditions, Ki6thega suggests that the Poura gold industry dates from the arrival of the Bobo-Dyula, the first specialist gold-producers in the region, in the late eighteenth century.133 Methodological

124 B. Gado, Les Zarmatarey : Contribution a l'histoire des populations d'entre Niger et Dallol Mawri, Etudes Nigeriennes, XLV (Niamey, 1980), 73.

125 Gado, 'Boura'. These dates may be relevant to a previously reported date for the tumulus of Dallol Bosso at Rozi: Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 26.

126 Gado, Zarmatarey, 69-73. 127 Gado, 'Boura'. 128 J.-P. Roset, 'Un site h ceramique peinte dans l'Air oriental (Niger)', Cah.

O.R.S.T.O.M., ser. Sci. Hum., xIv, (1977), 337-46. 129 Reported by P. Cressier, S. Bernus and E. Bernus, in 'Le Programme Azawagh'.

S. Bernus considers the early date 'doubtful', and cautions that much more work is

required to clarify the chronology of the site. 130 These dates are shown graphically in Grebenart, 'Les metallurgies', I20, and are

relevant to three dates already reported for the site by Posnansky and McIntosh, 'New

radiocarbon', I83. All dates except the earliest were run on charcoal associated with crucibles.

131 J.-R. Bourhis, 'R6sultats des analyses d'objets en cuivre, bronze, laiton et des residus de metallurgie antique d'Afrique', in Echard, Metallurgies, 133-4.

132 DAK-216-219, 221, Gif-51I9, 5II0: see Appendix. 133 J. B. Kiethega, L'Or de la Volta Noire (Paris, 1983).


problems, including the collection of charcoal samples from rising water in the mine shafts, have already been reviewed in this journal by one of us.134 Beyond that, however, Kiethega's credulousness in accepting radiocarbon dates of the last three centuries at face value weakens his conclusions regarding chronology.

The Forest States

In the forest states too, some new dates are available relevant to the rise of the complex societies in the first millennium ad. From Old Oyo in Nigeria, four dates (I-I2342-12345) come from 1981 excavations near the inner palace wall where Soper dug in I979.135 Eleventh and twelfth century dates for a hearth between 0-5 and i'o m depth agree with previously reported dates136 for the early phase of urban settlement associated with Diogun pottery. For the deposits between I-o and 20o m depth, two eighth century dates refer to a single cultural level, characterized by many grinding stones. These deeper deposits undoubtedly contain data vital for interpreting the rise of urban Old Oyo by the early second millennium ad. Another discovery of note is an extension of Old Oyo recently located in Kwaru state, c. 20 km north of the northernmost wall of Old Oyo. The ceramics found at the site are like those from Old Oyo, and mud city walls built into the hills are still standing.137

Also from Nigeria, there are three new dates on two samples from Igbo Ukwu: a thirteenth century date on wood from the stool in the burial chamber, and tenth and eleventh century dates from two counting runs on a composite charcoal sample from a disposal pit in Igbo Jonah.138 Owing to the small size of the samples, the standard errors of these dates range from + 240 to ? 300 years, limiting the usefulness of their comparison with previously reported dates.139 It has been over a decade since the four ninth century dates from Igbo Ukwu provoked controversy among scholars who struggled to deal with the implications of large quantities of copper and copper alloys (some exquisitely cast by the cire perdu process) and glass beads in the Nigerian forest at such an early date. One of the strongest arguments in favour of those doubting a ninth century chronology for Igbo Ukwu was, as Shaw recognized in 1975, the lack of evidence from anywhere in West Africa for long distance trade established by the ninth century ad.140 As the above discussion of the Sahelian states has already shown, a substantial body of evidence for long distance trade by the mid-first millennium ad has recently accumulated. The ninth century Igbo Ukwu dates no longer seem

134 S. K. McIntosh, review of L'Or de la Volta Noire, J. Afr. Hist., xxvI (1985), 410-12. 135 For a preliminary report on the I98I excavations, see B. Agbaje-Williams and

J. Onyango-Abuje, 'Recent archaeological work at Old Oyo: I979-8I', Nyame Akuma (1981), 9-I I. We are grateful to B. Agbaje-Williams for providing the dates in advance of publication.

