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No.
A
NEWSLETTER O AFRICAN ArlCHAEBLOGY October 1972
Edited by
P.L.
Shinnie
and
issued from the Department of Archaeology.
The
Univ ersi ty of Calgary, Calgary, Alb erta ,
T2N
1N4, Canada.
When th e Fi r s t meeting of Af ri ca ni st Archaeol ogiststt was h e ld
a t
Urbana, I l l i no is i n Apr i l 1971 i t was dec ided tha t i t would be of bene-
f i t t o a l l those concerned with African archaeology
who
were based i n North
America i f a Newsletter w r t o be issued. The aim being t o publ ish quick ,
b r i e f , f i r s t r e po r ts on
f i e l d
and o ther research pro je cts
as
well
as
t o con-
t a i n news of
a
more personal nature concerning the movements
a n d a c t i v i t i e s
of colleagues. I r ash ly o f fe red t o produce th e f i r s t numbers, u s ing a s f a r
as poss ible , th e reso urce s of th e Department of Archaeology i n the Universi-
t y of Calgary This
wa s
thought t o be appropriate since Calgary i s unusual,
though no t now unique, amongst North American u n i v e r s i t i e s i n having a Depart-
ment of Archaeology qui te d i s t i n c t from t h a t of Anthropology.
Th e
s p e l l i n g
i s not an English idios.yncracy i t i s so sp el le d by the Univers i ty .
I
anologise
f o r t h e d e l a y i n producing the f i r s t number, a p a r
and
a
h a l f a f t e r t h e d e c is i on w s taken,
but have been i n th e f i e l d n the
Sudan,
twice
s in ce t h a t d at e.
I now hope t o produce a number e very s i x mon-
th s with publ icat ion dat es of 1st October and
1st
April.
There are a number of questions on which T would l i k e th e advice
of readers. A
t i t l e
has been
a
problem and
I
c on si de re d t h a t t o c a l l t h e
new publication by
i t s
s u b - t i t l e A Newsletter of African ArchaeologyN
would
be
uninspiring. The
t i t l e
chosen,
a t least
as
an interim measure,
i s
t h e
Twi
f o r
a
po li shed stone axe o r c e l t , l i t e r a l l y 'God's axe l , and a well
known and c ha r a c t e ri s t i c a nt i q ui t y of Ghana. I chose a t i t l e i n Tw i p a r t l y
because of
my
long asso ci at ion wit h Ghana and al so because t he U nive rsit y of
Ghana was the
f i r s t IJniversity i n sub-Saharan Africa t o have a Department of
Archaeology and
i t
seemed su i tab le that i t shou ld be noti ce d
i n
t h i s way.
The emblem on the cover i s from a rock drawing of
a
rh inoceros
from Abka i n t h e Sudan and
was
chosen p a r t l y because I thought
i t
r a t 1 . x
charming and also because
I
wanted t o pay t r ib u t e t o th e coun t ry i n which
most of
my
working l i f e has been spent.
I f r e ad e rs do no t l i k e e i t h e r
t i t l e
o r emblem t he y can
be
changed, but
I
have used t h e e d i t o r ' s ~ r i v i l e g e
f
mak
ing the f i r s t dacis ions .
Although the main aim of the news le t te r i s t o m a in ta in co n tac t be-
tween th ose based i n North America I do no t in tend tha t
i t
should be exclu-
sive and it w i l l be d i s t r i b u t e d t o any one working i n Afric an ar chaeology
who des ir es t o receive
i t
It w i l l al so car r y news about a c t i v i t i e s by those
based i n ot he r p ar t s of th e world tha n North America.
I i nt en d t o d i s t r i b u t e
the Newslet te r f r e e f o r the f i r s t few numbers,
but
ma y
i n time have t o ask
f o r
a
s m a l l subscr ip t ion I horn
t h i s w i l l not be necessary.
I
have given thought t o th e geographi cal and chro nolo gic al coverape
of 'Nyame Akuma' and proDose t h a t f o r t h e presen t
t
should include items on
the archaeology of a l J . = r i d s i n t he whole of Africa with the except ion o f
h i s to r i ca l t im es i n 3q-t and North Africa
pharaonic and l ~ ~ e rgqynt i s
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excluded on the grounds t h a t Egyptology i s a sp ec i a l d esc ipl in e r a th e r
sep ara te from the archaeology t h a t most of
u s
practise, and
it
i s very
well served by the annual review published by Professor Leclant in
Oriental ia . His tor ica l times i n North Afr ica Libya, Tun isia , Alge-
r ia , and Morocco,
are
clo sel y associate d with th e archaeology of the
Near Eas t and cl a ss i c a l Greece and
ome
and do not therefore seem t o be
anp ropr iate ly handled here.
On th e o th er hand
i t
would
be
a r t i f i c i a l
t o exclude work on the pre hist ory of the se
areas
with i t s close associa-
t io n with the prehis tory of areas t o the south, so
i t m s
concerning pre-
historic North Africa
and
Egypt w i l l be welcomed,
The
Sudan
posed another problem s ince much of t he archaeolog y
of his to ri c times, from the
f i r s t
co nt ac ts with Egypt i n th e F i r s t Dynasty
is more clo se ly ass ocia ted with the north than t i s with the
rest
of
Africa. However i t seemed t o me absurd th at should exclude the mat eri al
i n which m most interested and on which continu e t o work. th er ef or e
propose t o includ e items from th e
Sudan
concerning
ll
periods.
This number i s r a th e r t h in and some of the news,
p a r t i cu l a r ly
concerning the Urbana conference i s out of date.
The improvement i n t he
content of Nyame
Akumal
w i l l l a rg e ly depend on rece ipt of news and views
from those interested.
