Archaeology and History in North-Western Benin 9781841718378, 9781407328324

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Opening Map
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Foreword
Acknowledgement
Introduction – Ecology and Theory
Environmental setting
Theoretical considerations
The Stone Age
The Iron Age
The Historical Period
Pots and potters today
Summary
Résumé
References
Appendix A – List of Sites
Appendix B – Tables
CAMBRIDGE MONOGRAPHS IN AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY

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BAR  S1398  2005  

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 62 Series Editors: John Alexander and Laurence Smith

PETIT  

Archaeology and History in North-Western Benin

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Lucas Pieter Petit

BAR International Series 1398 B A R

2005

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 62 Series Editors: John Alexander and Laurence Smith

Archaeology and History in North-Western Benin Lucas Pieter Petit

BAR International Series 1398 2005

Published in 2016 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 1398 Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 62 Series Editors: John Alexander and Laurence Smith Archaeology and History in North-Western Benin © L P Petit and the Publisher 2005 PhD Thesis Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main – with summary in French. The author's moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.

ISBN 9781841718378 paperback ISBN 9781407328324 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841718378 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by Archaeopress in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd / Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2005. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2016.

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1000 km TUNISIA MOROCCO ALGERIA

LIBYA

MAURETANIA Nouakchott

CHAD

NIGER Dakar

SENEGAL MALI

Banjul

THE GAMBIA

Niamey

Bamako

BURKINA FASO

GUINEABISSAU

Ouagadougou

GUINEA

BENIN

Conakry

SIERRA LEONE

CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Freetown

NIGERIA TOGO

GHANA

Abudja

Yamoussoukro

LIBERIA

Accra

Lome

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Porto Novo

ATLANTIC OCEAN

CAMEROUN

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

GABON

CONGO

ZAIRE I

ANGOLA

Research area River Capital

25 km

Map 1.1: West Africa and the research area.

Contents Figures/maps Foreword Acknowledgement

iii vii ix

PART I: INTRODUCTION, ECOLOGY AND THEORY General introduction Project and research area Aims and objectives State of archaeological research in Benin Methodology

1 1 1 2 3

Environmental setting Geography Geology Climate and palaeo-climate

7 7 7 9

Theoretical considerations The concept of archaeology The concept of ethnicity The concept of classification systems for stone and ceramic objects How to interpret material culture in human terms? Discussions on chronology

13 13 13 14 21 21

PART II: ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF NORTH-WESTERN BENIN The Stone Age State of archaeological research Excavation 1: Korontière-I Excavation 2: Tanougou-I Excavation 3: Koukouan-I Excavation 4: Pendjari-II Material culture: a chronological model Settlement distribution Subsistence economy and land use The Stone Age in north-western Benin

23 23 27 31 34 34 43 46 47 47

The Iron Age State of archaeological research Excavation 1: Yohongou-I Excavation 2: Perma-I Excavation 3: Kouisougou-I Excavation 4: Akongeshwa-I Excavation 5: Kouaba-I Excavation 6: Tampégré-I Excavation 7: Tchikandou-I Excavation 8: Koukpartikou-I Settlement distribution Subsistence economy and land use Social and political organisation Cultural identity and population movements Iron production Material culture: a chronological and geographical model The Iron Age in north-western Benin The end of the settlement mound era

49 50 50 69 76 78 80 81 87 90 91 91 93 99 99 104 108 108

i

The Historical Period State of archaeological research Excavation 1: Tanougou-I Excavation 2: Koukouan-I Material culture: a chronological and geographical model Settlement distribution Subsistence economy and land use Social and political organisation Cultural identity and population movements The Historical Period in north-western Benin

111 111 114 114 116 118 118 119 119 121

Pots and potters today Introduction Pots and potters in north-western Benin: ethnographic studies Comparison between archaeological and ethnographical data: a model

125 125 130

Summary Résumé References

141 143 145

APPENDIX A: LIST OF SITES APPENDIX B: TABLES

163 169

ii

Figures Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3 Figure 1.4 Figure 1.5 Figure 1.6 Figure 2.7 Figure 2.8 Figure 2.9 Figure 2.10 Figure 2.11 Figure 2.12 Figure 2.13 Figure 3.14 Figure 3.15a. Figure 3.15b. Figure 4.16 Figure 4.17 Figure 4.18a. Figure 4.18b. Figure 4.18c. Figure 4.19. Figure 4.20a. Figure 4.20b. Figure 4.20c. Figure 4.20d. Figure 4.21. Figure 4.22 Figure 4.23 Figure 4.24 Figure 4.25a. Figure 4.25b. Figure 4.25c. Figure 5.26 Figure 5.27 Figure 5. 28 Figure 5.29 Figure 5.30 Figure 5.31 Figure 5.32 Figure 5.33 Figure 5.34 Figure 5.35 Figure 5.36 Figure 5.37 Figure 5.38 Figure 5.39 Figure 5.40 Figure 5.41 Figure 5.42 Figure 5.43 Figure 5.44 Figure 5.45 Figure 5.46 Figure 5.47a. Figure 5.47b. Figure 5.48a. Figure 5.48b. Figure 5.49

Rock debris in the Atacora Mountains The Boukombé plains during the rainy season The Boukombé plains near Korontière An eroded terrain near the village Koussoukoingou The northern plains A Tata Somba (K.-P. Wendt) The northern plains with the mountains in the background The Atacora Mountains near the village Boukombé The Boukombé plains Silicate rock in the northern plains A jasper stone tool found at Tanougou-I (see Figure 4.20d.6) Metamorphic rock formations near the village Kota in the southern plains The southern plains near the village Kouisougou Vessel types, base types and rim types The different decoration techniques on ceramics in north-western Benin The different decoration techniques on ceramics in north-western Benin A simplified scheme of the different stone industries in East and West Africa Korontière-I Material culture, Korontière-I Material culture, Korontière-I Material culture, Korontière-I Tanougou-I Material culture, Tanougou-I Material culture, Tanougou-I Material culture, Tanougou-I Material culture, Tanougou-I Koukouan-I Material culture, Koukouan-I Pendjari-II Material culture, Pendjari-II Survey finds of Stone Age period I Survey finds of Stone Age period II Survey finds of Stone Age period III Yohongou-I The section drawings and topplans of excavation unit A The section drawings of excavation units B, D, E and G The section drawings and topplans of excavation unit C The section drawing of excavation unit F Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase I Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase II Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase III Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase IV Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase V Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase VI Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase VII Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase VIII Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase IX Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase X Perma-I The section drawings of excavation unit A, Perma-I The section drawings and topplans of excavation unit B, Perma-I The section drawings of excavation unit C, Perma-I The section drawings of excavation unit D, Perma-I Material culture, Perma-I – phase I Material culture, Perma-I – phase II Material culture, Perma-I – phase II Material culture, Perma-I – phase III Material culture, Perma-I – phase III Burnt clay, Perma-I iii

2 2 2 3 3 4 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 17 19 20 24 26 28 29 30 33 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 44 45 46 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 67 68 70 71 73 74 74 76 77 78 79 80 80

Figure 5.50 Figure 5.51 Figure 5.52a. Figure 5.52b. Figure 5.53a. Figure 5.53b. Figure 5.54 Figure 5.55 Figure 5.56 Figure 5.57. Figure 5.58 Figure 5.59 Figure 5.60 Figure 5.61 Figure 5.62 Figure 5.63 Figure 5.64 Figure 5.65a. Figure 5.65b. Figure 5.66 Figure 5.67 Figure 5.68. Figure 6.69 Figure 6.70 Figure 6.71 Figure 6.72 Figure 6.73 Figure 7.74. Figure 7.75. Figure 7.76 Figure 7.77a. Figure 7.77b. Figure 7.78.

African wasp house, Perma-I African wasp house, Perma-I Material culture, Perma-I – phase IV Material culture, Perma-I – phase IV Material culture, Perma-I – phase V Material culture, Perma-I – phase V Kouisougou-I The section drawing and topplan, Kouisougou-I Material culture, Kouisougou-I Akongeshwa-I Material culture, Akongeswha-I Kouaba-I Section drawing, Kouaba-I Material culture, Kouaba-I Tampégré-I Material culture, Tamégré-I Tchikandou-I Material culture, Tchikandou-I Material culture, Tchikandou-I Koukpartikou-I Material culture, Koukpartikou-I A comparison of the Iron Age pottery assemblage in north-western Benin Material culture, Tanougou-I Material culture, Koukouan-I A comparison of the pottery assemblage in north-western Benin Iron smelting: iron furnace and tuyère The compound of the potter in the village Dikuetikunni, ceramics produced by the same potter The compound of the potter in the village Koutaagou, ceramics produced by the same potter The compound of the potter in the village Tchirimina, ceramics produced by the same potter Pottery vessels from the market of Matéri (north) and Shabi-Kouma (south) Ethnographic data Ethnographic data Time table, sites and material culture in north-western Benin

iv

80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 101 102 103 106 107 113 114 115 117 128 131 132 133 134 135 138

Maps 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4 5.5 6.6 6.7 7.8

West Africa and the research area The research area (Pre)historical sites in West Africa The discovered Stone Age sites in north-western Benin The discovered Iron Age sites in north-western Benin The discovered sites dated to the Historical Period in north-western Benin Population movements during the Historical Period The living locations of the tree potters

• •

The greyish colour in the pottery drawings indicates the combination slip and burnishing All measurements are in millimetres (unless otherwise indicated)

v

frontispiece 8 23 31 51 112 120 127

vi

Foreword Archaeology and History in North-western Benin was submitted as a PhD thesis to the faculty of Philosophy and History at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität (Frankfurt am Main) in January 2003. It offers a comprehensive historical framework of north-western Benin, based on intensive survey work and controlled stratigraphic excavations. The study is divided into two parts. Part one is devoted to the environmental setting, the aims and the excavation and survey methodology including some theoretical discussions. The second part provides a sequence in chronological order of sites and associated finds discovered in north-western Benin. Although Stone Age, Iron Age, Historical Period and contemporaneous potters are part of the study, it should be born in mind, while comprehensive, this study adds only a small piece to the puzzle of the past. My experience working with the inhabitants of north-western Benin has resulted in an enormous appreciation of West African life and history in general and of the country in particular. I hope this tour through Benin's past will stimulate scientists from Benin and abroad to continue unearthing African antiquity. Lucas Pieter Petit

vii

viii

Acknowledgement To the people of Benin Archaeology belongs to the most absurd and incomprehensible sciences: removing the fertile soil without the intention to make economic profit out of it and obviously without any positive effect on the yam yield. After several weeks of slow digging, sometimes even with a spoon and a paintbrush, the pit will then be filled again in approximately one hour. It is therefore honourable that so many people in north-western Benin, whom had never heard of archaeology before, have co-operate, even showing much interest. Many thanks to all the officials, the préfet, the sous-préfets, the délégués and the inhabitants of Yohongou, Korontière, Kouaba, Tchikandou, Akongeshwa, Tampégré, Perma, Tanougou, Kouisougou, Tanguiéta, Natitingou, Boukombé and Koukpartikou. They offered us everything, from food to housing. Many of the inhabitants of these villages worked with us on the excavations, which I would thank in particularly. It took me a while to get used to the African lifestyle, the people and their habits. I probably have stepped on many toes and I would like to use this opportunity to apologise for everything I did wrong and the moments I lost my patience. I like to thank Prof. Dr. Peter Breunig, who gave me the chance to join the SFB 268, of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe– Universität, Frankfurt am Main. I am also grateful to Dr. Karl-Peter Wendt. He took me the first years in the field, showed me around in African archaeology and suggested me as his successor in 1999. Obare Bagodo of the Université National du Bénin was the official counter-part of the archaeological project in Benin. He was the bridge toward the university of Benin, its students and several official instances and institutes of the government. His knowledge concerning official duties and tasks in Benin were of great importance for the archaeological project. I am grateful for his support. Fieldwork in foreign countries cannot be carried out without people who are willing to help with logistic problems, by supplying daily needs and information. First of all, I would like to thank Didier N’Dah, his wife and family for his help during the five years of fieldwork in north-western Benin. He kept on moving, when our batteries were empty. Thanks to M. Bertin Yantékoua, Martin N’Kouado and the conservator of the Museum in Natitingou, M. Constant Noanti. Beside personal interest in our project, they were so friendly to store the archaeological finds during the time I was in Germany. Francisca offered us her house in the year 2000 and 2001. She, 7 dogs, 1 goat, 1 horse, 2 cats and millions of chickens have definitively pleased our stay in Natitingou. The 3900km we drove through the savannah landscape of north-western Benin had enormous effect on the conditions of the cars. I cannot count the number of times we were distraught with fear, while our vehicle had stopped moving. The garage of the GTZ in Natitingou and Cotonou did manage to solve all these problems. Beside the mechanics, I am greatly indebted to the director of this project, Michael Lossner for his help. I hope for him that one day Eintracht Frankfurt will win the European Champions League. Without any particular order, except alphabetically, I would thank the following scholars, who joined me during the five field seasons in north-western Benin and have contributed greatly to its success: Oumarou Banni Guene, Aristide Dakpangou, Antonia Davidovic-Walther, Daniela Euler, Christoph Herbig, Alexa Höhn, Didier-Marcel Houenoude, Christian Medard Assogo, Didier N’Dah, Prof. Dr. Roger N’Tiah, Seidou Sabi-Monra, Menno Welling, Dr. Karl-Peter Wendt and Balo Yaori Yves. I will never forget them. Many other persons have contributed to this work, some by helping me solving scientific problems, others by showing what I do not want to do or be. Scientific discussions with Prof. Dr. Peter Breunig, Dr. Maya von Czerniewicz, Antonia Davidovic-Walther, Alexa Höhn, Prof. Dr. Baruch Halpern, Dr. Steffanie Kahlheber, Pia Kuhltrunk, Veerle Linseele, Priv. Dr. Nina Neumann, Christoph Pelzer, Dr. Andrea Reikat, Dr. Robert Siegelstetter, Alexander Veldhuijzen, Menno Welling and Dr. Birgit Wiesmüller helped me bridging the gaps in my knowledge and bewared me for major mistakes. Furthermore, I would like to thank Monica Heckner, Dr. Carlos Magnavita, Sonja Magnavita, Dr. Nicole Rupp, Gulla Schenk and Barbara Voss for being my colleagues and spending time in the Mensa. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Karl-Peter Wendt, Barbara Diethelm, Antonia Davidovic-Walther, Alexa Höhn and Martin Höhn, for inviting me to Frankfurt, housing me the first days and teaching me how to eat Handkäse and Zwiebelkuchen. I would like to thank Kimberlee Blech, Dr. Maya von Czerniewicz, Michiel van der Eng, Agnes Grond, Dr. Hans Grond sr., Dr. Hans-Peter Wotzka and Christoph Pelzer for their corrections, suggestions, translation work and critical notes. If the reader would see any first versions of this study, he or she would appreciate what they did. Nevertheless, I am still responsible for discrepancies and failures in the text. There are many people who were there, whenever I needed them. People, who did brought me back on earth and put out a helping hand in difficult times: Agnes, Annemiek, Cecilia, Chris, Ellis, Erica, Jan, Jehudith, Jeroen, Maarten, ix

Margreet, Maureen, Michael, Michiel, Pauline, Rino, Robert, Sascha, Stein, Talitha, all the members of the SFB 268 and volleyball-players of TS-Griesheim. Maybe I did not always show gratitude of these contacts. But they definitively were. Without the enthusiasm and confidence showed by the publisher’s team in the last few years, especially David Davison and John Alexander, this study should never have reached you. I appreciate their comments and advise. But most of all, I thank my partner Sabine Fay. Evenings, weekends and holidays were given up for this study. Although she had a hard time with me in these years, she stayed and I consider myself therefore more than fortunate. If I have neglected anyone who has helped, I apologise.

x

Introduction – Ecology and Theory Benin was like wandering in a blank region, with no trees, no houses and no signs. Where does one go? How does one start an archaeological campaign in a little studied area almost twice as big as Luxembourg? Are there any remains of prehistoric and historic occupation on the surface or did everything disappear under 50 meters of alluvial deposit, a situation known to exist for the older periods in the lake Chad region (Tattam 1944:39; Shaw 1981:614-615)? The question ”What is your main objective?” was rather difficult to answer. During family gatherings, I could not go into details to defend the absence of such aim, and with colleagues, it sounded unscientific not to have one phrase, such as “I want to study the provenance of a special ceramic decoration in West Africa”.

Project and research area The project During the winter of 1997 I first made my appearance in the République du Bénin, a Francophone state in West Africa, with little practical knowledge about the country and its inhabitants. Now, more than seven years and several field seasons later, I am still impressed by the perseveres and the enthusiastic life-spirit of les Béninois. Shortly before that particular winter, the SFB 2681 working in Nigeria and Burkina Faso from 1988 onwards expanded its research area to Benin. After discussions with members of l’Université National du Bénin in 1996, all sides agreed upon a multidisciplinary study of the north-western region as well as the southern lake districts with the same goals and objectives described for Nigeria and Burkina Faso: The study of cultural development and history of language in the natural environment of the West-African savannah. Terra incognita archaeologically, it was, at first, the duty of Dr. Karl-Peter Wendt and later of myself to make an inventory of the area, under direction of Prof. Dr. Peter Breunig.

While unheard of in European archaeology, there is a lack of comparable archaeological material in northwestern Benin. That means everything you find is “new”. One may find these distinct disadvantages “enjoyable” (S.K.McIntosh 1995:130), mainly because one can easily avoid certain pitfalls, like preconceived ideas. I compare the situation in north-western Benin with the state of research at the end of the nineteenth century AD in the Middle East. During that time rich adventurers, like Heinrich Schliemann, carried out large excavations and surveyed whole countries. It is certainly true that scientific standards were not as high as they are today, yet these scientists also had no data to compare their finds with and no shelves full of books, showing archaeological material. They, of sorts, had to invent the wheel, a situation that felt very similar to my fieldwork in Benin.

The research area (Map 1.1) For research area, the Atakora Department in northwestern Benin was chosen2. For the different disciplines like archaeology, botany, linguistics and ethnology the region had to be explored to find the best possible conditions in order to fulfil its goals. The archaeological fieldwork, after a short look at the densely vegetated Atakora Mountains, was first limited to the northern Gourma Plains (Figures 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.7, 2.9 and 2.10). The research area was constrained by the border of Burkina Faso to the north, to the east by the Pendjari National Park, in which archaeological fieldwork is not permitted, to the south by the Atakora Mountains (Figures 2.7 and 2.8) and to the west by the border of Togo. After two years of fieldwork the area was expanded to the south to overlap the research areas of the other disciplines, covering approximately the area between 11° N and 10°N and between 0°48’ E and 1°32’ E. Another, more archaeological aim, was to see if the Atakora Mountains had resulted in a different material culture, society form or site distribution.

The main goal, which was maintained during all stages of research, was to adopt a prehistorical and historical framework and to document changes though time in culture and society; from the arrival of the first humans, the domestication process up to the history of the Tata Somba’s (Figure 1.6). To accomplish this, the region was surveyed and a representative amount of material was collected. After the first season, I had a sound grasp of the types of sites, the different occupation periods and the material culture. One of the largest sites was chosen for an excavation, in order to get an initial continuing sequence of material culture. With these results, other collections could be dated relatively. Smaller excavations on sites with different material culture were then carried out to obtain additional information on the other periods or to become aware of local differences. After this step, I was able to study site provenance, foreign influences and the production and distribution patterns of the discovered finds.

Aims and objectives The first archaeological field season in north-western 1

2

The Sonderforschungsbereich 268 is a multidisciplinary project of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe - Universität, Frankfurt am Main, financed by the DFG (German Research Council). North-western Benin was chosen for two main reasons. The natural environment is comparable with the research areas in Burkina Faso and Nigeria, but the demographic density is lower, which simplifies the identification of human influence on the environment (Sturm 2001:193).

This study is a happy medium between rough survey work, extended excavations and fine specialised material

1

INTRODUCTION – ECOLOGY AND THEORY analyses, we have established in modern archaeology: it stresses qualitative rather than quantitative results.

primarily stratigraphical methodology, but the results were disappointing and often lacked comparison material and a systematic approach. Until the 1990s, while published material was still limited, especially under influence of the foundation of the university of Benin, archaeology was for the first time seen as a real science that requires a good methodological approach and a basis of good fieldwork and refined artefact analysis. In the beginning of the 1990s, foreign universities and institutes started to co-operate with the university of Benin, which provided local archaeologists more opportunity to gain practical experience and to use expensive research methods. Archaeological research before 1950 One of the first people to mention archaeological finds from Benin was Enzo de Chetelat, who travelled through the north of the country in the beginning of the last century (Chetelat 1928). He describes the existence of scattered occupation remains in the Mékrou area, unfortunately without providing any exact position. The article did not spark an increased interest or enthusiasm among scientists to explore this region. Until the midforties, no further archaeological material was published. With a few exceptions, such as Dunglas (1942a, 1945), Grivot (1944) and Bertho (1944, 1945), the main scientific interest shifted towards a more anthropological and sociological approach, such as numerous studies about the Somba people (Troestler 1938; Grivot 1945; Salaün 1947; Mercier 1948, 1949).

Figure 1.1 Rock debris in the Atacora Mountains

Archaeological research between 1950 and 1970 One of the first people who tried to expand the incoherent and limited knowledge about the prehistory of Benin was Raymond Mauny. As the head of the Archaeological and Prehistoric Institut Français d’Afrique Noire (IFAN), he urged a programme of site inventory and artefact analysis. He also pointed out the importance of good stratigraphic excavations, especially at Stone Age sites (e.g. Mauny 1950, 1953, 1955, 1961). Even though recently his stratigraphic analysis has been criticised (Raimbault 1981:17), Mauny’s articles started the actual archaeological work in Benin. His ideas concerning Stone Age communities were an eye opener for many people. Between 1956 and 1958, Oliver Davies from the Legon University in Ghana visited Benin, due to his interest in studying beach and river terraces (Davies 1964). He continued the work of Mauny and came to similar conclusions. Comparing the chipped stone tools from Benin with European stone industries and collections, he produced the first actual framework of Benin prehistory (Davies 1956, 1959). This framework since then has been used repeatedly and has become an argument to assume an extensive Early Stone Age occupation in West Africa. Although many of his conclusions were weak and often based on intuition and feeling rather than scientific arguments, Davies created an important database of sites that could be re-examined and archaeologically tested. Two more researchers broke the pattern of rather poor scientific archaeological research between 1950 and

Figure 1.2 The Boukombé plains during the rainy season

Figure 1.3 The Boukombé plains near Korontière State of archaeological research in Benin Introduction Archaeological research in Benin may be divided into four periods. Before the 1950s, almost no significant study was conducted. From the 1950s until approximately the beginning of the 1970s, the emphasis was placed on a 2

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN 1970: Maurice about Neolithic occurrence in northern Benin (Maurice 1958) and Marchesseau in the Mékrou area (Marchesseau 1966). While both worked with surface finds, for their time it was astonishing to see how accurately and scientifically the material was published.

crucial element: all point to the importance of a clear methodological approach. Conclusions must be the ultimate goal for any study, but without a description how these results were achieved, they cannot be scientifically tested, verified or duplicated

Archaeological research from 1970 until 1990 In 1970, l’Université National du Bénin was founded, which did change the archaeological approach entirely. An Equipe de Recherche Archéologique du Bénin was elected, responsible for the cataloguing, registering and protecting the sites. In this atmosphere, new sites were discovered and new studies, especially concerning origin issues, were published. The scientific level increased due to enthusiastic and professional scholars, stimulating students and successfully capturing a place in the archaeological scientific world (e.g. Tiando 1978; Adande 1982, 1994; Adagba 1987). Main subjects in this time were population movements (e.g. Igue&Adam 1979), ethno-history (e.g. Debourou 1975; Tiando 1978; Iroko 1982; Bagodo 1988; Bako Arifari 1989), iron smelting sites (e.g. Adande 1983) and the use of oral tradition in archaeology (e.g. Moraes Farias et al. 1990). Although most of these publications possess a good theoretical background, the archaeological material is only partially processed and presented. This lack of systematic approach in the archaeological studies has been noted, but most of the Benin scholars were not able to change this approach.

Figure 1.4 An eroded terrain near the village Koussoukoingou

Archaeological research from 1990 onwards An important change in approach came after the arrival of K. G. Kelly, at that time a PhD candidate at the Flagstaff University of Arizona. In 1991, he started an excavation in close co-operation with the university of Benin in the south of the country. His excavation of a royal palace at Savi, dated to the 17th century AD (Kelly 1995, 1997), has motivated several students from Benin to start small excavation work (e.g. Sabi-Monra 1992; Orou Mora 1995). In 1996, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe – Universität, Frankfurt am Main, and the Université National du Bénin, Abomey-Calavi, started an interdisciplinary research program, including archaeology, concentrated primarily on the Atakora Department (Petit 2000; Petit et al. 2001). Two years later, another European university became involved in archaeological research in Benin: the University of Copenhagen. Several scientists from this university made, in close co-operation with scholars from Benin, some test trenches in the south (Randsborg et al. 1998:209-227).

Figure 1.5 The northern plains Survey methods The methods for identifying archaeological sites are numerous and diverse; they are dependent also on the goals and objectives of the project. Survey work has developed from a preliminary stage in fieldwork, to a more or less independent kind of inquiry. Also, in Benin, the survey was meant not only for excavation purposes, but to create an archaeological map showing the distribution of sites across the landscape as well. It is important to mention that, while surveying, I did not intend to find all archaeological remains. Not only does such a goal seem very unrealistic, especially in the very early stage of research, there seems to be reason for suspicion as well when archaeological remains can be traced in 100% of all cases. Archaeologists tend to vary the amount of effort that they expend on different problems and such an approach results in an uneven distribution pattern of sites. Climate (Figure 1.3) and vegetation have as well a major influence on the survey outcome. As a consequence of the survey method in NW

Methodology Introduction Trial and error. These words form the basis of Popper’s work (Popper 1934). His critical rationalism, the logical positivism of the Wiener Kreis (Hahn et al. 1929), and all other directions within the philosophy of science, are different ways of making science. Yet they share one 3

INTRODUCTION – ECOLOGY AND THEORY out with a good theoretical background and an organised working plan and each one was performed with the same effort and scientific approach. Every archaeological site is, itself, a document, that can be read by a skilled excavator but destroyed by the very process which enables us to read it: an unrepeatable experiment (Barker 1996:13).

Benin, most sites have been found along the roads (see, for example, Map 4.4). It was more important to see if a specific period was represented than, for example, the question if 90% of all Stone Age sites were located around a water source. Although I use statements such as “at the end of the Iron Age more settlement mounds were used in the South”, these statements must be considered more as suggestions than as facts. All accessible roads in the research area were surveyed, which nearly totals 3900 km. Driving a four-wheel-drive car, the team searched all sides for certain remains in the landscape, such as settlement mounds and eroded- or artificially opened areas (Figure 1.4). When prehistorical or historical remains were expected, a survey by foot was conducted to clarify the situation. An attempt to make a systematic survey with a group walking side by side (e.g. Renfrew&Bahn 1991:62-69), failed in 1997: three single stone tools could be collected in ten days. Interviews with locals were also conducted in order to find archaeological sites, a method used in northern Burkina Faso (von Czerniewicz, personal communication). This method was not very successful either, probably because of unprofessional interview techniques.

Figure 1.6 A Tata Somba (K.-P. Wendt) In northern Benin, four different types of sites could be distinguished: cave sites with evidence of Stone Age occupation, open-air sites of Stone Age date, Iron Age settlement mounds (occasionally of Historical date) and open-air sites dated to the Historical Period.

When a site was discovered, at least one GPS3-point was taken, material culture was collected and a site description was made. Surface finds were picked up from the complete site, which means that on a settlement mound material was collected from the top as well as from the sides. This method was used in order to include the latest as well as the earliest occupation material (Vidali et al. 1976:246-248; A.Kirby&M.J.Kirby 1976:236; Rosen 1986:46-52).

The ultimate goal in cave excavations is the construction of a three-dimensional model of all features and artefacts in their precise topographic relationship (a method derived from Bersu 1940, 1949). It often happens that through this fixation on material culture and their position within the stratigraphy, the layer identification is undermined. It was therefore decided for the Benin project to mix the interest in material culture, the stratigraphical analysis and the sediments description and analysis, by following the principle of stratigraphic digging (Harris 1989; Harris et al. 1993). The stratigraphy and site formation processes was studied by using intermediate sections and profiles, similar to the excavation methods used on settlement mounds.

Excavation methods4 The choice between different excavation methods normally depends on the type of site or on the period, the site was inhabited. Of course, the archaeologist must be a technician, producing evidence from the ground regardless of its date or function, but a different outlook normally needs a different approach and a different working plan (in contrast with Barker 1996:90). A very common statement is that specialists should only carry out excavations in the particular period of the site concerned. However, it has also been stated that people may find what they wish to find, albeit subconsciously (the teleological argument), and that, therefore, it might be better not to be a specialist. This discussion is, however, not meant as an excuse for failures that were made. Every excavation and survey in Benin was carried 3

4

Two kinds of open-air sites can be found in northwestern Benin, with two different ways of approaching them. The first type of site is covered by a relatively thin layer of normally fluvial sediment and is in most cases of Stone Age date (Figure 4.23). Such sites can only be reconstructed when a large area is excavated. The few pieces of human evidence still left at the site can be measured, drawn and sampled according to their position. Eventual refitting activities and provenance studies of material culture can be made and activity areas be traced. Depending on the surface material, an area will be opened, divided into square meters and assigned an identifying number. Normally the deposit on top of the early human evidence can easily be removed and the original walking surface(s) and the objects that were left

With the help of 24 earth-orbiting satellites, a GPS receiver (Global Positioning System) allows any person to determine his or her longitude, latitude and altitude anywhere on the planet. Most information concerning excavation methods came from an unpublished field manual of Eveline van der Steen (1996) and from an excellent example of stratigraphical excavation work at Gezer in modern Israel by Dever and Lance (1982). See for more information concerning excavation methods: Barker (1996), Harris et al. (1993), Connah (1983), Hester et al. (1987), Joukowsky (1980) and J.McIntosh (1986)

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN asking questions in order to let the soil provide the answers.

inside the settlement or campsite can be uncovered. Every artefact has to be left in place, until measured, drawn and eventually photographed.

Material processing methods This sub-chapter is meant to inform the reader about the study of material culture in north-western Benin, from the initial discovery through the first interpretation and classification.

The other open-air sites include places, where no or only a small layer of deposits has accumulated. Most of these sites are of recent date and contaminated by modern human activities, environmental and climatic processes. The site will be studied especially in order to detect later disturbances and post-depositional processes. When original situations (in situ) were found, an extensive survey will be carried out and the site will be measured and drawn. Excavation work on these kinds of sites is normally not very reliable or effective and together with the problems in getting an absolute date, caused by the flattening of the calibration curve for the last 500 years, it creates significant difficulties in studying them thoroughly.

Ceramic is one of the most important finds, preserved in the archaeological record, partly because of their number and partly because they are relatively unaffected by most soil and environmental conditions (Pitt Rivers 1892:ix). It is rather amazing how much information a ceramic technologist can get out of this unspectacular “dead” material7. There are several different ways to look at pottery, and the differences are not only between archaeologists, ethnologists and ceramic technologists, but also within their specialities (S.K.McIntosh&R.J.McIntosh 1980:112-123). The ceramic analysis was part of the regional research goals in north-western Benin and therefore not meant to be a ceramic study an sich or a kind of handbook8. During all the excavation work, the horizontal distribution of pottery sherds was as important as the vertical distribution. An important point to remember is that the pottery, found during the excavation, is only a small portion of the original ceramic assemblage. This must not be used as an argument for limiting the archaeological interpretations and reconstruction, but more for an acceptance of the situation as a model that must be tested over and over again.

