The zooarchaeology of Iron Age farmers from southern Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaw Badenhorst
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Domestic Animal ◽  
Cattle Herd ◽  
Cattle Dung ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Over Time

The Iron Age of southern Africa covers the spread and occupation of Bantu-speaking farmers during the last 1,500 years. Archaeological research of these farmers was heavily influenced by the Central Cattle Pattern, a settlement model which, as one of its main concepts, argued that cattle were the most important domestic animal since the first farmers settled in southern Africa during the first millennium ad. Various arguments have been presented to support this view, including the presence of cattle dung, cattle herd sizes, informants and ethnography, and weights of livestock, as well as ageing and skeletal part data. These arguments have been challenged recently, and new interpretations offered. New interpretations unrestricted by the Central Cattle Pattern have focused on descent patterns of farmers. Changes in identification methodology and measures of changes of livestock over time have played a major role in these new interpretations.

Vitrified cattle dung in the Iron Age of southern Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 3553-3560 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.N. Huffman ◽  
M. Elburg ◽  
M. Watkeys
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Cattle Dung

The Archaeology of Metal Production in Southern Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Moffett
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Specialized Production ◽  
Gendered Division Of Labor ◽  
First Millennium

Metal production in southern Africa dates to the early first millennium ce when the technology of working iron and copper was brought into the region by incoming “Iron Age” farming communities. The mining and production of copper, iron, and later, tin and gold were important activities in the lives of communities in southern Africa throughout the past two millennia. Not only were metals central to livelihoods, like the iron hoe in farming, but metal objects were also enmeshed in the social and political fabric of society, with the transaction and display of them creating social identities and cementing relationships. The production of different metals varied in space and time, from household production of iron for domestic consumption to more specialized production of iron, copper, and tin or seasonal production of gold. Metals produced in southern Africa were traded over long distances and fed into regional trade networks that expanded to the wider Indian Ocean rim. Copper ingots and iron gongs from central Africa and brass from Europe have also been recovered in southern Africa, indicating the complex directionality with which metals, and the ideas and technological innovations associated with them, flowed. Analyzing patterns in the production and exchange of metals can reveal both micro-shifts in political economy, such as changes in the gendered division of labor, to macro-shifts, such as changing regional political powers. As a result, the archaeology of metal production exposes many aspects of the lives of Iron Age farming communities in southern Africa through time.

scholarly journals Korespondencinė analizė kaip chronologinis metodas

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 84-98
Author(s):  
Rūta Kačkutė
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Theoretical Statement ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Continuous Character ◽  
Over Time

Šiame straipsnyje bus kalbama apie korespondencinę analizę (angl. correspondent analyses) – archeologijos moksle taikomą tyrimą, kuris yra pagrįstas seriacijos metodu. Pažodinis termino „correspondent analyses“ vertimas į lietuvių kalbą būtų „atitikties tyrimas“, tačiau, nesant nusistovėjusios lietuviškos terminijos, ir siekdama aiškumo pasirinkau terminą, kuris asocijuojasi su angliškuoju....USE OF THE CORRESPONDENCE ANALYSIS IN ARCHEOLOGYRūta KačkutėSummaryAbstract. This article aims at introducing correspondence analysis, the technique applied in the science of archaeology, and at showing how it can be used in chronological research. Correspondence analysis rests upon the seriation method that has been in use by the archaeological scientists since the late 19th century. The seriation method basically draws upon the theoretical statement that the development of material culture is of a continuous character and guided by fashion and/or functionally-determined mechanisms that make the repetition of the elements follow a double-lens-shaped road over time (Madsen, 1989 a, p. 10). There are several ways of doing seriation. Correspondence analysis is one of the techniques successfully applied in archaeological research. The technique was developed in France and broadly recognised by Scandinavian archaeologists, but still not very much in use by archaeologist in the Baltic States. The article illustrates the use of correspondence analysis for detecting chronology of Early Roman Iron Age graveyard ceramics. The correspondence analysis performed rests on KVARK, the software developed by T. Madsen. The article explains how this program works and how convenient it is for chronological and social studies....