The edi tor f inds that a t Calgary he i s almost
as
i so l a t ed s he would be i n the middle of Darfur and is not able t o provide
much information from h i s own sources o r from personal con tac t, s o asks
that there should be a st eady flow of news items. can only pub lish w h t
receive.
have had some diacussion with Dr.Swartz concerning the r el at io n-
sh ip between 'Nyame Akumal and Underground
West
Africa which he
i s
now edi-
t ing.
When our newsl et te r w s proposed a t Urbana
w s
unaware that Under-
ground West Africa was continu ing and t h a t Mr.Flight was passing co nt ro l t o
Dr,Swartz. Although the re i s the ~ o s s i b i l i t y f some over lap and duplica-
t i on we consider th at no gre at harm
w i l l
come of t h i s
and
we
w i l l
leave i t
t o the f utu re and t o the d esi res of the readers t o see how the two publica-
tions develop.
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SEOND MEETING
O
AFRICANIST ARCHAEOLOGISTS
The following letter concerning this meet in^ has been circulated,
t i s
repeated here
s
received:
Southern Methodist University
Department of Anthropology
Dallas,
Texas 75222
Dear
Colleague
During the F i r s t Meeting of Af ric ani st Archaeologists, held i n Urbana i n
1971,
a
committee of three
w s
elec ted t o car ry out the wishes of the par-
ti ci pa nt s. More important than the se le ct io n of
a
suitable new name w s
the d esi re t o hold addit ional meetings every other year bringing
fessionals from
areas
adjacent t o Africa who could contribute t o ei th er
advancements i n methodology or t o the understanding of e xt ra cc on ti ne nt al
relat ionships.
I n pursuance of th es e wishes, prel iminary plans a re now being formulated
for the Second Meeting of American Africanists.
After consideration, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas was
ohosen
s
t h e s i t e ,
and
the weekend of April 20 through 22nd,
1973,
w a s
chosen as the time.
The format of the meeting w i l l be ess ent ial ly s imilar t o the f i r s t meet-.
ing; an inv ite d paper, a session given over t o shor t repor ts on curre nt
research, four symposia on se le ct ed to pi cs , and a forum t o di sc us s mutual
problems of interest
and
the future of the meetings.
The symposia which have been suggested are the following:
1 Current Research
2 Settlement and In t ra s i t e Pa t te rn ing Stud ies ;
Their
Present Status .
3 Northeast African Prehistory and Pleistocene Geology;
Their Bearing on Adjacent Areas
4 Adaptive Variability during the MS I S
5 The present and Future of Iron Age Studies
These, of course,
re
ten tat ive , and su bs ti tu te symposia
w i l l
be considered
gladly
by the committee.
While a grant w i l l be subni t ted t o cover t ra vel costs of the part ic ipants ,
there
is
no assurance that t w i l l be funded.
Thus,
t
i s
most important
th at those planning t o at tend attempt t o secure tra ve l funds from th e ir
respect ive ins t i tu t ions .
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Cont
Id
The success of t he F i r s t Meeting of Af ri ca ni st Archaeologists sug gests
that continued meetings w l l
be
of considerable v lue t o
all
Therefore,
t
s
hoped t h a t you w l l
be
able t o par t i c ipa te .
In order to plan rea l i s t i c a l l y , t
i s
requested th a t you f i l l out the
enclosed questionaire and
r turn
t
s
soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Anthony E.Marks, Southern Methodist Uni ve rs it y
Karl
Butzer, Un ivers ity of Chicago
Charles Keller , University of I l l i n o i s
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REPORT
ON
FIRST
MEXTING
OF
AFRICANIST ARCHAEOLOGISTS.
Univers ity of I l l in oi s , Urbana, Apri l 16th t o 18th.
1971.
Purpose.
In order t o maintain effec t ivene ss i n research, teaching
and
the
tra in i ng of s tudents , t he preact ic ioners of
a
science require access not
on ly t o p ub li cat io ns i n t h e i r d i s c ip l i n e , b u t a l so t o t h e i r co ll eagu es ,
wi th whom the y may di sc us s r ec en t developnents and general problems i n t h e i r
f ie ld . Afr ican is t a rchaeo log is ts , in part because, s a group, they re re-
latively young, a n d i n part because they are widely sca t te red both i n t he ir
u n iv e r s i t i e s and over the African continent, have lacked th i s e ss en ti al con-
ta ct . Nor has th e need f o r comuni cation been met by the conferences of the
es tab l i shed p rofess iona l soc ie t ies .
The Fi r s t Meeting of Af ri ca ni st Archaeologists w s ca l l ed t o a l lo w
person al communications t o be est abl ishe d between Afric ani st ar chaeo logists
and
Npara-archaeologistsfl a t u ni ve rs i t ie s i n North America, and t o devis e
w ys by which t h i s con ta ct , once obtain ed, might
be
preserved.
The need for
such
a
meeting
s
very adequately demonstrated
by
th e assembly i n Urbana of
no less than 7 fac u l t y and sen io r g raduate s tudents ( se e at tached l i s t ) ,
who had come from a l l over North America with no guarantee that
any
part of
t h e i r expenses would be reimbursed.
In the e vent, th e Wenner-Gren Founda-
ti o n came generously t o the rescue and provided support f o r tr av el .
The Meetine;.
a ) Research Report, papers, and discussion groups.
The meeting began on th e af te rnoon of t he s ix teen th wi th a demon-
s t ra t i on of P alaeo l i th ic materials from
Isimila
and other s i t e s by Charles
Kel ler , followed t h a t evening with a public le ct ur e and discuss ion on Recent
Excavations a t Meroe by Prof. Pe te r Shinni e
.
Over th e next two days the following papers and research r e ~ o r t s
were
given and discussed.
B a s i l
Cooke (~alhousie
Plio-Pleistocene correlations
i n
East
Africa.
Glyn Isaac (Berkeley
The akuru Basin survey.
a r l
Butzer
and
Mid-Pleistocene and Holocene S t r a t i f i -
(Chicago)
ca t ion and archaeology on the South
Africa Coast.