The excavation strategies and methods that were used to study most of the settlement mounds in north-western Benin are based upon the so called Wheeler-Kenyon method for stratigraphic excavation (Pitt Rivers 1887-98; Kenyon 1952; Wheeler 1954)5. The purpose of stratigraphic digging, derived from the highly honoured work of Harris (1989; Harris et al. 1993), is to clarify the way in which deposits are related and to reconstruct the processes of deposition and erosion that have formed the settlement mound through time. In short, to reconstruct the history of the mound. To accomplish this, it is necessary to work in small areas6 and to use vertical balks or sections to dig by. The basic unit in the stratigraphic excavation is the locus. A locus is any unit that has been deposited during one single process, either induced by human or otherwise: a floor, a wall, pit fill, destruction debris or wash layer. In some cases, for example pits or surfaces, a locus is not a deposit but the opposite: a removal of material is also a process that leaves traces, and can be recorded. The method of excavation must be such that the different loci can be separated while digging in order to collect the material culture within a locus, and that the relation between the different loci can be established. This relation is best seen in a vertical section or profile, which are therefore imperative to stratigraphic digging. Sometimes, when the different loci are difficult to distinguish or exceeding 30cm, artificial layers can be made. In all excavations, it is important that the excavator forms a basic idea of the nature of the different loci when he or she excavates them: a pit, a wall or a rubble layer each requires its own strategy of excavation. This basic interpretation can and often will be adjusted as the excavation proceeds: stratigraphy digging is a process of 5

6

All pottery sherds, even the smallest ones9, were kept and separated according to their stratigraphic position. Intact or nearly intact pots were drawn and photographed in situ before removal. The pottery sherds were bagged in plastic and brought to the base camp. They were washed the 7

8

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Stratigraphy is the study of archaeological strata with a view to arranging them in a chronological sequence (e.g. Harris 1975:100). The preference of small units, derived from the Wheelerian methods (Wheeler 1954), has been discussed in Harris et al. (1993), in which they finally come to the conclusion that large open areas have favour above the small ones. However this can only be possible when the project has unlimited time and unlimited financial means.

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The study of archaeological pottery was initially oriented toward its artistic value. This approach changes after the pioneering and inspiring work of Anna Shepard (1952, 1956) and Frederick Matson (1943, 1951, 1963 and 1965). See for ceramic studies: Rice (1987), Rye (1981) and Arnold (1975, 1978) A normal procedure of discarding all sherds smaller as 4 or 3cm² does not seems right to me (S.K.McIntosh 1995:139; von Czerniewicz 2002:10). The chance that a pot with a relative thin wall breaks in smaller pieces is higher as a large storage jar with a thick tough wall. There is soon an over-representation of larger pots in the collection over the smaller and fragile ones. Each sherd contains information, either about the raw material, the production techniques or their surface treatments. The counter argument, as several other scholars have mentioned, is that the smaller sherds are more subject to loss and to incorporation into the substrata through trampling (A.Kirkby&M.J.Kirkby 1976:236-238; Gifford 1978:81; Schiffer 1983:679). But the discarding of smaller material is normally only carried out by pottery sherds, whereas other objects, like beads, small bones were always studied as being in situ (e.g. S.K.McIntosh 1995). In order to follow one line I have chosen to study everything, even small pottery fragments, in their original position of discovery.

INTRODUCTION – ECOLOGY AND THEORY polishing stones. In the archaeological research, these tools have suffered from a lack of attention, although they contain as much information as any other artefact type. Happily, this omission has slowly been identified and more scholars are trying to close the gap in knowledge (e.g. Hersh 1981; Petit 1997, 1999). The stones were treated similar to pottery sherds: separated according to their stratigraphical location, washed, measured, described and drawn. Special attention was given to traces of use, such as polishing, smoothing and damage patterns.

same day (except for sherds with a fragile character, with an organic coating, with decoration added after firing or with residues on the interior) and laid out to dry. Multiple ceramic sherds, which could be refitted, were regarded as one. Since no export permission was given, all ceramic had to be recorded, drawn and studied during the field season. The weight of the sherds was not measured for two reasons: no statistical study was made on the amount of pots (which is the thought behind the weighing procedure) and the absence of artificial excavated layers makes comparison between the layers hardly possible10. Although all sherds were measured, counted and studied, more attention was given to ceramic evidence found in layers that were in situ. Contaminating features, like pits, ditches and graves, do not serve as a good vertical information source within pottery studies, especially when a chronological sequence and classification system had to be derived out of it. Several pottery sherds were studied on their raw material and inclusions11, by breaking a small fragment of the sherd and studying the fresh breakage with a microscope (16x magnification). Most rims and bases were drawn, which was needed for the reconstruction of the different vessels.

Metal objects are considered to be “special finds”. The exact position was important, similar to the chipped stone tools and if necessary, a picture was taken. The object was put in a plastic bag and brought to the base camp. Immediately after arriving there, the object was studied, which means described, measured, photographed and drawn. Then the object was wrapped in tissue paper and put back in the plastic bag. The tissue paper was used to stop the corrosion by absorbing moisture from the object itself as well as possible air moisture inside the bag. When the objects were too fragile, a paper box was used instead of a plastic bag.

Chipped stone tools and debitage represent the most abundant form of artefacts found on prehistoric sites. Sometimes it is the only form of remains that have withstood the inroads of environmental and human perturbation (Andrefsky 1998:1). From 1797 onwards, when John Frere found some stone tools in a brick-earth quarry near the English town of Hoxne, research and classification has been carried out on this kind of material resulting in a good framework and knowledge of the early humans and their equipment (Feder 1996:20). The connection with human activity must always be studied, similar to the pottery and other artefact-types. The techniques used must be considered of main importance, rather as similarities in morphology (Davies 1956:3-8). And it is always important to remember that natural flaking does not contrast greatly from human flaking; mistakes are easily made (Oakley 1972:5-12). Chipped stone tools were excavated with great care in order not to remove them from their original place. If the contextual situation seems to have been undisturbed, the material was measured, drawn and photographed in situ. Each stone tool was numbered and separated, according their stratigraphic location. After washing and drying, all stone tools were described, measured and most of them drawn. Due to limited money and time, no microwear analysis, in order to determine the function of the stone tools, was carried out (Semenov 1964; Keeley 1977; Hayden 1979; Odell 1994).

Other special finds, like beads, pendants, stone ornaments or shells were treated similarly. When the objects were not too fragile, they were washed, before storing them in plastic bags or paper boxes. A different approach was given to bones and archaeobotanic material. Bones were stored in plastic bags separated according to their position. When time was available, they were cleaned with a soft brush. The results will be published by the archaeozoologist of the archaeological institute Frankfurt am Main: Veerle Linseele. Large archaeobotanic remains, such as seeds and fragments of charcoal, were collected by hand and stored in a plastic bag or paper box. Concentrations of these remains were packed separately and the position was indicated on the top-plan. For unearthing smaller remains, a minimum of 15-litre soil sample was taken from each locus for flotation. Alexa Höhn from the archaeological institute Frankfurt am Main will study the samples.

Beside chipped stone equipment, other stone tools were discovered, such as ground stones. This group includes grinding stones, pestles, mortars, sharpening stones and 10

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Measuring seems to have preference over counting, see the discussion in Rice (1987) and Rye (1981:4). Unfortunately, I was not able to include all ceramic sherds in this material analysis program, because of time shortage.

6

Environmental setting Boukombé (Mt Taneka). Most rivers, such as the Pendjari, originate from this mountainous area, which has the highest annual rainfall in Benin. The soil in the mountains is not that suitable for farming and therefore less useful for humans as the plains to the north and south.

Geography Introduction What is crucial for artefact analyses is also important for site analyses: the context. The environmental setting, like the geography and geology, is such a context. The way in which people live, the decisions they make and the innovations they adopt, are definitively affected by the area into which they are born (Stride&Ifeka 1982:1). A long continuing dynamic relationship exists between man and his environment and people learning how to get the best out of the environment.

Similar to the condition in the northern plains, the southern region is fertile and currently densely vegetated and inhabited (Figure 2.13). The domesticated Atakora rice grows here, needing a higher rainfall and a more humid condition than exists in the region to the north. Geology

“It [Benin] is dwarfed in size and influenced by its huge eastern neighbour, Nigeria”. In: Dahomey. Between Tradition and Modernity, by Ronen 1975:viii

Geology and the archaeological research I will make the same tripartition as in the geographical sub-chapter. The northern plains consist of sand and clay, the weathered and deposited remains of Pre-Cambrium and Cambro-Ordovician rocks (Sougy 1971:800-803; Faure 1977:10). Some volcanic stone formations as well as granite rocks from the same period rise abruptly above the plains, like the so-called Buem formations near the village Korontière (Haughton 1963:23-5). Humans in the past have regularly used these grey and red coloured silicates1 as well as jasper (Figure 2.11). The plains are subject to erosion processes, particularly during the rainy seasons when the sparse vegetation of grass and shrubs gives only limited protection. Remains of other rock types may also be found, like amphibolite, a green stone sometimes used for axes, quartzite, mica schist, gneiss, flint and quartz. A laterite layer, which is formed inside the alluvial deposit, is sometimes visible in the eroded gullies of some of the water streams (e.g. Boulet&Leprun 1969:18). Former inhabitants used this iron-rich rock for iron production.

Geography and the archaeological research The Republic of Benin is a Francophone country along the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, surrounded by Nigeria and Niger in the east, Burkina Faso in the north and Togo in the west (Map 1). This elongated country has a total surface area of 112.622 square kilometres, which is, for example, more than three times as big as The Netherlands. The number of inhabitants in 1995 was estimated at 5.2 million, with a population growth rate of 3.2%, primarily concentrated in the south. Benin is divided in six departments: Atakora, Atlantique, Borgou, Mono, Ouémé and Zou. The two northern provinces, Atakora and Borgou make up 4/5 of the total area, but are sparsely inhabited (Atakora 21.3 persons per km², Atlantique 327.5 persons per km²). Each department is divided into small districts, called sous-préfectures. Natitingou is the capital of the Atakora department and has approximately 60.000 inhabitants. This department consists of the following sous-préfectures: Tanguiéta, Kobli, Matéri, Boukombé, Toukountouna, Kouandé, Péhonko, Kopargo, Ouaké, Djougou, Bassila and Kérou.

The Atakora Mountains stretch from Niger to Ghana in a NE-SW direction. Most of these formations were formed at the end of the Birrimian stage (Kitson 1919; Roques 1948, Haughton 1963:12-6), and are relatively old compared to other West African geological formations. Different types of raw material may be found in the second geographical unit, like muscovite-quartzite, schist’s, mica schist, mylonite and amphibolite. Also some hematite and biotite occur, as well as limestone, jasper and garnet deposits (Haugthon 1963:21-23). Especially in the higher plains red topsoil covers either the laterite crust or the stone formations and contains a large amount of rocks (Figure 1.1) and is therefore difficult to use for agriculture (Reikat et al. 2001:225).

The research area is situated in the Atakora department in the far north-western corner close to the border with Togo and Burkina Faso. The area can be divided into three geographical units (Map 2.2). In the far north the Gourma plains are located, stretching into Burkina Faso and Niger. These plains consist of mainly river sediment and are densely inhabited and cultivated (Figure 2.7). The second geographical unit is the Atakora mountain ridge. Its northern side is steep and sudden, whereas in the south the mountains have a more gentle character with sloping foothills (Figure 2.7 and 2.8). This landmark has formed a blockade for both humans and animals in the history of Benin. The few valleys breaking this cliff like the ones in Tanguiéta, Tanougou or Boukombé show a density of sites. The mountains reach a maximum height of 654m above sea level, south of the village of

1

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Unfortunately the stone-type was never thoroughly studied. Several persons, even geologists, have identified this stone differently: jasper, granite, radiolarite or silexite. I consider it to be a silicate.

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING

Map 2.2: The research area

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Erosion processes have diminished these upper soils and the natural vegetation has difficulty surviving. The main difference to the southern plains is the abundance of plants and trees. Erosion processes do not seem to have as much influence as in the Atakora Mountains and the northern plains. In the foothills, one can view similar stone types as in the mountainous area, like schist and some flint pebbles (Figure 2.12). However, the main type of rock in this region is the Pre-Cambrian gneiss and quartzite and a little more to the south some granite formations.

Climate and palaeo-climate Introduction Climate is the most important component of the natural environment (Ayoade 1983:222; Brown 1997:251) and forms the cause for many human activities, movements and innovation processes (see, for example, the discussion concerning the 1st millennium BC crisis in West Africa by Breunig&Neumann 2002). Humans had to adapt to the climate condition, rather than vice versa and have never (and probably will never) been able to control climate as such, only influencing it with increases in population and the technological/scientific capabilities of mankind. A second point for presenting climate is the fact that climate plays an important role in the preservation and condition of artefacts and in general the archaeological record. Post-depositional processes, as were described by Schiffer (1987), are now studied even in more detail, such as the new direction in archaeology, the so-called alluvial geoarchaeology (Brown 1997). Climate today Benin is part of the so-called intertropical zone, with a generally hot and humid climate. In the north-western part of the country, every year there are two seasons: a dry season from November until the beginning of May and a rainy season from May to October. The dry season is characterised by the Harmattan: a northern wind that brings fine sand particles from the Sahara (Figure 1.3). During this period, some of the beautiful views from the Atakora mountains toward the north, show nothing more than a dimmed sky. The other season is relative warm, but has frequent rains and lightning, especially in and around the Atakora Mountains. The mountainous area has it’s own microclimate, with relatively cold temperatures (caused by the elevation) and even more frequent rains. Natitingou, a town directly at the southern foot of the mountains, registers an annual rainfall of 1300mm and Boukombé has even greater annual rainfall of 1350mm (Adam&Boko 1983:21).

Figure 2.7 The northern plains with the mountains in the background

Palaeo-climate and vegetation Before 70.000 BP dry and wet phases alternated, with a very long humid phase from 150.000 to 90.000 BP (Dubois et al. 1984). Between 70.000 and 40.000 years ago, the climate was relatively dry, which caused the transition savannah-forest to move southwards. Improvement may have begun as early as 40.000 years ago and the vegetation seemed to recover from that dryer stage. A study in south-western Niger showed that between 38.000 and 22.000 BP several dunes were formed, a sign of high sea levels (Ousséini&Morel 1989). More trees were growing in the savannah regions than is the case today. This recovery was stopped between 30.000 and 20.000 BP, dependent on the area in West Africa (Dubois et al. 1984). The following ice-age in northern Europe had such an influence on the vegetation, that almost all forests disappeared around 18.000 BP, but again, around 12.500 BP, the vegetation recovered and “moved” to the north (Brooks 1998:139; R.J.McIntosh

Figure 2.8 The Atacora Mountains near the village Boukombé

Figure 2.9 The Boukombé plains 9

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING 1998:71). Around 9.600 BP a humid period was proven to exist in large parts of West Africa (Riser et al. 1983), as well as between 6700 and 3900 BP (Aucour 1988; Øxnevad 1991).

Figure 2.12 Metamorphic rock formations near the village Kota in the southern plains

Figure 2.10 Silicate rock in the northern plains

Figure 2.13 The southern plains near the village Kouisougou 1974; Lézine et al. 1990; Schulz 1991; Brooks 1998:144). The Gobnangou in the south-east of Burkina Faso area contained a Sudan forest around 7000 years ago (Neumann&Ballouche 1992; Ballouche&Neumann 1994), which developed into a more savannah-like landscape around 2600 BP, very similar to the recent environment. In Mali, the latest information reveals that at least until 4000 BP the climate was still more humid than it is today (Bernus et al. 1995:149). From this moment, probably due to changing tropical monsoonal circulation, the climate and the vegetation slowly changed into the present conditions. The southern Sahara began its decline, the Sahara lakes were transgressive again and most of them reached their present level or dried up like the Tichitt Lake (e.g. Servant 1983; PetitMaire&Riser 1981; Hoelzmann et al 2005). With the ending of the Atlantic Wet Phase, the inhabitants of the Sahara diffuse their shared economy, social and cultural heritage among the people of West Africa (Brooks 1998:144). Migration patterns to Sub-Saharan Africa are visible around 2000 BC, by the introduction of cattle, goats, sheep and grain cultivation (Kopytoff 1987:9-10).

Figure 2.11. A jasper stone tool found at Tanougou-I (see Figure 20d.6) The northern boundary of the Sahel was, at the same time, located some 1000 kilometres to the north (PetitMaire 1987:652). Information gathered from lake Bosumtwi in Ghana shows that the water level around 8.000 BC went into regression for a short period, consistent with drops in most Saharan Lakes (R.J.McIntosh 1998:75). One millennium later, however, the pluvial period (also called the Atlantic Wet Phase) continued, ending somewhere around 3900 BP (Sutton

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN desertification of Azawad between 300 BCE and 300 AD (Lézine&Casanova 1989:45-55), severe drought periods, for example from 1100 to 1500 AD and 1630 to 1860 AD, in West Africa have caused the climate conditions we see today (e.g. Brooks 1998:149-155).

Palaeoecological research has revealed that the Manga Grasslands in Nigeria around 1300 BC had suffered under a dry maximum (Salzmann&Waller 1998:65; Street-Perrott et al. 2000:300). A drought also seems to occur in Oursi, Burkina Faso, a little later around 1000 BC (Ballouche&Neumann 1995:33). Beside the

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Theoretical considerations presenting the information: the archaeologist as storyteller (Shanks&Tilley 1992:18-20; R.J.McIntosh 1998).

The concept of archaeology What is archaeology? What is considered good archaeological research? The first is interesting to anyone, the latter is meant to produce the first. That sounds logical, but is not always true. Archaeology is increasingly important in contemporary society. In the last several years more archaeological books and articles have been written than in the last several centuries. Although archaeologists have to produce texts, it is hardly possible to stay up-to-date. More and more details are summed up to provide the general framework with information about past societies. However this provisionstep is often neglected or wilfully forgotten (in contrast to the ideas of Connah 2001:3). The details become incomprehensible, only understandable by other experts and specialists. Data stays data and although the modern post-processual and post-structural archaeology says to have a more interpretative approach, it seems more theoretical as practical or real (Hodder 1986, 1995:183185; Trigger 1989; Renfrew 1989). In other words, many studies lack the step back to the original goal: understanding and reconstructing past human activities and past societies (Andah 1995:97; Shanks &Tilley 1992; Connah 2001:2).

The concept of ethnicity When we speak of ethnicity, we bring into view a particular kind of sentiment about group identity wherein groups of individuals view themselves as being alike by virtue of their common ancestry (Sparks 1998:1). Renfrew&Bahn mention that it is very difficult to recognise the existence of ethnic groups from the archaeological record (1991:169). Pottery decoration, often associated with groups of people (for example the study made by Kiyaga-Mulindwa 1982), seems not automatically a sign of ethnic affiliation and special stone assemblages does not represent different social groups (in contrast to Bordes 1979). How often did I hear the question if I could connect archaeological sites in northwestern Benin to certain social ethnic groups. Except for the fact that ethnicity isn’t quite the same as culture (and the archaeological material culture) or race, such an attempt is also extremely dangerous as can be viewed in Middle Eastern countries, North America and Australian. In these countries the presence of certain ethnic groups is defended by their very first appearance in that particular area.

“The expressive, aesthetic and emotive qualities of archaeological projects have been largely down-played or even denigrated over the last three decades as archaeologists have sought an objective scientific practice.” In: Processual, postprocessual and interpretive archaeologies by Shanks & Hodder 1995:12

Another problem are racial beliefs, which often are born from historical prejudices or changed facts. The periodic outbreaks of civil war in Rwanda originate in ethnic distinction, are all the consequence of one’s ancestry, as most Rwandans believe (Hall 1996:130). This distinction was, however, introduced during the colonial period by European administrators. Debates and discussions (concerning ethnicity and identity) must be confined to data, regardless of the scholar's personal agenda or motivation (Rainey 2001:141). This sub-chapter will discuss if it is possible to recognise the existence of ethnicity in the archaeological record.

The question must be asked: for whom do the archaeologists write? For colleagues? For other specialists? Or do we try to give humanity a past, an argument that is often used to defend the financial support of expensive archaeological projects. If that is the case, we have to close the gap with the public, in order not to let our social science slide into the closed secret atmosphere of universities and institutes, where everybody is named Indiana Jones and is considered gold rushers and grave diggers. Some readers will probably think that I am preaching for a more popular way of writing in general, either because of my inability to read the different studies (which is actually true) or to cover my inability to write in a scientific way (I have to admit that too). No, presenting information is a must and should not be “popularised”. As already mentioned in the preface this thesis is not only written for archaeologist working in West Africa, but for a wider public interested in Benin, archaeology, history or in any human related science in general. I try not to follow the direction the archaeological science has taken the last couple of years: a continuing line toward an incomprehensive detailedness of facts and fragments, of statistics and numbers representing the enormous gap between reality and archaeology. I have tried to use a more descriptive way of

In north-western Benin there are several ethnic groups living together on a relative small area, most of them with their own language, habits and expressions. How can we distinguish them and where are their origin? Did the archaeological data belong to their ancestors or to groups, who have been disappeared? Many scientists, both historians as ethnologists, have studied these origin issues with the help of interviewing elder (Vansina 1973:xiv) and comparing written reports (who actually are not older as the first French presence in the region, somewhere in the end of the 19th century AD). However, if I summarise the history of the people from north-western Benin, they are coming from all directions with only one goal: the Atakora region. Everybody, even the locals, seems relatively sure that they are new in the country. How come?

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THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS Material culture, the main source of information in the archaeological science, is something which does not automatically represent a certain social group, although as the reader will notice in chapter 7, the ethnic groups in north-western Benin are relative conservative in their material culture. It is the product of multiple factors operating at a local level (Twagiramutara et al. 1989:8990). But sometimes expressions and habit can shape the ideas of the producer in such a way that it can be viewed in the object, beside the normal adaptation of the people to various specific microenvironments. The shape of the rim by the potters of the Betammaribé is made with the leave of the Mukonrimu tree, whereas the rims of the Wama are rounded and made by hand.

guaranteed by the use of computers and an endless volume of preferably numerical attributes on which types are normally based (Fletcher&Lock 1994; Drennan 1996, to name a few). This new trend, trying to be objective by using as many variables as possible, actually reflects the recent gap between theory and practice. The final result: the classification system is more like an analysis on its own rather than a method of analysing. Typologies must not be the final result of a study, but must provide the researcher a system from which he or she can work. I will not follow this trend for reasons I’ll explain below (Willet 1967:52). However this subchapter will not be a kind of sermon on classification method or a complete summary of the discussion on the validity of certain classification methods. And it is especially not a complete theoretical work after which the reader can join the club of classification experts (other more philosophical archaeologists have tried that).

The problem for the archaeologists and related sciences is that they do not know which characteristics presents ethnicity, and which are simple the result of for example, difference in location, in climate or in the presence of certain raw materials. Other information sources do seem to correlate with ethnic groups: ethic and linguistic boundaries are often the same (Ehret 1982, 1998). Unfortunately, as the study of the Bantu groups shows, language and archaeology are even more difficult to relate (Vansina 1995; De Maret 1996, in contrast with the suggestion of Huffman 1970; Huffman&Herbert 1994). Today, even DNA investigation, blood group studies, plant genetics and faunal research are carried out to help the historians and archaeologists in their search for identities.

A classification system, or typology, consists of types, defined as a consistent patterning of material or event attributes, and it is distinguished from other types, which have different patterns of attributes (Hill&Evans 1972)1. In other words, classification is the organising of data and the grouping of similar entities. The problem is: what can be called similar? How are the types defined and what are exactly types. Are they real or artificial? This last question seems irrelevant to me, although many especially theoretical oriented scholars seems to be afraid of the appearance of subjectivity in the archaeological science (Shanks 1992; Shanks&Tilley 1992). Typologies and types are always made for some purpose and as long as the analyst defines the methods, subjectivity in the system does not seem unscientific or wrong. The magic words are definitions and explanations.

Summarising, there are possibilities to define ethnic groups to archaeological material (see for example the study of Mack 1982; Pikirayi 1993; Denbow 1999), but the problem is that we do not always know for which variables we have to look. In this study I prefer not to speak of different ethnic groups, even if the material culture is relatively modern. There are two many but’s and uncertainties. Therefore, I have to answer the question if I can correlate the archaeological sites to ethnic groups, negative. But some day, when historians and (pre)historians finally learn how to work together, we might be able to transfer ethnological data to the archaeological result and vice versa. And eventually at the end, ethnic groups can than be recognised in the archaeological record.

How did I set up my types? The classification system used in this study is considered primarily material culture or static items2 and not ideas, entities or language patterns. As the reader can imagine, boundaries and definitions are much easier to make with static objects than with flexible, subjective and always changing ideas. Computers order the data, which are fed into them; that is, they can only classify material that is already in hand. They can not, at least up to now, produce an “open” typology that is continually applicable to newly excavated material (Margolis 1987:91,115), which is the first requirement of the field archaeologists (W.Y.Adams & E.W.Adams 1995:xviii). The present generation of computers also cannot perform two functions that are essential in all practical typologies: they cannot make

The concept of classification systems for stone and ceramic objects Introduction Many books have been written about classification systems, typologies, definitions and the problem of subjectivity (Aldenderfer&Blashfield 1978; Dunnell 1986). Although some scholars have accepted that theory is not quite the same as reality (W.Y.Adams & E.W.Adams 1995), classification systems seem more and more limited to computers and statistical programs (Hersh 1981). The scientific value of one’s typology is nowadays checked by its objectivity, which seems to be

1

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I am aware of the slight distinction between classifications and typologies. However this plays in my system hardly any role (See for a good definition framework: W.Y.Adams&E.W.Adams 1995:47-49). Material culture, in the sense I have used, is everything, which was modified by human, also every artefact (Schick&Toth 1993:48). A negative aspect, of which I am aware of, is that things, which are used as tool, but never modified or worked, do not play a role in this study.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN purely qualitative distinctions and they cannot make purely arbitrary judgements. It can also be asked if a social and cultural system, as existed in the past, can be translated into numbers and statistics. Field archaeologists may be helped more by the older intuitive systems than the highly computerised modern ones (Dunnell 1986:150).

characteristics like the presence/absence of a percussion bulb, retouch, striking platform and cortex. The main division I have made is the following: beside debitage, core and stones of natural origin, different tool types like scraper, bifaces, cleavers, scrapers, microliths and burins. Considered to be tools are the stones that show retouch, a clear bulb or similarities with chipped stone tools found at other sites in West Africa. This also includes artefacts that were not yet finished, and thus not used at all. Several authors have used mathematics systems to classify and understand the tools and other stone objects (Bordes 2000:72-6; N’Dah 2000:39-40). Instead, I have chosen to publish as many stone drawings as possible. The following definitions (mainly derived from Clark 1974 and Andrewsky 1998) are considered to be rough indication, rather as precise defined classification types.

If we consider types as the results of a specific idea that have to comply with a specific need, then function must be the first criteria to build a typology on. Form, techniques and material play a secondary role, but can be still part of the typology. Theoretically, such a typology can be defended by the fact that the producer of the artefact to be classified normally had no normative idea about the morphology of the end product but was mainly concerned with it’s function. His or her goal was to produce a certain product, useful for a certain function. But even the functional oriented producer is, whether or not he or she is aware of it, influenced by other factors, such as cognitive, cultural and intuitive factors. In practice a system based mainly on function is hardly realisable for archaeological material: we will never be 100 percent sure of the original function. Other variables, such as form and material, will therefore get much attention in my typologies. Nevertheless, a functional distinction is always given priority (compare the excellent book of De Beaune 2000).

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Stone classification system William Henry Holmes was the first archaeologist to attempt a systematic analysis of lithic artefacts (Holmes 1894). From that time, researchers devoted themselves to Holmes’ goals; to use the stones as chronological markers, study the evolution in form and function and understand the processes of stone tool production and use (Andrefsky 1998:3). In the twentieth century, replication studies and microscopic analyses increased the knowledge about stone tools and their production. However, the first person that pointed to some disadvantages was Frison (1968). He puts forward that chipped stone tools change forms and shapes – as well as functions – during the period of time they are being used. They are the product of a dynamic process, as actually every artefact is, and therefore are extremely difficult to classify with the systems invented by archaeologists (Andrefsky 1998:230). Although the shape often does indicate the function, it is definitively not one to one. More and more problems arose, such as multifunctionality (Bordes 2000:11) and the fact that lithic typology may well not reflect a prehistoric cultural assemblage, as until then (and sometimes now) was thought. Frison’s observations caused major cracks in the mirror of archaeological science.

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To avoid the static system in which an artefact name directly indicates a certain shape and function, I establish a small number of types, which unfortunately includes less information about their function. They are based on shape, production techniques, as well as on certain

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Natural stones show no visible traces of human modification. Cores are those nuclei that remain after flakes and blades have been intentionally removed (Clark 1974:90; Andrewsky 1998:12). Most cores in northwestern Benin have more than one platform, from which flakes and blades have been detached. Some cores are prepared before a final flake was struck, for example the Levallois cores. Debitage are mostly irregular detached pieces, the byproducts of artificial fracture fragments, other than flakes or blades (Clark 1974:92; Andrewsky 1998:17). Spheroids are more or less spherical artefacts, with numerous intersecting facets and appear to have been shaped more as a result of use than by purposeful design (Clark 1974:99). Cleavers are generally worked down the side edges and butt and have a cutting end formed by the intersection of one large flake scare on the dorsal face with the main flake, or ventral surface (Clark 1974:95). Bifacial hand-axes (or bifaces) are bifacially worked and show two sides that meet to form a single edge that circumscribes the entire artefact (Andrefsky 1998:20; Clark 1974:95). Scrapers are planoclinical tools, normally less than 100mm in greatest length, and can be subdivided according to the nature of the retouched edge or end, to the plan form and to other attributes (Clark 1974:102). Microliths are small, approximately 30mm or less in length, and characterised by general steep retouch down one side edge, the opposite being sharp and formed by the intersection of dorsal and ventral flake scars (Clark 1974:99). `Burins have a characteristic burin facet or facets formed on the thickness of the artefact, which is generally a flake or a flake fragment (Clark 1974:102). Flake is any detached piece of stone, broken intentionally from a core and can be subdivided

THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS according to its form and measurements (Clark 1974:89).

the pottery, the height of most vessels could only be estimated by the curve of the body and by comparison with similar, more complete examples. One can discuss if this classification is “real” functional oriented. A jar can still be used for different contents. I have based my typology on the assumption that certain aspects of a vessel’s form were determined by its intended function. If I was able to detect this form, the identification of a function cannot be far away. I hope that this rather simplified classification system facilitate rather than hinders comparison.

Pottery classification system Pottery classification has a long history, was purposely stimulated in the beginning of the archaeological science, and in many cases includes a relative date. But this has also coloured the classification methods. The discussion if a type is real or artificial must be considered before using pottery for dating. Or in more general terms: if the scientist’s preconceived and objective ideas have not influenced the pottery study and indirectly it’s relative date. Under influence of Shepard (1956), the context of pottery became more important. From this point onwards pottery was considered more as just museum decoration. It’s technology, the context, the raw material and all other physical characteristics of vessels must be studied to show not only their place in technological development (Orton et al. 1993:13), but also to detect trade patterns and information about the producers and consumers.

A vessel consists of three main zones, the orifice (including neck or collar), body and base (Rice 1987:214). The orifice may be described in terms of two secondary form characteristics, the lip and the rim. All of these terms are difficult to define, because the point where one ends and the other begins is not always clear. The rim is the area between the change of orientation of the lip and the side or neck of the vessel. The body may be defined as the portion between the orifice and base that includes the maximum diameter of the vessel or the region of greatest enclosed volume. The third region is the base or foot, which is the underside of a vessel

“Pottery tends to arouse strong emotions in archaeologists: they either love it or hate it.” In: Pottery in archaeology by Orton et al. 1993: 3

In this study a functional classification system was chosen (Skibo 1992; De Beaune 2000). Although a precise function is hardly extractable from the fragmented archaeological record (pottery sherds), different factors, mainly morphological one’s, indirectly point to certain groups. Capacity, stability, accessibility of contents, and transportability or ease of movement are such factors that may help defining function (Rice 1987:225). Nomadic people do not carry large storage vessels around and small juglets are not used to cook. Also technological analyses can play a role in the use distinction: like the thickness of the sherd, the choice of temper, the resistance of the ceramic, the thermal behaviour, the permeability or porosity and the surface treatment. Decoration as the main variable in a classification system seems not very useful, while it is more related to the aesthetic sensibility of the culture rather as to its function (Rice 1987:207-42). The ceramic study in north-western Benin was not carried out to seek for relations and contacts in West Africa. If a similar shape, decoration pattern or technique was seen at another site, it will simply be mentioned, without trying to connect regions, sites and cultures. I hopefully convince the reader that the current quality of the African data renders finer definitions useless for purposes of wide-ranging comparison.