Radiocarbon Dates for Sub-Saharan Africa: V

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Salt Pans ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Sub Saharan

This list contains many scattered dates, most of them from sites either provisionally dated from other sources, or recently excavated. An important series of dates from the Sahara confirm earlier readings for food production in that area. The Daima sequence from Nigeria is dated from the middle of the first millennium A.D. to the closing centuries of the Iron Age.In East and Southern Africa, two important early Iron Age dates from Kenya have been released. Four dates for Ivuna salt-pans place the site as slightly later than the closing stages of the Kalambo Falls sequence. Two more problematical dates for Engaruka have been announced, as well as a date of A.D. 410 for the Iron Age in Swaziland.All dates given in this and subsequent lists are radiocarbon ages, rather than readings in calendar years.

The Excavation of a Settlement of the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age at Myrehead, Falkirk District

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Activity Period ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Ring Groove ◽  
Domestic Activity ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Actual Settlement

SUMMARY Myrehead has revealed the eroded remnants of activity from the Beaker period (Period A) onwards, with actual settlement evinced only from about the early first millennium be. The three houses and the cooking pits of Period B may have been constructed and used sequentially. This open settlement was probably replaced during the mid first millennium bc, possibly without a break, by a palisaded enclosure (Period C), which may have contained a ring-groove house and a four-post structure. Continued domestic activity (Period D) was suggested by a single pit outside the enclosure, dated to the late first millennium bc/early first millennium ad. The limited evidence of the economy of the settlements suggests a mixed farming system.

Ores Sources, Smelters and Archaeometallurgy: Exploring Iron Age Metal Production in the Southern Waterberg, South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Foreman Bandama ◽  
Shadreck Chirikure ◽  
Simon Hall
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Metal Working ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
Sem Analyses

The Southern Waterberg in Limpopo Province is archaeologically rich, especially when it comes to evidence of pre-colonial mining and metal working. Geologically, the area hosts important mineral resources such as copper, tin and iron which were smelted by agriculturalists in the precolonial period. In this region however, tin seems to be the major attraction given that Rooiberg is still the only source of cassiterite in southern Africa to have provided evidence of mining before European colonization. This paper reports the results of archaeological and archaeometallurgical work which was carried out in order to reconstruct the technology of metalworking as well as the cultural interaction in the study area and beyond. The ceramic evidence shows that from the Eiland Phase (1000–1300 AD) onwards there was cross borrowing of characteristic decorative traits amongst extant groups that later on culminated in the creation of a new ceramic group known as Rooiberg. In terms of mining and metal working, XRF and SEM analyses, when coupled with optical microscopy, indicate the use of indigenous bloomery techniques that are widespread in pre-colonial southern Africa. Tin and bronze production was also represented and their production remains also pin down this metallurgy to particular sites and excludes the possibility of importing of finished tin and bronze objects into this area.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene diatom community response to climate driven chemical changes in a small, subarctic lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110032
Author(s):  
Paul B Hamilton ◽  
Scott J Hutchinson ◽  
R Timothy Patterson ◽  
Jennifer M Galloway ◽  
Nawaf A Nasser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Natural Aging ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Warm Period ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Diatom Assemblages ◽  
Subarctic Lake ◽  
Over Time