Fekri Rassan SMU)
Heavy mineral studies and Pleistocene
cl imate i n the Nile valley.
Augustus Sordinas
emph phis
S t a t e
Problems of st ra ti gr ap hy i n West Afri ca:
th e Stone Age s i t e
of
Manprobi, Accra,
Ghana.
Ben Swartz ( ga ll St at e ) Survey and Excavation in the
Upper
Da*
va ll ey , Volta reg ion , Ghana.
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Charles Nelson (Berkeley)
Fred Wendorf (SMU)
J. Msmond Clark
Anthony Marks sMU)
Tam Hays sMU)
W i l l i a m
dam ( ~ e n t u c k y )
Peter Schmidt (~o r th wes ter n)
Nicholas David (~ennsylvania)
Nikolaas van der
Merwe
(SUNT,
Binghampton
.
Richard Krause ( ~ i s s o u r i )
The sig nif ica nce of v ar ia ti on among
L.S.A. occurrences i n E as t Afri ca.
Current Research i n Ethiopia.
Recent Research i n th e
i r and
Tdndd, Republic of Niger,
The Karat grouu: an e a r l y ceramic
b ea ring in d u st r y i n t h e c en t r a l
Nile,
Sudan.
The significance of wavy line mt-
t e r y a lon g th e cen t r a l
Nile,
Sudan.
Archaeology and Aswan:
an
envoi.
Recent Research on th e e a r l y Iron
Age of the In te r l ac us tr in e area.
Pre-, Proto, and Par a~B ant u.
The Phalaborwa Ir on Age p ro jec t .
The theoret ical and methodological
bas i s fo r the s tudy o f ceramics
from the Phalaborwa distr ict .
Rebord Scully SUNY Binghampton)
The et hn ohi st ory of th e BaPhala-
borwa.
arry Robbins (Michigan s t a t e )
Turkana
material
cul ture and t s
impli cati ons f o r archaeology.
These papers
w i l l
be abstra cted i n the Newsletter which i s t o be produced
as
a
d i re c t re su lt of t h i s meeting (see below). (Only four ab st ra ct s have been
received. They ar e published below. ~ d i t o r
In addi tion t o the papers l i s t e d above Glyn Isaac l e d a session on
Method and Mensuration i n Pa l ae ol i th ic Archaeology. This di sc us si on should
p nnit
Stone Age sp ec ia l i s t s t o s tandard ize t he ir p rocedures fo r th e metr ic
and a t t r i b u t a l a n a l y s i s
o f t h e i r art i facts in such
a
way
as
t o ens ur e
f u l l
comparability between the results of di ff e re nt workers.
This session provides
an ex ce ll en t example of th e usef ul functi on of such an informal Meeting, f o r
minor di ff er en ce s i n mensuration, which can only be i roned out by face t o face
d iscuss ion , have con t r ibu ted very la r ge l y t o the d i f f ic u l t i es of r e l a t i ng in -
du s tr ie s from one major a re a t o another.
b) Business Meeting.
The business meeting w s hel d on Fri day 17 th Apri l under Prof. Clark
and Prof. Shinnie, Co-Chairmen.
i
The
f i r s t o rder o f business was
an
acclamatory vote o f
th nks
t o th e Afrlcan St udi es Committee of th e Un iversi ty of I l l i n c i s
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ii
and t o the Dept. of Anthropology of t he Unive rsi ty of I l l i n o i s
fo r th e i r he lp i n sponsor ing the meeting,
and
t o t h e Wenner-Gren
Foundation f o r providing part ici pan ts t r av el expenses.
The pa rt ic ip an ts voted unanimously f o r t he establishment of a
periodic mimeographed Newsletter. The Newsletter i s t o c on t ai n
brief
f i e l d r e po r ts , s h o r t
art icles ,
and information on teaching
col le c t ion s, exchange of s l id es , opportuni t ies f o r s ti rdent f ie ld -
work, e tc . The f i rs t number w i l l conta in abs t ra c t s o f the papers
resented
a t
the F i r s t Meet ing of Afr ica nis t Archaeologists .
Prof.
P L
Shinnie (Calgary) offer ed t o ed i t th e Newsletter which
w i l l
be
dist r ibuted and f inanced in
i t s
f i r s t year by th e Devt. of Archaeo-
logy of the University of Calgary.
The tenure of the ed i t or sh ip
i s
t o be for two years.
iii
The next order of business concerned the establishment of a s o c i e t y
of ar chaeologists conduct ing research i n
Africa
and res id ing i n the
U.S. and Canada. The pa r t i c ipan t s ,
af ter
considerable discussio n,
indica ted
a
preference fbr
an
infonnal associa t ion of
Old
World arch-
a e o l og is t s t h a t m ight a f f i l i a t e w it h
a
major na t ional vrofessional
organisat ion. committee (Kel ler , Rutzer , ~ a r k s )
s
then
se t
up t o
sound opinion fur t her , t o invest i ga te the or ganisa t ion and funct ions
of such a body, and t o de ci de fu r t he r a c t i v i t i e s o f t he F i r s t ( o r
second) Meeting of Africanist Archaeologists.
iv , The next order of business w s
a
discussion of a d r a f t r e s o l ut i o n
designed in
part s a
s ta tement o f co l l ec t ive e th ics ,
and, more
immediately, t o provide moral sup port f o r th e many in di vi du al s, mu-
seums, and profess iona l soc ie t i e s th a t a re a t t empt ing t o a id i n the
c o n tr o l of t h e i l l i c i t t r a f f i c i n a n t i q u i t i e s and works o f art.
I t
w s
presented by Nicholas David and Charles Keller.