A plate has a simple rim, a simple rim with groove or a ridged rim (Figure 3.14.1-2). The largest body diameter is always the rim diameter. The function of a plate is either for the production or serving of food. In northwestern Benin also grinding activity was carried out on plates. A shallow bowl has in most cases a simple or carinated rim (Figure 3.14.3-7). In most cases the shallow bowl has a rounded base. They are decorated with a layer of slip and burnished or smoothed afterwards. Sometimes the bowl shows decoration on the inside. The bodies are relatively thin and the vessel has been fired under medium till high temperatures. An unusual form is the twin-bowls, finished with slip burnished and decorated with strip-roulette. A shallow bowl is used for food preparation, serving and sometimes for storing. The problem with using this type for storage is that this kind of vessel cannot be closed properly. A deep bowl has a variety of rim shapes, from simple rim, everted, thickened and turned towards the grooved- and ridged forms (Figure 3.14.8-22). The rim diameter is smaller than the maximum body diameter. Cooking, storing and food processing activities take place in this kind of container. The frequent appearances of everted rims enable the user to fix or place a cover, often a pottery disc, over the opening. The cooking vessels have thin walls and are slip burnished; whereas deep bowls with other functions have often thicker bodies and are more frequently decorated with roulette or impressions. One of the unusual types is the strainer. At the end of production, before firing, holes were made in the body,

The following classification in six different groups of pottery from north-western Benin (Table 1, Figure 3.14) has been based on ratios of height to maximum diameter and on kind and size of rim and lip (following the measurement based classification method of Webster (1964) and Hodder (1979)). Due to the fragmentation of

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 3.14 Vessel types, base types and rim types (not on scale)

17

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN usually concentrated in the base area. Sometimes these holes, which average 1cm in diameter, are made in the whole body. The smoothed and thick walled type seems to have been used for food preparation, but no heating traces were found. A function as steamer is most commonly suggested.

The most common performed surface treatment throughout the history of pottery making in north-western Benin is strip-roulette (Figure 3.15a.1-6). This technique is an overall name for several different forms, like twisted-strip-roulette, braided-strip-roulette and pleatedstrip-roulette and was carried out by rolling some tightened grass- or plant-stalks over leather hard clay of the ceramic container. The instrument leaves so a band containing repetitions of the motif (Rye 1981:92; Soper 1985:30). The main difference in the forms is the way the grasses were fixed together.

The juglet is used for small amounts of fluid, like oil or wine. The body diameter is three times smaller as the maximum height, which mean that the rim opening cannot be entered by hand. The rims are everted and the vessels show a clear neck (Figure 3.14.23-24). The juglets are made of fine ware, fired under high temperatures and finished with slip and burnishing to reduce permeability.

Another type of roulette is made from string (Figure 3.15a.7-9, 12). Cotton or other material was braided into a long thick instrument that could be rolled over the wet surface of a ceramic vessel, similar to the strip roulette. Also the string-roulette can have different forms, although not differentiated in north-western Benin (Hurley 1979). The earliest appearance of string-roulette (or sometimes called cord-roulette) was in the later Neolithic of the southern Sahara (Soper 1985:29).

The vase has similarities with the jar, but show no clear neck. Simple rims are common but also the turned, thickened and ridged rims appear (Figure 3.14.25-28). The height and the maximum rim diameter is bigger than the maximum body diameter. The main function is storage.

A comb is also used for decorating the surfaces of ceramic containers (Figure 3.15a.10-11, 13 and Figure 3.15b. 10-11, 13). These can either be impressed (combimpression and rocker-stamping) or drawn (comb-lines). Although in general these combs were in West Africa made from calabash fragments (Dias 1961:109; Drost 1967:161) some regions uses wood for making the equipment.

A jar is a restricted vessel with the height taller than the maximum body diameter. The rims are in most cases everted, turned or thickened, sometimes with a ridge or a groove (Figure 3.14.29-45). The rim diameter is smaller than the maximum body diameter. The presence of a neck makes closing possible. The most common function for the jar is storing water. The containers are normally not slipped or glazed in order to keep a good permeability.

Mat-impression is a technique, which lay in between decoration and production (Figure 3.15b.5-6, 9). In most cases the mat is used as a stable place on which the vessel was built. The impression was also the result of production, rather as decorative. However in many cases, such as in Nigeria (Drost 1967:163), the mat impression was used primarily as surface treatment. In north-western Benin mat impression are very rare and is limited to the lower parts of the vessel.

Surface treatment or decoration is a special characteristic, which get more attention than it deserves. From different decoration types ethnic groups and innovation processes have been reconstructed, although it seems often more an artistic expression of the potter than a cultural signature. Nevertheless, in different times different production methods and instruments were used, indirectly the main cause of a difference in decoration. The way potters live, think and see the world around her/him may influence the choice of decoration, instrument and even the connection between function and decoration. It is a difficult issue, which might be worth looking at in more detail.

Line-incision is one of the most common and simplest forms of decoration methods, ranging from single lines till geometrical patterns and stylistic drawings (Figure 3.15b.1-5, 7). A large variety of different tools can be used to get the same result and it is very hard for archaeologist to extract the kind of instrument from the grooves on the pottery sherds. Straw, Fingernails, wood, leaves, calabash, reed, bones, stone, pottery sherds and even metal objects have been mentioned in ethnographic research (Drost 1967:157).

What do I mean by decoration? Is a functional change of the surface called a decoration? Is coating a decorative element? Are decorative processes part of the surface treatment and therefore part of the production processes, or do we have to distinguish them? I have chosen to view decoration as part of the production process and as part of the surface treatment (similar to Rye 1981).

Finger-impressions are less commonly used in northwestern Benin, although it is one of the simplest methods of decoration (Figure 3.15a.15). Some groups are still using this method for decorating their pottery (KootzKretschmer 1926:183; Schofield 1948:191).

In north-western Benin the correlation between function and surface treatment is hard to determine. Water jars are normally not slipped or burnished and do not have decoration on the inside. But specific patterns of surface treatments, like carved-roulette or string-roulette do not seem to correlate with specific functions (Figure 3.15a and 3.15b).

Punctuation is similar with finger impressions and is relative rare on ceramics of north-western Benin 18

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 3.15a. The different decoration techniques on ceramics in north-western Benin

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THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Figure 3.15b. The different decoration techniques on ceramics in north-western Benin (Figure 3.15b.8). The shape of the impressions can be round, triangular or irregular and are difficult to relate to a certain instrument.

could be more creative in the pattern. Carved roulette was first found in the early Iron Age Nok culture of Nigeria (Soper 1985:29)

Carved-roulette was used in the Historical Period in north-western Benin. A round piece of wood, in which a certain pattern was cut, was rolled over the surface, similar to string- and strip-roulette (Figure 3.15b.12). The advantage above the last two is that the pottery makers

Modelling, especially the small knob decoration, is used in the last millennium (Figure 3.15a.14). This technique is defined as adding pieces of clay to an existing form and shaping them to produces three-dimensional decoration

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN (Rye 1981:94). This surface treatment is in recently used on ceremonial vessels in north-western Benin.

of years, brings the final context in a similar comparable situation as in a story with Miss Marple. All excavated material must be considered as evidence, even the layers as such. The situation must then be reconstructed in such way that all pieces of evidence fits in it. New information, for example renewed excavations, can change or improve the ideas, similar to new evidence in a murder case. A final report must never be considered final in the sense that it is unchangeable or 100 percent true (e.g. Orton et al. 1993:35; Shanks & Hodder 1995:6). It is always written from the view of the researcher and with the material culture and related evidence the writer had at that particular moment. Reconsidering and testing the results is a natural part of archaeological science and the interpretation of archaeological evidence has to be addressed anew with every generation of scholars (Bell 1994:15-17; Rainey 2001:140).

Burnishing is another very common and very old technique. The leather-hard surface was rubbed with a tool to align the clay minerals platelets parallel with the surface of the pot, giving it a sheen (Orton et al. 1993:8586). In north-western Benin this technique was in most cases combined with the addition of slip. The difference with polishing, which is very rare in the assemblage, is that by burnishing the tool is used directionally so a pattern may be produced. Polished surfaces have a uniform lustre (Rye 1981:90). Smoothing causes a regular overall texture and a matte rather than glossy appearance. Although the pottery can be dry, the pottery of north-western Benin seems to be still wet (often a self-slip) when the potter was smoothing the surface with a tool (can be the hand of the potter, or a piece of cloths).

Textual sources, also available in West Africa, have been seen as the ultimate (and only) item with which one can really reconstruct a society in the largest sense. Apart from the subjectivity, the main handicap of documentary evidence as used by historians is that the bulk of that evidence consists of testimony nearly always derived from leaders. This testimony, which often consists of a narrative of events, which happened to the leaders of communities, thus leads historians both to focus their accounts on the exceptional doings of the leaders and to do so from the point of view of those leaders (Vansina 1995:396). Texts are useful, but must be considered as one fragment of the archaeological data. Opposed to material culture, which is the result of situations (longue durée), textual sources are the result of events. Vansina has summarised and commented the ongoing discussion between historians and archaeologists (Vansina 1995) and has proposed that these disciplines may well be not at all related. Written sources are subjective, as are interpretations of material culture. But still a situation can be understood by a description of certain events. If we consider texts as material culture, it is just one part of our database, from which history can be written. If both disciplines will start to walk in the same direction and become more interested in each other, the past will be much closer than it is today.

How to interpret material culture in human terms? This question seems so natural when dealing with material culture. The archaeological science or any discipline reconstructing pre-history is dependent on static evidence in the form of ceramic, stones or, when lucky, some architectural elements. From these static objects, ideas concerning the ancient society arise, ideas about the people and their relation to that particular object: the contextual approach. At least, that is what archaeology should deal with (Hodder 1986, 1995:183200; Pearce 1998:1-6 in contrast with Leach 1973:764). As explained previously, reconstructing and understanding one’s past is only partially accomplished. It is therefore necessary to ask how to interpret material culture in human terms. Are we at all able to reconstruct past societies out of material culture with our subjective mind? Is archaeology not simply a science in which the researcher with the best fantasies gets most credit? I wish it was like that. Archaeology is a mystery, but theories abound as to its meaning, its construction, its constructors (Shanks&Tilley 1992:7). “Archaeologists were involved in a great deal of obsessive wallowing in detail of and for itself” In: The conceptual structure in Middle American Studies by Kluckhohn 1940:42

Discussions on chronology Before presenting the prehistory of north-western Benin, a few words concerning chronology, sequences and dates must be said. Hardly explained in archaeological literature, chronology is still the main pitfall for both specialists and non-specialists, although time in general is central in archaeology (Shank&Tilley 1992:7). The content of this paragraph was based on a discussion with a Dutch colleague during one of the Benin campaigns. When did the Colonial Period start and when did the Iron Age end? From these questions the discussion went into deeper grounds until we agreed that the basis of archaeology is far from fixed, objective and clear. What

Archaeology deals with situations (Vansina 1995:370) or with the result of a situation in the past. Partly dependent on the number of variables, this situation can be reconstructed. I always compare archaeology with stories written by Agatha Christie in which a few items will finally lead the reader to the murder. The evidence in such crime puzzles is far from complete, but it can still bring you to an objective result. Of course the perpetrator, in our case the inhabitants of a certain village or city, did not intentionally hide certain items for the researchers (I hope not). But the passage of time, sometimes thousands 21

THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS does it mean, both culturally and chronologically, when we date something to the Iron Age? How are the names of the different periods achieved and how are these connected with absolute dates? How do we define periods in general? How do we put regional cultural differences in a static periodic system? Is the Stone Age in West Africa defined by the use of stones or by the absence of iron?

Age and Palaeolithic Period, or the Big Sequence, is an example of such a misunderstanding; a lack of methodological explanation (Clark 1967:415, 1970:25-6; Phillipson 1985:59; Sutton 1981:465-466; Deacon 1990:43; Vernet 1996:124). Maybe African archaeologists have to avoid such terminology completely, like Phillipson (1985, 1993) and Connah (1981, 1987, 1996) have tried to do.

Before asking more questions, it is worth discussing the origin of our periodic system. “All human beings experience time”. With this phrase one of the chapters in the book by Renfrew and Bahn begins (1991:101). While archaeology “opens up the almost unimaginable vistas of thousands and even a few millions of years of past human existence” we need something like a periodic system, which was created by Christian Jurgensen Thomsen in 1807 (Thomsen 1848; Renfrew&Bahn 1991:23). The Danish archaeologist had the unrewarding task of arranging the inventory of the National Museum in Copenhagen that planned to open its doors in 1819. He established a three-part organisation of tools for Europe that could be placed in a chronological sequence, respectively: stone, bronze and iron. This periodic system is still the standard and only a few are aware of its disadvantages.

I view assigning certain periods to certain sites the same way I view classification. History with all items including material culture must be classified in a chronological system, which is always objective and never wrong or right. Where do we start a period and where does it end? If in one place iron was used and in another village, some 20 kilometres away, they were still using stone, we have two different periods on a small area. Do periods coexist? Probably yes. In this study, I only use three big periods defined in Table 2. Sub-divisions within this period, like Early, Middle and Late Iron Age, because of the enormous amount of regional differences, seems not useful to me (Phillipson 1993:5). Instead, it only complicates the classification system. Absolute dates, normally achieved with the C14 or carbon dating method, are useful to put such a relative framework on a time-scale. But one must be aware that we never date a period, we only date a site or material. Periods are flexible, absolute dates are not. In the building up of an overview of the pre- and protohistory of north-western Benin, I have used the following ways of absolute dates:

If we have so many possibilities to get an absolute date, why should we use names like Stone Age and Iron Age for African civilisation? This is an interesting question, especially while scientists when assigning a certain occupation to the Iron Age mean more than just a relative date. Such an assignment includes extra information: special characteristics, cultural markers and technological developments. The eurocentric chronological system of Thomsen has now been promoted to cultural periods throughout the world (Weynants et al. 2001:6). And there lies the problem. If I ask an archaeologist trained in European prehistory what he or she means by the Bronze Age, he will come up with a total different explanation than a Middle Eastern archaeologist. In 55 BC Caesar invaded Britain. Strangely enough, this sentence contains different information and associations than the following phrase: in the Roman period Caesar invaded Britain. The Iron Age in West Africa differs from the Iron Age in Europe. The Iron Age in northern Benin is different than the Iron Age in Nigeria and the Iron Age in Yohongou-I differs from the Iron Age of Perma-I. There are similarities at all Iron Age sites in north-western Benin, like mud buildings and the appearance of iron. It is the researcher’s responsibility to explain these cultural items; otherwise it will lead to great misunderstandings. The ongoing discussion between the Francophone- and Anglophone archaeologists concerning the terms Stone

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In the introduction and conclusions of each chapter, dates, for example 15.000 BP, should all be regarded as approximations. They are derived from a variety of sources. No attempt has been made to calibrate or correct them (Phillipson 1993:5).

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The dates presented in the stratigraphical description of each excavation are C14 dates, not yet calibrated. The calibrated absolute dates are mentioned in a footnote on the same page, together with (in most cases) the calibration program used. All samples were done on charred wood.

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If I use terms such as 14th century AD, it normally includes at least one absolute date, but is rather used to describe certain processes, rather as events, which takes longer as that particular absolute date.

The Stone Age evolution-process of humanity has been found in East Africa, finds in Southern Africa, Northern Africa and more recently in Chad of approximately similar age, are good evidence to assume a larger area of distribution for the first humans. Can it be assumed that there where such beings in West Africa? There must have been ecological conditions in certain parts of West Africa very similar to those, which supported Australopithecine’s of East Africa. But as Shaw correctly mentioned, this does not mean that these areas in fact were occupied (1981:613).

State of archaeological research Introduction The Stone Age is the longest period in human history, almost 2 million years (depending how humanity is defined), but also the hardest to detect, especially across the whole expanse of West Africa. Geological situations, such as the volcanic deposits in East Africa, do not exist and the climate forms not directly an ideal condition for the preservation of skeletal remains (Clark 1968:37; Millogo 2000:11). Although most evidence of earliest

Map 4.3 (Pre)historical sites in West Africa

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THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.16: A simplified scheme of the different stone tool industries in East and West Africa (after Davies 1967;Clark 1970; Ojo 1982; Ajay & Crowder 1985; Andrew & Stringer 1993; Steitz 1993; Vogel 1997; Diamond 1999) Jaeger 1975; Arambourg & Hofstetter 1954, 1955; Arambourg 1954, 1966).

State of archaeological research (Figure 4.16, Map 4.3) Despite the fact that no research effort, comparable to East and Southern Africa, has been made so far in West Africa many scholars believe that Pleistocene humans had occupied this area as well (Shaw 1981:613). The only skeletal remains, found unfortunately just outside this area, are those of a cranio-facial portion of a skull probably belonging to a homo erectus type at Yayo, Chad (Campbell 1965; Coppens 1961, 1965a, 1965b; Cooke 1965)1 and some bone fragments of a similar type accompanied by Acheulian stone tools in Northern Africa (Marcais 1934; Vallois & Roche 1958; Ferembuch 1976;

Most of the information about early human stone tools in West Africa comes from the enormous efforts of Oliver Davies and Raymond Mauny. Davies points out in his handbook, West Africa before the Europeans, sediments and the remains of early humans earlier than the late Quaternary are seldomly survived. “The major basins of sedimentation had sunk too rapidly for their older phases to be accessible” (Davies 1967:xiv)2. Contrary to his 2

1

Scientists in Chad have found recently what might be the earliest evidence of man on the planet (7.5 million years ago). The discovery should revolutionise theories of human evolution (In: Nature, July 2002).

24

This sunk-hypothesis seems true for some parts of West Africa, like the Chad basin, where palaeontological material of Pleistocene age lies under a mantle of later drift (Tattam 1944:39). Other regions, for example the Atakora mountain ridge, have hardly or never been covered with such deposits.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN with the Levallois technique accomplished the Acheulian tradition (Barendsen et al. 1957; Sheppard & Kleindienst 1996). Although the two industries seem often coexisting (Tattersall et al. 1988:319), well-known fieldworkers like Marliac (1978), Vernet (1996) and Idé (2000) consider both traditions successive rather as partly contemporary.

statement, he was able to discover hundreds of Palaeolithic stone tools throughout West Africa. However, the results of Davies survey are considerable lacking accuracy, which shows a re-study of the material of Yapei in Ghana (Davies 1961:1-2; Swartz 1972:265270). This study proofed that the material, Davies thought to be of Acheulian and Olduwan tradition, was actually of natural origin. Finds discovered in Senegal by Mauny have been dated afterwards to the Neolithic period instead of belonging to the Olduwan industry (Mauny 1968:1283; Barbey&Descamps 1969).

The succeeding tradition, the Sangoan, is very difficult to define and its existence has even been questioned (WaiOgusu 1973). It follows the Acheulian tradition, though the cleaver disappeared and spheroids became rare. The more southern distribution of this industry, such as sites found at Cap Manuel, Senegal (Hugot 1964:5), Jos plateau, Nigeria (Soper 1965:184-6), and old Bussa, Nigeria (Soper 1965:186-8), may represent a need to adapt to more wooded country in an increasingly arid period (Shaw 1981:620; Clark 1959:149).

Not only the reliability of the findings of both scholars, also their periodic systems that have been repeated during the last thirty years of research must now be questioned (e.g. Wai-Ogusu 1973). In the last decades more surveys and excavation work were carried out than before and the enormous amount of especially surface finds, makes the existence of early humans in West African before 50.000 BP indisputable. But still none of the artefacts has a correspondingly early date like comparable industries in East and Southern Africa (Clark 1981:613)3.

The Lupemban, Mousterian and Aterian industries, defined by the use of the Levallois techniques and the increasing amount of points and blades, were found for example in Hohoe, Ghana (Swartz 1974:57-81) and Falémé, Senegal (Diop 2000:267). The last site was dated relatively between 60.000 and 27.000 BP.

The earliest human artefacts, named after the first place of discovery Olduwan in Tanzania, are rough worked river pebbles. Morphological similar finds throughout West Africa must be considered with care. Most of these stone tools, such as material found at Dindéfelou, Senegal (Camara&Duboscq 1984:377-402; Camara 2000:243), Farabana, Mali (Tillet&Novikoff 1989), Yei lulu-loga, Niger (Gado et al. 2000:211) and Comoe, Ghana, are picked up from the surface near beach terraces and river banks and might be formed in a typical Olduwan shape by natural processes, so-called “eoliths” (Oakley 1972:8; Hodges 1995:104-5). The absence of such stone tools in large parts of the Sahara, although this area seems to be the place of origin of early human inhabitants in West Africa, is another reason to be sceptical.

The Late Stone Age is characterised by the development of microliths (Shaw 1981:622) and polished stone tools (Holl 1986:21). Although (part of) this period in many cases is called “the Neolithic period”, its ambiguity of meaning makes the use of this word not favourable for the West African savannah. In some parts of West Africa some of the Middle Stone Age tradition seem to survive comparatively unchanged. Another problem of recognising this new period is the re-use of older stones and/or traditions, especially Acheulian bifaces (e.g. Shaw&Daniels 19846). In general, the Late Stone Age can be divided in a microlithic phase without pottery and ground stones, followed by a microlithic industry with both elements, as well as polished axes. The first begins not later than 10.000 BP and has two phases: a microlithic stone industry, like Bingerville in Côte d’Ivoire inhabited around 13.000 BP (Chenorkian 1983) and a period with still some Middle and Early Stone Age stone working techniques, in the forested area of West Africa, for example Iwo Eleru in Nigeria, dated to 11.200 + 200 BP (Shaw 1969; Shaw&Daniels 1984). Other stratified sites dated to the beginning of the Late Stone Age are Dutsen Kongba, Nigeria (York 1978), Pentenga, Burkina Faso (Breunig&Wotzka 1993; Frank et al. 2001:150-60), Bosumpra, Ghana (Dombrowski 1980), Erg Jmeha, Mali (Raimbault 1983), Adrar Bous, Niger and Temet, Niger (Gado et al. 2000:214). These sites were dated between 13.000 and 7000 BP.

The succeeding Aucheulian industry, used by Homo erectus was among others, discovered in Sansandé, Senegal (Camara & Duboscq 1990; Vernet 1993:39), Hammami, Mauritania (Nafé et al. 2000:132-134), Blaka Kallia, Niger (discovered by Thierry Tillet in 1978, see Gado et al. 2000:211) and Adrar Bous, Niger (Echallier & Roset 1986). The terraces in which the chipped stone tools were found dated these sites: from 300.000 till 60.000 BP4. Again, most objects were single surface finds discovered in a rolled context5. The only absolute date was taken from burnt residue on an Acheulian biface found in Lagreich, Mali: 282.000 + 56.000 BP (Diop 1980:283-292). On many sites in West Africa, tools made 3

4

5

Dating of the sediments in which the cultural remains are found has to rely largely on associated fauna and inferred correlation of sea level sequences between the coastal Moroccan seas and the Mediterranean (Clark 1990:20) In other parts of Africa, the Acheulian period, sometimes divided into three phases, has been dated between 700.000 and 120.000 BP (Clark 1990:20). The rolled condition was the only way for Davies to except that the material was not younger than the horizon (Davies 1961:1).

6

25

The site of Iwo Eleru, published by Shaw and Daniels (1984), is not stratigraphically „clean“. The material culture and the C14 dates do seem, according to me, not necessarily connected.

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.17: Korontière-I (The z co-ordinates in the 3-D model are not on scale)

26

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN The second Late Stone Age phase with microliths, pottery and ground stones, is differentiated in regional sub-phases, like the well-known Kintampo culture in Ghana (Flight 1968, 1970; Carter & Flight 1972). Sites belonging to this second phase are, for example, the oldest phases at Daima, Nigeria (Connah 1981), the site of Hassi El Abiod, Mali (Coulibali 2000:89), Vialettes, Togo (Eiwanger & Keuvi 1992) and Fanfannyégèné, Mali (Huysecom 1990) all dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. Excavation 1: Korontière-I (Map 4.4) Introduction Korontière-I is named after a nearby-located town in the north-western part of the research area, approximately one kilometre east of the border of Togo. A large number of stone tools were discovered along the river Koumongou (Figure 4.17). Its water level flows today almost three meter below the walking surface. In contrary to most other parts of this river, the southern river side directly west of the bridge shows steep erosion cliffs: a natural profile of several thousand years of sedimentation. Almost three-and-ahalf meter under the present surface a concentration of chipped stone tools over a length of 40m was found. This layer goes up to the east until it reaches the modern walking surface. It was an ideal situation for studying not only the profile, but also the material culture in a horizontal position. The excavation was carried out on the eastern side of the street, where the occupation layer reaches the walking surface. Erosion gullies had caused some damaging, but this also had simplified the identification as a site. Despite the fact that the sediments in which the stones were found, were extremely hard, two living surfaces could be identified. In the excavation area, covering 15 m², more than hundred stone tools and fragments were discovered. Comparison with the material culture found in the profile west of the road did result in hardly any differences, neither in form, technique or raw material and the whole assemblage was considered as belonging to one horizon. Stone objects (Figure 4.18a-c, Table 3) The chipped stones seem to vary at a first glance, but after a closer look, there are several similarities visible. The variety lays in the different industries that are present at this site: from Acheulian bifaces (Figure 4.18b.1) to Levallois flakes (Figure 4.18b.6; 4.18c.2, 6) and quartz cores (Figure 4.18a.6). Comparing the finds with other archaeological sites in West Africa, Korontière-I seems to be inhabited during several millennia. Another explanation could be that this assemblage was the result of a long period of transportation and sedimentation. As the reader will note in the following paragraph, these suggestions are not convincing to me.

None of the stone tools show abrasion and both tools and debitage were part of the assemblage. Especially the presence of debitage, the discarded remains of stone working, is normally not found on a site formed by transportation and sedimentation. Besides debitage, also other indices point to a function for this site as stone working place in the Stone Age. Natural stones were found in the anthropogene layer that were either not yet worked or in use as a hammer. The cores, in most cases with more percussion platforms, show both direct flaking and the Levallois technique (Figure 4.18a.6, 8). Flakes, in more than 30% produced with the Levallois technique, are most common at this site and are made of greyish silicate (Figure 4.18b.6, 10; 18c.1-2, 4-10). Beside the two microliths, which must be considered rather debitage as real tools (Figure 4.18c.14, 22), the general character of the assemblage is large, rough and irregular. The cleavers (Figure 4.18a.3,5,7), flakes and one biface (Figure 4.18b.1) were worked by direct percussion with another stone. A stone with peck traces, that might have been in use as such an implement, was discovered at the same spot during the survey in 2000. A greyish silicate with quartz veins, a raw material that can be found in the mountains a few kilometres east of the site (Figure 2.10), was primarily used for producing these stone tools. Quartz, quartzite and flint are rare. Dating No charcoal or other material was found, suitable for extracting an absolute date. As been discussed in the introduction the site contains Acheulian material, Levallois flakes and quartz cores. Many scholars, such as Vernet (1996), Idé (2000) but also Davies (1956:6) divide these industries in respectively Early Stone Age, Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age. Similar tools made by the Levallois technique were discovered among others in the nearby-located Gobnangou region in south-eastern Burkina Faso (Breunig & Wotzka 1993; Frank et al. 2001:139-41) and in the Mékrou area in south-western Niger (Vernet 1996; Idé 2000). In several other parts of West Africa bifaces and Levallois flakes were found together, similar to Korontière-I, and some have suggested that these industries might well have been used simultaneous (Barendsen et al. 1957; Sheppard & Kleindienst 1996). Also quartz cores were probably already earlier in use as many scholars believe (in contrast to Idé 2000). The stones of Korontière-I both show Sangoan characteristics as evidence for the Lupemban tradition. Conclusions The site Korontière-I is limited in size. The fact that the stones show no abrasion and that a large quantity of debitage remains was found, seem to proof that the material was not brought by the river, but left in situ by Stone Age inhabitants. The assemblage shows a broad spectrum of different forms and techniques, both heavy-duty tools, such as Acheulian hand-axes, discoids and cleavers as well as Levallois cores and flakes. Unfortunately, no traces of fire or food production activities were discovered, which do not 27

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.18a. Material culture, Korontière-I

28

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 4.18b. Material culture, Korontière-I

29

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.18c. Material culture, Korontière-I enable us to date the site or to supply the reader with information about their mode of subsistence. The two surfaces found during the excavation are probably the result of at least two seasons of stone working, after which the river sediments had covered the objects. The

sedimentation speed was not studied and both the time of habitation as the deposition of the river sediment on top of the remains might well be longer in time as these two years.

30

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Excavation 2: Tanougou-I (Map 4.4)

one kilometre inside the mountains (Figure 4.19). During the survey of 1999, a cave on the eastern bank of one of the lakes was discovered, revealing several human-made quartzite, jasper, greyish silicates and flint flakes. Although Davies reported similar finds in the surrounding, the site itself was still unknown (Davies reported in Adagba 1993:8).

Introduction Tanougou is the name of a small village along the road Tanguiéta - Batia, facing the steep cliffs of the Atakora Mountains. The village is especially known for its waterfalls and the two lakes, which is one of the major tourist attractions of the region, located approximately

Map 4.4 :The discovered Stone Age sites in north-western Benin Site description (Figure 4.19) The cave is located eight metres above the lake surface and was originally the main vein for the waterway. Long

before the first human arrived here, the “pipe” was blocked and the water was naturally diverted in another way forming the present waterfall. The current entrance 31

THE STONE AGE about occupation activity in this cave during the last century.

of the cave measures 6,8m wide and 2,1m high. The entrance was in former times a little lower, but sedimentation due to human occupation and the collapse of the roof have raised the walking surface. Despite the fact that the cave is conical in shape and gets very narrow, I was able to enter the cave approximately 30m. Stones, sediments as well as a colony of ants stopped me from continuing this exploratory expedition. In the back of the cave water is running towards the entrance, following a vein somewhere underneath the sediments of the cave.

Excavation work, stratigraphy and sedimentology Trench A measures 4 by 2 meter and was opened inside the cave, perpendicular to the entrance line (Figure 4.19). Fine sediments from bats and other animals, like sand beetles, have covered the present surface and concealed the rock debris. Enough natural light was entering the cave, which enabled us to excavate without artificial spotlights. However, the dust became more and more a problem when the excavation made progress. The upper layer was easy to remove and contained some pottery sherds, two grinding stones, bones, seeds and charcoal fragments (see Chapter 7). Directly underneath this deposit, a debris layer of medium sized stones with sandy sediments in between, was discovered. The jagged morphological character of this layer makes a natural sedimentation process, probably a roof collapse, most likely; the result of stage three. After removing 27cm of stone debris, without finding any Stone Age remains, we concentrated the work in trench B, where important information about the site was exposed at the same time.

Site formation processes Every site and its history will change and develop through the years, during (primary processes) and after the occupation (secondary processes), from big events (like volcanic activity) till small-scale bioturbation. The interpretation of the record is highly dependent on the understanding and recognition of these secondary processes. The Tanougou-I cave has been exposed to water, collapses and bioturbation. The humid atmosphere weakens the soft sedimentary rock and the still running water inside the cave increases the chance of roof collapses. Four phases can be distinguished in the genesis of the cave.

Excavation unit B was opened on the steep slope, that runs down to the lake. It was excavated in order to expose the undisturbed occupation layers without removing the thick stone debris layer, like it was discovered in unit A. In the few days we worked in this area more than 1000 stone artefacts could be excavated, unfortunately, as some C14 dates have revealed, none of them in situ. All Stone Age tools were discovered under the large stone debris layer. Two charcoal samples have been dated: 561 + 33 BP7 and 180 + 30 BP8.