The paleolimnological record of diatoms and climate, spanning the last 2800 years, was investigated in a small subarctic lake (Pocket Lake) that from AD 1948 to 2004 was contaminated by gold smelting waste. An age-depth model was constructed using a combination of 210Pb, 14C, and tephra to determine a 2800 year history of lake ontogeny (natural aging), biological diversity, and regional climate variability. Diatoms form six strong paleoecological assemblages over time in response to changes in local hydrological and sedimentological conditions (including metals). Selected environmental variables explained 28.8% of the variance in the diatom assemblages, with Fe, Ca, and sediment end member distribution being important indicators. The diatom assemblages correlated to the Iron Age Cold Epoch (2800–2300 cal BP), Roman Warm Period (2250–1610 cal BP), Dark Age Cold Period (1500–1050 cal BP), Medieval Climate Anomaly (ca. 1100–800 cal BP), and the Little Ice Age (800–200 cal BP). The disappearance of Staurosira venter highlights the change from the Iron Age Cold Epoch to the Roman Warm Period. After deposition of the White River Ash (833–850 CE; 1117–1100 cal BP), transition to circumneutral conditions was followed in tandem by a transition to planktic influenced communities. Ten discrete peaks of Cu, Pb, and Zn were observed and attributed to soluble mobility from catchment soils through enhanced seepage and spring snowmelt. The prominent metal spikes were aligned with increases in Brachysira neoexilis. Downward mobilization of arsenic and antimony from contaminated surficial sediments highlight the problem of post depositional industrial contamination of paleosediments. Results demonstrate that paleoclimatic changes in the region, modulated by solar radiation, impacted temperature and precipitation in the lake catchment, influencing temporal shifts in diatom ecology. Changes in diatom taxa richness provided valuable information on the relative influence of water quality (planktic taxa) and sediment input (benthic taxa). The diatom assemblage succession also provides evidence that natural aging over time has played a role in the ecological evolution of the lake.

scholarly journals Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. eabe4414
Author(s):  
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone ◽  
Elmira Khussainova ◽  
Nurzhibek Kahbatkyzy ◽  
Lyazzat Musralina ◽  
Maria A. Spyrou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Gene Pools ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

The Scythians were a multitude of horse-warrior nomad cultures dwelling in the Eurasian steppe during the first millennium BCE. Because of the lack of first-hand written records, little is known about the origins and relations among the different cultures. To address these questions, we produced genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. We uncovered major admixture events in the Late Bronze Age forming the genetic substratum for two main Iron Age gene-pools emerging around the Altai and the Urals respectively. Their demise was mirrored by new genetic turnovers, linked to the spread of the eastern nomad empires in the first centuries CE. Compared to the high genetic heterogeneity of the past, the homogenization of the present-day Kazakhs gene pool is notable, likely a result of 400 years of strict exogamous social rules.

Archaeological Evidence of Domestic Sheep in the Namib Desert During the First millennium AD

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kinahan
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Domestic Sheep ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Namib Desert ◽  
Broad Agreement ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Changing Economy ◽  
Fundamental Shift

Bones of domestic sheep dated to the early first millennium AD are described from the Dâures massif in the Namib Desert. The remains confirm earlier investigations which inferred the acquisition of livestock from indirect evidence in the rock art, suggesting a fundamental shift in ritual practice at this time. Dating of the sheep remains is in broad agreement with the dating of other finds in the same area and in southern Africa as a whole. The presence of suspected sheep bone artefacts, possibly used for ritual purposes, draws attention to the importance of livestock as more than a component of diet in the changing economy of hunter-gatherer society.

Edges and interactions beyond Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Wells ◽  
Naoise Mac Sweeney
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Temperate Europe ◽  
The North Atlantic

Iron Age Europe, once studied as a relatively closed, coherent continent, is being seen increasingly as a dynamic part of the much larger, interconnected world. Interactions, direct and indirect, with communities in Asia, Africa, and, by the end of the first millennium AD, North America, had significant effects on the peoples of Iron Age Europe. In the Near East and Egypt, and much later in the North Atlantic, the interactions can be linked directly to historically documented peoples and their rulers, while in temperate Europe the evidence is exclusively archaeological until the very end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The evidence attests to often long-distance interactions and their effects in regard to the movement of peoples, and the introduction into Europe of raw materials, crafted objects, styles, motifs, and cultural practices, as well as the ideas that accompanied them.

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