Four thousand years of plant exploitation in the Chad Basin of northeast Nigeria I: The archaeobotany of Kursakata

Klee, Marlies; Zach, Barbara; Neumann, Katharina

doi:10.1007/bf01294637

Cited by 49 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…These go back to 1,800 BC and continue through to 800 BC. At the neighbouring site of Kursakata, scientists have uncovered abundant charred grains of rice dating from 1,200 BC through to AD 0 (Klee et al, 2000). However, there is no evidence that the grains from either of these sites are domesticated and not wild rices.…”

Section: Origin Of the Cultivated Rice Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The African Rice Oryza glaberrima Steud: Knowledge Distribution and Prospects

Agnoun¹,

Biaou²,

Sié³

et al. 2012

IJB

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This paper presents a consolidated balance-sheet on the botanical and historical evidence for the role of the cultivated African rice species (Oryza glaberrima Steud) in West and Central Africa as well as its geographical distribution. Because Oryza glaberrima has survived without the help and interference from human, it has developed adaptive and protective mechanisms for resisting major biotic and abiotic stresses. Oryza glaberrima is also very plastic with two major ecotypes: the floating and the non floating, and presents natural hybridization and admixture with its wild parents and the Asian cultivated rice Oryza sativa. Several ecotypes showed good aptitude in response to climatic change effects such as drought, flood, pests and diseases. This review presents several phenotypic diversity aspects on O. glaberrima and highlights its ecological and genetic structuring as well as the management of its diversity. Even if the African rice has undergone less diversification than the Asian rice in their evolutionary process, it presents some interesting assets which are being suggested to exploit through varietal improvement programs.

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Section: Origin Of the Cultivated Rice Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The African Rice Oryza glaberrima Steud: Knowledge Distribution and Prospects

Agnoun¹,

Biaou²,

Sié³

et al. 2012

IJB

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“…Lake Chad basin sites have yielded early evidence for the domestication of Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) and sorghum at Kursakata and Gajiganna sites in the third millennium (Klee et al 2004, Klee et al 2000, Mitchell 2005 and evidence of pastoralism. The site provides a sequence from Late Stone Age to Iron Age periods dated between 1000BC to 100AD showing a diversification of economic system to wild gathering to adjust to prevailing dry conditions.…”

Section: Archaeology Of Lake Chad Basin (Kanem-borno)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence of domestications of wild grasses was observed. The coming of iron facilitated greater control of the environment (Klee et al 2000). The large settlement site of Zilum provided an early date of 600-400BC, serving as one of the early known fortified settlements in sub-Saharan Africa (Magnavita 2004, Connah 2008.…”

Section: Archaeology Of Lake Chad Basin (Kanem-borno)mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Archaeological Investigation of the Kirfi Area, Northern Nigeria: Craft, Identity and Landscape

Sani

2013

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This doctoral research presents the first sustained archaeological investigation of Kirfi, Bauchi state, northern Nigeria. As part of this work, test pits were excavated at three sites and research was carried out into modern craft practices. These yielded good chronological sequence and allowed the development of a pioneering pottery typology. One central question explored is to what degree the Hausa world just to the north-west of the study area impacted on Kirfi in the past 1000 years. It is argued that theories of technological styles and society can be usefully deployed to understand cultural developments and territorial expansion in African societies. Ideas about economic systems, settlement and social factors resulting in population movements and the definition of cultural identities are key to exploring the complex cultural make-up of the last millennium. I also show that oral tradition is valuable to studies of later African societies when carefully critiqued, in view of the dearth of early written and historical scripts. This thesis will also show how external influences were to alter a native system by the integration of Islam into the socio-political development of Kirfi, including it in a world system that shaped the evolution of the Bauchi region, which then became a principal actor in the spread of a political system in the early part of the 19 th century after the jihad of Shehu Uthman Fodio. The influence of Islam (as opposed to formerly practiced ritual systems), longdistance trading systems and the role of slaves as a commodity, 'Hausaness', craft and economic specialisations are all put forward as factors that played out in the settlements under study here. This finally transformed ancient socio-political systems leading to the ways of life of today.It is hoped that the present research, through its collaborative use of archaeological methods and ethnoarchaeological study, will help improve our understanding of an area that has up to now been a virtual terra incognita and make a wider contribution to African archaeology by interpreting the impact of 'Hausaisation' on the southern Bauchi area.3