1. Pre-occupation period In the beginning, the cave was probably the main water vein. On a certain moment, the vein was blocked and the water had to find another way in reaching the Gourma Plains. The cave was born. 2. Occupation period During the Stone Age the overhanging rock formation protected the site from water (rain and small side streams of the waterfall) and fallen rocks. Water, dense vegetation and grazing animals approximately 20 meters from the cave, gave the inhabitants a various and nutritious food variability. Steadily sedimentation took place during a probably long occupation history. Soot adhered on the roof, during frequent fires, especially in the middle of the cave. The relatively incoherent rock, weakened by humid condition, caused regular small collapses during this period.

Material Culture (Figure 4.20a-d, Table 4) The objects discovered during the excavation were probably not the result of one occupation period. Unfortunately, the collapses have disturbed the original stratigraphy in such a way that a division in loci or natural layers was not useful. All stone tools will be considered as being deposited in a limited amount of time, which can be defended by the fact that a uniform production method was used throughout the assemblage. Different raw materials were used, all available in the close surroundings: quartzite, quartz, jasper, silicate and sandstone (Figure 2.11). Although quartzite is more difficult to work than silicate, hardness and toughness of this material were excellent qualities for the Stone Age inhabitants to use this raw material. Many quartzite fragments are considered to be debitage, the remains of lithic working. The colour differs from yellow, to yellowbrown, grey-green and even reddish. The assemblage of Tanougou-I contains flakes (Figure 4.20a.5; 4.20b.4, 8-19; 4.20c.1, 3; 4.20d.1-2, 5, 7, 8), discoids (Figure 4.20a.1-4) and other tools (e.g. Figure 4.20a.7-9; 4.20d.9, 16, 21).

3. Post-occupation period After the Stone Age occupation the site seems to be relatively undisturbed. The whole situation inside the cave changes shortly after 1700 AD when a huge collapse buried and disturbed all the earlier remains. Enormous rocks have fallen down on top of the sediments, and partly shifted them into the lake. 4. Historical Period The excavation revealed that people have lived or visited this cave again after the collapse somewhere in the 18th century AD (see Chapter 7). Some pottery sherds were found, decorated with strip-roulette and coloured slip. No one from the locals knew anything

7 8

32

This results in a Calibrated Age of 1309-1433 AD (2s), UtC 9813. This results in a Calibrated Age of 1659-1954 AD (2s), UtC 9812.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 4.19. Tanougou-I

33

THE STONE AGE Twenty-eight detached quartz fragments were discovered in the excavated area of Tanougou-I (e.g. Figure 4.20a.6; 20d.11, 13). The stones are white as well as transparent (like rock crystal) and show irregular breakage. Most of the fragments are small and can even be natural broken off the original boulder/stone (Figure 20d.14).

26) were found. Except for quartz, quartzite and flint, also greyish silicate with quartz veins was used for producing the stone tools at Koukouan-I. Figure 2.10 shows the existence of silicate immediately nearby the site. Many stone tools have not been finished (Figure 4.22.17-18, 4.22) and show premature breaking traces. Debitage remains and cores point as well to the function as a stone working site, nearby the source of raw material. The character of the stones is almost Aterian like, with hafted arrowheads and retouched burins. It is definitively another tradition than at the previous sites, Korontière-I and Tanougou-I. The pottery is not coexisting with the stone tools and will be described in chapter 7.

The silicate stones, especially the stones identified as jasper, are in most cases reddish with transparent quartz bands, but also a slightly bluish, greyish and brownish colour appear. About 340 silicate stones have been discovered in the cave, from which at least 40 seem to have been worked and used (use-retouch). Jasper has the same characteristics as flint stones, but is more fragile. If you drop one stone (as happened unfortunately during transportation), the stone will crumble or break in several fragments. Whereas jasper is more useful to cut things with, the quartzite rough stones are excellent for scraping purposes.

Conclusion The assemblage of Koukouan-I is different from that found at Korontière-I and Tanougou-I. The Levallois technique is not present, neither were rough bifaces and cleavers discovered. Plural retouch from both sides of the stones are indication for the indirect percussion technique. The arrowhead, sometimes even bearded, is a new item. The fact that the raw material can be found in the direct vicinity seems the reason for the Stone Age people to come to this place. The dating of Koukouan-I is not easy. Although most likely younger in date as Korontière-I and Tanougou-I, it has hardly similarities with the typical microlithic cultures dated to the last 4000 years (Eiwanger&Kuevi 1992; Breunig&Wotzka 1993; Frank et al. 2000). I assume an older phase of the Late Stone Age, in which Middle Stone Age characteristics were accomplished by a more ‘arrow’-tradition.

Conclusion The cave of Tanougou-I was inhabited in the Stone Age, but when and how long is hard to say. The stratigraphy was ruined by the huge roof collapse shortly after 1700 AD, mixing all material culture and sediments. The Stone Age inhabitants have used the local quartzite, silicates and quartz cores, which are all available in the Atakora Mountains. The stone analyses, like use-retouch on the chipped stones, have revealed that Tanougou-I was, besides a stone working place, also in use as shelter and living location. Excavation 3: Koukouan-I (Map 4.4)

Excavation 4: Pendjari-II (Map 4.4) Introduction and site description The site is located nearby a small village, called Koukouan, along the road Boukombé - Korontière. A concentration of chipped stone tools on the surface was the reason to assume settlement activity in the Stone Age. The site, a slightly elevated area formed by a laterite layer and greyish silicate seems never to be used for farming and it was hoped to discover undisturbed Stone Age remains (Figure 4.21). The Stone Age remains were expected in the 30cm sediments, which covered the laterite crust and bedrock. The excavation revealed however a mixture of modern and historical pottery with the stone tools. While no information about past cultures was uncovered in situ, none of the charcoal samples were sent in for dating. The following description of the material culture comes mainly from the survey work, carried out after the excavation work failed.

Introduction The site Pendjari-II is named after a river that rises in the Atakora Mountains not far from the village Toukountouna. It runs first eastwards through the rough landscape of the Atakora Mountains and flows then with a large curve, passing the site, to the west. The river has cut out a deep terraced riverbed in the relatively soft alluvial sediments of the Gourma Plains. The expectation to find early human evidence, based on the comparable situation in the Mékrou area (Marchesseau 1966; Vernet 1996; Idé 2000) was fulfilled during the surveys of 1998, 1999 and 2000. Several microlithic Stone Age sites were discovered by walking along the river, searching the eroded cliffs and amphitheatres for archaeological artefacts. The ancient sites, probably located at the time of occupation right on the edge, have all suffocated from erosion process and have partly been rushed away or spread over the lower located river banks. One of the largest sites, Pendjari-II, is located on the southern bank of the Pendjari River, about 1.6km west of the Burkina Faso-Benin border post of Porga.

Material culture (Figure 4.22, Table 5) A large number of flakes (e.g. Figure 4.22.1, 4, 5, 16, 19, 20, 28), burins (Figure 4.22.6), arrowheads (e.g. Figure 4.22.17-8) and microlithic tools (e.g. Figure 4.22.8, 21,

34

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure.4.20a. Material culture, Tanougou-I

35

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.20b. Material culture, Tanougou-I

36

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 4.20c. Material culture, Tanougou-I

37

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.20d. Material culture, Tanougou-I

38

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Excavation work After consulting the border police, we were allowed to start an excavation at this site in the year 2000. The site was partly destroyed by erosion processes and several hundred of artefacts could be picked up from the lower river terraces. The absence of any tools on the most upper walking surface points to a living floor somewhere in between, that might be relatively undisturbed. In the year 2001, a 25m² excavation area was opened for further research. Stratigraphy and sedimentology The evidence of human occupation was found in between a 20cm white alluvial modern layer and hard red-whitish river sediment with a lot of black pisoliths. Several stone artefacts, ceramic sherds and burnt bone fragments, were part of an undisturbed Stone Age site9. Similar to the modern surface, the older living floors were perfectly horizontal. No recent human evidence or other contaminating features, like bioturbation was detected. The material found on the lower terraces was rushed out of their original location by post depositional processes. The absence of any Stone Age material on top of the modern surface was an argument to assume a rather secure situation of ancient human evidence. The burying process, shortly after the occupation of the site, must have been the result of an extreme high water level. Although, I have separated the surface material and the evidence that came out of the excavation trench, comparison between the two assemblages did not show any differences. I consider them as being part of one horizon.

4.21.a The Site

4.21.b The excavation work

Material culture (Figure 4.24, Table 6 and 7) The lithic material show similarities with the microlithic industries discovered in surrounding regions, such as in south-eastern Burkina Faso (Breunig&Wotzka 1993:145187; Frank et al. 2000:127-190), northern Togo (Eiwanger&Kuevi 1992:155-174; Eiwanger 1997:89-102, 1999:151-231), and south-western Niger (Vernet 1996; Idé 2000). Most common is the local available green and brown coloured flint stone, but also quartz was used for producing the tools. In the form of river-pebbles, the inhabitants could bring a large amount of these stones, without much effort to their campsite. It is most likely that the Stone Age people have chosen the location, because of the presence of the raw material in the Pendjari River. New stone knapping techniques, compared to the Stone Age sites presented earlier, made it possible to flake the small river-pebbles in smaller tools, such as microliths. Exceptional was the use of quartzite and sandstone, that originated from the Atakora Mountains, some 60km away.

4.21.c The excavation unit

9

Figure 4.21. Koukouan-I 39

This statement will be discussed below. We have to be careful with alluvial deposit and excavations of flood plain sites (Brown 1997:42).

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.22. Material culture, Koukouan-I

40

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 4.23. Pendjari-II (the z co-ordinates in the 3-D model are not on scale).

41

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.24. Material culture, Pendjari-II

42

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN surface, resulted in a date of 6440 + 40 BP10.

All together 534 chipped stone tools and fragments were discovered at Pendjari-II, both from the surface and out of the excavation trench. The collection contained all stages of stone flaking. Twenty-five not worked pebbles and cobbles were found: 10 of flint, 11 of quartz, 2 of sandstone and 2 made of quartzite. As a result of exposure to moisture most of the stones contain a high amount of cortex and were all rounded by water abrasion, before the actual flaking. The next step in stone working is the core (e.g. Figure 4.24.4). Some were exhausted and probably discarded. Most of them were used multidirectional and had more than one platform.

Conclusions Resembling the finds, both the pottery and the chipped stone tools, the C14 date is very early. The use of pottery containers, as been summarised lately by Wotzka & Goedicke (2001:table 20) started in West Africa somewhere around the 7th or 8th millennium cal. BP in Niger (Roset 1987; Quéchon 1995) and 6th millennium cal. BP in Nigeria (York 1978; Breunig & Wotzka 1993; Wotzka & Goedicke 2001:104-106). Konduga 1, which was not only dated by normal carbon dating methods but also by thermoluminescence method, gives the assumption that the introduction of pottery is much earlier than considered until now (Wotzka & Goedicke 2001:104-5). On the other hand, many dates are not yet scientifically proved and as Wotzka & Goedicke explain, it is unreliable to date ceramic evidence only by radiocarbon, while the stratigraphic situation of these early sites is far from uncontaminated (2001). However, as been mentioned in the introduction, the date of Pendjari-II coexists with Konduga 1 and the more such early dates are found, the more these dates increase in value.

Beside several flakes of Pendjari-II, made of flint stone (e.g. Figure 4.24.20, 31), almost hundred microliths, quadrangular, trapezoids as well as triangular shaped were found at this site (e.g. Figure 24.41-65). The crescent type, as it was discovered in northern Togo (Eiwanger & Kuevi 1992: Fig.4 and Fig.6; Eiwanger 1997: Abb.8) and south-eastern Burkina Faso (Frank et al. 2000:Fig.32.2, 8) was however hardly found at Pendjari-II. One small biface (Figure 4.24.7), several scrapers (e.g Figure 4.24.1,5-6.) as well as burins and points (e.g. Figure 4.24.21,25,37-38) were discovered. These were the only stones from which the functions can be derived, unfortunately on morphological grounds.

Material culture: a chronological model Introduction Discussing the Stone Age material culture, without using a terminology like Early, Middle, Late Stone Age and Neolithic period is not an easy task. Despite these difficulties, this chapter will present the material culture of the Stone Age in chronological order. However, this order was never present at one site (a continues stratigraphy) and not checked by absolute dates. By comparison with other sites, which use the terminology like Middle Stone Age, I may fall in the same pitfall, discussed in Chapter 3.5. I have divided the sites and their stone assemblages and industries in three periods primarily based on technological characteristics. This division do not represent the usual phases Early-, Middleand Late Stone Age.

Pottery But the largest surprise, especially after reconsidering the C14 date, was the presence of pottery at Pendjari-II. The pottery remains were rather small, not more as 3cm² and heavily eroded. The main temper used for making the pottery was organic, grounded quartz and sand. Except for two examples, which were fired with medium temperatures all others were fired under low temperatures. An oxidised condition was, except for two examples, the normal way of firing. Beside the general smoothing technique, two sherds were finished with rocker stamping and parallel incisions (Figure 4.24.66-67), which has much affinities with the material found in the Gobnangou area (Wotzka&Goedicke 2001:Fig 1+Fig 2+Fig 4) and northern Togo (Eiwanger 1999:Fig.36+Fig 37).

Period I (Group 1,2) – Figure 4.18a-c, 4.20a-d, 4.25a During period I, several different stone working techniques were used. In this phase, the Acheulian industry (Group 1), in many studies evidence for Early Stone Age occupation, is present (Davies 1957; Vialettes 1980; Tillet 1991; Adagba 1987; Tillet & Novikoff 1989; Vernet 1996; Bordes 2000:71-94; Idé 2000). In northwestern Benin group 1 can be recognised by large pieces of rock, mainly locally available silicate, formed in bifaces or cleavers by the direct percussion technique. It still remains difficult to tell, if the main stone was in use as core or tool (Andrefsky 1991; Kelly 1988). Beside bifaces and cleavers, also large scrapers and discoid cores were used. Marliac have dated discoid stone tools found at Figuil-Louti in Cameroon between 40.000 and 50.000

Other material Beside ceramics and chipped stone tools, some burnt bone fragments were found. They were hardly recognisable as such and we have to wait for the final bone analysis for more information. One large fragment of charcoal was found, partly mineralised. A sample of this mineralised charcoal fragment that was completely sealed off for post-depositional processes under the 20cm upper alluvial deposit was taken for dating purposes. Of course the relation between the different material can never been proved. The only thing known is that the wood was burnt simultaneous or earlier as the site was inhabited. The sample, taken from a depth of 0.25m under the walking

10

43

This results in a Calibrated Age of 5460-5310 BC (2s), Kl-4881.

THE STONE AGE

4.25a. Survey finds of Stone Age period I BP (1973:82). But the time span this type of tool was produced, is too broad for any precise date that can be used as a parallel for the assemblage of north-western Benin. The second stone working method that was used in period I is the Levallois technique (Group 2). The preparatory flaking aimed in shaping the nodule, the core, that a flake could be detached which would immediately serviceable as an implement without further dressing (Oakley 1972:52; Bordes 2000:26). Levallois flakes were found together with the Acheulian stone tools (e.g. Tattersall et al. 1988:319). The tools were finished with a rough retouch technique, which leads often to premature

breakage of the stone. The assemblage has similarities with the Early as well as Middle Stone Age industries in West Africa, like Sangoan and Lupemban traditions. But also Mousterian traditions appear now and then. The main raw material used for making the tools, is quartzite, silicate and jasper. Period II (Group 2,3,4) – Figure 4.22, 4.25b The second period, which might be slightly contemporary with period I and III, shows smaller stone tools (Breunig&Wotzka 1993; Frank et al. 2001; Vogelsang 1998). The Levallois technique was still in use although 44

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 4.25.b. Survey finds of Stone Age period II of hafting of stone tools (1983)11. The main raw material used in this phase is silicate, jasper, quartzite and quartz.

not very frequently. The Acheulian tradition has disappeared and most tools are flakes broken from a mutli-directional core (e.g. Andrefsky 1998:144). The transition from flake to blades as can be viewed in other regions (Mellars 1989:340) did not occur in northwestern Benin. And both the side-scraper and the endscrapers have been found in period I as well as in period II. Most chipped stone tools have an irregular outlook (Group 3). Indirect percussion at the final stage of was used to change the irregular flake in an arrowhead or scraper (Group 4). This last technique has similarities with the Neolithic assemblages throughout the West African region (Vernet 1996:288; Walker 1995:39) but also with North and East African Aterian industries (Pasty 1999; Ziegert 1969; Tillet 1991:191; Vogelsang 1998:Tafel 16+56; Bordes 2000:Pl. 443-44). The largest difference with previous phase is the increased complexity in technology. This, as Clark suggested, might reflect the introduction and widespread application

Period III (Group 5,6,7) – Figure 4.24, 4.25c This period is for the first time microlithic, and is characterised by the use of flint, instead of jasper or silicate and the first appearance of ceramic. Around 5500 BC, the inhabitants of north-western Benin have discovered the advantages of flint, above jasper, quartzite and silicate. Triangular, quadrangular and trapezoid microliths were found all with regular retouch patterns (Group 5). They are made from long blades, cut off from 11

45

On the other hand at least certain forms of the earlier stone tools could also be hafted by different techniques (Anderson 1980; Beyries 1987). The suggestion that the Early and Middle Palaeolithic can be divided by the adaptation of the hafting techniques (Isaac 1982:246; Idris 1994:45) also seems not suitable for our case. If we uses these characteristics for the different phases, our phase I must than be classified to the Early Stone Age.

THE STONE AGE

Figure 4.25.c.Survey finds of Stone Age period III bi-directional cores (Andrefsky 1998:194-5). The natural stones are relatively small, and therefore the tools are even smaller than in previous phases. Very seldom bifacial tools appear (Group 6). The tools show the soft percussion technique, rather than direct hard percussion. The bearded arrowhead is not present anymore and more and more scrapers appear (Group 7). Quartz and flint is the main raw material, with now and then quartzite, jasper and silicate. Similar assemblages were found in Togo (Eiwanger&Kuevi 1992; Eiwanger 1997, 1999), in Burkina Faso (Breunig&Wotzka 1993; Vogelsang 2000; Frank et al. 2001) and in Niger (Idé 2000; Vernet 1996). The ceramics are fired under low temperatures (e.g. the ceramic of Afikpo, Chikwendu 1998) and tempered with sand and grounded quartz. The pottery sherds are decorated with rocker-stamping and line incision and normally finished with self-slip and smoothed (Bernus et al. 1995:86-89,164; Eiwanger 1999; Roset 1983, 1995, 1996).

Settlement distribution Period I Altogether 14 sites of period I were discovered in northwestern Benin. These sites consist, except for three, of single surface finds and show Levallois flakes, rough artefacts and tools, almost all made of quartzite, silicate and jasper. They are located in the northern plains close to Atakora mountain ridges and have all-year-round waterways in close vicinity. Is this distribution relevant, or did I fail to find sites located inside and south of the mountains? The plains, especially towards the southern coast were probably denser vegetated and therefore more difficult to “conquer” for the Stone Age people. It might have been difficult for the inhabitants to settle and survive in these regions. Graham Connah made similar assumptions (2001). Whereas the Tanougou cave was probably in use as shelter and living area, the KorontièreI site was visited primarily for stone working.

46

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Period II Period II, characterised by the irregular overall form of the chipped stones, was found in the whole region, except for the mountain area. Twenty-three sites were discovered from the far north, near the border of Burkina Faso, to the Perma region. The inhabitants did not settle always near water. Unfortunately, the sites, consisting of scattered stone tools, did not have any sedimentation or living evidence in situ. The inhabitants were moving around, probably following animal herds and searching for an abundance of nutritious plants and roots.

“The image of man the scavenger is both unfamiliar and unflattering” In: In the Age of Mankind by Lewin 1988:99

As Binford believe, they were primarily scavengers, processing carcasses that had been ravaged and then abandoned by carnivores (Binford 1984, 1985; Lewin 1988:99). In the second period arrow points appear, like the Aterian examples found at Koukouan-I. These artefacts have been tight to a stick and used for defending purposes or as hunting tool. Meat became more important, which did not exclude vegetable based food products. The introduction of these points may be one of the reasons that the inhabitants could exploit the southern regions.

Period III The third phase has an equal distribution pattern as period II. The sites are spread over the research area, although more often near riverbanks and water streams. Again, no sites were found in the mountain area. There is no increase in number of sites and inhabitants visible. In many regions, period III is an important stage of evolution in which the number of inhabitants exploded. North-western Benin seems to be an exception, although, as pointed out in the introduction of this research manuscript, statistical and numerical conclusion made here must be taken with care.

In the third period, an important innovation did change the society. This change was probably not taken over by everybody and different types of living forms have existed in the same region. From the 6th millennium BC onwards, some of the inhabitants adopted a more sedentary way of life. I say more, while until the Iron Age people were wandering through the region. Although wooden shelters might be in use the inhabitants have not stayed very long at one place. Pottery was the main change, as well as the appearance of domestic plant types (although not found in our region). With pottery, they were not dependent on the movement of wild animals and the abundance of water. The pottery assemblage found on the Stone Age sites is thin walled, formal produced (although with lower temperatures as during the Iron Age) and are not exceeding a medium large jar used during the Iron Age. Although decoration did not have the same importance than in later period, the ceramic containers show a design made by rocker-stamping and line incision. The only direct evidence of food, are some burnt bone remains (not identifiable) found at Pendjari-II.

Subsistence economy and land use Introduction Subsistence economy and land use of Stone Age communities are subjects, which are hard to detect. The problem lay especially in the fact that the remaining evidence is scarce and the time period huge. Especially the last fact is often neglected. I have found 55 sites belonging the Stone Age and 59 Iron Age sites. But if you remember that the 55 sites are the remains for at least 50.000 years of occupation and the Iron Age sites only for 800 years, it is clear that a good understanding of the Stone Age society is hardly possible, considering the problems archaeologists and historians have reconstructing the Iron Age. The next paragraph is more like the repeating of hypothesis and theories, simply taken from other scholars.

The Stone Age in north-western Benin Introduction The only absolute date came from Pendjari-II; between 5300 and 5600 cal. BC. One date is far too little to base a chronological framework on and comparison with other assemblages throughout the West African region was carried out, in order to describe the Stone Age of northwestern Benin in the following sub-chapter. This preliminary framework includes some very rough dates, which are not well proved for the assemblage in northwestern Benin. They are only used to give the reader a broad idea of the time that have past since then.

Subsistence economy In the oldest period, the material culture is characterised by rough tools, like large flakes, bifaces and cleavers. They were all used directly by hand and not first tied to an extension tool. There are many studies carried out on functionalism of these heavy tools, with different outcomes, ranging from killing large animals to root digging instruments. Many scholars believe that in the earliest days humans were opportunistic omnivores, primary vegetarians, but with also some animal food resources (Schick&Toth 1993:206). It is questionable of these heavy stone tools were suitable for killing animals. Their morphology is most consistent with butchery knives for larger animals and also wear pattern have revealed this (Keeley 1977).

Period I Evidence for the earliest human existence in northwestern Benin, came from actually two sites in the northern plains: Korontière-I and Tanougou-I. The chipped stone tools have a rough character and were made by the direct percussion technique. Several cleavers, bifaces and large irregular scrapers made of silicate and quartzite were discovered at Korontière-I 47

THE STONE AGE their stone tools and had discovered the advantages of flint and quartz above jasper and silicate. An increase in number of scrapers is also visible. The flint pebbles are small, and the tools are therefore even smaller as were used in previous phases. The remains of period III were situated along rivers and water streams in the plains. The preference can be explained by the availability of raw material inside these riverbanks. The occupation remains of phase III include ceramics, tempered with sand and grounded quartz and fired under low temperatures. Although the sizes of the vessels were smaller than in the Iron Age, I assume that the inhabitants in this early stage have lived seasonally on one place. They have not used clay as building material, as was usual during the Iron Age, and that is most likely the explanation for the absence of architectural elements in the archaeological record. It seems not likely that complete mobile groups could have taken all the ceramic vessels along their way, following animal herds. Although the people of period III were still hunter-gatherers, they now could store items and were no longer dependent on the everyday yield. However, no increase in number of sites and settlements could be stated for north-western Benin in period III. Between 1900 and 1000 BC, the climate was still more humid than today and the first domesticated plants appear in West Africa (Amblard 1996; Kahlheber et al. 2001:150; Neumann et al. 2001:330). The transition from fully mobile toward the sedentary living form in the Iron Age was most likely a very slow process (Neumann et al. 2001:332). The absence of absolute dates and sites in situ, however, makes north-western Benin until now not a suitable region for studying the grey or dark period between the Stone Age and Iron Age (Breunig&Neumann 2002).

together with some Levallois flakes and cores. Although no animal remains were discovered in relation with the assemblage, other studies have revealed that these rough stone tools were used for digging and cutting purposes. Except for the stone working place near Korontière, most inhabitants have looked for shelters and caves, like Tanougou-I. Acheulian bifaces and cleavers as well as Levallois flakes and cores are good evidence to put the occupation between 200.000 BP and 14.000 BP. The more advanced Tanougou-I material may be of a later date as the occupation of Korontière-I, but definitively still belonging to the traditional Middle Stone Age. Period II More than twenty sites of period II are spread over the research area, except for the mountain area, and were in no way restricted to caves, shelters or even water sources. Hunting and gathering seem in this period increasing in importance, as finds of stone arrows (both hafted as unhafted points) following the Aterian industries, proof. Levallois technique was used but not as frequent as during phase I. Retouch made with the soft percussion technique, had the advantage that the stone worker could achieve every form. The frequently occurring blade industries, with the thin long blade and well-retouched artefacts, after the Acheulian period, seem absent in north-western Benin. I assume that the equipment was used by inhabitants in a period contemporary with or a little after the Atarian period around 60.000-30.000 BP12 (Débenath et al. 1982; Sheppard 1987:2). The absence of ceramic vessels as well as microliths places this phase before the appearance of both elements around 7000 BP. Period III The third phase is characterised by the presence of microlithic tools. Around 5000 BC many inhabitants of north-western Benin had used river pebbles for producing

12

Aterian assemblages were unearthed throughout the southern Sahara and eastern Africa. Similar finds were made by Marliac in Cameroun (Marliac 1973; Clark 1980:548).

48

The Iron Age Unfortunately, attitudes have not much changed as Connah points out (1998:1-2). Besides the fact that it seems still difficult for most Euro-centric scientists to accept an advanced culture outside their hemisphere, Susan McIntosh mentioned the problematic aspects and the historical development of theory in African ethnographic literature as possible factors leading to the neglect of Africa. (S.K.McIntosh 1999:1-4; Schmidt 1996:10).

„Plumpes Bauernvolk vom Stamme der Bammana, zierliche und gestriegelte Herrschen aus den Städten. Segu und Mopti, edle und geschmeidige Fulbe, schmutzige Mauren. Jede Art für sich eine eigne, alle zusammen ein Stil, der Stil des westsudanischen Kulturbeckens, das der Niger in seinem großen Bogenlaufe durchflutet. Ein gewachsener, durch sich selbst gerechtfertigter Stil großer Linie. Ein Stil, dessen Werden durch historische Tiefenblicke perspektivische verständlich wird. Denn schon Jahrhunderte vor Christi Geburt bestand im Norden das größte Reich Gannata. Das Songhaireich entstand. Das Malireich löste es ab. So gewaltig waren diese Staaten, dass sie mit dem großen und starken Marokko Kriege führen konnten und mussten..... Hier am Niger eröffnete sich mir im Blick in die Weite und Tiefe in das Alter und die Großartigkeit der sudanischen Kultur – in ein großzügiges Werden, für das der europäische und asiophile Forscher und Betrachter überhaupt keinen Blick übrig gehabt hatte. Denn jene wenigen Jahreszahlen sind tote Knochen, die Geschichte und sogar die Chroniken des Sudan leblose Kadaver: diese Kultur des Westsudan, sie selbst also, ist aber Leben – lichtstarkes Leben, das uns hinüberleuchtet aus Zeiten und Formen, die uns auch in unseren Räumen Fossil wurden.“. In: Der Kopf als Schicksal by L. Frobenius 1924:59-60

How easily the path towards complexity has been presented above, how much more complex is the situation in the field. This period was not an uninterrupted, never changing period or a simple path towards complexity1. And West Africa was neither a total urban society (e.g. Yansane 1990:39; Childs&Killick 1993:322; Horton & Mudida 1993), nor a society consisting of scattered groups of people living in small villages of grass or mud huts (e.g. Phillipson 1977; Connah 2001:xi). State of archaeological research While in other parts of the Old World a Chalcolithic Period and Bronze Age formed the transition between prehistory and protohistory, in West Africa the Iron Age directly followed the Stone Age. This applies to most areas, although in some parts such as Agadez, Niger, (Grébénart 1983:109-125) and Akjoujt, Mauritania (Lambert 1975, 1983; Vernet 1993) there appears to have been a Chalcolithic Period. It is, however, still questionable if this period and the Iron Age were succeeding or overlapping. More and more dates have now convincingly fixed the first copper smelting in Africa to the second millennium BC (Killick et al. 1988).

State of archaeological research Introduction The West African Iron Age was a period in which iron metallurgy appeared and a time in which the human race adopted a predominant sedentary lifestyle. City-states and kingdoms were born out of small desert villages and Muslim merchants travelled throughout the region, returning home with amazing stories of cities full of gold, colourful textiles and other luxury goods. (e.g. Ibn Battuta see Defremery & Sanguinétti 1858; Levtzion & Hopkins 1981:279-304) West Africa had in this period complex societies with well organised, centralised governments and legal systems. It was definitively not a passive recipient of cultural development from outside, nor a static continuation of the Stone Age, in which, according to one’s imagination, wild “primitives” with wooden spears ran naked through the bush. These extremely racist ideas were already questioned by Leo Africanus (Africanus 1896:822) and later Leo Frobenius (Frobenius 1924, 1933, 1952) in their famous travel reports. However, in spite of these early historical sources, Graham Clarke wrote much later in his book, The prehistory of Africa: “Africa was a continent that had already during the Late Pleistocene times slipped far behind in the race of progress” (1970:112).

When we equate the first appearance of iron with the beginning of the Iron Age, the oldest sites are located in Niger, Mali, Nigeria and possible Burkina Faso. In Nigeria traces of iron metallurgy were found at sites in the northern Sahelian zone, like Taruga (Tylecote 1975a), Daima II (Connah 1981) and Samun Dukiya (Fagg 1972), all dated to the first millennium BC (Huysecom 1987:129). In western Mali along the River Sénégal some furnace remains, associated with several slag hills, were discovered recently and dated between 800 and 417 BC (Dupuy 1994:124; Sow 2000:98). In Burkina Faso, good preserved remains of iron-furnaces and tuyères, as well as bones and pottery sherds, were excavated near Douroula 1

49

Our understanding of the African Iron Age is heavily skewed by a progressive developmental framework and based primarily on sites selected for investigation because they were deemed important for their ability to shed light on the development of complexity (Stahl 1999:44). There seems no evidence for an overall increase in centralisation in the Iron Age (Vansina 1999:171).

THE IRON AGE opened in order to obtain details about the different occupation phases: the horizontal information (Figure 5.27). The other units on mound 1, forming one large trench, resulted in a complete view of the settlement history (Figure 5.28). Two of the three smaller mounds (mound II and III) were sounded in order to adjoin them in the stratigraphy of mound 1 (Figure 5.29 and 5.30).

by the archaeologists Holl and Koté. (Millogo 2000:66) In other regions the Late Stone Age continued, such as in Bassari, Togo (Barros 1985:57) and in Rim, Burkina Faso (Andah 1978, 1980). At these sites iron production and the use of iron was adopted much later, sometime during the first millennium AD. At the same time, the inhabitants of Niger, Mali and Nigeria improved their techniques and followed a path toward city-states and complex societies. Excavations of sites in these countries, such as Jenné-Jeno (S.K.McIntosh 1995) and Gao (Insoll 1996, 2000), as well as the cemetery of Bura (Gado 1993:365-375), have resulted in an enormous amount of information about the Iron Age and it’s material culture. But there is still a lot to do before scientists are fully familiar with this period.