The preamble w s
accepted without modificat ion and the resolut ions
as
amended
as fall-
ows
Whereas th e African he ri ta ge i s the patrimony of
a l l
mankind,
bu t more es pe ci al ly of t he people of Af ric a, and whereas,
as
h i s t o -
r i a ns of cu l tu re , we
are
professionally conscious of the unique role
of hi st or y i n the welding togeth er of peoples
nd
the moulding of
nations, and whereas th e na tu ra l hi st or ic al , archaeological , and
?r-
t i s t i c he r i t age o f A fr ic a cont inue s t o
be
~ l u nde re d y t he i gno ra nt
and
the unscrupulous,
Be it
re so lved tha t
we
va r t i c i pa n t s
a t
th e F i r s t Meeting of
Af ri ca ni st Archaeologists of North America, pledge our selve s t o do
o u utmost t o ensure th a t works of ar t and antiquity are recovered,
protected, and preserved that they
w y be
a v ai l ab l e t o
l l
f o r t h e
be ne f i t o f t h i s and future generat ions.
To t h i s end
we
w i l l : -
1
Cooperate with Africa n governments by continuin g t o
observe and s u p w r t the workings of An tiq uit ies
Laws
cur ren t ly in fo rce .
2
Urge the passage of f a i r and ju st
laws
and regulat ions
t h a t do not unduly impede t he schol ar i n hi s reconstruc-
t ion of t .e human past ,
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Recognize our re sp on si bi li ti es t o our dat a, which are exhausti-
ble and irrepl aceab le, t o our colleagues and students,
and
most
par ti c u l a r ly t o t he peoples amongst whom w work.
Cooperate with African educational and s c i e n t i f i c i n s t it u t i o ns
and the i r s t a f f .
Par t ic ipate
s
we may
be
able both by encouraging African gov-
ernments t o support t he s tudy of archaeology by th e i r own na-
ti on al s and by as si st ing ourselves, i n the tr ain ing of Africans
t o work i n th e African contine nt and elsewhere.
Actively discourage th e i l l e g a l o r unethical export and import
of African ant iqui t ies
and
works of art.
Conference pa rti cip ant s voted t o accept the re sol utio n
as a
document
of co lle cti ve eth ia s th a t would not be
p ub li cl y d i s tr i b u t e d a t t h i s
time,
but which would be published i n the f i r s t is su e of th e News-
l e t t e r ,
v.
The f i n a l order of business
w s a
discussion of
a
s i te
designation
system f o r Afr ica based upon a f i f t e e n minute continent-wide gr id ,
presented by Charles Nelson.
t
was
voted t o delegate
M
Nelson as
a rep res ent ati ve of t h i s Meeting t o make a proposal t o t he Pan-Afri-
can Congress th a t a system of standa rdized s i t e designa tion
be
gene-
rally adopted with a view t o esta blishin g a s i t e index.
General Comments
and
Evaluation of the Meeting.
There was a very general fee lin g amongst the pa rti cip ant s th a t
th e Meeting; had been ne cessa ry and had been use fu l t o them.
One of us
N.D.) has subsequently received several letters commenting enthusiasti-
cally on the meeting and on th e fr ie nd ly and cooperative atmosphere i t
generated. We ourselves f e l t we learn ed a gr ea t deal. The re su lt s of
such an informal meeting are necessarily less immediately obvious than
those of
a
conference cal led t o discuss some sp ec if ic anthropological
problem. They ar e not, f o r t h a t reason, any l e s s valuable. W have
achieved direct communication between the majority of Africanist arch-
ae ol og is ts working i n North America.
t
le as t one joint project
i s
l ike-
l y t o develop as a direct result of the Meeting. Nor
is
the Meeting
l ik ely t o be the l as t of
i t s
kind, although th e format of f ut ur e meetings
w l l
depend upor. the work of the committee and upon whether or not a
society of Old World archaeologists
i s
founded i n America.
l l par t i c i -
pants expressed the hope that some similar conference might
be
h e l d a t
le as t b iennia l ly ,
Qui te apa rt from such futu re meetings, the est abl ish -
ment of the Newsletter w l l ~ e r m i t ontacts t o
be
maintained and
w l l
serve as a forum fo r the disc ussion of t he problems, whether te ch ni ca l
or other, facing African archaeology. In t h i s sense the contr ibution s of
the Meeting
w l l make themselves apparent over the years both n teaching
and in research.
Finally , the organisers would l ik e t o take t h i s opportunity of
expressing t h e i r g ra ti tu de t o the Wenner-Gren Foundation f o r t h e i r gene-
rous assistance and fo r th ei r pro m~titud e n granting our request fo r
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support a t very short notice.
Nicholas David
fo r the Ad hoc Organising Committee
John Atherton
Nicholas David
Charles Keller.
ABSTRACTS OF P PERS FROM
URB N
CONFERENCE
The Significance of
Wavy
Line Pottery Along the Central
Nile, Sudan
T R Hays, Southern Methodist Un iversi ty.
The configu ratio n of cu lt ur e hi st or y along the Central. Nile during
the ea rl y 4t h millennium
B C
has remained generally unquestioned since the
pu bl ic at io n of A.J.Arkellls Ea rl y Khartoum. This model, which po st ul at es a
Culture
Area
extending outward from Khartoum, i s based on the occurrence
of what Ar ke ll ca l le d Wavy Linen and Dotted Wavy Linett po tter y.
This
p am r examines th e v a l i d i t y of t h i s model using d a ta from the Dongola Reach
and the Second Cataract.
In order t o fa ci l i ta te comparison of these Nilot ic s i t e s , the
Early Khartoum decor ative motifs were ree valuated, re su lt in g i n the in tr o-
duction of greater di f fe ren t ia t ion of Arkel l 's def in i t ions .
The decorative
motifs , combined wi th
a
technological analys is of the ceramics, ind ica ted a
reg ional d i f fe ren t ia t ion of s i t e s a long the Nile.
F ur th er t e s t s u t i l i z i n g
analy sis of the stone to ol typology and technology substanti ated t he dis-
parate nature of these
sites.