136 HAR-i89o and I89 : Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 19-20. 137 Information kindly provided in advance of publication by B. Agbaje-Williams. 138 C. T. Shaw, 'Further light on Igbo-Ukwu, including new radiocarbon dates',

Proceedings, 9th Panafr. Cong. Prehist. Quat. Studs., Jos, 1983, in press. 139 I-2008 on wood from burial stool, Igbo Richard, and HV-I5I4-I5I6, I-1784, all

on charcoal from Igbo Jonah: see C. T. Shaw, 'Those Igbo-Ukwu radiocarbon dates: facts, fictions, and probabilities', J. Afr. Hist., xvI (1975), 503-517.

140 Ibid., 515.


anomalous or implausible in the light of growing evidence for extensive pre-Arab trade in West Africa. Despite the new radiocarbon dates reported here, Shaw's evenhanded and thorough consideration of the initial five dates remains the most valuable discussion of Igbo Ukwu's chronology. Shaw is right to suggest that the dating controversy 'might now be allowed to die down, and future research be specifically framed to try to solve [other] problems', such as the source of the copper and tin and the nature of the Igbo Ukwu community's trading connections.141

An important series of dates comes from Daboya, where research originally focussed on the establishment of the Gonja kingdom in the late seventeenth century ultimately revealed evidence of occupation throughout the Iron Age and indeed back into the LSA. We have already discussed the earlier dates from the sequence, and here comment on dates from the mid-first millennium ad onwards. Six dates142 appear to refer to Kense's Phase IIIb,143 which, from the latter half of the first millennium to the early second millennium, saw an increase in regional interaction and trade, as evidenced by an increased diversity of pottery forms and decorative styles and the appearance of possible local trade wares. Phase IIIb material continues into the later occupation levels, accompanied by painted pottery, tobacco pipes and an increased quantity of copper and bronze.144 Interestingly, the historically documented arrival of the Gbanya in the late seventeenth century is not reflected in the archaeological material. The basic material culture at Daboya does not change, and only the appearance of horse bones and horse accout- rements gives a possible clue to their presence.

Other new dates from Ghana include a sixteenth century date for Old

Wiae, confirming the presence of Guan-speaking Nchumura in the Banda- Wiae area at least 400 years ago. The date is especially relevant for Kofi

Agorsah's reconstruction of Nchumura settlement history in the area, since it refers to the shift from circular to rectangular house forms.'45 There are also eight dates ranging from the seventeenth century to modern at Akwamu Amanfoso (Old Akwamu) at Nyanawase, former capital of the Akwamu

kingdom. Edwards Keteku's excavations in the alleged quarter of the queen mother revealed upper occupation levels with tobacco pipes and lower levels without.l46 Most, if not all, of the dated samples appear to come from levels without pipes, for which a chronology prior to A.D. 1630 would normally be

assumed. Based on the 14C dates, however, Keteku concludes 'we can estimate the date of Mound A to the late eighteenth century, which agrees

141 Shaw, 'Further light'. Evidence from analysis of metals from Igbo Ukwu shows that the copper used was not from Azelik, nor from the north of the Sahara. Several

reports of copper and tin deposits in Nigeria offer possibilities deserving investigation. 142 S-2372, Beta-7855, SFU-275, 392, Alpha-563, 3-CX. 143 F. Kense, 'Daboya, A Gonja Frontier' (unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Calgary, 1981), 280,

297. We are grateful to Frank Kense for sending us a copy of his thesis. 144 The last ten dates listed in the Appendix are relevant to this period. The most recent

occupation encountered yielded iron cans and a 1919 West African penny. F. Kense,

'I983 field report on Daboya', Nyame Akuma, xxIII (I983), I0. 145 E. K. Agorsah, 'An ethnoarchaeological study of settlement and behaviour patterns

of a West African traditional society: the Nchumura of Ghana' (unpub. Ph.D. diss.,

U.C.L.A., I983). 146 E. Keteku, 'Akwamu empire at Nyanawase: myth or reality?', Nyame Akuma, xiii

(1978), II-I3.


with the dates known from traditional and documentary sources'.147 This conclusion contradicts the results of Ozanne's earlier research at the same site, which indicated that the queen mother's quarter had been abandoned around A.D. I660, seventy years earlier than the rest of the town.148 We have already used the Akwamu dates as a case study in calibration to demonstrate the care with which recent dates need to be interpreted.149