Stratigraphy Ten occupation phases could be distinguished at Yohongou-I, all exposed in the long trench made on mound I (units I, B, D, E and G). The C14-dates, comparison of material culture and the analyses of the stratigraphical and sedimentological situation adjoined the „local“ phases in the other excavation units in this scheme. Due to the discovery of virgin soil, it was decided to number the phases from the bottom up. It will tell the “story” of the mound in chronological order.

Excavation 1: Yohongou-I (Map 5.5) Introduction Travelling from the regional centre Tanguiéta to Kobli, the settlement mounds of Yohongou-I are hard to miss. The site is located a short distance to the west of a small village with the same name2, directly in front of the impressive cliff-face of the Atakora Mountains (Figure 2.7). Not only the size of the mounds catches the eye of the passer-by, but also the seemingly undisturbed conditions: high grass and medium sized trees that stand out clearly against the sparsely vegetated northern Plains.

The natural surface, prior to any visible occupation, was discovered in unit D and G at a depth of 3.15m under the site datum, P13. This alluvial sediment, probably of late Pleistocene age, contained a high percentage of iron and clay particles (Haugthon 1963:317; Dubois et al. 1984) and was also identified in one of the natural profiles of the Nayagou, a small river that runs about 50m north-east of the site. Although not measured precisely, the alluvial deposit near the river is at least 10m lower than the same surface near the mound: a natural was there before the first inhabitants came to this place. The water resources, the fertility of the surrounding sediments and the function as an observation post overlooking the direct environment were certainly underlying reasons for people to settle here.

From the highest point of the largest mound, approximately 8 meters above the sand-road TanguiétaKobli, you discover a marvellous view overlooking the gently sloping plains. The site covers in total an area of about 1.8 ha, and was inhabited between 650 and 1200 AD. The largest mound, no.1, forms the centre of the site and is drop-shaped, measuring approximately 1.2 ha. The other three hills are placed north, south and west of this mound and average 2m high and approximately 30m in diameter.

When did the first people come to Yohongou-I and from where did they originate? These questions are not easily answered; especially from the obscure occupation remains left prior to the clearly identifiable Iron Age settlement mounds in West Africa (Mauny 1970; S.K.McIntosh&R.J.McIntosh 1979:227; Connah 2001:116-119)4. It is possible that the first inhabitants did not use mud to build their houses. There might be a transitional phase in which sedentary living patterns existed at Yohongou-I, but without any recognisable building material. Or, comparable to McIntosh’s suggestion for the Inner Niger Delta, the site might well have been seasonally exploited by semi-nomadic people before the same people adapted a fully sedentary lifestyle (1980:434). Some pottery sherds found in the virgin soil may belong to this pre-mudbrick phase, although the

Looking at the morphology of the site, the steep northeastern slopes catch one’s attention. Rosen has assumed that wind direction played a role in the morphology of a settlement mound (1986:31). Direct exposure to the erosion agents of rainfall results in equal weathering rates along the entire face of the slope, while on the side hit obliquely by the rain a gentler slope occurs. Except for the hot dusty Harmattan wind, most winds in this region blow from SSW to NNE along the mountain ridge, which is consistent with the theory of Rosen Excavation work Most of the eight trenches were opened perpendicular to the edge of the mounds, avoiding as many of the numerous animal holes as possible. Excavation unit A, measuring 4x4m and located on top of mound 1, was 2

4

Co-ordinates: 10°31‘60“ N - 1°10‘60“ E, Altitude: 244m above sea level.

50

The original orange coloured iron-rich soil was identical to that seen today, covered with topsoil, exposed to different weathering processes and bioturbation. The given depth is therefore not the original walking surface. Strangely enough, the pre-mud phase is something the archaeologists don’t seem interested in or have difficulty detecting. There is a „mobile Elite“ (MacDonald 1998:71-103) in the Stone Age and suddenly a fully developed urban society in the Iron Age (S.K.McIntosh&R.J.McIntosh 1993; S.K.McIntosh 1995). What was in between?

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Map 5.5 The discovered Iron Age sites in north-western Benin . might be a smaller settlement dated to earlier periods context of discovery is not very reliable5. Flint tools, dated relatively to Period III of the Stone Age, were underneath the not yet excavated areas. But until found in phase V at Yohongou-I (Figure 5.34. 5.32, opposing arguments are given, the occupation history of 5.33). Either these objects were brought accidentally into Yohongou-I started around 650 AD, with phase I. the settlement, together with, for example, building materials, or these are the remains of the first inhabitants Phase I or visitors at Yohongou-I. It has been noted that just a On top of the red-orange coloured, hard virgin soil, the very tiny part of this settlement was excavated. There east section of excavation unit D demonstrated a 30cm debris layer, light brown in colour and compact due to the 5 high percentage of clay particles. The appearance of sand The total mound has been tunnelled and disturbed by animals. Bioturbation has a firm influence on the stratigraphical analyses and particularly wash layers in this debris leads to the and the provenance of the material culture. The few sherds found inside the original iron rich sediment comes from above and is therefore difficult to place in a certain phase or period.

51

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.26: Yohongou-I (the z co-ordinates of the 3-D model are not on scale).

52

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.27 The section drawings and topplans of excavation unit A, Yohongou-I

53

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.28 The section drawings of excavation units B, D, E and G, Yohongou-I worked objects were found among many ceramic sherds that were extremely worn by natural forces, the clearly smoothed and rounded sides are so regular that a natural cause is not likely. Perhaps they were used for pottery production, perhaps as gaming pieces (e.g. Shaw 1961:54, plate x). In unit D, a large fragment of an iron bracelet was found. No other evidence of iron production, such as slag or furnace fragments, was noted.

assumption that unit D must have been outside the frequently trodden area (e.g. Franken 1984:24)6. A concentration of greyish coloured clay with many small stones was found in the north-eastern corner. Although no bricks were distinguishable, this debris might be part of an architectural element. The oldest C14 determination was obtained from charred wood found in this feature: 1349 + 37 years BP7. In addition to the remains of sheep, goats and cattle, this phase also contained the bones of two human individuals, one baby and one adult, although no burial pit was seen during the excavation work. Fragments of two everted jars, one closed jar, one shallow bowl and two open deep bowls were discovered (Figure 5.31:1-6). The open shallow bowl with slip-burnish shows an out-turned rim, which has some similarities to later phases (Figure 5.31:4). The everted jars (Figure 5.31:1-2) and the thin walled closed jar (Figure 5.31:3) points to storage activity in this phase, a clear indication of a sedentary way of life. The rim sizes fall between 180-280mm (averaging 227mm), which is wide compared to the succeeding phases. The body thickness averages 9mm and the vessel height is approximately 215mm8. Thedecoration on the containers is relative monotonous: most sherds show only smoothing or burnishing, sometimes with a slip layer. Strip-roulette, rocker stamping and braided-strip-roulette appear during this phase, but none of them account for more than 6% of the total assemblage.

The end of phase I, beginning of phase II A layer of red-orange coloured, hard sediment covered the occupation remains of phase I. The sediments did not contain wash layers or building evidence and revealed a limited amount of material culture. I tend to believe the people of phase II engaged in a levelling activity, where the soil of the field was used to raise a kind of platform and create a stable foundation for new buildings. While older occupation remains are very unstable to build upon, levelling, either by removing part of the older phases or by bringing in sediment, was a very common activity on settlement mounds, as has been demonstrated in the Middle East (Franken 1984:26). Although it is difficult to detect the passage of time between phases and whether or not the new occupants were related to the previous inhabitants, a change in pottery forms and techniques was visible. This points to new influences and perhaps new occupants. Phase II The second phase lasted much longer than phase I. An EW wall in unit B, running parallel to the edge of the site, was built up with rectangular sun-dried mudbricks made of yellowish clay and plant temper9. The function of this feature has not been clarified. Although the debris layer on both sides of the wall was homogenous, the enormous depth of this deposit assumes several sub-phases. This period correlates with the second C14 date taken out of

A unique find was a concentration of 15 rectangular, triangular and diamond-shaped pottery sherds (Figure 5. 31:7-20) discovered in excavation unit G. Although these 6

7

8

Wash layers are a series of thin layers, accumulated in a waterfilled depression. Any human intervention annuls the deposition of the smaller particles. This results in a calibrated Age of 1242 + 64 cal. BP, and with 95,4% certainty (2 Sigma) 644 - 724 cal. AD, 733 – 772 cal. AD (Erl. 2977). The vessel height has not been measured from complete pots (hardly present), but by comparison with similar shapes in other excavations. It is therefore only a rough estimate rather than fact.

9

54

The absence of pisoliths as temper in mud building seems characteristic for the early Iron Age.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.29: Section drawings and topplans of excavation unit C, Yohongou-I.

55

THE IRON AGE the debris, at a depth of 2.40m under the site datum P1: 1230 + 55 years BP10. The pottery includes several new forms and contrasts clearly with the ceramic containers found in phase I. Vessels with one circular hole in the base are new (Figure 5.32:4-5). With a few exceptions, the diameter of this hole varies between 40 and 80mm and the sides are slightly thickened. It has been argued that this is part of a rim instead of a base. However, in many cases the sherds have decoration on the inside, which would be impossible for an extremely closed deep bowl. The outside has a wear pattern, as if placed on the floor or used for cooking or steaming. A thick layer of chalk is visible on the inside and in the hole. The outside, however, is free from crust that is normally formed, when water had been standing or running through the hole. This could only occur if the hole is part of the base. Although this type is rarely mentioned in the literature, Susan McIntosh suggested a function as a funnel (1995:Figure 3:31). Other examples were found in the Niger Delta in Mali (Bedaux et al. 1978; Bedaux & Raimbault 1993:Fig 20:15). Another new vessel type is the carinated deep bowl with a closed rim (Figure 5.32:1). This type of vessel, which is formally made and slip-burnished, is in most cases decorated with line incisions and geometrical patterns (e.g. the painted sherds in Jenné-Jeno (S.K.McIntosh 1995:Photo 19)). The closed, everted and open deep bowls and the jars were also used during this phase. Except for one open deep bowl with an out-turned rim (Figure 5.32:6), all the other deep bowls have simple or everted rims. The everted jars now have a longer neck, but the rims are not as extremely everted as the ceramics from the oldest occupation period at Yohongou-I. The average rim diameter is 189mm, the body thickness 10mm and the average vessel height measures 191mm. Most bases are rounded or half-rounded. The amount of smoothed and burnished sherd is still dominant, but now the number of vessels decorated with string-roulette, strip-roulette, line-incision, and braided-strip-roulette motifs increases.

Figure 5.30 The section drawing of excavation unit F Phase III Although phase III contains the most settlement mound forming material with a deposit of more than 90cm, the actual information obtained is rather marginal. No architectural elements were discovered, nor any evidence of human intervention or presence except for a thick homogeneous debris layer. This phase was excavated in three excavation units and all units were studied with more or less the same results. The grey, reddish compact debris layer with some wash layers contained light greyish, hard mudbrick fragments. In spite of the absence of real building remains in situ, these fragments indicated some kind of building activity in the proximity. It is hardly likely that such a thick deposit existed without any human occupation in the vicinity. Contain this layer the remnants of previous occupation removed during levelling in phase III? Was it the refuse of the people of phase III? Did this layer belong to phase III, removed during levelling in phase IV? The period between phase III and IV, visible by an interface due to erosion activity, does not show any connection between this layer and the previous one. Wash layers are normally deposited during at least one rainy season. The succession of depressions with these wash layers in excavation unit B indicates that this phase must have lasted at least three years. Therefore, levelling activities do not seem to be the most reliable explanation. Such an area with a high deposit rate, although it was not frequently trodden upon, could have been in use as a rubbish dump. The people who were depositing the sediment and material culture may have lived on one of the smaller hills. Several bones from sheep and goats, as well as cattle and fish bones, like the remains of the lungfish, were discovered in this layer.

Two iron objects were discovered in square D. One complete iron pin with a sharp end was found in unit D, measuring 61x5x5mm (Figure 5.32:13). Intermediate phase II-III After phase II, the site was again temporarily abandoned. A thin layer of orange coloured sediment covered the older phase, similar to the end of phase I. However, this time the deposit might have been of natural origin, laid down by wind and other natural processes. The layer contains little material culture and is almost equal in height in all the excavated areas.

10

The overall composition of the phase III pottery assemblage closely resembles that of phase II. Carinated bowls decorated with geometrical line incisions, closed deep bowls and the base-with-one-hole type were found, as well as everted jars and shallow bowls (Figure 5.33:1-

This date taken from a charcoal piece results in a calibrated Age of 675 – 945 AD (UtC KL-4689) as obtained from the program Calib 3.03.

56

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN 15). However, a few changes are visible: the jars no longer have such an extremely everted rim (e.g. Figure 5.33:4). The presence of strainer like vessels, often finished with strip-roulette (for a complete example, see Figure 6.65a:15) are also new. The vessels were perforated before firing, from the outside to the inside. The holes have an average diameter of 9mm and the wall thickness of for this type of container is at least 12mm. McIntosh and Insoll consider them a part of the wet cooking techniques, in which steaming, stewing, boiling and frying were dominant. Insoll, when describing these finds from Gao, called them “couscousières” (Insoll 2000:77, fig 88b). A similar function has been mentioned by Susan McIntosh (1995:160, fig 3.7, fig 3.29). Other examples were discovered in the Inner Niger Delta (Huyesecom & Mayor 1993:Fig 10:3)

and northern Burkina Faso (Lingané 1995:Fig 52n). According to ethnographic literature these vessels are still being used, such as the strainer used for washing the néré fruits in northern Togo (Hahn 1991a:abb.20). In northern Burkina Faso, I have seen a similar vessel in the vicinity of the village Oursi. The average rim diameter of the assemblage is 224mm, which is relatively large compared to other sites and periods in north-western Benin. The body thickness, 10mm, and the average vessel height, 200mm, is also relatively large. For the first time, the decoration on the ceramic sherds can be called numerous. Beside the general smoothing and burnishing, strip-roulette has shown the greatest increase, up to almost 20% of the total collection. Comb-

Figure 5.31 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase I impression (sometimes with red ochre smeared inside the impressions), string-roulette, mat and line-incision, as well as course-braided-strip-roulette and comb-lines, are found, but not in large quantities. Most sherds are fired

under relatively high temperatures in reduced atmosphere and cooled down relatively fast in the air11. The local clay 11

57

The distinction between high, medium and low temperatures throughout the thesis are rather rough conclusions, based on the statement that the hardness of pottery increases with firing temperatures (Rye 1981:121).

THE IRON AGE contains a small amount of natural mica. There are four main groups of temper used during this phase: grog (21%), grog with sand or quartz (24%), grog with organic material (31%), and all the named materials together (21%). Additionally, some exceptional temper material could be identified in some of the sherds. Sherds containing only quartz and sand temper seem to be related to older periods. It is, however, not clear, whether these older sherds where accidentally mixed with Iron Age ceramics or if the vessels were coincidentally made in the Iron Age using methods similar to the older production techniques. Even more unusual is the appearance of slag fragments in one sherd. Extremely hard fired, this sherd with more mica than is usual at Yohongou-I does originate from areas south of the Atakora Mountains (see Kouisougou-I).

phase: small nails and long pins, probably needles, as well as flat knife blades and arrowheads (Figure 5.33:1622). This phase also contained a small fragment of what may be a fishhook, an oval shaped pottery pendant (Figure 5.33:23) and ground stone equipment. Phase IV Mudbrick structures were erected on top of the thick debris layer of phase III. In unit B, a wall parallel to the mound edge was found which had fallen down towards the centre of the site. This wall was built up in two rows and three layers of rectangular sun-dried mudbricks, each measuring 500x320x110mm. Although animals’ disturbance have diminished the amount of information we could obtain from the east section, a function as a terracing or surrounding wall seems more likely than any type of roofed structure. On both sides of the wall, a thick deposit was discovered with a homogeneous character.

Several iron objects were found in the deposits of this

Figure 5.32 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase II sherd12 or specifically manufactured could easily close the smaller rim openings of these jars. The number of strainer fragments increases and the base-with-one-hole type disappears completely from the collection. The body thickness of 10mm is similar to the previous period, but both the average rim diameter, 214mm, as well as vessel height, 167mm, decreases. New decoration types such as rocker stamping appear beside the regular types, of which strip-roulette still is the most common technique.

The division between occupation layers and real destruction debris was therefore difficult to distinguish, especially since the latter did not show any sign of fire: it was more like a slow process of abandonment and decline. A large number of deep bowl fragments with closed and everted rims were found (Figure 5.34.1-3,5,10 and 11). Additionally, open shallow bowls were frequently used (Figure 5.34.6). This latter type may point to a change in diet or in food processing activities. One carinated bowl was found (Figure 5.34.8). The everted jars with large necks decreased in number (Figure 5.34.9,12,16). A round pottery disc made either from an old pottery

The number of iron object discovered in this phase increases: slag fragments, nails, needle like objects, loaf shaped spearheads, other spearheads, and other metal 12

58

These rounded pottery sherds have not been found in this layer.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN fragments (Figure 5.34.22-23,25-31,34-36). Pendants (e.g. Figure 5.34.19-20), lip ornaments (Figure 5.34.21), beads, hematite fragments, grinding stones and polishing stones complete the assemblage.

C, a round wall measuring 1.5m by 0.32m made of whitish mud (again no mudbricks were visible) was identified. The animal bones discovered in this phase resemble a wide range of different species. In addition to the usual sheep, goat and cattle bones, the remains of catfish, dogs, donkeys/horses and wild mammals, such as hares and antelopes, were found.

Phase V Most of the information of phase V came from the excavation unit A. Several walls were distinguishable, most of them in relatively poor shape. These architectural elements were clearly visible during horizontal digging and in the sections. The large half-circular element (Figure 5.27) may be part of a roofed structure. One of the reasons why these walls were so difficult to trace is the absence of mudbrick as found in previous phases. Using methods similar to those employed by the present inhabitants, these structures were built with terra pisé or tauf (e.g. Shaw 1961:54+plate XIV; Shinnie&Kense 1989:194; Flight 1976; R.J.McIntosh 1974/1975:158161). After collapse, the wall remains were mixed with the debris layer and became barely recognisable. In unit

The vessels closely resemble those in phase IV. There is still one carinated bowl in the collection (Figure 5.35:1) but the shape is not as articulated and the geometric decoration is absent. Closed, open and everted deep bowls are the most common (Figure 5.35:2-7,10-12,1417). However, these show smaller rim openings, compared to other phases (140-280mm). A small number of jars, most of them with everted rims, were identified, decorated with strip-roulette, comb-lines (sometimes with paint) bricks in order to stabilise the structure and fixate the different mudbrick layers (see also Kouaba-I).

Figure 5.33 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase III

59

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.34 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase IV

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.35 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase V The occupation layers, heavily disturbed by bioturbation, are composed of relatively soft greyish sediment with some and the usual slip burnishing or smoothing (Figure 5.35:8-9,13). The rim diameter varies from 110-340mm, with an average of 188mm. The body thickness of 9mm and vessel height of 160mm is somewhat less than the older periods at Yohongou-I. The surface treatment is not much different than found in the previous phase, except that rocker stamping has again disappeared from the collection. Comb-line, punctuation, paint and stringroulette are present.

button (Figure 5.35:18), ornaments, like lip plugs, and bone objects. Numerous polishing stones and grinding stones, as found in almost all phases, complete the household equipment of the phase V inhabitants. Phase VI Phase VI represents one of the main building levels at Yohongou-I, at least in the area that was excavated. The hard, grey walls found in this phase were tempered with small stones, pisoliths and plant remains and could therefore be separated from the surrounding occupation layers. All the walls were constructed of sun-dried mudbrick, as can be viewed in the profiles; most of them

The special objects include several iron objects (e.g. Figure 5.35:20), beads, pendants (e.g. Figure 5.35:19), a

61

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.36 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase VI

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.37 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase VII

63

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.38 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase VIII directly on top of the wall remains of phase V. With an average measurement of 410x260x120mm, the mudbricks are smaller than the bricks used in phase IV. Some pottery sherds and stones were laid between the orange laterite spots and yellowish mudbrick fragments. Strangely, these brick fragments have no similarities with

the walls of this phase, neither in the type of clay, nor in temper (organic). Was it a kind of fill, brought from another place? Were the upper parts of the walls, which were not preserved in situ, built up with other clay material? The orange colour, probably part of the original “virgin” soil, supports a levelling activity theory. While the orange spots are especially visible in the lower parts 64

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN discovered, ranging from wild mammals, like hares and antelopes, to the remains of dogs, sheep/goats, cattle and donkeys/small horses. One C14 sample, taken approximately 1.6m under the site datum P1, resulted in a date of 1014 + 36 AD14.

of this phase, levelling in preparation for building activity seems a reasonable explanation. It implies that the walls of phase V were still visible on the moment the inhabitants of phase VI arrived. In unit C, only a layer of mudbrick debris was discovered on top of phase V.The pottery assemblage closely resembles the pottery of phase V, although the appearance of the knob-handle is new, especially on the deep bowls (Figure 5.36:2,4). Although

The pottery is similar to the ceramic of previous phase and is manufactured with local clay, which contains a small amount of mica particles. Four groups of temper materials were used in this phase: grog (22%), grog and organic (13%), grog and sand/quartz (40%) and grog, organic, sand and quartz (22%). One sherd was found tempered with slag fragments. As with the vessel found in phase III, this particular vessel might come from south of the Atakora Mountains. In phase VII medium and high temperatures were used and, in most cases, the vessels seem to have been fired under reduced conditions and cooled down in the air. Deep bowls with open, everted or closed rims are a prominent component in the assemblage (e.g. Figure 5.37.1,3,5-6,14-15,19,21). This includes the new “beaker” shaped deep bowl, probably used as a drinking utensil (Figure 5.37.22). There is a marked decrease in the number of closed and everted jars (e.g. Figure 5.37.7,11-12). Some closed, open and carinated shallow bowls also appear in the collection (Figure 5. 37.9,18). The rim shape, although with the same variety as previous phases, changes slightly. The closed rims are no longer so extremely in-turned. The rim diameter of the assemblage varies between 60-400mm, with an average of 213mm and the average height measures approximately 164mm. The body thickness averages 10mm. More rocker stamping appears, but is not significant (still under 1%). The surface treatments are similar to previous phases: slip, burnishing, smoothing and strip-roulette.

relatively large, most of these knob handles seem functional rather than decorative (modelling) and this points to a more mobile vessel type. Some of these vessels were used as cooking pots. As in phase IV and the older phases of Yohongou-I, small shallow bowls appear (e.g. Figure 5.36:12,15), as well as the base-with-onehole type (Figure 5.36:18). Except for two out-turned rims (Figure 5.36:9,10), most are simple and either slightly everted or straight. A two-cup bowl was found, decorated with strip-roulette and heavily damaged. Similar vessels with a cultic function can be found today in Burkina Faso in the Lobi pottery assemblages (Schneider 1986:244, abb 26). This two-cup bowl may have something to do with the twin cult, which the inhabitants of Benin, Togo (Hahn 1991a:70-71) and Burkina Faso (Schneider 1986) still practice. In the total assemblage of this phase, strip-.roulette is the most important surface treatment technique, besides the normal slip, smoothing and burnishing. Five iron objects, two beads (e.g. Figure 5.36:20), two pendants (e.g. Figure 5.36:19), three cowry shells, one other perforated shell (Figure 5.36:21), and some of the polishing and grinding stones were discovered in this phase Phase VII Phase VII was composed of a thick debris layer, similar to the deposit found in phase III, and included many sherds, grinding stones, charcoal and other objects. Most characteristic of this deposit was the existence of wash layers in small depressions and shallow pits. Although these depressions and wash-layers point to walking surfaces, the surfaces themselves could not be distinguished. A remarkable find was several clay tubes that were accidentally fired: the remains of termites (e.g. Shaw 1961:plate IX). These animals only live in sparsely inhabited places13. The local inhabitants used the mound temporarily as a rubbish dump and either burned the vegetation that grew on the mound, which resulted in the accidental firing of termite remains, or dumped their trash including mudbrick fragments and burnt termite-wood. A rubbish dump also explains the large number of finds and large pottery sherds. Another explanation for the termite remains is the use of the fertile soil of termitières by the inhabitants, as is still the case today (Iroko 1982:59). A large variety of different animal remains have been 13

Only one slag fragment and one iron object, a fragment of a bearded arrowhead, was found in this phase (Figure 5.37.23). Other special finds include ground stones, polishing stones and pendants (e.g. Figure 5.37.24). Phase VIII Walls made out of white clay were erected immediately on top of the thick debris layer of phase VII. The material used for building the structure was taken from older settlement deposits, as the amount of small pottery sherds, bone fragments and stones in the clay indicate. No bricks were identified, although fallen parts beside the wall remains show 90° corners originating from rectangular bricks. Fine phytolith lines, the chalky remains of organic material, mark the building surface. It is unclear if these marks point towards building on top of these plants or if a layer of organic material was purposely placed in order to stabilise the walls. The Lshaped wall, excavated in unit A, indicates a change from round building techniques to rectangular shapes. The occupation layers on both sides of the walls consist of

In contrast with this statement, the Fulbe seems to live nearby such a termitière to be sure of the fertility of the sediments (Mercier 1968:254-255; Iroko 1982:54)

14

65

This results in a calibrated age of 921-947 AD, as obtained from the program Calib 4 (UtC 8506).

THE IRON AGE hard yellowish sediment with multi-coloured brick fragments. In the middle of unit A, a small ash lens was found, probably the remains of a fireplace. Besides the usual archaeozoological evidence, the remains of other animals could be identified, such as crocodiles, aardvarks and snakes. Although the later can be intrusive, the large amount of wild types implies an increase in the importance of hunting and fishing.

of walls were later identified as burial pits (Figure 5.29). The fill in most of these burial pits was extremely hard, almost cement like, and therefore very difficult to excavate. Moistening the sediment in order to loosen the clay particles was tried, but this resulted in a very fast deterioration of the human bones. Instead, we isolated the bones by careful digging with small dentist instruments. In the excavated area, measuring 3x3m, six different burial pits were found with the skeletons of very young children, most of them not yet a year old. The largest burial pit, which was only partly within the excavation unit, contained three skeletons that were randomly buried, even superimposed. The other five pits contained the remains of one child each, often barely recognisable because of animal disturbances.

The most obvious difference in the phase VIII collection when compared to previous phases is the absence of extremely everted rims. One vase with an out-turned rim appears (Figure 5.38.20), similar to examples found at Gao (Insoll 1996:Plate App. 7.1). The main types are slightly everted and open deep bowls (Figure 5.38.2,56,9,12 and 22). Everted and closed jars appear (Figure 5.38.4,21,23) and the number of open shallow bowls increases (Figure 5.38.15-16). Two rounded sherds were found, probably covers for the smaller jars. The general size of the vessels decreases. The average rim diameter is relatively small at 187mm. The average vessel height is 146mm, more than 50mm smaller than examples from phase III. Surface treatments are similar to the previous phase. Strip-roulette is the main decoration, besides the normal finishing techniques like slip, smoothing and burnishing.

Why were so many small children been buried on one place? Why were some of the bodies buried in a superimposed position? First of all, it is still common to bury children, young adults and adults separately, representing the differences in the stages of life and the value these distinctions have (Maurice 1986:367-9). Children are not yet considered to be real humans, especially the immature foetus. The different orientation of the skeletons, the position and the irregular burial pits are the result of a hasty and quick burial ceremony, if there was a ceremony at all. The children were buried close to the living area (the largest mound was inhabited at the same time); a custom that is still practised (Maurice 1986:369). There are other articles mentioning children’s burials, sometimes the result of ceremonial offerings, sometimes the result of diseases, like Malaria (Connah 2001:149). No such dramatic cause of death was identified. One question concerning these pits remains unanswered: the cement-like pit fill. All of the sediments in the pits have the same characteristics: hard, whiteyellowish material containing big pottery sherds, animal bones, charcoal fragments and big shells. Fragments of sun-dried mud point to wall debris. The pit fill shows no similarities in texture or structure to the original occupation layers into which these pits were cut. But why would people dig pits and not refill them after the burial with the same soil? Was the soil used for another purpose? From different sources, we know that sediments from settlement mounts were used for fertilising the farmlands (Franken 1984:11; Rosen 1986:115) or for making pottery (LaViolette 2000:61). Were the holes dug primary for the farmlands or for the children’s bodies? And from where did the burial pit fill material come? Maybe the occupants cleared an older occupation phase and used that soil instead of the fertile fill of the original pits. This question will stay unknown for the time being.

Several iron and iron related objects were found, such as slag fragments, blades, nails, needles, pin like objects and bearded arrowheads (Figure 5.38.25-27). These objects were accomplished with personal ornaments, such as lip plugs and beads (e.g. Figure 5.38.24). Phase IX The structures of phase IX were built directly on top of the still visible remains of phase VIII. The period in between phase VIII and IX was limited and the same inhabitants most likely rebuilt on the older structures of phase VIII. One wall was erected with white mud, the others with a course yellowish material. The latter showed similarities to the building materials used in phase VIII. The walls were constructed of mudbricks, measuring 540x?x140mm. This difference in function correlates to the difference in building material. The smaller walls in the excavated areas were probably in uses as courtyard wall or retaining wall since the size and direction seems too small and irregular for any kind of roofed structure. The occupation layers were composed of very coarse whitish sediment with mudbrick fragments, pointing to an ongoing wall demolition process. A large amount of pottery sherds, stones, iron objects and charcoal fragments was found. Bone fragments of wild species and domesticates were found in this phase, including aardvarks and dogs.

Before presenting the material culture of phase IX, one issue needs clarification. The pit fill from the graves in unit C contained many objects and large pottery sherds. These items might not belong to phase IX (no burial gifts were recorded). Nevertheless, I did not separate the finds from the deposits in situ (unit A) and the potentially contaminated excavation layers in unit C. Deep bowls

The most southern mound on which excavation unit C was situated had a different function in this phase and it might be interesting to discuss the situation in more detail. After phase VI, this small hill was abandoned until phase IX. What were initially thought to be the remains 66

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.39 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase IX

67

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.40 Material culture, Yohongou-I – phase X dominate Phase IX (e.g. Figure 5.39.5,7,10,11 and 19) and jars with closed, open and everted rims (e.g. Figure 5.39.1,13,20). Although the amount of everted rims decreases in number, it still is not comparable to the extreme evertion of the older phases. The average phase IX rim diameter is 217mm, the vessel height 164mm and the body thickness 10mm, showing a slight increase in the size of the vessels, similar to phase VII. The pottery surface treatments are comparable to previous phases, with strip-roulette as the main decoration technique.

stones, polishing stones, hematite and clay objects (Figure 5.39.21-23). Intermediate phase IX-X There was a period of non-use between phase IX and X, during which much deposit and material eroded from the site. This process is clearly visible in the section drawing as a sharp line that cuts the mound and all its contents (Figure 5.27, 28 and 30). Phase X Phase X is composed of an ash layer collected in small depressions, probably the original walking surface as left

Numerous other artefacts were discovered in the deposits of phase IX, such as slag fragments, iron objects, ground

68

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN highest point of the site. Using the same methods and techniques employed at Yohongou-I, the excavation units were studied resulting in a complete occupation sequence from 1100 to 1450 AD. Only unit C was excavated using another method, the artificial way of digging (see chapter 1.3). Although used primarily for archaeobotanical purposes, this was also a good opportunity to compare the different excavation techniques. In excavation unit C, material culture from every 10cm was separated according to their artificial and not their natural position (Figure 5.44). After reviewing the results, the differences in excavation methods seems not to have resulted in different interpretations or ceramic sequences. One explanation might be that the sequence of, for example, ceramic vessels changed little in form or decoration during the occupation periods of Perma-I.

by the inhabitants of phase IX. Several layers of ashes and orange and yellow coloured burnt mudbrick fragments point to an enormous fire. These ashes, discovered on both the largest mound and the most southern hill, were not the result of large destruction process but rather some other activity, for example a camp or bush fire. It is debatable if this phase was caused by humans or by nature. However, the burnt mudbrick fragments in these deposits seem to exclude a natural cause. One C14 sample, taken approximately 0,8m under the site datum P1, resulted in a date of 995 + 32 BP15. The pottery assemblage resembles the ceramic vessels of phase IX including many deep open bowls (Figure 5.40.1,4,9,11,14,16). The large jars have disappeared and instead neck less deep bowls with everted rims were discovered (Figure 5.40.1,4,10). The section of these vessels does not show the prominent s-shape as in previous phases. One large fragment of a double cup was found in unit C. Rim diameters average 181mm, vessel height 150mm, and body thickness 10mm. A new form of

Stratigraphic analysis and Material Culture The natural hard orange laterite sediment, virgin soil, was reached in the excavation units D and C (Figure 5.44 and 45). Although the sediment seems natural, numerous human artefacts were found in the upper 20cm, ranging from pottery sherds and bones to an iron object. There are two explanations: post-depositional processes have “pushed” these objects in the virgin soil, or an older occupation period (phase I) existed before the people of phase II erected mud houses. However, the amount of pottery sherds (N=103) points to some occupation history. Until more information is available, I consider the material culture out of the supposed virgin soil as phase I. Looking at the geographical situation during the initial occupation, it seems that these inhabitants settled on a natural hill overlooking the southern plains and the Perma River. A C14 date was taken out of the deepest layers in excavation unit C resulted in a date of 640 + 60 years BP17. Comparing this date with the two examples from phase II, it suggests that this material was not the result of occupation activity, but rather of erosion processes.

decoration appears: the pleated-strip-roulette. Striproulette becomes less frequent in this last phase and more string-roulette appears. Only one iron object and no slag fragments indicate the decline of the iron production activity in the direct vicinity when compared to previous phases (Figure 5.40.17). The only personal ornament found in phase X is a clay pendant, which indicates an altogether somewhat poorer set of circumstances. Excavation 2: Perma-I (Map 5.5) Introduction The village Perma16 is located south of the Atakora Mountains, along the road Natitingou-Djougou and is known for its gold mines and a French Catholic Church. In the western part of the village along the sand road to Tchoumi-Tchoumi, some large settlement mounds were found in 1999 (Figure 5.41). Shielded by trees and small bushes and surrounded by several picturesque looking Tata Somba houses, the site is barely visible from the road. But when approaching the archaeological remains, they look impressive when compared to other West African settlement mounds. Measuring 2.4 ha. the hills exceed the size of Yohongou-I, despite the fact that Perma-I consists of only two different hills and not five. The decision to excavate this site was based on the size of the mound, on its location south of the Atakora range and on the abundance of material culture on the surface of these mounds.