The re su lt s of t h i s research suggested th a t t he concept of a
un if ie d ItKhartoum Cultu re Arean must
be
reconsidered. t i s a ~ p a r e n t h a t
th e only common elements w e some zen er al iz ed t ra i ts (e.g. ground st on e,
microliths, and pottery) and the presence of
a
similar pattern of ceramic
decoration.
Because of t h i s common po tt e ry s t y l e , i t i s suggested that a
made1 based on an Early Khartoum Horizon St y le t t would b e t t e r express t h e
wide spread occurrence of t h i s p ot te ry design than a Culture Areav model.
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THE K R T GROUP: AN EARLY CERAMIC BEARING OCCUPATION
O THE DONGOLA
REACH, SUDAN.
by
Anthony E.Marks Southern Methodist University.
Survey i n t he Dongola Reach, 400 km. north of Khartoum and 350 km.
sou th of t he Second Ca tar ac t, revealed 25 surface sites with h ighly d is t inc-
t iv e l i t h i c techno logy
and
typology,
as
we11
as
some ground stone and pottery.
These si tes occur on the Girra pediment, a fac ie s of th e lowest Nile formation
i n the a rea.
Although undated ra dio metr ical ly and geo logi call y, the po tt er y has
been c ro ss da te d by decorat ive technique
and
m ot if s t o t h e l a t e 4 t h m i l . H.C.
The c r i t e r i a used f o r t h i s dat ing include a di st in ct iv e zig-zag motif of
continuous li ne s on th in l i g h t brown burnished sherds which occurs i n both the
Ea rl y A-Group of t he Second Cat ar act and the Khartoum Neolithic a t Shaheinab.
A l l Karat Group si tes are small with l ow a r t i f a c t d en si t i es , l i t t l e
ground stone and pot te ry , but wi th a c le ar in t r as i t e pat te rning.
Technologi-
c a l l y , a unique f eatu re t o Nilo t ic wrehistorg i s the preheat ing of chert prior
t o to o l manufacture. Typ olog icall y, th e assemblages a r e hig hl y homogeneous
and dominated by various forms of scrapers,
although
a
few ~eometr ics ,perfo-
ra t e r s , den t i cu la t e s , e t c ., occur a s well.
The avai lable d ata in dica tes
few spec i f ic connect ions t o e i th er the
Earl y A-Group o r t o Shaheinab,
as id e from th e pottery. The se ttl em en t uat-
tern s, low den si ty of ar t i fa ct s, emphasis on scrapers , e t c . , all suggest a
model of temporary sea son al camps of goat her ders from th e step pe t o th e south.
TK O KHURST COMPLEX: TENTATIVE PROPOSALS
FOR
N W GROUPS
OF
INDUSTRIES IN THE
LAmR
STONE
AGE
O SOUTHERN AFRICA.
b rs
C.O.
Sampson, Southe rn Method ist Un iversity .
Fi el d r esear ch i n th e Orange Riv er Scheme ar ea confirmed t h e Dresence
of an industry previously label led t lSmithfield Al l by van Ri e t Lowe i n 1926.
Excavations a t Zeekoegat 12-13 -demonstrate t h a t
i t
precedes the l o c al Wilton
Industry and has no connection with the so-called Smithfi eld B C N
ct the his-
t o r ic and proto his tor ic per iod,
Late r Stone Age samples s t r a t i f i e d below Wilton
l e v e l s
i n
various pa rt s of Southern Africa cl os el y resemble the Y5mithfield
A f t .
An indus try charac teri zed by lar ge flak e scra pers of v arious designs and the use
of a simple ad,jacant-platform fl ak in g techniqu e, occurs bef or e th e Wilton com-
plex and a f t e r th e Howiesonspoort Umguzan in du s tr ie s.
It a ls o fo l lows the
as
y e t
unnamed) microblade industry found at some sites i n the Drakensber~ anre
and on the south Cape coast.
The term llOakhurst complexIt
i s tentat ively pronosed
sin ce Goodwin excavated the f i r s t s eale d sample from th e s i t e of t h a t name.
Three industries within the complex are suggested:
The Oakhurst Industry:
7
sealed samples from the Cam co as ta l zone.
The Lockshoek Industry: 11 sealed
s m l e s f rom the i n t e r io r pl a teau of South Afr ica.
The Pomongwan Industry: 4
sealed samples from Rhodesia
and
possibly Zambia. Large number of sur face s i t e
a l s o occur in a l l t h r e e areas.
Almost 20 associated Radiocarbon dates indicate
a
time-span of 15-7,000 8.C.
Fauna
i s
ass ocia ted with fi ve samples, but the
rc
por ts usua l ly m x the species l i s t s with the fauna of the overlflng Wilton
levels.
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Altogether 17 human sk el et on s have been recovered from Oakhurst
levels
on the
Cape
coa st and craniometric camparisons suggest t h a t the y di-
f f e r i n morphology from th e l a t e r Wilton s k ul ls from the same area.
Common t o Oakhurst l eve ls
at
almost
all
s i t e s
are
thick beds of white
ash and charcoal containing the cu lt ur al mate rial and bones.
Elabora-
te boneworking occurs a t two co ast al s i t e s only but sev era l have ost-
ri ch eggs hell beads bone point s grindstones bored sto nes
and
pale-
ttes.
PLIO-PLEISTOCENE CORRELATION
N EAST
AFRICA
by
H.B.S. Cooke Dalhousie University.
New disco veri es i n East Africa have enables us t o recons-
t r u c t a reasonable pic tur e of mammalian faunas i n th a t region f o r the
past seven million years
and
toge ther with radiometric dat es t o de-
rive good correlations between the various sites.
The Suidae
nd
Proboscidea have proved t o be part icularly useful for correlat ion and
are discussed more f u l l y i n a paper by Cooke and Maglio now
i n
the
press from which the accompanying char t i s taken.
t i s now clear
that Bed
a t
Olduvai is approximately coeval with the top of the th ick
succession a t Omo.
