Charcoals, Sands, and Channel Decorated Pottery from Northern Rhodesia<sup>1</sup>

Clark, Junebug; Fagan, Brian M.

doi:10.1525/aa.1965.67.2.02a00040

Cited by 52 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The earliest sheep from a South African context are found at the LSA site of Spoegrivier Cave and are directly dated to this period (pastoralist) [ 28 ]. In Zambia, there is the first evidence of a farmer presence on the basis of decorated pottery, however, its association with radiocarbon dating is poor [ 29 ]. The last site occupied in this time period is Messum in Namibia which has evidence of pottery, pits and iron loops–the association between artifacts and dates are poor (occupants unclassified) [ 30 , 31 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

Lander

Russell

2018

PLoS ONE

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This paper is a response to the growing reference to archaeological evidence by linguists and geneticists interested in the spread of early farmers and pastoralists in southern Africa. It presents two databases. The first contains the archaeological evidence for pastoralism and farming in southern Africa, for the period 550 BC to AD 1050. This is the first time that the seven different types of archaeological evidence that have traditionally been used to identify both spread events are presented together at this scale. This was stimulated by our interest in investigating the antiquity of an early ‘Iron Age package’ relative to the spread of single archaeological traits. The analysis shows that the package appears approximately 700 years after sites containing pottery, cattle and sheep, without agriculture, appear in the drier parts of the sub-continent. It post-dates the appearance of earlier sites with pottery associated with farmers, metal-working and cultivation in the eastern half of the sub-continent. While poor preservation undoubtedly explains the absence of some parts of the package, the analysis suggests that other explanations should be considered. The second database is a quantitative, spatial study of archaeological publications on southern African farming and pastoralism for the period 1950 to 2016, covering the same geographical area and archaeological timeframe. This is presented as a proxy for research-intensive areas in attempt to show the gaps in archaeological fieldwork and knowledge.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

Lander

Russell

2018

PLoS ONE

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“…Salumano is one of the type sites of the “Situmpa Group” of southwestern Zambia (also including Lusu Rapids, Situmpa, and Machili Forest Station), defined by Clark and Fagan [ 114 ] and Katanekwa [ 115 ] as reflecting a pre-Iron Age appearance of ceramics and livestock in the region. The early occurrences of Situmpa pottery and cattle at Salumano date to c. 2000 BP, overlaid by Early and Later Iron Age horizons extending into the last few hundred years [ 101 , 116 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing African bovids using Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS): New peptide markers and insights into Iron Age economies in Zambia

et al. 2021

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Assessing past foodways, subsistence strategies, and environments depends on the accurate identification of animals in the archaeological record. The high rates of fragmentation and often poor preservation of animal bones at many archaeological sites across sub-Saharan Africa have rendered archaeofaunal specimens unidentifiable beyond broad categories, such as “large mammal” or “medium bovid”. Identification of archaeofaunal specimens through Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), or peptide mass fingerprinting of bone collagen, offers an avenue for identification of morphologically ambiguous or unidentifiable bone fragments from such assemblages. However, application of ZooMS analysis has been hindered by a lack of complete reference peptide markers for African taxa, particularly bovids. Here we present the complete set of confirmed ZooMS peptide markers for members of all African bovid tribes. We also identify two novel peptide markers that can be used to further distinguish between bovid groups. We demonstrate that nearly all African bovid subfamilies are distinguishable using ZooMS methods, and some differences exist between tribes or sub-tribes, as is the case for Bovina (cattle) vs. Bubalina (African buffalo) within the subfamily Bovinae. We use ZooMS analysis to identify specimens from extremely fragmented faunal assemblages from six Late Holocene archaeological sites in Zambia. ZooMS-based identifications reveal greater taxonomic richness than analyses based solely on morphology, and these new identifications illuminate Iron Age subsistence economies c. 2200–500 cal BP. While the Iron Age in Zambia is associated with the transition from hunting and foraging to the development of farming and herding, our results demonstrate the continued reliance on wild bovids among Iron Age communities in central and southwestern Zambia Iron Age and herding focused primarily on cattle. We also outline further potential applications of ZooMS in African archaeology.

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“…Despite its importance, research into the Iron Age archaeology of present-day Zambia progressed slowly in the last century. Excavations at Gokomere Mission (Schofield, 1948), Kalambo Falls (Clark et al, 1969), and Machili Forest Station (Clark & Fagan, 1965) provided the first evidence for the Early Iron Age in southerncentral Africa. Many of these sites were ephemeral scatters and had limited preservation of bone or macrobotanicals, but with 14 C dates (some of the first from Africa) of close to 50 cal BC, the evidence was strong enough to refute earlier ideas that the Iron Age in southern Africa began only half a century before European intrusion (Fagan, 1993).…”

Section: Situating Kalundu Mound Within the Regional Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Kalundu Mound, Zambia: Implications for the Timing of Social and Subsistence Transitions in Iron Age Southern Africa

et al. 2021

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Novel trajectories of food production, urbanism, and inter-regional trade fueled the emergence of numerous complex Iron Age polities in central and southern Africa. Renewed research and re-dating efforts in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and along the Swahili Coast are transforming models for how inter-regional interaction spheres contributed to these patterns. While societies in present-day Zambia played an important role in the trade of copper, ivory, gold, and other resources between central and southern Africa, little is known about lifeways during the rise of social complexity in this region. This paper reports the results of re-excavation at Kalundu Mound on the Batoka Plateau of southern Zambia, one of the iconic mound sites of the Iron Age “Kalomo Culture.” New radiocarbon dates were combined with the original dates in a series of Bayesian models, indicating that previous chronologies for the site are not reliable and that the mound site likely developed rapidly from AD 1190 to 1410. Archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and paleo-proteomic analyses of excavated materials suggests a broad subsistence base combining wild and domesticated species, including the first reported evidence for finger millet (Eleusine coracana) in the region. Considering these findings, it is necessary to re-evaluate the temporal context of the Kalomo site-group, and to also systematically reinvestigate the systems of exchange and subsistence that supported Later Iron Age complexity.

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Charcoals, Sands, and Channel Decorated Pottery from Northern Rhodesia¹

Cited by 52 publications

References 20 publications

The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

Distinguishing African bovids using Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS): New peptide markers and insights into Iron Age economies in Zambia

Revisiting Kalundu Mound, Zambia: Implications for the Timing of Social and Subsistence Transitions in Iron Age Southern Africa

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Charcoals, Sands, and Channel Decorated Pottery from Northern Rhodesia1

Cited by 52 publications

References 20 publications

The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

Distinguishing African bovids using Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS): New peptide markers and insights into Iron Age economies in Zambia

Revisiting Kalundu Mound, Zambia: Implications for the Timing of Social and Subsistence Transitions in Iron Age Southern Africa

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Charcoals, Sands, and Channel Decorated Pottery from Northern Rhodesia¹