Several eighteenth and nineteenth century dates reported from other West African sites will require the same caution in interpretation. Three dates from Agdagbabou in the freshwater swamp zone of the Niger Delta come from a shallow occupation site. Test excavations by Nzewunwa produced mainly pottery, rare glass beads, and tobacco pipes similar to those from Ogoloma.150 In the Ife region, there are two eighteenth century dates, plus a fifteenth and a fourteenth century date, all associated with terracotta sculptures from a rock shelter in Egbejoda.151 Previous excavations at two other rock shelters (Egbejoda I and II) revealed many highly stylized sculptures quite different from the naturalistic terracotta heads of Ife but nevertheless considered to represent a distinct regional style within the Ife art complex.152 These two sites have been interpreted as a repository for sacred objects and a shrine, respectively. The dates from Egbejoda III reported here are the only ones available from the rock shelters. Two eighteenth century dates were previously repcrted for similar terracottas at Sekunde.153

Six dates from the walled settlement site of Sawuni along the middle Niger above the Benue confluence range from the seventeenth century to modern.154 The dates are associated with an iron smelting area of the site, but few other details are available on Nzewunwa's 1980 excavations. Less than io km to the south of Sawuni, Nzewunwa also excavated at Ulaira, located in the floodplain of Kainji Lake. Five dates indicate an occupation from the latter half of the first millennium through the early second millennium ad.155 In addition to the usual Iron Age assemblage of slag, iron implements and ornaments, grindstones and copper alloy rings and bracelets, the site produced terracotta figurines (human, animal and fish) and floor pavements of laterite, sherd, stone, pebble and shell, used either singly or in

147 E. Keteku, 'Radiocarbon dates from Nyanawase', Nyame Akuma, xxIv/xxv (1984), 4.

148 P. Ozanne, 'Ghana', in P. Shinnie (ed), The African Iron Age (Oxford, 197i), 64. Ozanne's conclusion was based on his now-classic tobacco pipe sequence, and supported by traditional and documentary sources.

149 The same caveats apply to previously reported dates for nearby sites in Ghana, such as Ladoku and Ayawaso: Sutton, 'Archaeology in West Africa', 308. A modern date on shell from basal levels of the latter site (clearly datable to the seventeenth century by imports, tobacco pipes and historical documents) further illustrates the point.

150 N. Nzewunwa, A Sourcebook for Nigerian Archaeology, Nigerian National Commis- sion for Museums and Monuments (1983), 107-8. Two nineteenth century dates have previously been reported from Ogoloma: Posnansky and McIntosh, 'New Radiocarbon dates', 190.

151 0. Eluyemi, reporting in Nyame Akuma, xvII (1980), 41. 152 0. Eluyemi, 'Egbejoda excavations, Nigeria, 1970', West Afr. J. Arch., vi (1976),

Io-o8. 153 Calvocoressi and David, 'A new survey', 19. 154 Nzewunwa, Sourcebook, 39-40. 155 Ibid., 42-3.

SUSAN KEECH McINTOSH AND RODERICK J. McINTOSH

combination. This list is reminiscent of finds at Baha mound and Yelwa RS63/32, located just to the north, whose chronologies overlap that of Ulaira.156

Also from Nigeria, there are several dates for the large (c. 800 m x 500 m) walled settlement site of Umukete Aguleri.157 No other details are available on Anozie's 1977 excavations. The list of dates from Nigeria ends with two dates from Site Bi I9, a mound of Daima type situated on the plain at the foot of the Mandara mountains.158 A two-day excavation at the site designed by Connah to test the depth, character and chronology of the deposits did not reach sterile soil, but did produce two 14C dates indicating that the upper 2 m of deposits formed during the later first millennium ad. The fundamental similarity of the site's deposits, economy and material culture to that of other firki settlement mounds such as Daima was confirmed.

In Togo, Phil de Barros has used archaeological survey, 14C and TL dating, pottery studies and oral tradition to reconstruct the evolution of the important second millennium iron industry in the Bassar region.159 Among over I30 smelting sites that de Barros has surveyed, those producing dates from the early fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth century are usually fairly small, containing I-I5 small slag mounds associated with shaft furnaces. Total slag volume at these early sites ranges from 50 to 250 cubic metres. By contrast, sites dating from the late sixteenth to the nineteenth century are often large, with 25-I100 slag mounds with volumes of IOOO-5000 cubic metres. At the massive industrial site of Tchogma I (Beta-4400, -880oi), slag volume exceeds 14,000 cubic metres. The number of shaft furnaces at these later sites may surpass ioo. De Barros concludes that, at its peak in the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, the Bassar region's output represented a 400-650 per cent increase over that of the earlier phase of the industry, indicating a level of production servicing both regional and supra-regional trade.