A little more than a hundred ceramic sherds were found with a relatively poor variety of shapes and decoration forms. One jar and two deep bowls, all with everted rims and small rim diameters (with an average diameter of 123mm) were identified, but this is not a representative number of vessels to base an assemblage on (Figure 5.46.13). The body-thickness averages 9mm and the vessel height averages 117mm, which is relatively small compared to the ceramic evidence from succeeding periods. Strip-roulette, slip with burnishing and smoothing are the most common surface treatments. Some line-incisions, coarse-braided-strip-roulette and comb-lines are included in the collection.

Excavation work Four different excavation units were opened: three on the steepest western slope and one, the largest in size, on the 15

16

One slag fragment and an iron object point to the use and perhaps production of iron in the close vicinity. No ground stones were found.

This results in a calibrated age of 936-914 BP, as obtained from the program Calib 3.03 (UtC 8505). Co-ordinates: 10°06‘46‘‘ N - 1°26‘07‘‘ E, altitude: 299m above sea level.

17

69

This results in a calibrated Age of 1295-1395 AD with 68% certainty, 1 Sigma (KI-5088).

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.41: Perma-I (the z co-ordinates of the 3-D model are not on scale).

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.42 The section drawings of excavation unit A, Perma-I variety of shapes than in previous periods. Several open shallow bowls (Figure 5.47a.5, 8-9) and everted deep bowls (e.g. Figure 5.47a.3), vases and jars were identified in this phase (Figure 5.47a.12, 18-19). The amount of large everted and open deep bowls, as well as closed and everted jars, shows that storage was important to the inhabitants. The average body thickness is 9mm, the rim diameter 200m and the vessel height approximately 156mm. Three fragments of the so-called base-with-one-hole type were discovered (Figure 5.47a.11), similar to the earlier phases of Yohongou-I (e.g. Figure 5.32.4-5 and 33.15). Although smoothing, burnishing and slip were the main ceramic surface techniques used in this phase, it also beards strip-roulette, line-incisions, comb-line and coarse-braided-striproulette. The large number of sherds with punctuation is

Phase II Phase II was composed of a greyish deposit, orange burnt mud fragments, ceramic sherds, bones, and charcoal. In the northern part of excavation unit C a pile of yellowish dried clay, tempered with plant material, was discovered, which is regarded as the first evidence for building activity at Perma-I. Two C14 dates were taken, one in unit A and one in unit D: 770 + 30 years BP18 and 830 + 55 years BP19. Two and a half thousand ceramic sherds were found in the excavated layers of phase II, resembling a larger 18

19

This results in a calibrated Age of 1240-1280 AD with 68% certainty, 1 Sigma (KI-5012). This results in a calibrated Age of 1180-1270 AD with 68% certainty, 1 Sigma (KI-5087).

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THE IRON AGE new. It occurs often in combination with comb-lines and modelling. The latter consists of small knobs on the upper part of the vessel. A large number of slag fragments were found (N=74), as well as eleven iron objects (e.g. Figure 5.47b.2-5). Except for a kind of hook, a fragment of a thick nail, a haft and a fragment of an iron ring, most of the objects were too small for a functional identification.

were present, from large vases (Figure 5.48a.12-14), carinated bowls (Figure 5.48a.6), the base-with-one-hole type (Figure 5.48a.17) and plates to small juglets (Figure 5.48a.16). The assemblage had a majority of everted, closed and open deep bowls and everted jars (Figure 5.48a.1-4). The average body thickness is 9mm, similar to previous assemblages, the rim diameter 207mm and the height of the vessels 170mm. A larger number of different surface treatments were distinguished on the ceramic containers as compared to previous periods. The use of paint, comb, mat, string-roulette and fingerimpressions is new.

Three lower grinding stones and ten upper grinding stones were found, made of either quartzite or sandstone (e.g. Figure 5.47b.1). Most of these stone tools were multi-functional and were used beside for grinding purposes as hammer-stones, as shown by the damage pattern. A fragment of an upper grinding stone, made of sandstone, belong to the so-called two handed grinding stone, which can produce more and finer results than the smaller one handed upper stone (e.g. Petit 1999:145-67). But most of the stones were natural river cobbles, barely modified, which can be collected in the surrounding environment without much effort (e.g. Figure 5.47b.6). The discovery of talc or soapstone fragments was a little unusual. Most of these fragments show flat sides, as if the inhabitants used these stone for polishing or sharpening. They have a green blue colour and an oily shine. Today this kind of stone is used for sculptures and beads. None of these functions can be proven for the Iron Age.

Iron production became more important during phase III, as the 119 slag fragments, iron objects (Figure 5.48b.3-5) and fragments of iron furnaces (burnt clay with slag incorporated) show (Figure 5.49). A large fragment of an iron bracelet with a rounded profile was found however partly damaged. A heavily corroded nail measuring 50x5x5mm was also discovered in the deposits of this phase. The pointed top end of a lance with a slightly curved profile was saved. Broken on one side, the original length of the lance is unknown. Upper and lower grinding stones, made of quartzite, sandstone and metamorphic rock is identical to the previous phase. Both one handed and two-handed upper grinding stones were used (e.g. Petit 1999:145-67). The presence of dark, sometimes black coloured, granite stone is new. This very hard rock is used as a grinding stone, probably because of its texture excellent for grinding purposes. Polishing stones (for example used in the ceramic industry), sharpening stones and hammer-stones are all included in the stone assemblage. A very unusual fragment of a multi-perforated stone bowl was found in unit A, measuring 87x46x57mm (Figure 5.48b.1). The stone is made of relatively soft soapstone. On the fragment twenty-seven conical holes were drilled, most likely decorative rather than functional. The inner surface is slightly damaged, caused by grinding activity. It is not clear whether the primary use of this stone bowl was for grinding. A similar object, identified as an idol, was found in Togo (Eiwanger 1997:Fig. 16b).

Phase III The interface between Phase III and the older phases was only visible in unit D. In this area, the character of the deposit changes from a monotonous layer containing fine sediment to a material culture collection place. Thousands of sherds and stones were found, representing a sudden change at the site. This could be either caused by a decrease in rain and erosion processes, which normally point to a stop in occupation, or the sherds point to the use of this place as a rubbish dump. Today, unit D is located in a depression and this may also have been the case in ancient times. There is s little increase in the amount of occupation remains visible in the other units: C, 45cm and unit B, 45cm. However, only indirect evidence for building activity could be detected. A burnt clay sample with reed impressions was discovered in unit C. It is uncertain whether this was a fragment of fired clay (tauf) or the remains of a roof. Reed and mud is still a normal building material in the region and has also been found in archaeological contexts throughout Western Africa (e.g. Shaw 1961:54+Plate xiv; Flight 1976; Shinnie&Kense 1989:194; Hallier&Petit 2000, 2001). Other indirect evidence of building activity was the burnt remains of the clay houses of African wasps, which can today be found against inner walls (Figure 5.50 and 5.51). The discovery of insect housing in an archaeological context is not unique, as a similar find in the Jordan valley shows (G. van der Kooij, personal communication), but it is quite unknown in West Africa.

Intermediate phase III-IV After phase III, the site was temporarily abandoned as the interface in the section, a result of erosion processes, shows (Figure 5.42, 43 and 45). How long this intermediate phase lasted is unknown but the material culture of phase IV does not seem to change dramatically. Phase IV Phase IV offered the most spectacular find of the site: skeletons with burial gifts20. The human remains in unit B and A were placed in pits cut into the layers of phase III

More than six thousand sherds were found in this phase, containing the richest variety of shape and surface treatments at Perma-I. All the different vessel shapes

20

72

A well-preserved spearhead (Figure 52b.2) may be a burial gift from one of the graves on the mound that was, unfortunately, dug up by animals the year before.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.53 The section drawings and topplans of excavation unit B, Perma-I and overlaid by the debris layers of phase V, some 1,30m under the present surface (Figure 5.43). The complete vessels in the graves in excavation unit B had an appearance similar to the ceramics (surviving as sherds) found in the former occupation phases (Figure 5.52b).

The question, as to where the people were settled during the time that they buried their dead on the settlement mound, cannot be answered. They might have moved to other parts of the settlement mound. Or they might have had a more mobile lifestyle. Several wasp-houses and

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THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.44 The section drawings of excavation unit C, Perma-I

Figure 5.45 The section drawings of excavation unit D, Perma-I the next paragraph, and other objects like an iron nail with remains of wood must be assigned to phase III rather than phase IV.

reed impressions were found in the burial pits. However, the burial pit was, in most cases, filled with the sediment from previous occupation layers21. Additionally, the pottery sherds (except for the burial gifts), described in 21

Most of the reconstructed vessels belong to the jar and deep bowl type (e.g. Figure 5.52a.2, 4, 8-9, 12), but

Except for the burial pits found in phase IX at Yohongou-I.

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN plates (Figure 5.52a.14), everted vases (Figure 5.52a.5, 15) and open shallow bowls also appear (Figure 5.52a.10). Carinated bowls are absent. The body thickness averages 9mm, the rim-diameter is about 203mm and the average height is 167mm. The decoration techniques are less variable than the previous phase: strip-roulette, slip, burnished and smoothed. A very small amount of string-roulette, punctuation and comb-line as well as modelling occur. The complete vessels found in the burial pits were decorated with punctuation, comblines and braided-strip roulette.

impressions, modelling, fingerprints and pleated-striproulette.

Several slag fragments and iron objects were discovered in the burial pits. One heavily corroded iron nail with a rectangular profile was found in unit B, measuring 50x6x6mm. One side is pointed and the other is broad and thick. Another nail, a little bit smaller, was found in excavation unit A. The corrosion had covered part of the. wood, which will be analysed by Alexa Höhn of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main. This might be wood used as building material. A complete, corroded iron arrowhead was also found, measuring 135x13x6mmQuartzite upper and lower grinding stones, as well as hammer stones, were found in this phase. Most of them were natural river stones, chosen for their form, with no visible modification. Two fragments of soapstone were found, similar to the examples described in previous phases.

Phase V Mud fragments and a large amount of clay particles in the greyish medium coarse debris of phase V indicate that, after the intermediate phase, buildings were erected again. Several burnt mud fragments with reed impressions and the already mentioned burnt wasp houses proof this assumption. Some ash lenses within the thick debris layer assume some sub-phases during this occupation phase. Phase V is the latest occupation at Perma-I, based on the excavation results. Remember that farming activity has contaminated at least 20cm of occupation layers and perhaps even more has eroded away. The most recent date, we obtained, does not have to coincide with the most recent occupation date of the site. If we compare, for example, the burial pit in unit B, which had a depth of approximately 1.3m, with the one in unit A on top of the site, which was only 26cm deep, there is a difference of at least 1m. Although I can’t be sure that both burial pits were dug at the same depth, 26cm seems too shallow for a burial.

Only 9 fragments of slag were discovered which, when compared to earlier phases, is a relatively small quantity. The layer, however, include a surprisingly large number of pestles and hammer-stones (N=14) made of quartzite and sandstone. Upper and lower grinding stones, most multifunctional as use-traces point out, were also discovered. Absent are the polishing stones so common in previous periods.

The excavation work was carried out in a 2x1m trench, opened on an area without trees, roots or visible animal disturbances. Comparison to other sites, such as Perma-I and Yohongou-I, may uncover regional similarities and differences in pottery production and other material culture.

Almost four thousand ceramic sherds were collected with a surprisingly small variety in shape. Open shallow bowls (Figure 5.53a.10, 16) and everted vases are present (Figure 5.53a.7, 14, 27). But the largest component of the phase V assemblage is formed by closed and everted jars and closed, open and everted deep bowls (e.g. Figure 5.53a.1, 3, 4, 11, 13, 19, 22, 25). Whereas plates are totally absent, two slightly carinated vessels were discovered (Figure 5.53a.2,4). The base-with-one-hole type vessel is still part of the assemblage (Figure 5.53a.24). The vessels have an average body thickness of 8mm and a height of 165mm. The rim diameter is with 192mm a little smaller than during previous phases. The surface treatment techniques are more varied. Striproulette, line-incision, slip, burnishing, smoothing and the combination of comb-line and punctuation are still common. But in this phase, the amount of sherds decorated with string-roulette, coarse-braided-striproulette, rocker stamping, paint and modelling increases.

Intermediate Phase IV-V Thin, hard, dark coloured sediment with some orange spots covered the burial pits of phase IV. No sign of architecture or other human activity was found, except for a few orange burnt mud fragments. Until counter arguments are offered, I will consider the deposition history of this layer as natural. The large amount of ceramic sherds and stones point towards an intermediate period in which the site was abandoned: an easy target for erosion processes. The following paragraph describes the pottery found in this “natural” layer, which is probably nothing more than a mixture of previous phases. The ceramic morphology continues in the same line as previous occupation periods. Closed, open and everted deep bowls are the common vessel types. Closed jars, open and closed shallow bowls, plates and everted vases and jars are also present. The average body thickness is 9mm, the rim diameter 228mm and the vessel height 180mm. Surface treatment techniques are similar in character to the older phases, with strip-roulette, coarsebraided-strip-roulette and the combination of comb-line and punctuation. The assemblage bears also mat-

Approximately one hundred slag fragments were found which, together with 6 iron objects (Figure 5.53b.9) and one fragment of an iron furnace, is good evidence to assume iron production in the direct vicinity. A complete, slightly bent long iron pin with a rectangular crosssection was discovered. An arrowhead, unfortunately

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THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.46 Material culture, Perma-I – phase I the site datum P1, resulting in a date of 1163 + 37 BP23. The only material culture found still in situ were some pottery sherds, decorated with strip-roulette, slip, burnishing and smoothing. Some of the sherds were finished with line-incision and punctuation. Only two types of containers could be identified: an open deep bowl (Figure 5.56:1) and an open shallow bowl (Figure 5.56:2).

fragmentary, was found in square A and shows similarities to the complete object discovered in phase IV. A conical pendant and a biconical bead were also found. Several formal manufactured ground stones were discovered (Figure 5.53b.5, 7-8). In some cases, black granite was used, similar to phase III. Sharpening stones made of sandstone, hammer-stones of quartzite and many quartzite pestles and grinding stones were used as stone tools during this phase. One large stone, maybe one third of a cooking installation, shows clear heating cracks. This phase also contained some remains of previous occupation periods: three quartz and rock crystal arrow points of Stone Age date (Figure 5.53b.1-3). Assigning particularly small objects, like the bead, to this period must therefore be carried out with care.

An undefined time period after the destruction, people again settled the area, depositing yellowish, hard sediment, stone tools and pottery sherds (phase II). The pottery from this phase and the following burial phase was not separated; we can assume that the fill in the burial pit belongs to phase II. The pottery assemblage includes everted jars and open and closed deep bowls (Figure 5.56:3-7), that were finished with strip and pleated-strip-roulette, slip, burnishing and smoothing. Whether this single layer represents one habitation period or successive occupation is difficult to determine due to the absence of architectural evidence.

Excavation 3: Kouisougou-I (Map 5.5) Introduction The site is located on the sand road Koussoukouangou – Natitingou directly after the T-junction with Kouandata, approximately 50m north of the road in the southern foothills of the Atakora Mountains. The dense vegetation on top of the mound, compared to the surrounding cultivated land, simplified the identification as an artificial hill (Figure 5.54). Those trees protected the site in the last decades against erosion processes and farming. The settlement mound is oval in shape and measures approximately 1.6 ha. No notable connection between the recent inhabitants of the nearby village of Kouisougou22 and the occupation remains at the settlement mound could be identified.

Phase III is comprised of a burial pit cut into the yellowish sediment of phase II. This pit contained the bones of one approximately 10-year-old female child, facing east (Figure 5.55). Although the section did not show any signs of a burial pit, a slight deepening in the destruction debris of the oldest phase indicated some digging activity. The ceramic evidence, as well as the charcoal fragments inside the pit, probably belong to the previous phase and were not suitable for dating the burial. No burial gifts were noted.

Excavation work Stratigraphy and material culture The earliest evidence of human existence at KouisougouI, phase I, is a 5cm thick, slightly burnished mud-plaster floor on top of a hard lateritic deposit of natural origin (Figure 5.54). This floor shows ancient restoration activities in the eastern part of the excavated unit. A second plaster layer was laid partly over the first one to cover a gap. The building evidence of phase I was covered by a hard burnt mudbrick debris, probably a destruction layer. The oldest C14 date at Kouisougou-I was taken out of this deposit, approximately 0.31m under

A humus soil, disturbed by animals and roots, has covered the older phases (phase IV). A special object, probably a stabiliser made of fired clay was found in this layer (Figure 5.56:18). Stabilisers were used in groups of three, to put cooking pots on top. The hole was used to remove the hot objects with a stick. However, no traces of fire were identified on the object. After breaking, the object was used as a sharpening or polishing tool. The pottery assemblage in this phase showed more variety in shape: several closed, open as well as everted deep bowls were found together with everted jars (Figure 5.56:8-17). Coarse-braided-strip-roulette, rocker stamping and

22

23

Co-ordinates: 10°9‘0“ N - 1°16‘0“ E, altitude: 340m above sea level.

76

This results in a calibrated Age of 1071 + 92 BP (Erl. 2977).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.47.a.Material culture, Perma-I – phase II

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Figure 5.47.b. Material culture, Perma-I – phase II Stratigraphy and material culture The oldest human evidence found at Akongeshwa-I is composed of a hard brown-reddish deposit and a lot of

modelling appear and there is an increase in the use of strip-roulette. Conclusion pottery The ceramics were made with different kinds of clay that did not always appear to be local in origin. Some of these clays included a high percentage of mica particles. Most sherds were tempered with organic, grog and quartz/sand material. Sometimes crushed pysoliths and slag fragments were used as temper material. The variety of clay material and temper is, however, in sharp contrast with the decoration and morphology, which is rather monotonous. An explanation for this inconsistency remains unclear. The region of Kouisougou-I might have had their own local pottery production in between main ceramic centres, like the Boukombé area and Perma region. The site was seemingly influenced by different pottery production traditions.

small rounded pebbles. Unfortunately, no architectural elements were discovered in this layer. The oldest C14 date at Akongeshwa-I was taken out of this deposit, 0.31m under the site datum P1, resulting in a date of 1153 + 38 BP25. The pottery was fired under totally reduced conditions, oxidised conditions or a mixture of these. Grog and sand, sometimes together with quartz, were used as temper material. Everted deep bowls and open shallow bowls are present in the assemblage. The finishing techniques include strip-roulette, slip, burnishing and smoothing. The second phase contained the three almost complete vessels and is composed of hard brown-reddish sediment with a lot of small stones (Figure 5.58.3-4). A function as a heard or as a preheating installation for pottery production (Cardew 1979:Figure 10.1) might be possible since ashes and charcoal were found in the direct vicinity of the vessels. The pottery was fired with medium temperatures under reduced conditions and cooled down relatively fast in the air. There were two groups of temper used in this phase: pure grog and organic with sand. The vessel shapes did not change in comparison to the previous phase. The pottery was finished with slip, burnishing and smoothing.

Excavation 4: Akongeshwa-I (Map 5.5) Introduction The settlement mounds of Akongeshwa-I, named after a nearby village24, were discovered during survey work in the year 2000. The road Matéri - Gouandé had cut one of the three settlement mounds exposing two almost complete pots (Figure 5.57). It was very easy to excavate these objects within their stratigraphical context without removing enormous amount of sediment. The site measures ca. 0.9 ha. and was left fallow for a while.

The upper most layer, phase III, was formed by a brownreddish hard sediment. The pottery assemblage in this layer is a mixture of the old and recent ceramics and must not be used for any sequence dating. The few mica particles identified in the pottery sherds can be found in the natural local clay. The vessels were primarily fired under reduced conditions, although total oxidising

Excavation work The section was cleared over a length of two meters resulting in the exposure of the vessels in their original context. Enough material was excavated to refine the pottery sequence of the northern plains. 24

Co-ordinates: 10°29‘15‘‘ N - 0°52‘48‘‘ E, altitude: + 160m above sea level.

25

78

This results in a calibrated Age of 1067 + 94 BP (Erl. 2976).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.48.a Material culture, Perma-I – phase III

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Figure 5.48.b. Material culture, Perma-I – phase III method: 1000 + 40 BP27. In the upper most layers several pits were visible, wrought havoc with the underlying occupation layers.

atmosphere also appears. The temperature differs, which points towards an open fire. Crushed pysoliths and sand grains are the main temper materials, sometimes with grog fragments. The vessels were finished with striproulette, smoothing and braided-strip-roulette.

Summary pottery The greyish clay from which the containers were manufactured contains mica particles, although in less quantity than most pottery found in the southern plains. The use of light greyish clay was different, compared to other sites. Besides sand and quartz particles, which were present in all samples, two other temper materials were added to the clay: grog and organic material. The ceramic containers of Kouaba-I were almost all fired with medium to high temperatures and their condition varies from fully reduced to oxidised.

Excavation 5: Kouaba-I (Map 5.5) Introduction The settlement mound of Kouaba-I, named after a village in the direct vicinity of the site26, was cut by roadwork in 1999 (Figure 5.59). Located within the Atakora Mountains directly along the Natitingou - Boukombé road, this mound was excellent for comparing the occupation in the southern plains (Perma-I, KouisougouI, Koukpartikou-I) and the northern plains (Yohongou-I, Akongeshwa-I). The site is oval in shape and measures ca. 0.4 ha. Excavation work No excavation work was carried out at this site. Similar to Akongeshwa-I, the rough profile, which the road workers had left, was cleaned and drawn. Material was collected from the surface and a charcoal samples was taken from the profile and was sent in for dating. Stratigraphy The profile did not reveal much information about the occupation or building methods. Only a small fragment of a wall was found in one of the latest occupation phases (Figure 5.60). The wall was made of white clay mudbricks measuring ?x340x80cm and tempered with pysoliths. Similar to phase VIII at Yohongou-I, the wall was stabilised. However, instead of plant material, a layer of ceramic sherds was used in the building process. All visible occupation layers sloped slightly down toward the north-east. The lower layers were dated by the C14

26

Figure 5.49 Burnt clay, Perma-I

27

Co-ordinates: 10°14‘14‘‘ N - 1°13‘42‘‘ E, altitude: 456m above sea level.

80

This results in a calibrated Age of 975 – 1165 AD (UtC KL-4884) as obtained from the program Calib 4.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Excavation 6: Tampégré-I (Map 5.5)

The body thickness of the sherds ranges from 5mm to 13mm (with a peak between 7-8mm), which is relatively thin compared to other contemporary sites. Most common is the unrestricted simple rim, but also the out-thickened and everted rim appears. The presence of a composite rim

Introduction The settlement mound of Tampégré-I29 is located northwest of a little village with the same name inside the Atakora Mountains (Figure 5.62). The site has been sown with cotton and showed no recent building activities. Unfortunately, the local inhabitants had destroyed part of the upper occupation layers of the site by digging hunting traps. Tampégré-I consists of only one mound and covers approximately 2 ha. The southern side is the steepest and is different from the gradual sloping northern side. The ancient village was located on a natural hill looking over the flat eastern and southern plains of the Atakora Mountains. Excavation work A small trench was opened in order to gain information about occupation, pottery and archaeobotanical remains that could be compared to information from Yohongou-I, Perma-I and the other Iron Age sites. The excavation unit, measuring 2x1m, was opened in an area where less contamination and disturbances were expected.

Figure 5.50 African wasp house, Perma-I

Stratigraphy and material culture The oldest excavated layers at Tampégré-I revealed the bones of a small child (Figure 5.62), probably not even one year old and disturbed by animals post-depositionally (only half of the bones were still articulated). Flat lying pottery sherds at the same depth indicate some kind of surface. Although no clear burial pit was distinguishable, the skeleton probably dates to a later period than the occupation layers into which the pit was cut. Charcoal fragments found next to the burial were dated by the C14 method: 780 + 35 BP30. The pottery as well as the date in this deposit can belong either to the occupation layer (phase I) or to the burial phase (phase II). The ceramic assemblage is relatively small in size, especially when compared to the later period, and contains mainly shallow bowls with a rim diameter between 90 and 160mm (Figure 5.63:1-16). One deep bowl with an everted rim was found here (Figure 5.63:1). A single carinated shallow bowl was discovered (Figure 5.63:8), similar to the older phases of Yohongou-I. Strip-roulette is the main surface treatment together with slip and burnishing (sometimes smoothing). String-roulette, braided-striproulette, punctuation and comb-line appear in the ceramic assemblage, but without statistical relevance. Slag fragments, stones (Figure 5.63:26) and an iron object accomplished the ceramic finds.

Figure 5.51 African wasp house, Perma-I (Figure 5. 61.6) must be considered with care and could be a contamination in the assemblage due to occupation activity during the Historical Period28. Extremely open shallow bowls are common (Figure 5.61.1,3). But closed, carinated and everted deep bowls were also discovered at the site (Figure 5.61.2,7,9). The slight carination visible in many rim sherds is characteristic of the assemblage and might have ties with the earlier period at YohongouI. Most sherds were decorated with three types of striproulette; very fine, braided or pleated. Comb-lines, lineincision, finger-impression, punctuation and, of course, slip, burnishing and smoothing appear on the ceramic. The large amount of sherds with comb-line decoration is comparable to the material found at Perma-I, although dated at least two hundred years later. 28

The deposit of phase III contained another skeleton; a male adult about 30 years old and lying SW-NE with bent knees and the right hand under the head (Figure 5.62). The head was covered with a large potsherd and a blue

Composite rims, such as examples found at Batia-IV, are common in the Historical Period.

81

29

Co-ordinates: 10°25‘38‘‘ N - 1°20‘22‘‘ E, altitude: + 430m above sea level.

30

This results in a calibrated Age of 1185-1295 AD (UtC KL-4883).

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.52a.

Material culture, Perma-I – phase IV

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Figure 5.52b. Material culture, Perma-I – phase IV

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THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.53.a Material culture, Perma-I – phase V

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Figure 5.53.b Material culture, Perma-I – phase V coloured bead was found next to the head. Again, no burial pit was identified. The superimposed position of the skeletons points to different burial periods. After the time the child was buried, new debris layers were deposited in which the second skeleton was buried. Unfortunately, no information about building structures was found and I can only assume living activity somewhere at the site between, and contemporary to, the two burials. Shallow and deep bowls still make-up a large percentage of the total pottery collection (Figure 5.63.17,19). But now some jar forms emerge with clear necks and relatively small rim diameters (Figure 5.63:23). The everted rims were found on the jars as well as on the shallow and deep bowls. One rounded base with a hole was discovered. Although similar decoration techniques were used as during the older phases, such as strip-roulette, slip and burnished, now coarse-braidedstrip-roulette, strip-roulette, line-impressions and comblines appear, as well as comb- and mat-impression. Many slag fragments were found, as well as some cowry shells,

one bead, several grinding stones and one iron object (Figure 5.63:25). Summary pottery During all phases, local clay with a small amount of mica minerals was used for manufacturing the pottery. Different temper materials were used: 1) grog, organic and sand (eventually with quartz particles), 2) organic and sand/quartz and 3) slag, organic and sand/quartz. Some sherds with an exceptionally high volume of mica particles were probably not produced locally. Similar percentages were found south of the Atakora Mountains and near Boukombé. The pottery has been fired with medium and high temperatures under mostly reduced conditions and cooled down in the air (resulting in the socalled sandwich section). In general, the vessels have simple forms with either a simple or an everted rim. These last features have similarities to the material found at Kouisougou-I.

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THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.54: Kouisougo-I (the z co-ordinates are not on scale).

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.55 The section drawing and topplan, Kouisougou-I on the highest point of the settlement mound. Besides an absolute date, the excavation work had to reveal stratigraphically clean layers with material culture suitable for comparison with finds from other Iron Age sites.

Excavation 7: Tchikandou-I (Map 5.5) Introduction The group of five settlement mounds of Tchikandou-I31 is located near a small village with the same name along the Tanguiéta-Porga road. Some Baobab trees mark the relatively impressive cultivated site, which overlooks the northern plains (Figure 5.64). These plains are disrupted by some north-east, south-west ridges, parallel to the Atakora Mountains. On one of these ridges the settlement mounds of Tchikandou-I, measuring ca. 1.4 ha, are situated. The site itself showed little contamination, although animal holes were visible during excavation work.

Stratigraphy and Material Culture The earliest evidence of human existence (phase I) excavated thus far was composed of thick brown hard sediment and a lot of gravel, which dated to 1069 + 36 BP32. Although no building remains were recognised in these excavated layers, charcoal fragments, bones and pottery sherds indicate occupation activity somewhere in the proximity. The pottery was made from local clay containing a small amount of mica particles. Two groups

Excavation work A small test trench, measuring 1x1m, was made in 1999 31

Co-ordinates: 10°51‘24‘‘ N - 1°05‘50‘‘ E, altitude: 213m above sea level.

32

87

This results in an absolute date of 993 + 66 cal. BP (Erl-2978).

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.56. Material culture, Kouisougou-I I

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Figure 5.57: Akongeshwa-I (the z co-ordinates of the 3-D model are not on scale) of temper material were used: grog and sand, in some cases with quartz particles. The second group has similarities to the Stone Age ceramics of Pendjari-II. Small and medium sized jars with everted rims were found, as well as large deep bowls with simple rims (Figure 5.65a:1-10). In all cases, the shallow bowls show a slight evertion at the rim and have a relatively large rim diameter (170-280mm). Strip-roulette, together with slip

and burnished, is the most common surface treatment. But string-roulette, line-incision and smoothing also appear on many sherds. Some mat-impression, coarsebraided-strip-roulette, fine-braided-strip-roulette and punctuation, as well as the combination of paint and one of the incised or impressed decoration forms were found. In the brown sediment of phase I, part of a skeleton of a young adult was discovered (Figure 5.64). Similar to the 89

THE IRON AGE figurine (Figure 5.67:24), ground stones, slag fragments and iron objects.

site of Kouisougou-I, no burial pit was identified (phase II). It is possible that the dark brown hard sediment is actually part of the pit and not part of the layers of phase I. The north section shows alternating orange and white layers.

