Pits, graves and grains: archaeological and archaeobotanical research in southern Cameroun

Eggert, Manfred K. H.; Höhn, Alexa; Kahlheber, Stefanie; Meister, Conny; Neumann, Katharina; Schweizer, Astrid

doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10076

Cited by 55 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Evidence from pottery points to a primary Bantu expansion along the waterways, an aquatic expansion, but it is likely that a combination of iron technology and three new high-yielding staples that could be grown successfully in the tropical rainforest permitted a second marked phase of Bantu expansion. New finds in southern Cameroun now provide direct evidence for agricultural tools in the rainforest (Eggert et al 2006). Moving south and east, presumably along the waterways, the Bantu seem to have rapidly colonized the equatorial forest.…”

Section: Southeast Asian Food Crops and The Bantu Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence

Blench

2009

Ethnobot. Res. App.

103

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Section: Southeast Asian Food Crops and The Bantu Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence

Blench

2009

Ethnobot. Res. App.

103

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“…Vincens et al, 1999;Servant and Servant-Vildary, 2000;Bonnefille, 2007;Lézine, 2007) creating favourable conditions for farming and for expansion and migration of Bantu speaking populations (e.g. Schwartz, 1992;Eggert et al, 2006). But the timing, duration, mode and spatial pattern of the AHP termination are still a subject of debate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation response to the "African Humid Period" termination in Central Cameroon (7° N) – new pollen insight from Lake Mbalang

2010

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Abstract.A new pollen sequence from the Lake Mbalang (7 • 19 N, 13 • 44 E, 1110 m a.s.l.) located on the eastern Adamawa plateau, in Central Cameroon, is presented in this paper to analyze the Holocene African Humid Period (AHP) termination and related vegetation changes at 7 • N in tropical Africa, completing an important transect for exploring shifts in the northern margin of the African Monsoon. This sequence, spanning the last 7000 cal yr BP, shows that the vegetation response to this transitional climatic period was marked by significant successional changes within the broad context of long-term aridification. Semi-deciduous/submontane forest retreat in this area is initially registered as early as ca. 6100 cal yr BP and modern savannah was definitely established at ca. 3000 cal yr BP and stabilized at ca. 2400 cal yr BP; but a slight forest regeneration episode is observed between ca. 5200 and ca. 4200 cal yr BP. In this area with modern high rainfall, increasing in the length of the dry season during the AHP termination linked to a contraction of the northern margin of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) from ca. 6100 cal yr BP onward, probably associated with decreasing in cloud cover and/or fog frequency, has primarily controlled vegetation dynamics and above all the disappearance of the forested environment on the Adamawa plateau. Compared to previous studies undertaken in northern tropical and Central Africa, this work clearly shows that the response of vegetation to transitional periods between climatic extremes such as the AHP termination might be Correspondence to: A. Vincens (Vincens@cerege.fr) different in timing, mode and amplitude according to the regional climate of the study sites, but also according to the stability of vegetation before and during these climatic transitions.

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“…some 4000 to 5000 years ago (Vansina 1995;Blench 2006;Bostoen 2007), and discovered far from the Bantu homeland, which is situated in the Nigerian-Cameroonian borderland (Greenberg 1972); see Figure 1. Domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was found in three sites from southern Cameroon, all dated between 2350-2200 BP, and in one site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Lulonga River dated around 2200 BP (Eggert et al 2006;Kahlheber et al 2009;Kahlheber et al 2014). In another South-Cameroonian site, remains of the pulse species Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) dated around 1750 BP were found (Eggert et al 2006).…”

Section: Reviewing the Evidence For The Bantu Expansion As A Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was found in three sites from southern Cameroon, all dated between 2350-2200 BP, and in one site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Lulonga River dated around 2200 BP (Eggert et al 2006;Kahlheber et al 2009;Kahlheber et al 2014). In another South-Cameroonian site, remains of the pulse species Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) dated around 1750 BP were found (Eggert et al 2006). Both crop species originate from more northerly savannah regions and are adapted to drier environmental conditions.…”

Section: Reviewing the Evidence For The Bantu Expansion As A Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apart from recent archaeobotanical finds of pearl millet (Eggert et al 2006;Kahlheber et al 2014), other evidence for early plant cultivation in western Central Africa comes from the identification of banana phytoliths by Mbida Mindzié et al (2000). According to Blench (2009: 363), plantains arrived in West Africa earlier than 3000 BP along with taro and water yam and the cultivation of these crops made possible the effective exploitation of the dense equatorial rainforest.…”

Section: Crop Vocabulary In Proto-west-coastal Bantumentioning

confidence: 99%

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Were the first Bantu speakers south of the rainforest farmers?

Bostoen¹,

Muluwa²

2017

Language Dispersal Beyond Farming

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Popular belief has it that the Bantu Expansion was a farming/language dispersal. However, there is neither conclusive archaeological nor linguistic evidence to substantiate this hypothesis, especially not for the initial spread in West-Central Africa. In this chapter we consider lexical reconstructions for both domesticated and wild plants in Proto-West-Coastal Bantu associated with the first Bantu speech communities south of the rainforest about 2500 years ago. The possibility to reconstruct terms for five different crops, i.e. pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), okra (Hibiscus/Abelmoschus esculentus), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) and plantain (Musa spp.), indicates that by that time Bantu speakers did know how to cultivate plants. At the same time, they still strongly depended on the plant resources that could be collected in their natural environment, as is evidenced by a preliminary assessment of reconstructible names for wild plants. Agriculture in Central Africa was indeed "a slow revolution", as the late Jan Vansina once proposed, and certainly not the principal motor behind the early Bantu Expansion.

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Pits, graves and grains: archaeological and archaeobotanical research in southern Cameroun

Cited by 55 publications

References 26 publications

Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence

Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence

Vegetation response to the "African Humid Period" termination in Central Cameroon (7° N) – new pollen insight from Lake Mbalang

Were the first Bantu speakers south of the rainforest farmers?

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Pits, graves and grains: archaeological and archaeobotanical research in southern Cameroun

Cited by 55 publications

References 26 publications

Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence

Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence

Vegetation response to the &quot;African Humid Period&quot; termination in Central Cameroon (7° N) – new pollen insight from Lake Mbalang

Were the first Bantu speakers south of the rainforest farmers?

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Vegetation response to the "African Humid Period" termination in Central Cameroon (7° N) – new pollen insight from Lake Mbalang