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“…Many annual Panicoid grasses have edible grains, such as species from the genera Brachiaria, Panicum, Digitaria, Cenchrus and Echinochloa. Archaeobotanical and ethnographic studies prove the extensive use of Panicoid grasses in the Sahara and the Sahel from the Early Holocene until modern times (Harlan, 1989;Wasylikowa, 2001;Barakat and Fahmy, 1999;Klee et al, 2000Klee et al, , 2004. Some ethnic groups collect the grains as a staple on a regular basis (Tubiana and Tubiana, 1977;Smith, 1978), while others use them as supplementary famine food (Burkill, 1994;Selleger, 2007).…”

Section: Landuse Potential Of the Early Holocene Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7) they serve as indicators of permanent or semi-permanent waterbodies. Wild rice was an important food plant in the later Holocene (Klee et al, 2000;Murray, 2004). Although Ehrhartioideae bilobates are absent in Ravin de la Mouche, their diagnostic potential, as an indicator for this important cereal, should be kept in mind for future studies.…”

Section: Local or Regional Signal?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Early Holocene palaeoenvironment of Ounjougou (Mali): Phytoliths in a multiproxy context

Neumann¹,

Fahmy²,

Lespez³

et al. 2009

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

Self Cite

102

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oThe site complex Ounjougou on the Dogon Plateau (Mali) comprises sediments up to 100,000 years old with numerous Pleistocene and Holocene sequences. The site Ravin de la Mouche (11.4-10.2 ka) is of special archaeological significance because in its Early Holocene deposits, pottery sherds have been found which are among the oldest in Africa. For a better understanding of the environmental conditions which might have contributed to the innovation of pottery making, a multi-proxy approach was applied to the sediments of Ravin de la Mouche, including phytoliths, pollen, palynofacies, micromorphology and charcoal. The multiproxy approach also allows reconstructing the complex taphonomy of the site. In our phytolith study, we applied a combination of the general and the indices approaches. We recorded a maximum of morphotypes and used the summarized data for a calculation of the indices D:P, Ic, and Iph, in comparison with modern surface samples and data from other African phytolith studies. With the general approach, a number of morphotypes could be detected which are useful in describing the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene vegetation. Phytoliths were extracted from the Pleistocene base and the early Holocene layers HA1, HA2 and HA3. The Pleistocene sediment samples, with an age of ca. 30-40 ka BP, have no grass short cell phytoliths (GSCP) and their composition is difficult to interpret. HA1 is a coarse fluvial deposit with mainly redeposited phytoliths of Pleistocene origin. The palaeosoil in HA2 contains phytolith assemblages developed in situ from a terrestrial plant cover. The vegetation was an open tropical grassland and a gallery forest with palms and Marantaceae. Annuals from the grass subfamilies Chloridoideae and Panicoideae, probably with a low biomass production, dominated the grassland. This might explain the insignificant role of fire, as indicated by the very low number of micro-charcoals. HA3 results from a rhythmic deposition of alluvial sediments, pointing to pronounced seasonality of rainfall and discharge. It contains pollen, charcoal, and phytolith assemblages with a similar composition as in HA2. The Early Holocene annual grassland on the Dogon Plateau probably harboured a high number of species from the grass subfamily Panicoideae with edible grains. We suggest that the massive expansion of useful Panicoid grasses during the Early Holocene triggered the development of important cultural innovations, mainly pottery production. Cooking wild cereal grains in a ceramic container would have enabled a very effective exploitation of the vast Sahelo-Sudanian grasslands, which remained to be successful until modern times.

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Four thousand years of plant exploitation in the Chad Basin of northeast Nigeria I: The archaeobotany of Kursakata

Cited by 49 publications

References 16 publications

The African Rice Oryza glaberrima Steud: Knowledge Distribution and Prospects

The African Rice Oryza glaberrima Steud: Knowledge Distribution and Prospects

An Archaeological Investigation of the Kirfi Area, Northern Nigeria: Craft, Identity and Landscape

The Early Holocene palaeoenvironment of Ounjougou (Mali): Phytoliths in a multiproxy context

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