Excavation work The excavation work was carried out in two small trenches, one on top of the highest mound and one on one of the smaller mounds. Measuring 2x1m and 1x1m respectively, the units were excavated to sample dating material and to get a first impression of the material culture in a clean stratigraphic context.

The upper 30cm (phase III) of the site was composed of hard, greyish, fine sediment with a volume of gravel similar to that found in the sediment of the oldest phase. Not much has changed and the colour difference could be due to the absence or presence of moisture in the upper layers. The pottery was produced with local clay containing a small amount of mica particles. More and more sherds are tempered with grog fragments instead of sand and quartz. The types of pottery found were similar to previous phases (Figure 5.65a:11-15). The shallow bowls have an even more accentuated out-turned rim when compared to phase I (Figure 5.65a.13). The jars have disappeared from the collection and were probably displaced by the deep bowls with an extremely everted rim. The number of sherds with slip, burnishing and striproulette decreases. The quantity of pottery showing string-roulette increases, but the increase is not statistically relevant. The amount of sherds with other surface treatments, such as mat-impression and lineincision is still small.

Stratigraphy and material culture The oldest layers of excavation unit A (virgin soil was not reached in unit A during the excavations) are composed of a crumbly white sandy sediment with a lot of charcoal and some orange burnt clay fragments (Figure 5.66). These fragments were part of a clay bin, from which the supra-structure was found in the southwestern corner of the trench. The structure was red burnt, still standing to a height of 10cm and had a maximum outer diameter of 40cm. The presence of iron slag in all stratigraphic phases, probably the result of forging, might point to iron production at the site. However, none of the bin-samples showed any signs of iron melting or extremely high temperatures. The precise function of this furnace-like item therefore remained unclear. A charcoal sample taken from this deposit was dated to 650 + 25 BP34. The clay with some mica particles used for pottery production seems to be of local origin. Sand and quartz, sometimes together with slag fragments, were used as temper material in almost all vessels, with one exception when organic material was used. Shallow bowls with simple rims and deep bowls with slight everted rims are common (Figure 5.67:3-5,7). The latter (Figure 5.63:7) has similarities to vessels found in the Inner Niger Delta (Huyesom & Mayor 1993:Fig 9:5). Most of the large deep bowls have a closed opening and are more or less a copy of the smaller, slightly-carinated hand bowls (Figure 5. 67:9). The finishing techniques of the containers include course-braided-strip-roulette and striproulette, as well as smoothing, slip and burnishing. Also worth mentioning is the occurrence of some punctuation, comb-line, line-incision and string-roulette. One long iron pin was found with a rectangular profile and measured 42x5x3mm

Some comments on the pottery In general, the pottery is fired with medium and high temperatures under differing conditions. Most of the sherds show a reduced firing and a cooling down process in the air, causing a small-oxidised layer on the outside. All of the pottery was made in the neighbouring environment with local clay. There is a development visible from the use of mainly sand/quartz temper towards a grog-tempered clay. The surface treatments also changed: strip-roulette and slip, burnished decreases, and smoothing and string-roulette increases. Excavation 8: Koukpartikou-I (Map 5.5) Introduction Koukpartikou is the name of a small village33 located in the southern foothills of the Atakora Mountains. The region is densely wooded in contrast to the bare foothills in the north. The approximately twenty households of this village earn a living mainly by farming maize and millet, which they sell at nearby markets. The hard work in the fields, etched on the elder’s faces, is, together with the relatively poor living standard, in sharp contrast to the lives of most inhabitants of Natitingou, the closest city located approximately 20 km to the east. In the spring of 2001, the inhabitants of Koukpartikou gave us permission to conduct a small test trench on the nearby settlement mounds (Figure 5.66). These hills, measuring ca. 1.2 ha. were covered with ceramic sherds with a variety of decoration and shapes, as well as with a fragment of a 33

The next phase includes a hard, rather patchy, limeplastered floor (Figure 5.66). It is not preserved throughout the whole excavation unit and the floor tilts slightly towards the south. No other architectural elements were found. The orange-yellowish occupation layers on top are considered part of this phase, especially where it includes fragments of the same floor. The pottery shows slip, burnishing, and smoothing and different kinds of strip-roulette. Punctuation, comb-line and line-incision are also present but relatively rare. There are still deep bowls in use during this phase, with 34

Co-ordinates: 10°14‘45‘‘ N - 1°19‘44‘‘ E, altitude: + 340m above sealevel.

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This results in calibrated Age of 1300-1330 AD and 1350-1380 with 68% certainty, 1 Sigma (KI-5013).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN both everted and simple rims (Figure 5.67:11-16). The first seems slowly to evolve towards a jar type with an everted and thickened rim, similar to examples found on the surface (Figure 5.67:14).

plains are, in general, “older” than the villages in the southern plains. Not only were the latter founded much later; they were also abandoned later. The problem with placing the survey material in this model is that the material culture is relative monotonous and therefore difficult to use for a relative date. More excavations must be carried out to determine the occupational in the two plains.

The third phase is composed of dark brown sediment, heavily contaminated by farming and bioturbation. This 30cm layer exactly matches with the depth of a furrow made by the common African hack. Perhaps it would be better not to call this a third phase, but rather an enormous layer of contaminated topsoil. The clay is still local, but the temper components are more variable. The use of quartz and sand as temper-material decreases but is still present in 30% of the studied fragments. The vessel morphology in this phase is a mixture of previous phases (Figure 5.67:17-23). Most sherds show a combination of slag, organic, grog and quartz. Except for an increase in comb-line, not much in the surface-treatment changes. The use of paint, punctuation and comb-impression is rare in the collection.

5.11 Subsistence economy and land use Introduction “What does archaeological evidence tell us about the subsistence economy on which developments must have been based?” With this sentence, Connah began a subchapter about subsistence economy in his book African civilisations (Connah 2001:130). Most of the archaeological remains have something to do with food and food related activities. Archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains, food-processing utensils, hunting equipment and even house structures include information about the subsistence economy. It is the responsibility of the archaeologist and the related scientists to extract information from these finds. Unfortunately, the archaeobotanical and the archaeozoological remains of the excavated sites in northwestern Benin were not fully analysed when this chapter was written. The archaeozoologist Veerle Linseele (pers. communication) and the archaeobotanist Alexa Höhn (Petit et al. 2001) have made a very short study of the material found at Yohongou-I. Re-writing this chapter seems necessary once both studies are finished.

Unit B was opened on the smaller northern settlement mound. After 80cm, a hard laterite layer was discovered implying that this mound was only a short time in use. The natural sediment shows an irregular surface that could be caused by either animal or human activities. Directly on top of the hard orange laterite soil, dark humus-rich sediment was found with orange spots; the remains of the original sediment. The deposit was mixed and contaminated by farming activities. Local clay with a small amount of mica particles was used to produce the vessels. Almost all sherds have been tempered with either sand or with sand and quartz particles. In one case grog was added and in one case slag fragments. Smoothing, slip and burnished are the main surface treatments. On a very small number of vessels, strip-roulette and lineincision were found. The assemblage shows similarities with the older layers of excavation unit A. An iron object was found on top of the virgin soil. It looks like a needle, has a rectangular profile and measures 45x3.5x3.5mm.

Subsistence economy and land use The material culture throughout the Iron Age points to many methods for supplying food. The archaeozooligst Veerle Linseele identified the remains of sheep, goats and large cattle during the Iron Age in north-western Benin. In addition to animal husbandry, the discovery of bones of crocodiles, lungfish, catfish, hares, small antelopes and snakes and the existence of iron fishing and hunting instruments proves that hunting and fishing were important to the village-culture. The broad range of food sources supplied the inhabitants not only with good nutritional food throughout the year, but also with the resources to survive fluctuations in rainfall. Towards the end of the settlement mound era an increase in wild animals was visible (in contrast with the results of JennéJeno presented by MacDonald 1995:291-318). How the bones of donkeys/small horses and dogs fit into the picture is unclear.

5.10 Settlement distribution (Map 5.5) The Iron Age differs from the previous periods in its material culture, lifestyle and subsistence economy. The following chapter discusses if these differences also resulted in another settlement distribution pattern. A total of 59 sites with Iron Age material culture were found in north-western Benin during the four years of research. In relation to the 17 sites of the Stone Age period III, there is an increase in number of sites visible at the beginning of the Iron Age. The sites are randomly spread over the country without any clear preference or system, except that the Atakora Mountains were scarcely inhabited. This can be explained by the importance of agriculture, which is rather difficult to perform in the stony mountain area.

The nutrition of the Yohongou-I settlers was based on millets (Petit et al. 2001:232). The charred fruits of Sorghum bicolor and Pennisetum Glaucum were present in the earlier layers, while in the more recent layers only the glume of Sorghum bicolor was found. Pennesitum glaucum is, in general, cultivated on poorer soils and might be insurance for drier years. A variety of fruits

The sequences of the excavated sites show another interesting point. The settlement mounds of the northern

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Figure 5.58 Material culture, Akongeswha-I from wild trees were found and were probably an additional vitamin-supplying food source (Petit et al. 2001:233). The Baobab seeds (Adansonia digitata) are the most common remains found at Yohongou-I, but trees of the Celtis specie, shea-butter tree (Vitellaria paradoxa), Vitex and Schlerocarya were also used during the Iron Age. A single rice corn (Oryza glabeerrima) was found in one of the pottery sherds of Yohongou-I (phase VIII, dated to the 10th century AD). However, no remains of rice could be identified in the archaeobotanical remains. More material must be analysed before rice cultivation in north-western Benin during the Iron Age can be confirmed (e.g. S.K.McIntosh 1995:351).The inhabitants of north-western Benin had a diversified subsistence economy, including herding cattle, sheep and goats, and therefore the availability of a variety of

different food sources. Neither specialisation seems to exist, as proposed for other regions (Andah 1976; MacDonald 1999; S.K. McIntosh & R.J.McIntosh 1980:188-9), nor is there any evidence that north-western Benin was producing an agricultural surplus (e.g. Connah 2001:131; S.K. McIntosh & R.J.McIntosh 1980:448-40). Several independent villages had their own livestock, which included cattle, sheep and goats. Dogs were walking around and some inhabitants had small horses or donkeys. Although sorghum and pearl millet were the basic food source, fruits from wild trees, like the Baobab, were also consumed. Some of the villagers were occasionally fishing and hunting, particularly shallow water fish and small wild mammals, like hares and antelopes.

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Figure 5.59: Kouaba-I (the z co-ordinates of the model are not on scale) 1999:88) that these systems do not have to be two different steps in the evolutionary path towards complexity (e.g. Sahlins 1961, 1963; Service 1962, 1975; Fried 1967; Southall 1956, 1998; MacDonald 1998:98)36. During the Iron Age, north-western Benin might well have been inside the hemisphere of an empire or centralised state, but the archaeological data suggests nothing of such a complex society. However, the reader must keep in mind that it is not only difficult to determine social organisations and systems from archaeological evidence (Wason 1994:15-35), it is even questionable whether archaeologists are able to detect these organisations and systems at all (Renfrew 1982:2;

Social and Political Organisation Introduction In the archaeological and anthropological literature the social and political organisation in sedentary communities are often discussed and presented as a system in which an elite rules over or controls the lower classes (disputed by Marx 1957, 1964). The way to this system is an evolutionary pattern from tribes towards states (Claessen 1984; Claessen & van der Velde 1987; Yoffee 1993; S.K.McIntosh 1999:1-30). Without reproducing the whole discussion concerning states, chiefdoms and complex societies, it is necessary topresent my ideas concerning these issues. Two main systems, or organisation forms, have made human societies: the uni-lineare chiefdoms and the centralised systems35. I believe (as well as Yoffee 1993:72; Kopytoff 35

36

This statement is similar to Fortes and Evans-Pritchard, who also focused in African Political Systems on the distinction between stateless (acephalous) societies and state societies (Fortes & EvansPritchard 1940).

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The whole issue, the evolutionary bias that political forms should have moved from simple to complex is perhaps not unrealistic in the very long term (Cleassen & Skalnik 1978:620). But it becomes misleading when we extend it to the formation of actual middlerange polities in a particular ethnographic or archaeological area (Kopytoff 1999:88). The book Beyond Chiefdoms, pathways to complexity in Africa, edited by S.K.McIntosh (1999), summarises the prejudices, the problems and practical examples of this problem in archaeology.

THE IRON AGE S.K.McIntosh 1999:1)37. And Lloyd Fallers points out that it might be true that there has been relatively little cultural differentiation between elite and common folk (1973:75). The African hierarchic societies did normally not manifest the elements of economic stratification that archaeologists most often seek (e.g. Wason 1994; S.K.McIntosh 1999:6-7). Social systems and political organisation forms38 in north-western Benin In the beginning of the Iron Age, sometime around the middle of the first millennium AD, settlements were spread throughout the north-western Benin regions. These hamlets were relatively small, averaging approximately 1.5 ha. and consisting of rounded as well as squarish buildings. None of the settlements showed any form of defensive works, as would be expected in a more centralised society, like the Benin-city (Goodwin 1957; Connah 1972, 1975, 2001:160) or some of the Iron Age settlements in Senegal (Stride & Ifeka 1982:7). Additionally, the material culture found in north-western Benin supports the absence of any form of centralisation. The clay in the ceramics is local and the grinding stones are made of stones that can be found in the nearbylocated riverbanks. None of the different settlements is unique in shape, material culture or size. Some remains are better preserved than others but the main outlook does not change. Craft specialisation, as seen in many old societies, did not exceed the limits of a village or its direct surroundings, with the possible exception of the iron technology (e.g. Schmidt 1978; Childs 1988:6-7; S.K.McIntosh 1999:22). This domestic mode of production, as Sahlins terms it, points to a clearly segmentary and not a centralised society (Sahlins 1972). The absence of any centre could be explained by the limits of my research area. But following the central place theory developed by Walter Christaller (1933), the farther from the centre the less impact, influence and political control the settlement has (e.g. Crumley 1976). There must be some sign of a centre, either by imported ware, by differences in architecture or by the size of the site39. Around the 12th century AD, some of the villages in the southern plains, like Perma-I, were larger in size (2.4 ha.) than the settlement mounds of the early Iron Age but the material culture is still of local origin.

37

38

39

Figure 5.60 Section drawing, Kouaba-I

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Archaeologists who are not aware of the difficulties in identifying social and political systems can easily misinterpret things. Nice examples are the large megalithic temples on Malta that were built by people without any well organised political society (Renfrew 1976:161) or the highly developed clans of the Aboriginal who have a very poor material culture (de Josselin de Jong 1976:13). Although others have suggested that a society has a political organisation only when it exceeds the familiar relationships (Mair 1962:10), I will speak of social and political organisation. However, Jenné-Jeno, a thoroughly excavated large city in the Inland Niger Delta, also did not fit into the standard outline of emerging complexity, according to S.K.Mcintosh (1999:77). It might be that even in an urban area, the characteristics of a complex state, defined in the literature (Carneiro 1969; Claessen & Skalnik 1978:625) do not fit in the West African examples.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.61 Material culture, Kouaba-I I assumed a non-centralised society in north-western Benin during the Iron Age with a locally orientated political organisation format (does not have to be an unranked or egalitarian society). Each village was independent and had to support itself by farming, herding, hunting and collecting. Within the village, a chief, a family, or perhaps an elders’ council, may have formed the ‘elite’ of the village, although this elite may only have served in an advisory or problem solving capacity (e.g. Vansina 1990; Wason 1994:47-57)40. It might be that the leaders of the iron working technology were candidates for higher ranks within such a village community (Childs 1988:6). A similar situation can still be observed today in some Benin villages when you look beyond the political elite that was established by the French government during the last couple of centuries. Such a non-centralised society does not mean that there was no external relationship or contact between the

villages in the region. The existence of foreign pottery and imported cowry shells from the 9th century AD onwards shows that there was a network of interactions. A similar non-centralised society-form can still be studied in Igbo or Tiv in Nigeria (Crowder 1977:19; S.K.McIntosh 1999:9-14). Collectively might be the magic word for the Iron Age society in north-western Benin, similar to the last couple of centuries (Tidjani 1951:43-5; Ronen 1975:18-9).

40

41

The system seems quite friendly and may only have worked when nothing was threatening the region. A foreign empire that was, for example, looking for raw material and slaves41 or for enlarging its political control could harm the stable situation and damage the balance that existed between the villages. Another factor that could change the balance within a non-centralised society

We, as archaeologists, must be careful not to construe power in Western terms: individualistic, rational and secular (S.K.McIntosh 1999:16). As Fortes&Evans-Pritchard remarked: „an African ruler is not to his people merely a person who can enforce his will on them. He is the axis of their political relations, the symbol of their unity and exclusiveness, and the embodiment of their essential values.“ (1940:17)

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From written sources like Al Ya،qubi (899-90, see Levtzion&Hopkins 1981:22) and Ibn Hawqal (967, 977, see Levtzion&Hopkins 1981:46-47), and more to the north the archaeological evidence from Oursi (Petit&Hallier 2002), we know that slave trading and holding was normal at the end of the first millennium AD. However, there is no evidence that this activity was carried out in north-western Benin.

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.62: Tampégré-I (the z co-ordinates of the 3-D model are not on scale).

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Figure 5.63: Material culture, Tampégré-I

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Figure 5.64: Tchikando-I (the z co-ordinates of the 3-D model are not on scale).

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN phases may have had a more pastoral way of life, more mobile and less dependent on the direct environment of their settlements. To recognise such groups is very difficult for the archaeologist (e.g. Cribb 1991). It was a transitional period from a hunter-gatherer, more mobile society with pottery, such as the people of Pendjari-II (dated to app. 5000 BC), towards a sedentary way of life around the 6th century AD. From this period only scattered remains of human occupation have been found throughout West Africa (S.K.McIntosh&R.J.McIntosh 1983, 1988; S.K.McIntosh 1994; Breunig&Neumann 2002; Breunig i.p.).

is fluctuations in rain, which had big consequences on their daily needs. Several years of drought could be devastating to a community, which would then be forced to move to regions that are more fertile. The seven centuries during which the villages flourished seem rather undisturbed. This does not mean that there were no intruders, local problems or droughts42. The society did not change in such a way that it is visible in the archaeological record. The inhabitants protected themselves against drought by cultivating Pennesitum glaucum in addition to sorghum. Pennesitum glaucum can grow on poorer soil and is much more resistance to rain fluctuations.

Around the 6th century AD, the Iron Age village-culture in north-western Benin was flourishing, although hardly any contact mechanisms were recognised. The raw material for the equipment was locally collected and worked by the inhabitants themselves. A slight change in material culture was identified around the 9th century AD. Besides some new characteristics in ceramics, foreign objects, like cowries and precious stones (beads), appear. Are these new items the result of foreign, incoming groups? Maybe they were the result of a change in society and political organisation that encouraged information exchange. Although new characteristics may, in many cases, be connected with new groups who have assimilated with the existing one, this cannot yet be stated for north-western Benin.

Cultural identity and population movements Introduction Who were the inhabitants of Yohongou-I? Were they related to the Perma-I village? Can we distinguish ethnicity and cultural identity during the Iron Age? And is it possible to trace a connection between the modern inhabitants back to the earlier inhabitants based on the material culture and cultural characteristics found in an Iron Age context? Cultural identity in north-western Benin It is generally accepted that the Iron Age people were Negroes and do not seem to be very different in appearance from the recent inhabitants (e.g. Cornevin 1998:18-47, 64). What language they spoke and what ethnic group they belonged to is rather difficult to answer. The Iron Age material culture from north and south of the Atakora Mountains differs slightly. The differences in surface treatment and vessel morphology may indicate different ethnic groups. Today the Betammaribé and the Wama have, for example, their own culture and identity, defined by language, material culture (Maurice 1986:Planche LVI, LVIII), specialisation (iron production) and the different scar-decoration on the people’s faces. Except for material culture and specialisation, the other characteristics are not archaeological traceable. And differences in material culture can also be explained by differences in geographical systems, education or raw material sources. Similar to the statements described in chapter 3.2 no attempt will be made to connect material culture to current ethnic groups.

During the 11th and 12th century AD many settlement mounds in the northern plains were abandoned while in the south even more and larger tells appear. The logical explanation is that something impacted the northern plains, causing the movement of the inhabitants to the south. The re-settling of these inhabitants at the settlement mounds in the southern plains cannot, however, be proven by pottery or other material culture. Although some new items appear, the general character of the material culture at the southern sites is similar to previous periods. Around the 14th and 15th century AD the southern settlement mounds were also abandoned. Iron production Introduction The origin of iron production has no direct connection with the finds made in north-western Benin. While the Iron Age in Benin started approximately one millennium later than in many other regions, iron technology was already fully developed and could be adapted in its advanced form without any problems. However, in order to understand the iron technology in general and its origin and situation during the Iron Age in particular, it is worth looking at the different theories and the controversial ideas of its diffusion more closely.

Population movements Where did the Iron Age people come from and where did they go after the Iron Age? Did the Stone Age huntergatherers simply settled down in the same region where they originally lived? There might be a pre-mudbrick phase at Yohongou-I as well as at the other Iron Age sites. Such an advanced society during the north-western Benin Iron Age is most likely to have been born out of another society form. The inhabitants of these earlier 42

Origin of iron production The study of metalworking in Africa has had an important place in the archaeology of technology, especially during the last decade (e.g. Schmidt&Avery

Regular sea levels during these centuries, however, point to a stable climate (Nicholson 1979:38).

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THE IRON AGE outside of the supposed Phoenician hemisphere (van der Steen 1997, 1999; Veldhuijzen&van der Steen 1999:195200, 2000)44. Actually, there is no hard evidence that the Phoenicians were producing iron or that they were exchanging or spreading information of this technique throughout the Mediterranean in such early times (e.g. Kenyon 1979). How can we scientifically argue theories without any material culture, sites and dates where these groups introduced iron technology? The only evidence that the inhabitants of Carthage had the knowledge of iron production comes from some funerary stelae on which vague depiction of metal working tools are visible as well as descriptions of iron and copper smelters (Tylecote 1975a: 55). The first iron objects in Carthage were discovered in some burials dated to the 6th century BCE. This late date and the absence of clear iron production traces in situ, make the introduction of iron technology in West Africa via Carthage during the same century rather implausible (Kense 1983:74). And why are there so few iron production sites in these so thoroughly investigated Mediterranean countries? We currently have more excavated iron production sites in West Africa than in the Mediterranean world, even though the West African region is still archaeologically neglected. And even if this is simply a lack of data, how can we explain the different dates while keeping in mind that there were about 3000km land in between (Woodhouse 1998:169)45? The spread of the technology from Meroë to the West African continent can also be questioned. Tylecote convincingly shows that the shaft furnace of Meroë is unrelated to the earlier furnace of Taruga, Nigeria (Tylecote 1975a, 1975b:5; Shinnie 1967, 1985, 1989; Schmidt 1997:9). The two regions do not seem to be part of one diffusion line in iron technology.

1978; Goucher 1981; Kense 1983; Haaland&Shinnie 1985; David et al. 1989; Rowland&Warnier 1993; Herbert 1993; Schmidt 1997; Klein-Arendt 1997). However, the diffusion ideas regarding the origins of iron working are still controversial and have proliferated to satisfy almost every conceivable possibility (Schmidt 1996:8). Most modern scholars studying iron production assume a north-south movement of the iron metallurgy from northern Africa to our area of research beginning sometime during the 12th century BC (Tylecote 1975b; S.K.McIntosh & R.J.McIntosh 1981:610-1; Brooks 1993:51). A second theory also assumes a north-south movement but via Meroë, Egypt and Chad (Arkell 1961; Trigger 1969). A third hypothesis proposes a local and autonomous production of iron in West Africa (Gado et al. 2000:225)43. As Schmidt points out in his book, The culture & Technology of African iron production, it is fascinating that there have been so many explanations offered for the diffusion of iron production in Africa, yet none of these constructs are supported by material evidence (Schmidt 1996:9). And that is still the biggest problem. The following chapter tries to summarise the pros and cons of the main three hypotheses for the diffusion of iron technology. The earliest iron smelting sites in West Africa have been found in Niger; 15th century BC in Termit (Quéchon&Roset 1974; Quéchon 1989, 1995; Paris et al. 1992) and 8th century BCE at Agadez (Grébénart 1983:114). Other furnace remains were discovered at Taruga and Nsukka, Nigeria (Amborn 1983; Okafor 1989, 1993), in Mali dated to the 8th century BCE (Calvocoressi&David 1979; Dupuy 1994:124) and in Gabon dated a little later (Oslilsly&Perrot 1993; Clist 1995). Together with the fact that in Central Africa, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Ouganda and Kenya dates of the 7th century BCE are not unusual anymore (Van Grunderbeek et al. 1982; Van Grunderbeek 1992; Schmidt&Childs 1995; Peyrot&Oslisly 1987), most of these early dates in West Africa must now be accepted (e.g. Holl 1997:21). However, the use of “old wood” on African sites and the flattening of the calibration curve between 800 and 500 BCE must kept in mind when studying the origin of iron technology (McKeating&Phillipson 1996).

The third hypotheses, a local and independent discovery in West Africa is, I believe, the most likely explanation based on all the data that have been gathered in the last decades (see also Lhote 1952; Andah 1983; Holl 1997:23)46. The most common counter-argument, that the technology is too complex for an independent invention 44

Mauny (1952) first introduced the hypothesis that iron technology was spread from the 12th century BCE onwards by the Phoenicians via Carthage to most parts of West Africa. The second theory only differs from the first in the way it reached the West African area. However, these two hypotheses are still not scientifically proven (e.g. Phillipson 1985). The earliest iron production site in the Middle East is dated to the end of the 9th century BCE: Tell Hammeh in the Jordan Valley, significantly

45

46 43

A related idea was brought in by Cheikh Anta Diop, who claims that Western Civilisation (including iron production) has its roots in black Africa. He argued that the Greek civilisation had derived from the early Egyptian civilisation, which was the product of black (Negroid) Africans (Diop 1955, 1974).

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Other iron objects, as well as some small slag fragments, were found in Baratti beach, Italy (Craddock&Hughes 1995:265) and Tell Afis, Syria (Matthiae 1979:2-4; Ingo et al. 1992:273-275), all dated to the first millennium BC. The idea that iron was first invented somewhere between Armenia and the Anatolian plateau during the first half of the second millennium BC (van Grunderbeek 1992:72) is also based on assumptions rather than facts. The presence of iron objects only says that the inhabitants were iron consumers, not producers. Although not many scholars have measured the diffusion time of information or style, a study about the spread of colonial gravestone design in New England came up with 1 mile per year (Deetz&Dethlefsen 1967:32-33). Whether this can be used for the diffusion of technology is doubtful. If so, it would take approximately 1864 years for the spread of iron production from Carthage to West Africa. The theory that iron (and copper) first appeared north of the sixteenth degree of north latitude and then moved southwards, until it reached Southern Africa in the first millennium AD must not be discarded (Kense 1985:23). The invention of iron technology could have started in the northern part of West Africa and spread to the south.

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Figure 5.65a. Material culture, Tchikandou-I

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Figure 5. 65b.

Material culture, Tchikandou-I as strong as, and maybe even stronger than the other theories.

in West Africa (e.g. Mauny 1967:533; Tylecote 1975b:4; Phillipson 1985:149; Kense 1985; Grébénart 1985, 1988), is based on old fashioned prejudices of African technological skills and is, based on the finds of early copper production, now questionable (Holl 1988b, 1993). Strangely enough, most archaeologists still seem to be convinced by these prejudices and are therefore searching for routes of diffusion. If you are looking for such a route, you will definitely find it, even if it isn’t there. The region south of the Sahara has an abundance of ore (hematite). The climate is excellent and, in the middle of the first millennium BC, the technology already had unique qualities when compared to other regions of the Old World (Killick 1996:248). Some early dates, like dates from Obobogo in Cameroon (de Maret&Nsuka 1977; de Maret 1982) or in the interlacustrine area of Central Africa (Schmidt 1978; van Grunderbeek et al. 1983), no longer have to be rejected because of problems with the diffusion hypotheses. The arguments for a local technology are, I must admit, still not very strong, especially when these three hypotheses have not been based on the technological arguments that are necessary for such a reconstruction47. However, until more facts about the north-south movement and the Phoenicians are collected, I believe an autonomous development theory is 47

Iron production in north-western Benin Most information about iron production in north-western Benin comes from the efforts of a group of scientists from l’Université National du Bénin (UNB) and Centre Béninois de la Recherche Scientifique (CBRST), directed by Tiando (1997). This research resulted in a framework with both technological as well as morphological information about iron furnaces and iron production. The unpublished manuscript includes several sites with pictures and good descriptions and is useful for the understanding of iron production, provenance and technique in the research region. Unfortunately, the historical dimensions are rather weak and allow the reader to swim between assumptions, statements and guesses. They repeat the old ideas about population movements in the Atakora Mountains and assume a date in the 15th and 16th century AD for the iron production peak. From other studies conducted in the east of Benin, the Borgou area, it is know that iron production was carried out, especially during the Historical Period. Colonial texts (Duncan 1847:131; Francis-Boeuf 1937:421-23), oral tradition and material culture, such as the beautifully preserved furnaces and tuyères as well as large slag hills, proves that assumption.

Some have tried to proof an independent invention in Africa with technological arguments. The use of a bloomery direct steel process, for example, was claimed to be unique to Sub-Saharan Africa (Schmidt&Childs 1995). However recently the same process was found in Europe from 500 BC (Killick 1996).

But the excavations, presented above, indicate that iron production was already important in the Iron Age and

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 5.66: Koukpartikou-I (the z co-ordinates of the 3-D model are not on scale).

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THE IRON AGE discovered. Braided-strip-roulette and strip-roulette are the surface treatment techniques used in the early stages. In the 8th century AD the strainer-like-vessels appear, first seen at Yohongou-I. This type is present from that time onwards in all collections both north and south of the mountain range. During the same time period, striproulette makes it is biggest move and becomes the most common surface treatment in north-western Benin, comparable to phase I-IV at Jenné-Jeno. However, at this site in Mali from the 11th century AD onward, stringroulette took the place of strip-roulette (S.K.McIntosh 1995:15648). In northern Burkina Faso the strip-roulette technique was first used in the 10th century AD while string-roulette appeared throughout the Iron Age (Lingané 1995:561; von Czerniewicz 2002:133; Raimbault 1991b: 391-412). At the end of the Iron Age in Burkina Faso, string-roulette was present, but not as frequently as in the beginning. Similar processes can be viewed at Mouyassam-II in Mali, where around 6th and 7th century AD the amount of pottery vessels with stringroulette decreases (Raimbault 1991a: 368-70). In contrast with these Iron Age sites, string-roulette was never an important decoration technique in north-western Benin.

could have been of a similar magnitude compared to later periods (Tiando 1997). Nevertheless, our region cannot add new information about the iron technology origin. No early finds, like those found in other regions, were made in north-western Benin. The Iron Age started in northwestern Benin with the appearance of settlement mounds, somewhere in the 6th century AD. From that point forward, iron production was flourishing and was used for making arrowheads, pins, nails and other equipment. Although slag fragments have been found in all parts of the region, and in all excavation units, only one small fragment of a possible furnace was found at Perma-I. The use of pounded iron-slag as temper material in the southern plains pottery production during the Iron Age is notable. Whether or not this means that the southern inhabitants were iron producers and the northern people the consumers cannot be determined. Material culture: a chronological and geographical model Ceramic containers (Figure 5.68) The production method was the same for the entire Iron Age period and for all sites in the research area. Formed by hand, in most cases with a combination of moulding and coiling, the pottery showed a somewhat irregular character. The clay was collected locally and mainly mixed with crushed pottery: grog. Organic and, less often, sand and quartz was also added during the process. At other sites in West Africa organic and sand was the primary temper materials used in pottery production (von Czerniewicz 2002:134; Lingané 1995:328; Andah 1978). A large quantity of mica particles was identified in pottery from the southern plains (and the Boukombé area) and was a natural component of the clay.