Four new dates from John Sutton's 1980 excavations at Dawu, in Ghana, form a tight cluster, consistent with the apparently rapid accumulation of the mound.160 Sutton's results were very similar to those obtained from Thurstan Shaw's I 942 excavations at another of the large rubbish-mounds some 660 m away. Only the upper part of the mound produced tobacco pipes, and these were of an early type, indicating an early seventeenth century chronology for these levels. All the dates comfortably overlap the expected sixteenth to seventeenth century chronology for the mound at 2-sigma error limits.

156 Dates for Baha Mound were reported in this journal by Flight, 'A survey of recent results in the radiocarbon chronology of northern and western Africa', J. Afr. Hist., xiv (I973), 548, and for Yelwa RS63/32 by Fagan, ibid., x (I969), 153.

157 Nzewunwa, Sourcebook, 87-8. 158 G. Connah, 'An archaeological exploration in southern Borno', Afr. Arch. Rev.,

II (1984), 153-71. 159 P. de Barros, 'The Iron Industry of Bassar' (unpub. Ph.D. thesis, U.C.L.A., I985).

We are grateful to Phil de Barros for providing a comprehensive date list in advance of publication. In writing our comments on the i8 radiocarbon dates, we have relied upon de Barros, ' Les Bassar: producteurs du fer h grande echelle dans la savane ouest-africaine', Proceedings, 9th Cong. Panafr. Prehist. Quat. Studs., in press.

160 J. E. G. Sutton, 'Dawu - radiocarbon results', Archaeology in Ghana, inI (in press). We are grateful to John Sutton for sending comments in advance of publication. J. E. G. Sutton, 'New work at Dawu, southern Ghana', Nyame Akuma, xviII (May I981), I I-3.

436


Two isolated dates are reported from Ivory Coast, one from Nyamwan, where a thirteenth century ad date is relevant to copper alloys cast by the cire

perdu process, apparently associated with burials dug into the earlier shell mound.161 The second date162 comes from another coastal shell mound, Nasalama. Josette Rivallain interprets these small middens as occupation debris of populations manufacturing salt from seawater.163

Finally, there are two dates from lower levels at Wara Wara rock shelter in Sierra Leone.164 Associated finds include pottery, quartz lithics, and

fragments of slag-coated tuyere, thereby supporting Atherton's suggestion that stone tools continued in use in Sierra Leone well after the introduction of iron. Upper levels of deposit contained European artifacts, including many English gun flints. Rock shelters in inaccessible, easily defended locations, such as Wara Wara, were apparently used as hiding places by the Limba

during slave raids.165 A first millennium ad date for activity at the rock shelter was therefore unexpected.

SUMMARY

This article reports over 250 new radiocarbon dates relevant to recent archaeological research in West Africa. Thanks to the continuing trend towards series of dates from either single sites or groups of related sites, some major blanks on the archaeological map of West Africa have been replaced by well-dated regional sequences. An example is the Malian Sahara, where palaeoenvironmental and archaeological investigations at a large number of sites have clarified the relationship between Holocene climatic change and Late Stone Age occupation. Other areas that were largely archaeological unknowns until the research reported in this article was undertaken include the middle Senegal valley, the Inland Niger Delta, and the Bassar region in Togo. Other research included here reinterprets previously studied, 'classic' Late Stone Age sequences, such as Adrar Bous, Kintampo and Tichitt. There are also new dates and details for early copper in Niger and Mauritania which prompt a reconsideration of the true nature of this proposed 'Copper Age'. Of particular significance to general reconstructions of West African prehistory is the documentation of regional and long-distance trade accompanying the emergence of complex societies along the Middle Senegal and Middle Niger in the first millennium A.D.

The article begins with a brief commentary on calibration, in view of the recent publication of high-precision calibration curves. Several prevalent misconceptions of what calibration is and what it ought to do are addressed. We suggest that archaeologists and historians should routinely make reference to calibration in order to avoid misinterpreting radiocarbon results.