Although the data from Koobi Fora are
s t i l l
inade-
quate f o r firm conclusions t o be made the f o ss i l material resembles i n
pa rt t h a t of the middle Omo sequence and i n p ar t suggests ove rlap wi t h
the Olduvai beds.
The Kanapoi Beds with an age close t o 4 million
years and the Lothagam
1B
ser i es est imated a t t o mi l lion years o ld
both contain scanty f o s s i l remains ascribed t o australopithec ines but t o
date no stone tools have been reported from these deposits.
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Boston Ilniversity w i l l be i n i t i a t i n g an a r c h a e o l o ~ i c a l u r ve y
of t he Republic of Liber ia i n January,
1973, under the auspices of the
U.S. Educational. and Cu lt ur al Foundation i n Liber ia. The f i r s t st ag e of
t h e f i e l d p r o je c t
w i l l
cont inue un t i l th e end of th e ca lendar
year.
Par-
ticipants from North America
w i l l
include
Dr .
Creighton Gabel, di re ct or ,
and two Ph.D. s tuden ts , Miss Susan White and
Mr.
Robert Horden. Gabel
and Rorden will
be
suwported by Fulbright-Hays re se ar ch awards and
Miss
White by
a
fellows hi^ from the Canada Council.
Although th ere have been occasjonal un of fi ci al rep ort s
and
minor
salvage excava tions o r co l l ec t ions i n the pas t ,
as w e l l as
a b r i e f f i e l d
surve y by Dr.John Atherton i n
1968,
t h i s
w i l l
c o n s t i t ut e t h e f i r s t a rch-
aeo log ica l re search of any subs tan t i a l s ca le i n Liberia, which heretofore
has been largely a blank on the prehis tor ic map of Africa.
The f i r s t Canadian team t o work i n t h e Sudan was a t Meroe during
the period January
-
March 1972 under the leadership of P.L.Shinnie.
small
amount of exc ava tion was c a r r i e d ou t bu t t he main work
was
devoted t o
a
st ud y of th e mat er ia l found i n previous y ea rs when th e work had been under
th e auspices of th e Univ ersit y of Khartoum. Last winte r 's pr oj ec t
was
a
joint one of the Universities of Calgary and Khartoum.
After
a
perio d of over twenty yea rs , si nc e A.J.Arkel1 excavated
sites a t Khartoum and Shaheinab, work on th e Ne oli thi c i n th e c e n t r a l udan
has started once more.
Dr .
Krzyzanick commenced t o e xc avate
a t
Kadero,
about 30 mil es n or th of Khartoum on beh alf of th e P ol is h Centr e of Mediter-
ranean Archaeology and t he Archaeo log ica l Museum i n Poznan.
He re po rt s th a t
the pottery from the si te is
similar
t o t ha t from Shaheinab.
O f
s p e c i a l
i n t e r e s t
was
the discovery of two burials.
Pr of es so r Pu gl i s i of t he Un iv er si ty of Rome commenced work on t he
w e l l
known
s i t e
of
G e i l i a
l i t t l e fu r th e r nor th than Kadero. Thi s s i +e
l i e s wi th in the ra i lway s t a t i on a r ea and fo r
years
sur face co l l ec t ions o f
Shaheinab type material have been made here.
t
was repor ted i n t h e London TimesN t h a t Dr . Desmond Clark of
the Universi ty of California, Berkeley had received
a
British Academy grant
f o r work a t Shuwal on the White Nile. No fu rt he r d e t a i l s ar e ava i la ble
a t
present,
Other a c t i v i t i e s i n t h e
udan
were:
1
The Pol is h Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology a t t he Medieval
s i t e of Old Dongala.
2
The Universi ty of Pi sa
a t
the Pharaonic temple of Sedenga.
3
The .j oi nt Herry ~ . ~ l a c k m e r / ~ n i v e r s i t yf Geneva a t the Meroit.ic
s i t e of
Tabd.
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4
The expedition of the Unive rsity of L il l e
a t Sai
Dr.TR.Hays, now of th e Uni vers it y of
exas
a t Arl ington
writes:
I
re ce nt ly completed a study sponsored by th e Smithsonian In st i t ut io n of
Predynastic
E m t i a n
ceramics. The st ud y involved an examination of th e
ceramic t e c h n o l a y i n an ef fo r t t o determine the e xtan t and type of rela-
tionships which may have existed between Predynastic Egyptian cultures.
A s
f a r as future f ieldwork
i s
concerned:
I
now have a grant proposal being
reviewed by the National Science Foundation.
The grant would
fund
research
in to the Sudanese Neolithic, centering around the excavation of the s i t e of
Shaqadud. This roc ksh elt er contains good st ra ti gr an hy and prese rvati on,
h i c h should provide in fomat ion on the da t ing of the cer 'mic indu s t r ie s i n
Sudan as well
s
on t h e i r economic adap tatio n (food producers o r not ).
GH N
Professor Posnansky of the University of Ghana excavated
a t
the s i t e of Begho
and
provides the following information:
1
Excavations were conducted a t Begho, Ghana f o r six weeks from July 29 a t
which a summer school attended
by
5 students from both Ghana and overseas
w s held. seve ntee nth cent ury house
w s
excavated i n the Brong quarter and
a Kintampo 'neol i th icl set t lement s i t e d w a t Mumute a kilometre away.
The
most notable discovery
a t
Begho
w s
two decorated ivory side blown trumpets.
The Begho Archaeological Research Centre
wa s
formally opened on August 20
a t
a colourful durbar of chiefs.
2
Miss Signe
Nygaard
of Bergen University
w i l l
join the s t a f f i n October
1972 as Univers i ty lecturer .
Mr.Lwanga-Lunyiigo, now on the
staff
of Makerere University, Kampala
w s
awarded his
M A
3
Volume
I
of Ghana F ie ld Notes by Oli ve r Davies was publ ished i n June
1972 a t 2.50.
