Direct evidence for agricultural intensification during the first two millennia AD in northeast Burkina Faso

Archaeobotanical evidence from archaeological sites in northeast Burkina Faso dating to the first and second millennia AD has provided a useful insight into crop cultivation and the development of the West African savanna landscape. Nitrogen isotopic analysis of charred pearl millet grains from the same sites now provides the first opportunity to investigate how increased crop production and permanence of cultivated fields related to the intensity of household waste/manure application. Nitrogen isotope values of pearl millet grains increased during the first two millennia AD, indicating an intensification of manuring that would have enabled soil to stay fertile for longer, reducing the agricultural footprint of shifting cultivation. This may have been advantageous as population and settlement density increased, thereby increasing competition over land. The intensity of manure application in the second millennium AD at sites close to the Mare d'Oursi suggests that manure was likely sourced from outside the farming settlements, from livestock herded by nomadic pastoralists who would have been drawn to the mare for water. This is rare evidence for specialisation of sedentary farmers and pastoralists, demonstrating how the novel combination of fruit/seed, charcoal, faunal and isotopic evidence used in this study can enrich our knowledge of past lifeways in West Africa

Cowries in the archaeology of West Africa: the present picture

Despite the perceived importance of cowrie shells as indicators of long-distance connections in the West African past, their distribution and consumption patterns in archaeological contexts remain surprisingly underexplored, a gap that is only partly explicable by the sparse distribution of archaeological sites within the sub-continent. General writings on the timeline of importation of cowries into West Africa often fail to take into account the latest archaeological evidence and rely instead on accounts drawn from historical or ethnographic documents. This paper is based on a first-hand assessment of over 4500 shells from 78 sites across West Africa, examining chronology, shell species and processes of modification to assess what distribution patterns can tell us about the history of importation and usage of cowries. These first-hand analyses are paralleled by a consideration of published materials. We re-examine the default assumption that two distinct routes of entry existed — one overland from North Africa before the fifteenth century, another coming into use from the time sea links were established with the East African coast and becoming predominant by the middle of the nineteenth century. We focus on the eastern part of West Africa, where the importance of imported cowries to local communities in relatively recent periods is well known and from where we have a good archaeological sample. The conclusion is that on suitably large assemblages shell size can be an indication of provenance and that, while the present archaeological picture seems largely to confirm historical sources, much of this may be due to the discrepancy in archaeological data available from the Sahara/Sahel zone compared to the more forested regions of the sub-continent. Future archaeological work will clarify this matter

Wild food: plants, fish and small animals on the menu for Early Holocene populations at al-Khiday, central Sudan

Al Khiday, located on the bank of the White Nile in Sudan, offers an exceptionally preserved stratigraphic sequence, providing a unique opportunity to use organic residue analysis to investigate diet and subsistence over the full course of the Khartoum Mesolithic together with possible continuity or change into the Early Neolithic, a period of nearly 3000 years (8900-6000 cal BP). Whilst the vast and diverse Mesolithic fish assemblage indicates a strong reliance on products from aquatic habitats, floodplains, vegetated marshes and open water, results from the lipid residue analysis suggest that the fish were not cooked in the pots, likely being consumed in other ways. Rather, pots were more specialised in processing plants, wild grasses, leafy plants and sedges, confirmed by experimental analysis, and for the first time, providing direct chemical evidence for plant exploitation in the Khartoum Mesolithic. Non-ruminant fauna, such as warthog and low lipid-yielding reptiles such as Adanson’s mud turtle and Nile monitor lizard, which were found in significant numbers at al-Khiday, were also cooked in pots. There is little evidence for the processing of wild ruminants in the pots, suggesting either that ruminant species were not routinely hunted, or, that large wild fauna may have been cooked in different ways, possibly grilled over fires. These data suggest sophisticated economic strategies by sedentary people likely exploiting their ecological niche to the fullest. Pottery use changes considerably in the Early Neolithic, with ruminant products being more routinely processed in pots, and while the exploitation of domesticates cannot be confirmed by a small faunal assemblage, some dairying does take place. In summary, our results provide valuable information on Early and Middle Holocene lifeways in central Sudan

Done with fish? A diachronic study of fishing in the Holocene Nile basin of Sudan

The Nile valley of northern and mainly Central Sudan is renowned for its Early and Middle Holocene archaeological sites, with plentiful remains of fish and other aquatic fauna. However, at younger sites, after the Neolithic (after ca. 3500/3000 cal BC), fish bones are not found in any significant numbers. A lack of fishing near a large water basin seems counter-intuitive. In this paper we investigate whether fish consumption really lost importance in Sudan through time, based on a synthesis of the available archaeozoological data, and referring also to modern fisheries data for the region. Taphonomy, research methods, as well as environmental, economic and socio-cultural factors are considered in order to explain trends that can be observed.We argue that, while all of these factors played a role, the end of the African Humid Period at ca. 3500 cal BC and the disappearance of wetlands as a consequence was the most important factor. The data presented include newly obtained results from archaeozoological studies at Mesolithic and Neolithic sites near Al Khiday, which cover a sequence between ca. 7000 and 4000 cal BC

Direct evidence for agricultural intensification during the first two millennia AD in northeast Burkina Faso

Archaeobotanical evidence from archaeological sites in northeast Burkina Faso dating to the first and second millennia AD has provided a useful insight into crop cultivation and the development of the West African savanna landscape. Nitrogen isotopic analysis of charred pearl millet grains from the same sites now provides the first opportunity to investigate how increased crop production and permanence of cultivated fields related to the intensity of household waste/manure application. Nitrogen isotope values of pearl millet grains increased during the first two millennia AD, indicating an intensification of manuring that would have enabled soil to stay fertile for longer, reducing the agricultural footprint of shifting cultivation. This may have been advantageous as population and settlement density increased, thereby increasing competition over land. The intensity of manure application in the second millennium AD at sites close to the Mare d'Oursi suggests that manure was likely sourced from outside the farming settlements, from livestock herded by nomadic pastoralists who would have been drawn to the mare for water. This is rare evidence for specialisation of sedentary farmers and pastoralists, demonstrating how the novel combination of fruit/seed, charcoal, faunal and isotopic evidence used in this study can enrich our knowledge of past lifeways in West Africa