161 We are grateful to Jean Polet for communicating this date to us. 162 Ly-28I7: Evin et al., 'Lyon dates x', 417. 163 J. Rivallain, 'Problemes methodologiques poses par des sites cotiers de Cote

d'Ivoire', presented at 9th Cong. Panafr. Prehist. Quat. Studs., Jos, 1983. 164 We thank Chris de Corse for providing details in advance of publication. 165 C. de Corse, 'An archaeological survey of protohistoric defensive sites in Sierra

Leone', Nyame Akuma, xvII (1980), 48-53; J. Atherton, 'Protohistoric habitation sites in northeastern Sierra Leone', Bull. Soc. Roy. Belge d'Anth. et Prehist., LXXXIII (1972), 5-17.


APPENDIX

Site listings for each country follow order of mention in text. Dated material is charcoal unless otherwise indicated in parentheses after date. Thermoluminescence dates are indicated by the abbreviation TL.

The Sahelian states

Mauritania

Anate (Agneitir) ( 9? 26' N, i6? 19' W) GIF-2499: 2720+ I30 bc (shell) GIF-2498: 2400 I120 bc (shell)

Cap Tafarit-correction GIF-2524: 1460+ I 1 bc

Village de St Jean (I9? 38' N, 16? I5'W)

Ly-444: 750 + ioo bc (shell) Baie de St. Jean (19? 28' N, i6? 15' W)

Ly-445: 2320 + I I bc (shell) KN2 (Nouakchott) (18? 02' N,

I5 56' W) GIF-4639: I8o0+ IIo bc

Khatt Lemaiteg (i9? 12' N, 14? 40' W) Ly-250I : I400 + 30 bc (potsherd) Ly-2502: 1360 + 200 bc (potsherd)

Akreijit (18? 30' N, 9? 30' W) DAK-52: 1826+ I20 bc (ash) MC-427: 1540 + 50 bc (bone) GIF-34o6: I220+ 90 bc (bone) DAK-203: I 172 +I20 bc DAK- 87: Io24 I 20 bc

DAK-i85 ad 287 113 El Rhimiya 13 (I8? 20' N, 9? o' W)

GIF-2884: I 900+ 250 bc (bone) Akjoujt 'Grotte aux Chauves Souris'

(190 45' N, i4? 35' W) DAK-14 : i94+ o00 bc (guano) DAK-142: 377 + Ioo bc (guano)

Dhraina (18? 59'N, 15? I5' W) Ly-2579: 520 + 8o bc

Assabat el Maddahia (c. 22? Io' N, I I 40' W)

GIF-5322: 640+ Ioo bc GIF-5323: 550+ Ioo bc

Koumbi Saleh (15? 46' N, 7? 59'W), given in stratigraphic order from top to bottom

Mali

Erg In Sakane region (20? 30'-2I? N, o? 30/'-I W)

GIF-5444: 4640 +320 bc (fish bone) GIF-5228: 4390 + I30 bc

Ly-2509: ad 1230 + 140 (potsherd) Ly-25io: ad 1420+ I40 Ly-2540: ad 930 ? 150 Ly-2539: ad 1420+ I00

Ly-25o7: ad 1500 1I30 (potsherd) Ly-25o8: ad 1170+ 1oo

Ly-25o6: ad 1240+ I00

Ly-2505: ad I140 + 170 (potsherd) Ly-2538: ad I60 + I20

Ly-2537: ad 1070+ 170 Ly-2536: ad I ioo+ o00

Ly-2535: ad I I50+ 100

Ly-2534: ad 1220+ I40 Ly-3I47: ad 330 +150 Ly-2533: ad i8o0+ I50 Ly-2532: ad Io80+ 140 Ly-2504: ad I000+ 130 Ly-25o3: modern (potsherd) Ly-3 46 ad 680 + 90

Tegdaoust (17? 25' N, 10? 25' W) Dak-i8o: ad 1214 I 10

Dak-193: ad 717+ I00

Dak-195: ad 870 I I0

Dak-2o6: ad 432 (no s.d. given) Azugi (c. 20? 30' N, 13? Io' W): secondary tells outside 'citadel'