MALI
M r C.Flight of th e Unive rs ity of Birmingham w i l l
be
e xc av at in g a t t h e s i t e
of Gao, c a ~ i t a l f th e l a t e medieval Songhai kingdom.
N I G E R I A
Professor F.Willet
was
back i n I f e during the spr ing working on hi s catalogue
raisonne of the
A r t
of If'e.
He hopes t o have th e s ec ti on on sto ne and me td
scu lp ture in the
Dress
by 'ihe end of th e 1972-73 academic p a r .
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SOUTH AFRICA
D r N van d e r Merwe of
S.U.N.Y.
Binghamton writes
as
follows:
10 Somerset S tr e et
Uitenhage
C
P
South Africa.
I
am about t o
start a
year s f ieldwork i n South
Africa,
hence the
address.
To add t o the news let ter , the ref ore , some information on th e
work:
w
w i l l
be
i n th e f i e l d September 1972 September 1973, conduct-
ing
an
archaeological and ethnographic survey of the Transvaal Lowveld
(or most of i t ) .
The
expedit ion w i l l be based
a t
Phalaboxwa or near
i t
but can be contacted through th e above address f o r th e time being.
Team
members
w i l l inc lud e ( a t vario us ti mes) Mr.David Hall (doctora l s tudent ,
SUNY
Binghanton) Prof. Richard Krause ( ~ n i v . f Missouri)
and D r
Ward
Weakly ( ~ i s s o u r i ) . The
la t te r
w i l l s ta r t a dendrochronological study of
Lowveld with the
aim
of const ruct ing
a
master
char t .
Mr.Robert
S c u l l y
w i l l
a l s o
be in
the v ic in i ty , doing
an
eth noh ist ori cal stud y of t he Ba-
~halaborwa.
The exped ition s goa l
is
t o pu t previous work
a t
Phalaborwa
i n pe rspect ive by t rac ing ou t s ide l in ks and r e l a t i o n s h i ~ s .
W hope t o
get
i n t o Mozambique al so, t he government wi ll in g. Financing from N S F
A l l i t inerant archaeologists passing through Johannesburg are i n v it e d t o
make
a
sid e- t r ip t o Phalaboma vi a Connnairls d a i ly f l i gh t from
Rand air-
por t t o watch the
team
b a t t l i n g t h e l o c a l f a un a i n t h e
pursuit of pot-
sherds and truth.
Basil
Cooke (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada) is continuina
h i s work on the c or re la t i on of Pl io-Pleistocene events i n Southern Africa.
paper on the fossi l uidae of Olduvai i s nearinn completion, and one on
th e f o s s i l Suidae of Omo
i s
i n t h e e a rl y draf t sta ge. Although a gr ea t
d ea l more work needs t o be done bef ore firm co r re la ti o ns can be made
between the
East
African sequence
and
the cave deposi ts of South Africa,
i t now seems l i k e l y t h a t th e Kromdraai and Swartkrans dewosits
are no
younger than Red
I
a t Olduvai ,
and
the Sterkfontein and Makapan deposits
may
be as
old
as 2 5 3
mil l ion
years.
Further work on th i s pa r t ic ul ar
problem i s ~ l a n n e d o r nex t year .
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EAST
AFR ICA
BRITISH INSTITUTE I N EASTERN AFRICA
The I n s t i t u t e has changed
i t s
name (formerly the B ri t ish In s t i t u t e
of History and Archaeology i n Eas t Africa) t o allow f o r expansion of i t s
f ie ld of ac t i v i t i es bo th mograph ica l , t o inc lude E th iop ia and Somalia,
and
d isc ip l inary , t o a l low for possib le research i n the f ie l d of e thnography
and
re la ted sub jec t s.
Excavations by the Director a t the s i t e of Manda on n i s land o f f
th e northern coa st of Kenya brought t o l i g h t important remains of
a
c i t y
which f lour ishe d from the nint h century onwards, decl inin g af t e r th e t hi r-
tee nth , and which evi de ntl y trad ed
w i t
the Persian Gulf. This repr esen ts
h i s las t excavations planned f o r the co ast and att en ti on
i s
being turned to
th e Aksumite kingdom i n Ethiopia.
An
archaeologic al survey of
si tes
o f t h i s
period i n Northern Tigre has rec ent ly been c ar ri ed out, with
test
excava-
t ions a t two s i t e s including s t ra t ig ra phi c examinat ion in the v ic in i t y of th e
s t e l a e
a t Aksum
Larger excavations ar e planned f or January t o March
1973
The Ass is ta nt Di re ct or , *.Robert Soper, has been occupied with an
in ve st ig at io n of th e I ro n Age c ul tu re s of Kenya and Northern Tanzania with
pa rt ic ul ar reference t o the Early Iron Age and the snread of ag ric ult ure
which
i s
bel ieved t o
be
re la te d t o the a r r iv a l of th e Bantu-speaking neoples.
In t h i s work he has been a s s i s t ed by Dr.Knut Odner from the Un ive rsi ty of
Bergen and by Mr.John Bower, both Research Fellows of t h e I n s t i t u t e ; i n addi-
t i o n ,
D r A l i
S ii ri ai ne n of th e Universi ty of Helsinki has worked i n coopera-
t i o n with the pro jec t. Excavations and ot he r work have been c a r r ie d out i n
the region of
M t .
Elgon, K i s i i Machakos, Nyeri and
in
t h e Nguu and Chyulu
H i l l s .
Reports on those asp ects of t h i s work which have not hi th e rt o k e n
published anpear i n Volume V I of Azania, a sp e c ia l number devoted t o t h i s
f ie ld .
