The Holocene History of the Southern Lake Chad Basin: Archaeological, Linguistic and Genetic Evidence

MacEachern, Scott

doi:10.1007/s10437-012-9110-3

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This time period has been posited, though not yet archeologically proven, to be when domesticated plants and animals arrived in the region (MacEachern, 2012). Nearby, a curiously abrupt reduction in Guinean and Sudanian plant taxa by 3300 years BP in favor of Sahelian shrublands is recorded in the Manga Plateau west of Lake Chad (Figure 3E; Salzmann and Waller, 1998;Salzmann et al, 2002).…”

Section: Third Criterion: Threshold Crossing and The Arrival Of Domesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

Wright

2017

Front. Earth Sci.

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Section: Third Criterion: Threshold Crossing and The Arrival Of Domesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

Wright

2017

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…The greater Lake Chad region was occupied exclusively by hunter-gatherers until 4000 yr, after which farming and herding economies entered the region (MacEachern, 2012; Maley and Vernet, 2015). By 2400–2200 cal yr BP, shaft furnaces for producing iron are found in sub-Saharan western Africa (Killick, 2015), and Iron Age farmers were widely distributed across the region by 2000 yr (Russell et al, 2014; Bostoen et al, 2015).…”

Section: Background Of the Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron Age landscape changes in the Benoué River Valley, Cameroon

et al. 2019

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The introduction of agriculture is known to have profoundly affected the ecological complexion of landscapes. In this study, a rapid transition from C3 to C4 vegetation is inferred from a shift to higher stable carbon (13C/12C) isotope ratios of soils and sediments in the Benoué River Valley and upland Fali Mountains in northern Cameroon. Landscape change is viewed from the perspective of two settlement mounds and adjacent floodplains, as well as a rock terrace agricultural field dating from 1100 cal yr BP to the recent past (<400 cal yr BP). Nitrogen (15N/14N) isotope ratios and soil micromorphology demonstrate variable uses of land adjacent to the mound sites. These results indicate that Early Iron Age settlement practices involved exploitation of C3 plants on soils with low δ15N values, indicating wetter soils. Conversely, from the Late Iron Age (>700 cal yr BP) until recent times, high soil and sediment δ13C and δ15N values reflect more C4 biomass and anthropogenic organic matter in open, dry environments. The results suggest that Iron Age settlement practices profoundly changed landscapes in this part of West Africa through land clearance and/or utilization of C4 plants.

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“…Humans have interacted with and transformed the Lake Chad Basin for over 7000 years. Large-scale archaeological excavation projects conducted since the 1960s have revealed deep sequences of human occupation and palaeoenvironmental evidence at Daima, Dufuna, Konduga, Gajiganna and other mounds (Connah 1976;Gronenborn 1998;Maceachern 2012).…”

Section: Holocene Human Settlement In the Lake Chad Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and an archaeology of the future

Pikirayi

2019

Antiquity

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The Holocene History of the Southern Lake Chad Basin: Archaeological, Linguistic and Genetic Evidence

Cited by 15 publications

References 35 publications

Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

Iron Age landscape changes in the Benoué River Valley, Cameroon

Sustainability and an archaeology of the future

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