GIF-5340: ad io6o+8o GIF-5337: ad iooo+8o GIF-5339: ad 940+ 80

citadel - upper level

GIF-5334: ad 1750+ 80 citadel - lower level

GIF-5336: ad Iooo+0 80 GIF-5338: ad o70+ 80

GIF-5443: 4270+3IO bc (fish bone) GIF-5469: 2570+II0 bc (human

bone) GIF-5439: 2520+ 10 bc


GIF-5442: 2040+ 130 be (burnt bone)

GIF-5227: I800o+ Ioo be

GIF-5445: I730+Ioo be (animal bone)

GIF-544I: 1650+180o be (human bone)

GIF-5440: 900oo+00 be (human bone)

GIF-5306: 210+250 bc (human bone)

GIF-5230: 50+21o bc (human bone)

Trhaza, site MT25 (23? 33' N, 40 45'W)

GIF-6I98: 4248 + 320 be

Azawad, site AR7 (I9? Io' N, 3? 50' W)

GIF-5495: 5020 + 130 bc (fish bone) Foum el Alba, site MK2I (21? I0' N,

40 W)

GIF-58I4: 3320+ 130 bc (ashy soil) Tagnouf-Chaggaret, site MK 42

(2I? I5' N, o 40' W) GIF-58I8: 27+ I120 be

Erg Jemaya, site MK 22 (20? 40' N, 40 W)

GIF-58I 5: 2090 + I 10 bc Tondidarou (i6? N, 4? I ' W)

C-i6io: ad 655+40 C- 609: ad 670 +40 C-I6o3: ad 635+40

Kolima (15? 20' N, 5? 25' W) C?: A.D. I415 no error given (TL

on pottery) C-I632: ad 1265 +40

Koina (c. 14? N, 4? 30' W) C-?: A.D. I034 no error given (TL

on surface pottery)

C-?: A.D. 880 no error given (TL on surface pottery)

El Oualadji (16? I5' N, 3? 30' W) C-2271: ad I025+ 70

Toyla C-2270: ad 800 + 65

Tissalaten (c. i6? 15' N, 4? 35' W) C-2273: ad Io35+50

Kawinza (c. 15? 45' N, 4? 30' W) C-2274: ad 715 +70 C-2272: ad 900+ 40

Jenne-jeno (13? 53' N, 4? 32'W) excavation Unit LXN (listed in strati-

graphic order, top to bottom) RL-i6i6: ad 1400 00oo RL-I6I7: ad I 60+ Ioo RL-i6i8: ad 6So0+II RL-619: I00o+ 120 be RL-I620: iio+iio bc RL-i62I: ad 40+ 110 RL-i622: 140 + I I0 bc

excavation Unit CTR RL-I57I:ad 890+II0 RL-I573: ad 360+ I 0

RL-I575: ad 640+ I20 RL-I 574: ad 90+ 120

RL-I576: ad I60+ 120

excavation Unit ALS RL-I578: ad 640+100 RL-I58I: ad I50+I20

Hambarketolo RL-I577 ad 730+ I30 RL- 580: ad 200 + o00

Kaniana RL-I579 ad 740+ 110

Niger

Tagalagal (I7? 50' N, 8? 46' E) C-? 7380+ 130 be C-? 7420 + I30 bc

Temet (9?0 58' N, 8? 40' E) C-? 7600 + oo be C-? 6615 + Ioo be (diatomites)

Site io, Adrar Bous (20? 20' N, 90 05' E)

UW-754: 7080 + 190 be UW-? 7I80+ 65 bc

Afunfun, site 175 (I 6? 40' N, 8? 12' E) GIF-5I73: II50+ 70be GIF-5I74: 1630+ o00 be

GIF-5I75: I730+ Ioo bc

GIF-5I76: I710o I00 be

GIF-5I77: 1560+ o00 be Chin Tafidet (c. 17? 25? N, 6? 20' E)