In addi t ion, excavat ions have been ca rr ied out on s i t e s rel at in g t o
neo l i th ic cu l tu res of the f i r s t millenium
B C
char acte rised by the use of
st on e bowls and, to ge th er wi th Dr.Alan Jacobs, *.Soper has worked on ston e
cairns and hut c i rc le s1
i n
th e reg ion Ea st of Lake Rudolf. Mr.Soper
has
l e f t t he I n s t i t u t e t o ta ke up
a
post
a t
the University of Badan
Mr
Richard
Wilding, a Research Student of th e I n s t i t u t e has been occupied f o r the
past
two years on
a
de ta il ed stud y of th e e a rl y ceramics of th e Kenya coast.
Mr.Patrick Pender-Cudlip, S t a f f Hi stor ia n, has been mainly occupied with a
h i s t o r i c a l and anthropologic al study of Iramba i n Cen tra l Tanzania.
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TANZANIA
Dr Glen Cole sends the following news:
Although
am
not planning ny f i e l d work i n t h e n ea r f u tu r e , an i t e m of
poss ib le i n t e r es t concerns
n
NSF grant awarded t o Dr M R Kleindienst
and myself t o penni t us t o prepare fo r publ icat ion our
material
from the
Isimila
s i t e
i n Tanzania. The pr oj ec t began i n janu ar y of t h i s p a r and
w i l l
run u n t i l t h e end of 1973.
Dr Kleindienst has been working on i t
h a l f t im e th i s ye r and
w i l l
con tinu e t o d o s o next year
I am sc he du le d
t o begin work on th e pr oj ec t on a h a l f time basis next January.
D r
J E G Sutton of the University of Dar es alaam draws a t ten t i on t o
t h e
l i s t s
of research i n progress which w i l l
be
pub li shed sh o r t ly i n
Azania VII
The newsheet Tanzania amani which i s published by the H i s
t or y Department of t he Unive rsity of Dar es Salaam and the Histor ical
Association of Tanzania al so conta ins information about archa eological
a c t i v i t i e s .
The last number, of
Ju l y
1972 car r ies
a
short report f rom
Mrs
I ~ a k e y n work
a t
Olduvai.
NORTH
AFRICA
Dr D
Lubell , Jni ver sit y of Alberta, Edmonton rep ort s on h i s inv est iga ti on
of escargot igres i n Alger ia as follows:
The obje ctiv e of t he proj ec ts
i s
t o t e s t
an
hypothesis that occupation
of t h e c a ~ s i a n s c ar go t id re s was a seasonal phenomenon.
To th i s end, a s h o r t
reconnaissance of t he regio ns of T eibe ssa and Ouled D j e l l a l was undertaken
du ri ng J u l y 1972, t o examine known s i t es and co l l e ct samples f or palaynological,
malacological and sedi ment ologi cal analyses. Prel imin ary palynolo@.cal st ud ie s
have fa i l ed t o recover ide nt i f ia b le pol len from the cu l tu ra l deoosi ts . These
samples do, however, cont ain a pot en ti al ly i nt e re st i ng su i t e of non-molluscan
microfauna which may permit reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental conditions
prevail in^
d ur ing o ccu ~a t i o n f t h e s i t e s .
While no conclusions can be offered a t t h i s w r it i ng , i t i s now c l e ar t ha t
the problem
i s
f a r more com~ lex han o r i g i na l l y perceived and t ha t
i t s
inves t i -
gation w i l l requi re sever al addi t i onal seasons of f i e l d work fo r which fundinf-:
i s currently being sought.
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UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA
BARBARA
D r B
Fagan reports:
The Uni vers ity of Ca li for ni a, San ta Barbara, has one of t h e
la rg es t anthropology departments i n t he world wit over 500 majors and
a small graduate program.
O u r
e f f o r t s
i n
African archaeology are mini-
m l compared with some institutions, but w have some ac ti ve res ear ch i n
progress which is worth report ing i n th i s f i r s t i ssue of the Newsletter .
Brian Fagan
i s
busy teaching
a
large introductory archaeology
course and i s al so ac tiv el y engaged
in
the analysis of the animal bones
from aima mound i n no rthe rn Nigeria. These re mainly from domestic
animals, predominantly ca t t l e , and includ e some swamp lo vin g spec ie s.
The report on these bones i s now being compiled. We a r e a ls o fi ni sh in g
work on
a
s e r i e s of r eports on Zambian Ir on Age mounds which
w i l l
be
published i n various journals over the next few years.
A
Guggenheim
Fellowship i n 1972-3 w i l l allow more ra pi d publ icati on of some of th es e
reports .
Another major project
i s
a chapter on Bantu origins co-authored
with Professor Roland Oliver of the School of Oriental
and
African Studies
i n
London for the Cambridge History of Africa.
Santa Barbara s only African archaeological graduate st ude nt,
Michael Bisson,
i s
a t p res ent i n Zambia working on e a r l y coppermining with
support from the National Science Foundation and Zambian copper companies.
Excavations at Kansanshi i n an e a r ly working and inv est iga ti on of nearby
copper working vi ll ag es have yielde d a s e r ie s of radiocarbon d ate s and
pot tery s ty les .
The dates begin in the l a t e f i r s t millennium
AD
and extend
up t o r ec en t times
When completed, t h i s rese ar ch
w i l l
t e l l
us
much about
ea r ly metal working i n c en tr al Africa.
Michael
w i l l
ret urn t o Santa Barbara
t o wri te h i s d iss er t a t io n i n summer 1973.
A t
present, owing t o fi na nci al s tringency,
w
have no plans t o
expand our graduate program i n African archaeology although from time t o time
w
w i l l be accepting students who f ee l th at th e i r in te re st s a re best sa+.is-
fied by working with us.
Future f i e l d work plans remain obscure un t i l a
number of pressing
publication commitmr~tshave been completed.
Large sc al e f i e l d work
i s
made
p a r t i cu l a r l y d i f f i c u l t bo th by heavy teaching commitments (over 1000 students
a year f o r me alon e) and such budget shortages th a t fa cu lt y going on leave
can no longer be replaced with s ub st it ut es during th e i r absence.