? 1435 65 be

Asaqura (I7? 30' N, 6? 45' E) GIF-3924: 1400? Ioo be

Shi Mumenin (16? 50' N, 6? 50' E) GIF-4237: ad 1220+ 90

Ikawaten (18? 10' N, 6? 55' E) GIF-5 84: ad 670+70 furnace i

GIF-5 85: 130+ go be furnace 6

GIF-5i86: 210 +90 be furnace 7


Azelik, site 210 (17? 30' N, 6? 47' E) GIF-3863: 90o+90 be

Kori Iwelen (19? 46' N, 8? 26' E) C-? 2IO?5o be C-? 730+40 bc

Takne Bawa 3 (c. 17? 35' N, 4? 40' E) ? 650+60 bc

Kareygourou Birniwol (13 31 N, 2? I' E)

habitation site GIF-4256: ad 1820+ 80

GIF-4255: ad 070?+90

GIF-4257: ad 500+90 Kareygourou (tumulus)

GIF-? ad 1340+70 GIF-? ad I430?7o

Boura necropole (14? N, I? 20' E) C-? ad 1540 60 (bone?)

Kori Ibine (I 8 31' N, 9? 47' E) DAK-146: ad 1265 + 00

In Teduq (I7? 0o' N, 5? 35' E) ? ad 1330?70 ? 570+ 150 bc

Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)

Poura gold mining sites: Nabu (I I? 25' N, 2? 45' W)

DAK-2i6: ad 1720+ I 10 DAK-217: ad i806+ 112

Sanembulsi (Zani) I i? 30' N, 2? 45' W) DAK-2I8: ad 1493 +? I 0 DAK-221: ad 800o+ 1 12

Fara (i 30' N 2 45' W) DAK-219: modern

Logofiela (i I? 30' N 2? 45' W) GIF-5Io9: ad I840+60

Kankielou (I I? 45' N 2? 45' W) GIF-5 Io: ad 1890+60

Senegambia

Sinthiou Bara (I5? 42' N, I3? 24' W)

Ly-I741: ad 480+ 2IO

Ly-1742: ad 980 + 150 Ly-1743: ad 490 +220

Ly-1744: ad 860+ 160 Ly-1745: ad 400+140 GIF-4522: ad io30+ 80

Sare Tioffi (I6 40' N 14? 58' W) DAK-213: ad 1384+ 11O

Ly- 603: 2880 +770 be (bone) Ly-i937: ad 370 1I30

Ly-2033: ad 1030+ 100

Ogo (150 34 N, 13? I17 W)

Ly-2034: ad 160o+ ioo Ly-2159: ad 40 + 2 1 (daub) GIF-4529: ad 040+ 90 GIF-453o: ad 930+90

Tioubalel (16? 16' N, I3? 59' W) Ly-2049: ad 750 90 Ly-2048: 10+400 be

Kandiama ( 3 1 o' N, 130 5 ' W)

Ly-1992 through 1997: modern

Mbolop Tobe (Santhiou Kohel) (I3 44 N 5 38' W)

CRG-23 : 4409 55 be

CRG-235: 4206 +50 bc

The Forest States

Ghana

Kintampo, K6 rockshelter (8? N, ?1 45' W) (in stratigraphic order)

UCR-I69o: I545 +1oo be (oil palm seed husks)

UCR-i69I: 1750+ 90 be (oil palm seed husks)

UCR-I692: 1600+ I27 be (oil palm seed husks)

UCR-I693: I655+Ioo be (oil palm seed husks)

UCR-1694: 4150+250 be (oil palm seed husks)

Gao Lagoon (5? 40' N, o? 02' E) P-2746: 391 + 6o be (shell)

Daboya, Northern Region (9? 32' N, 1I 22'W)

S-2376: 2285 + 15 be 6 CX: I920+6o bc S-2370: 1455 + 155 bc


S-2375: 1245+ 325 be

SFU-390: 1140+ I60 be

4 CX: IIoo+8obc S-237I: 855 ? I8o be S-2373: 820 + 85 be

SFU-389: 370 + i6o bc

SFU-274: ad 8o+ Ioo SFU-273: ad 8o0+ io Alpha-562 ad 450 ? 300 S-2372: ad 665 + 450

Beta-7855 A.D. 850+170 (TL on

pottery) SFU-275: ad ioio+ 80

SFU-392: ad 150+ 80

Alpha-563 ad 1220+146 3 CX: ad 1220+70 SFU-39I: ad I430+100 Alpha-892 ad 460 +40 Alpha-564 ad 1540+ 40 5 CX: ad 1620+50 SFU-388: ad I670+80 2 CX: ad I710+60 Alpha-891: ad I725+30 Beta-7854: modern (TL on pottery)

Beta-7856: modern (TL on pottery) Beta-7857: modern (TL on pottery)

Dawu, mound LKi (5? 59' N, 00o 5'W) in stratigraphic order, top to bottom

N-4092: ad I555 ?75 N-409I: ad 1570+70 N-4o9o: ad 1550+70 N-4089: ad 1500+60

Old Wiae (8? I5' N, i Io' W) Beta-I 136 ad I560-60

Nyanawase (Akwamu Amanfoso) (5? 48' N, o? 24' W)

mound A Gx-6250: modern Gx-6251: ad 1780+ I5 Gx-6252: ad 1825+ I25 Gx-6253: ad I795+ 120

mound B Gx-6254: modern Gx-6255: ad 1840+ I15 Gx-6256: ad i8io+II5 Gx-6257: ad I670 I15

Ivory Coast

N'gaty (c. 5? 20' N, 4? 25' W) Gif-3377: ad o+90 (shell) Gif-3674: ad 640+80 (shell)

Dabou Tchotchoraf (c. 5? 20' N, 40 25' W) Gif-2864: 70 ? Ioo be (shell) Gif-2863: 20+ Ioo be (shell)

Bingerville highway Gif-5626: II, 100+230 bc

Nyamwan (c. 5? Io' N, 3? 20' W) Ly-3071: ad I270 + 50 (raffia)

Nasalama (Grand Jacques) (5? Io' N, 4? 31 W) Ly-2817: ad 1200+ I60

Nigeria

Old Oyo (9? N, 4? 20' E) site oo/i (in stratigraphic order, top to

bottom) I-I2342: ad 1 40?+80 I-12343: ad I050+80 I-I2353: ad 790+90 I-12345: ad 765 +90

Igbo Ukwu (6? i' N, 7? i' E) BM-? ad I230o?360 (wood) BM-? ad 1070 240 BM-? ad 920+ 300

Egbejoda site III (7? I4' N, 4? 40' E) ?: ad 1792 + IOO ?: ad I737? Ioo ?: ad i427 IOO ?: ad I326+ ioo

Sawuni (I0? 34' N, 4? 43' E) HAR-5i87-5189: modern HAR-519o: ad 1870+ 80

HAR-5I9I: ad I770+ I00

HAR-5I92: ad I830+70 Ulaira (I0? 33' N, 40 37' E)

HAR-5I84: ad 620+80

HAR-4397: ad 490+ 90 HAR-5i83: ad o60+ 80 HAR-5i85: ad I390+70 HAR-5i86: ad I270+80

Agdagbabou (c. 5? 05' N, 6?0 20' E) HAR-4398: ad 1640+70 (charred

palm kernel) HAR-4396: ad 1730+ 80

HAR-4395: ad I730+90


Umukete Aguleri ?: ad 1240+75 ?: ad 1470 + 80 ?: ad I555? 85 ?: ad 1625 +80

?: ad I475+65 Site Bi 9 (Gagava Nawayanda Amthe)

Beta-39I7: ad 710 +80

Beta-351 o: ad 840+ 70

Sierra Leone

Wara Wara rock shelter, Yagala Old Town (90 35' N, I ? 35 W)

UCLA-2382 ad I Io+ 120

Alpha-553 A.D. 620+270 (TL on

potsherd)

Togo

Bassar region (9? 15-30' N, o? 35-50' E) Tchogma I

Beta-4400: ad 1690 + 50 Beta-880 : ad 1680+ 50

Tchatchafaroko I Beta-3043: < 300 B.P. UCLA-2355A: < 300 B.P.

Kounkoule Beta 3042: ad 1370+50

Tatre 2 Beta 440 1: ad 1340 + 50

Tipabun Beta 5353: ad 1730+50 Beta 6340: < 300 B.P. UCLA-2516: ad 1150+200

Nababun I

Beta-34I5: ad 1360 +50 Nababun 1

Beta-3416: ad 1290+ 60

Dekpassanware Beta-5352: ad 1620 50

Alpha-567: A.D. 770+236 (TL on

potsherd) Dakpande

Beta 3044: ad 1440+ 50 no site name

Beta-6339: ad 600oo+50 UCLA-2515: ad I 5:+200 Beta-5351: ad 1370+50 Beta-6293: modern Beta-6292: modern

Recent Archaeological Research and Dates from West Africa

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