At the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century AD some items change in the pottery assemblage of Yohongou-I. The open deep bowls with the slightly everted rim, similar to examples found in almost all phases at Perma-I some four centuries later, are new. Shallow and small deep bowls, as well as deep bowls with a slight closed rim, are common. In addition to the increase in strip-roulette, now punctuation, painting and sting-roulette emerge. The appearance of paint also appears at Jenné-Jeno, although a few centuries earlier (S.K.McIntosh 1995:145). In the beginning of the 9th century AD, knob handles suddenly appear. At the same time, the slight rim evertion emerges at Akongeshwa-I. The rims of the everted vessels at this site are sometimes out-turned, which is rather rare at Yohongou-I. South of the Atakora Mountains, at Kouisougou-I, the oldest assemblages show similar forms to those found at Yohongou-I dated to the 8th century AD. Everted deep bowls and jars, as well as the slightly closed deep bowls, are common. New and not yet discovered at Yohongou-I or Akongeshwa-I is the grooved rim, similar to the recent vessels made by the Betammaribé potters. Besides this groove, the orifice and beginning of the rim of Kouisougou-I are also more pointed towards the rim. The surface treatments are similar to previous periods. New decoration techniques include the pleated-strip-roulette and modelling.

The first pottery that can be assigned to the Iron Age was found in the lowest phases of Yohongou-I, north of the Atakora Mountains. Since no sites of similar age south of the mountains have been found, I was not able to compare the material culture from the 6th and 7th century AD. Nevertheless, the assemblages in this period show a remarkable range of different forms and rim shapes. Jars with extremely everted rims, carinated deep and shallow bowls and open and closed deep bowls are common. A sharp carination in the upper body appears in northwestern Benin more frequently from the 6th to the 10th century AD than during the last centuries of the Iron Age. In Jenné-Jeno, however, this type appears in the 9th century AD and is used from that point onwards (S.K.McIntosh 1995:150). Out-turned rims and outthickened rims have been found at Yohongou-I, similar to the 8th century AD at Akongeshwa-I. Extremely closed deep bowls were used and, as the reader will notice, later disappeared. Most of the bases are round-shaped. The ring-base, common in the following periods, wasn’t used during the 6th and 7th century AD, which is different from Jenné-Jeno, where ring bases were discovered from the first Iron Age layers onwards (S.K.McIntosh 1995:1446). A few base-with-one-hole type vessels were

In the 10th century AD the Yohongou-I pottery is comparable to the previous centuries. However, less starkly everted vessels appear and some of the rims are now more thickened at the end, which might be the result 48

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Susan McIntosh has named both strip and string-roulette: twineroulette (S.K.McIntosh 1995:130-213). Table 3.1 shows the different classes identified on Jenné-Jeno ceramics.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN frequently found in the northern plains, have never been discovered in and south of the Atakora Mountains. On the other hand, the pottery lids in the southern part are beautifully made and fired, whereas in the northern regions old sherds were used as covers50. Ridged bowls and jars are more common in the northern part, while the slight s-curve deep bowls and jars are more often seen in the south. The combination of several surface techniques occurs mainly in the southern plains. The ceramic of the following Historical Period is very different, both in shape (the carinated deep bowl with the starkly everted rim, for example, found at Tanougou-I) and decoration (rocker-stamping and carved-roulette). There seems to have been no relationship between the Iron Age inhabitants and the people of the Historical Period.

of another production technique (coiling, rather than turning up). The same thickening appears at TchikandouI, a site also located north of the Atakora Mountains. An increase in thickened rims is also visible in the later stages at Jenné-Jeno (S.K.McIntosh 1995:149). The outturned rim as appears in the 9th century AD at Akongeshwa-I can now be observed at Yohongou-I and Tchikandou-I. Carinated bowls and the s-shaped deep bowls with the slight evertion are seldom found. More unusual shapes appear, like the extremely, carinated beaker at Tchikandou-I and the everted vase with stringroulette at Yohongou-I. Most vessels are decorated with strip-roulette, string-roulette, line-incision and occasionally pleated-strip-roulette and rocker stamping. The ceramic evidence dated to the 11th and 12th century AD is a mixture of the previous periods. The s-shaped deep bowl appears again on both sides of the Atakora Mountains and the extremely evertion that was normal in the 9th century AD has disappeared. At Yohongou-I there is a majority of smaller shallow and deep bowl shaped vessels with a simple rim. It seems that the storage jars and containers were used less frequent during this time than was the case in the 9th century AD. Still, unusual shapes and decorations appear, like the jar with the outthickened rim at Yohongou-I and the out-turned rims at Perma-I. String-roulette and rocker stamping have almost disappeared and the assemblage includes more and more braided-strip-roulette. In Jenné-Jeno braided-striproulette had taken the place of pleated-strip-roulette from the beginning of the 9th century AD (S.K.McIntosh 1995:145). Although pleated-strip-roulette occurred in north-western Benin from the beginning of the Iron Age, it was still in use when braided-strip-roulette emerged.

Other finds Although iron objects were found at Yohongou-I from the beginning onwards, at the end of the 8th century AD an increase in number of loaf shaped spearheads, nails, pins, and arrowheads, as well as slag fragments is visible. In the 8th century AD fired clay pendants appear with at least one hole in one of the top ends. This kind of jewellery was found relatively unchanged throughout the Iron Age, although at the end of the 9th century AD carnelian was also used as raw material to produce these artefacts. Another new material used in this century was bone, especially for lip plugs51, beads and buttons. This large variety of “special finds”, as well as the first findings of cowry shells and hematite, illustrates the contacts with other regions in the 9th century AD. Similar objects were found in the 10th century AD. Bearded arrowheads, knife-blades, needles and nails were the usual finds at Yohongou-I. Lip plugs made of quartz, clay pendants, beads and hematite stone were also discovered. At Kouisougou-I, a clay object was found decorated with triangular impressions, probably used as part of a cooking installation.

Pottery from the 13th and 14th century AD was found at Tampégré-I and Perma-I. Most of the vessel shapes, rim shapes and decorations had similarities to earlier periods. The s-shaped vessels now form a large part of the total collection. The combination of different surface treatment on the same vessel, such as the examples found at PermaI, is new. More and more wave and zigzag pattern appears, made by line-incision, comb-lines and combimpressions. Pleated-strip-roulette, string-roulette, fingerimpressions, punctuation, comb-lines and braided-striproulette are other techniques used for decorating the surface of the ceramic vessels. Similar decoration forms and vessel morphology have been discovered at Koumbi Saleh (Berthier 1997:63). But as von Czerniewicz correctly mentioned, vessel forms and decoration types are comparable during the Iron Age on most Iron Age sites throughout West Africa (2002:146).

During the 11th and 12th centuries AD, the number of special finds decreases. Only one iron object and one clay pendant was found at Yohongou-I. This might be the result of a decline in occupation density towards the darker period of the 14th and 15th century AD. This decline was not visible in the southern plains. In contrast, the sites became bigger and numerous iron objects and slag remains were discovered. The exceptionally preserved spearhead at Perma (Figure 5.52b.2) is one of the reasons to believe a highly developed metal industry still existed during this period.

Comparing the Iron Age pottery of the northern plains with that of the southern plains, only a few differences in shape and decoration are visible49. The grinding plates, so 49

50

Studies in Ancient Palestine have shown that standardisation and uniformity of ceramic style, decoration techniques and other variables resulted from an intense interaction between potters, pottery and the buying community (Wood 1990:58).

51

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Not every scholar agrees with a function for these rounded pottery discs as a cover. Posnansky, for example, calls them weights used for weighing gold (1976). Lip plugs were seen and described by Gruner at the end of the 19th century AD. Most of them were made of ivory or white stone (probably quartz) and were pointed (Gruner 1997:365).

THE IRON AGE

Figure 5.67 Material culture, Koukpartikou-I

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Figure 5.68: A comparison of the pottery assemblages in north-western Benin.

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THE IRON AGE of the 11th century AD, pointing to the importance of hunting and fishing53.

The Iron Age in north-western Benin The Iron Age village-culture in north-western Benin started somewhere in the 6th century AD. It can be assumed that these first inhabitants had a past, either somewhere else or at the same location but not traceable by the archaeologists. I have suggested that there was something like a pre-mudbrick phase in the region, between a community using chipped stone and the beginning of the Iron Age. Most information from the 6th century AD comes from the Yohongou-I settlement mound. Small round houses made of mudbrick (Figure 5.26) were erected on several natural hills in the plains (in contrast with Urvoy 1936:24). The settlements did not exceed 2.0 ha and weren’t fortified. In the beginning of the Iron Age the material culture was of local origin: the clay of the pottery, the stones used for grinding and the material from which jewellery was made. The ceramics show a broad range of different forms and surface treatments. Extremely closed deep bowls, carinated bowls and the base-with-one-hole type vessel are elements that were used in the first three centuries of the Iron Age. Besides smoothing, burnishing and slip, strip-roulette was used to decorate the surfaces of the vessels. Rocker stamping, so common at the end of the Stone Age52, braided-strip-roulette, string-roulette, comb, mat and line-incisions are rare. Several slag fragments and iron objects are indirect proof of metallurgy in the vicinity. The first inhabitants were fully sedentary, as the botanical remains indicate and had a lifestyle similar to the latest phases of the Iron Age.

In the following centuries, it seems strange that settlements in the northern plains as well as some settlements inside the Atakora Mountains were abandoned. Inhabitants left Yohongou-I, Tchikandou-I and Kouaba-I in the 12th century AD. Akongeshwa-I was already abandoned in the 11th century AD. The southern plains, however, developed and more and more inhabitants settled here (Perma-I is approximately 2.4 ha.). Were the people of the northern plains driven out of their hamlets and forced to move south? The material culture in the southern area did not change. Ceramic vessels of Tampégré-I follow the line of previous periods. Koukpartikou-I and Perma-I now seem to favour the combination of several surface treatment techniques on the same vessel. Zigzag pottery decoration appears, made with lines, comb-lines and comb-impression. Burnt wall fragments found at Perma-I now point to the use of tauf walls rather than walls built with sun-dried mudbricks. Although a few items show contact with other regions, I believe the society structure was similar to that during the beginning of the Iron Age. The settlements in the northern plains were abandoned sometime during the 11th and 12th century AD. Some graves on top of the mounds indicate that the hills were still used as cemeteries. The abandonment of the villages in the southern plains occurs three centuries later. The grave goods discovered at Perma-I show parallels to the material culture of the Iron Age occupation of the same mound. It is assumable that the inhabitants, who were living on the settlement mound during the Iron Age, were the same people who buried their deaths directly after the abandonment of the villages.

In the 9th and 10th century AD, new items appear in the area. More open shallow and deep bowls were discovered in the different assemblages of north-western Benin sites and contacts with other regions can be proven by the presence of cowry shells and carnelian beads. In the 10th century AD many new settlements were established, like Akongeshwa-I and Kouisougou-I. Except for small differences, like the occurrence of s-shaped bowls in the southern plains, the ceramic assemblages on both sides of the Atakora Mountains are comparable. The surface treatments are similar to previous centuries, although strip-roulette now becomes the major technique in the assemblage. Both rounded and triangular shaped punctuation appear on some sherds. Now and then rectangular buildings were in use, most of them made of sun-dried mudbricks (some walls were made with the tauf method). A non-centralised society existed in the whole research area: a village-culture that was able to keep a balance in its society. Similar to the beginning of the Iron Age, every household could satisfy their own needs and specialists rarely existed, except perhaps for the iron producers. At Yohongou-I the amount of wild animal remains in the sediment increases in during the beginning

The end of the settlement mound era What happened at the end of the Iron Age between the 12th and 15th century AD? This is the first time in the area’s history that the archaeological information shows a clear change in society structure (the remains of the transition from Stone Age to Iron Age is marginal preserved in north-western Benin). Almost all settlement mounds were abandoned, the sites in the northern plains three hundred years before those in the southern plains. There is no evidence of a destruction wave, except perhaps at Kouisougou-I, nor any sign of internal conflicts. The settlement mounds were simply abandoned and fell apart and most pottery and objects were removed. What happened here? Something or someone tipped the balance at the end of the Iron Age. Co-existing abandonment cycles can be seen in north Burkina Faso (Lingané 1995:222; von Czerniewicz 2002:129-132), 53

52

The differences in decoration patterns between the Stone Age and beginning of the Iron Age is obvious and could be important in the future when studying of the origins of the Iron Age inhabitants as well as for the transition from Stone Age to Iron Age.

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This is in contrast with the situation in other regions, like JennéJeno, where hunting became less important at the end of the Iron Age (MacDonald 1995:313). More material has to be studied from Iron Age sites in north-western Benin to test these preliminary results.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Mali (S.K.McIntosh 1995:376-7; Togola 1996:108; R.J.McIntosh 1998:246) and in Mauritania (Robert 1970). According to Dramani-Issifou, the end of the Mali Empire in the 14th century AD created a very unstable situation in the region (1993:153). People had to move and several settlements were abandoned. But did that power, or rather the absence of it, reach so far that even the inhabitants of north-western Benin had to change their systems and their subsistence economy?

primarily climate induced, the sites located in southern plains had enough resources to survive at least 300 years longer than the north-western part of Benin. The difference in time between the abandonment of the northern plains and the southern plains seems to exclude the possibility of a sudden virus outbreak, even though the ruins were used as cemeteries in both regions. The abandonment of the settlement mounds and the adaptation of a more mobile lifestyle were caused by a combination of several different factors. The archaeological remains of the succeeding Historical Period in north-western Benin have been discovered mainly in the more marginal zones: the mountain area (see chapter 6). Additionally, the small number of sites that are situated in the plains are close to or on top of higher terrain, actually similar to the situation in period I of the Stone Age. An explanation for this pattern might be that the people had to hide or flee from something or someone out on the open plains. The northern empires and tribes in addition to the drier climate may well have had a dramatic influence on this region at the end of the Iron Age when the people had to leave their houses and change their subsistence strategy.

Another reason for the abandonment and change in lifestyle could be a dramatic climate change. It is known that a dry period started around the 13th century AD that, according to Susan and Roderick McIntosh, caused a lack of water resources and diminishing soil fertility in the Inland Niger Delta (S.K.McIntosh 1995:376; R.J.McIntosh 1998:242). An overall drop in the level of Lake Chad over the last millennium indicates that there was a general deterioration in the West African savannah (Sutton 1982:310). Of course, this impacted West Africa and had a major effect on not only the cereal cultivation and herding, but also on the social stability between different ethnic groups (Mercier 1948:51-54; R.J.McIntosh 1998:242). If the abandonment was

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The Historical Period The Historical Period in West Africa is a period in which the first written sources appear, a period characterised by widespread Islamic religion, rich kingdoms and centralised authorities. Contacts with Muslim merchants and European sailors enable the growing kingdoms in the southern coastal zone, like Ghana, Benin and Nigeria to exert widespread cultural and economic influence. Gold, Kola nuts and slaves were brought to the north, in exchange for brassware, clothes and salt (Stride&Ifeka 1982:164; Collins 1990:5; Meillassoux 1991:44-64; Connah 2001:141). During the European occupation slaves were traded in exchange for weapons, alcohol, pipes and coins.

“A long time ago, God created a helicopter and this helicopter brought a Tata to this place [Kouisougou]. Some persons and animals (cows) were locked up inside the Tata. The door was closed and the people could not leave the house. The people who were already living in the region heard the noises inside. One of them, an old man, asked them where they came from. The people inside answered: from the sky. The people opened the door and freed the people of the Tata, who were the first Betammaribé. After the fight in which some of the original inhabitants were killed and others were chased away, they settled the region.” A story told by Mr. BeauPhillip of the village Kouisougou - translated by the author

In north-western Benin, however, no integration in larger empires nor real evidence of foreign influence is archaeologically visible. Quite the contrary, after the end of the settlement mound era, a dark period started in which iron-producing people have tried to survive dire circumstances.

State of archaeological research Introduction Oral tradition in African society, often dealing with the origin and early history of ethnic groups, is an important medium for the archaeologist to sample bits of information about the recent past: praise poems about kings and heroes, and stories about battles they fought against their neighbours (Crowder 1977:9). Nevertheless, using oral traditions to reconstruct the past is not an easy task (Vansina 1971:450-1; Henige 1974:1-2, 1982:1-5). The reason is simple: these sources were never designed to provide historical information. The text above was recorded during the excavation at Kouisougou-I in the year 2000. The principle person told his “popularised” version of the origin of one of the largest ethnic groups in the Atakora region, the Betammaribé, with such perseverance that it sounded historical, although modern equipment was part of his story.

State of archaeological research Not much is known of the ordinary life of the West Africans in the last six centuries. The number of archaeological excavations carried out on sites dated to this period is limited. According to many scientists, the Historical Period is something for the historians. Is this true? It is well known that archaeologists, even historical archaeologists are not satisfied with the historian’s hearsay (Wesler 1998:1; Vansina 1971, 1995; Robertshaw 2000:261) and this lack in interest and co-operation motives may very well have caused the immense gap in knowledge of the history of West Africa.

The period under survey, the Historical Period, opens with the abandonment of the settlement mounds and includes several different sub-phases. Not everyone does define the period similarly. Henige mentions that history and therefore the Historical Period encompasses all that has ever happened anywhere and at any time (1982:1). Deetz, however, has defined the period and its archaeology as the archaeology of the spread of European culture throughout the world since the fifteenth century and its impact on indigenous peoples (1975:59). When “history” and, thus, the Historical Period is defined by the use of historical documents, as far as north-western Benin is concerned, the Iron Age continued until the French and German sailors and explorers appeared there in the 19th century AD. Although some people have tried to find a more suitable term, like the broader term “the Holocene period” (Stahl 1994), for the course of this study I will name the period starting from the time of the abandonment of the settlement mounds onwards the Historical Period.

One of the few studies that brings together archaeological evidence, oral traditions and written sources, was carried out by Kiyaga-Mulindwa (Kiyaga-Mulindwa 1982). He reconstructed the occupation history of the Birim Valley in southern Ghana between 1450 AD and 1800 AD. The locally oriented population of Earthwork Ware, as he called the pottery of the inhabitants, had suddenly come to an end by the Atlantic slave trade. The decision to study Historical sites is normally influenced by their importance in the historical record: thus, archaeologists went looking for the capitals of the large empires of the Historical Period. Tegdaoust in the Mauritanian desert, thought to be the historical town Awdaghust (Calvocoressi&David 1979:14-25; S.K.McIntosh& R.J.McIntosh 1980:18, 1986:431,438; Devisse et al. 1983:556), the stone structures of Koumbi Saleh, identified as the capital of the old state of Ghana (Berthier 1997) and Kawkaw, probably the modern town of Gao (Insoll 1996, 2000) provide good examples of such working strategies (Stride&Ifeka 1982:31-45). 111

THE HISTORICAL PERIOD

Map 6.6 The discovered sites dated to the Historical Period in north-western Benin Although many of these towns reached the height their expansion in the Iron Age, their later occupation was clearly felt in the Historical Period. The capital of the Mali Empire has not yet been found, although according to the archaeologist Vidal, it must be the ruins near the village Niani (Vidal 1923; Niane 1970).

Researchers in Mali have found out that ancestors of the modern Dogon people had already settled in the Inner Niger Delta in the 15th century AD. The typical abris buildings, rock-paintings and large clay bins are still the same compared to those at the time of their arrival. However, the ceramic evidence shows clear stylistic changes (Bedaux 1986; Bedaux&van der Waals 1987). Different stone structures and graves have recently been found in the valley of Azawagh in Niger (Bernus et al. 1995; Cressier 1995:277-358). In Nigeria, several settlement mounds with defence sytems have been excavated, like the town of Owo-Igbo’ Laya (which shows similarities with the ife-culture of the Iron Age)

More thoroughly investigated is the Ghana region, like the study in the Volta region (Mathewson 1968) and excavations at Tell Dawu (Shaw 1961) and New Buipe (York 1973). Dated by the presence of European and Asian ceramics and Dutch pipe heads, the excavation shed light on the town life and its inhabitants. 112

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 6.69 Material culture, Tanougou-I and the impressive ruins of Birnin Gazargamo, probably the capital of the Kanuri state (Collins 1990:11). The latter revealed several almost intact buildings all dated to the period between 1470 and 1812 (Bivar&Shinnie 1962; Connah 1981). Yet, as opposed to the Dogon cities, this town as well as the succeeding capital of the Kanuri, Birnin Kafela were abandoned around 1900 (Huysecom 1987:136). Beside these major sites, also shell middens, like Ke and Onyoma in Nigeria (Huysecom 1987:138), and cemeteries, such as Barraou, Assaqqarou and Tchin Wassaran (Grébénart 1979:215), in Niger, were studied. In the Mékrou, Niger, Vernet discovered iron production sites and small stone circles during his survey in the 1990s (Vernet 1996:347). First thought to be part of an Iron Age settlement, carbon samples proofed the habitation at a later date: 335 + 120 cal. BP and 175 + 70 cal. BP. Similar small iron production places, dated to respectively 820 and 365 years ago, were found in the Sirba region in Niger (Vernet 1996:322).

contacts with European sailors and tribute-payers in captured regions transformed these cities in deposits of imported goods, gold and other luxuries. The cemeteries of this period give a similar impression. The written sources and the archaeological remains point both to a story of richness and success. Names like Bornou and Songhay are well known and everything in their direct vicinity seems influenced by that particular state. Although there were several intermediate periods characterised by political fragmentation, such as the time between the collapse of the Songhay Empire and the rise of the Islamic states, the general character in the Historical Period was of a developed West African society (Levtzion 1975:143). But the problem might be that the urban process during the Historical Period has been overweighed. Research of hamlets and villages must not only be augmented to understand the nature of towns, but must also be studied as independent units, harbouring an enormous amount of information about the African past. The inhabitants of the countryside probably lived their life in a different atmosphere, in a less hierarchic and acephelous society (Crowder 1977:19-25; Neale 1985:117 in contrast to Levtzion 1975:142).

Summarising the results, in West Africa, the Historical Period is a time of states and city centres, most of them with large defensive- and earth-works and a hierarchic society. Early post-colonial African history thus became the study of kingdoms (Vansina 1966). Trade, first

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Figure 6.70 Material culture, Koukouan-I Excavation 1: Tanougou-I (Map 6.6)

Date Two carbon samples, found in supposed Stone Age layers underneath the thick layer of roof debris, were analysed (see Chapter 4.2): one date resulted in 180 + 30 BP1, the other in 561 + 33 BP2. The inhabitants of the modern village Tanougou did not know anything of a collapse inside the cave or any people who have lived at this place. The cave was occupied or frequently visited in the last couple of centuries, post-dating the roof collapse around 1660 AD. However, this occurred before the modern occupation arrived at Tanougou some 150 years ago.

Introduction The site Tanougou-I, from which the oldest occupation remains have been presented in chapter 4, was also inhabited during the Historical Period. Pottery sherds, grinding stones and a metal object in the upper sediments of unit A indicate that people have occupied or visited the cave in the last 300 years. Pottery All ceramic-sherds (N=37) were covered with a yellowish encrustation of chalk. The few vessels from the assemblage that could be reconstructed were one closed shallow bowl (Figure 6.69.1), one everted, carinated shallow bowl (Figure 2.69.3) and one out-turned deep bowl (Figure 6.69.2).

Excavation 2: Koukouan-I (Map 6.6) Introduction Koukouan-I is a natural hill along the road BoukombéKorontière (see also Chapter 4.4). The pottery sherds, found during excavation and survey work, show people either occupied or visited this site during the Historical Period. The inhabitants of a house, approximately a hundred meters east of the site, did not remember anybody living at this mound. Despite their answers, I had to be aware of modern contamination since people were living so close by.

The pottery was made of clay with a high percentage of mica particles and tempered with grounded quartz, sand and plant material. The size of the quartz fragments varies from medium to small and is clearly visible against the brown, grey coloured clay. Most of the sherds were fired with high temperatures under reduced or oxidised atmosphere.

Excavation work No stratigraphic clean layers were noted during the excavation work. The pottery sherds were small in size and heavily eroded. The following paragraph is therefore rather a description of the pottery assemblage, than a

The pottery sherds were decorated with strip-roulette, different coloured slip, smoothing and/or burnishing. The use of coloured slip is very common during the Iron Age, such as on vessels found at Yohongou-I, but is still unknown for the Historical Period. The deep impressed strip-roulette has more in common with recent ceramics.

1

Metal On the surface near unit B a long bronze or copper pin was found (117x4x5mm). One side is pointed and the object is slightly bent (Figure 6.69.4).

2

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This results in a calibrated Age of 258-268, 216-166, 161-144, 19-3 BP, and with 95,4% certainty (2 Sigma) 1659-1954 cal. AD (UtC No. 9812). This results in a calibrated Age of 622-605, 557-536 BP, and with 95,4% certainty (2 Sigma) 1309-1433 cal. AD (UtC No. 9813).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 6.71 A comparison of the pottery assemblage in north-western Benin

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THE HISTORICAL PERIOD 1996:348; Idé 2000:Fig 149)4. The jars and vases in the northern plains have an even more prominent everted rim, compared to the Atakora Mountains and southern plains. Recently, the evertion of the rim has become common in the region south of Perma, around Tchoumi-Tchoumi, and yet is hardly seen in the northern plains. The shallow bowls are identical to ceramic vessels dated to the Iron Age. Some of the rims are flattened or straightened, a technique not seen in the Iron Age assemblages. The deep bowls have almost all out-thickened, in-thickened, thickened or out-turned rims (see other examples in the Mékrou, Vernet 1996:Figure 176; Nigeria, AllsworthJones&Wesler 1998:fig 2.18, fig 2.22 and Ghana, Shinnie&Kense 1989:fig. 57b). Although some Iron Age collections in West Africa do include the extreme outthickened rim (e.g. Raimbault&Sanogo 1991:Fig 3, 5; Vernet 1996:Figure 173, 176; Gallay et al. 1998:Fig. 19.6-7; York 1973:fig. 46.9-13), it appears in northwestern Benin in larger quantities during the Historical Period. Another new type is the grooved rim (e.g. Shinnie&Kense 1989:fig.58b; Mathewson&Flight 1972:fig.3.9,11). The open deep bowls, frequently used during the Iron Age, have now disappeared.

description of a site with good stratigraphic deposit and material culture in situ. Pottery Three different materials were used to temper the ceramic sherds of Koukouan-I: organic material, minerals and grog. Most common was the combination of minerals with organic material. Grog was added in two sherds, probably evidence of Iron Age occupation in the vicinity (crushed potsherds are especially used as temper during the Iron Age). The ceramic containers are fired with medium or high temperatures under oxidised as well as reduced conditions. The variety points to the use of an open kiln, as is still common in West Africa.A simple deep bowl (Figure 6.70.2), an everted deep bowl (Figure 6.70.3) and a closed jar (Figure 6.70.1) were among the assemblage found in the excavation unit. The everted deep bowl has a slightly thickened, grooved rim. The groove is typical for the last two hundred years. The closed jar is decorated with rocker stamping and shows a thickened rim. The body thickness of the pottery assemblage varies from 7mm to 26mm. Deep-impressed strip-roulette and line-incision are the most common surface treatments used at this site. But also burnishing, modelling and rocker stamping occur.

In the Historical Period, two groups of surface treatment were used. One group, primarily found in the northern regions around Tanguiéta and Batia, is characterised by the use of carved-roulette. The potter has decorated only part of the vessel, in most cases bands under the rim and orifice. The rest of the body was smoothed. Together with carved-roulette, also the strip-roulette, fine-braided-striproulette and plaited-strip-roulette techniques were conducted.

Date The pottery of Koukouan-I shows similarities with modern pottery production techniques and surface treatments. Although inhabitants in the vicinity of the site did not know the place was used, the pottery dates to a later stage of the Historical Period. Material culture: a chronological and geographical model

The second group is primarily decorated with rocker stamping, strip- and string-roulette. Similar decoration techniques can be found throughout West Africa on sites dated to the last few centuries of the Historical Period (for example the so-called Bambara tradition in the Inner Niger Delta, Gallay et al. 1998:Fig 33-5; and in Ghana, York 1973:30). Recent ceramics are very similar to this second group.

Introduction One of the problems to describe the material culture of the Historical Period is the limited number of ceramic studies carried out in West Africa (exceptions are, for example, York 1973; Bedaux 1986, Shinnie&Kense 1989; Allsworth-Jones&Wesler 1998; Gallay et al. 1998). Also the written documents of Arab merchants, the travel reports from Europeans and the oral history of the locals do not reveal much information about the material culture of the past.

Iron production Iron production was an important activity during the Historical Period. Throughout the region, traces of the industry are visible. The production of iron ended in the 1950s. The iron ore, in north-western Benin hematite and laterite, was extracted by mining, for example at Tampégré-II and at sites discovered by Tiando and his research group east of Natitingou (Tiando 1997). Sideways from the round shafts, often more than two meters deep, brought the miners to the ore.

Ceramic containers (Figure 6.71) One of the main differences from Iron Age pottery is the presence of extremely everted rims (Shinnie&Kense 1989:fig.56a-b, 68; York 1973:fig.38-40) and the composite rim (e.g. Bedaux et al. 1978:Fig 59.41; Gallay 1981:182; Gallay et al. 1998:Fig. 14.4, Planche 58). The latter was attached to the pot after the body was finished and not turned or kneaded up3. Vernet and Idé found similar examples in the Mékrou area, although they have dated these ceramics to the later Stone Age (Vernet 3

4

The kneading method was practised by the Iron Age potters and can still be observed by modern pottery makers.

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The description of the ceramic in both works is very marginal (Vernet 1996; Idé 2000). Their pottery typology and description is based on surface material and some of the ceramics might rather belong to a later period. The C14 dates, respectively 175 + 70 BP and 335 + 120 BP (Idé 2000: 217) confirm this.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 6.72 Iron smelting: iron furnace and tuyère

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THE HISTORICAL PERIOD these shells as trade items and currency in the Historical Period.

The ore was pounded, before it was suitable for smelting. This activity was performed in bedrock mortars, such as have been discovered at Koussantoukou-II. Similar installations were found in north-western Benin (Tiando 1997) and in Togo (Eiwanger 1997:Fig 18a).

North-western Benin was an isolated region in which groups were living with their own rules and traditions. It was never part of a kingdom or within the reach of European colonials. N’Tia points out that cowry shells were introduced relatively late in north-western Benin, probably between the 18th and 19th century AD (N’Tiah 1993:120). Asante saw a similar distribution pattern in the hill country of Togo at the end of the 19th century AD (Asante 1886; Klose 1899:362). It might be that the use of cowry shells as ornaments or for ritual and magical purposes was far more widespread here than their use as money (Johnson 1970:32).

Most of the iron furnace remains, discovered in northwestern Benin, were in use during the last two, maybe three hundreds years (dated by the related pottery assemblage). These ovens, sometimes still standing intact between large slag hills, are located primarily in and along the Atakora Mountains. For more information, I would suggest reading Tiando (1997), who carried out a survey in the area around Natitingou and the study from Maurice (1986).

Settlement distribution (Map 6.6)

The furnaces have been built up with clay loaves and tempered with pysolithes (Figure 6.72). It is common that more than one, in average three, different installations were built in the same area. The diameter varies between ca. 66cm and 1m and the height between 2,35m and 3,75m (N’Dah 1999:60). The tuyères were moulded around a wooden stick and show a rounded cross section (Figure 6.72). They were made and tempered “finer” as the furnace itself. Several early European travellers have mentioned iron furnaces in the region and in the neighbouring country Togo (Francis-Boeuf 1937:421-23; Duncan 1847:131; Hupfeld 1899; Fisch 1911).

“De nos jours, on trouve tout le long de la chaîne de l’Atakora des ruines des maisons, de hauts fourneaux et des clôtures, laissées par des réfugies.” In: Noel 19767:134 The two different groups of pottery decoration have a different distribution pattern. The carved-roulette group was found primarily inside the Atakora range and the northern plains. They are situated inside or near smaller mountain ridges and were in almost all cases related to iron production. Large hills of slag, most of them the result of smelting6, fragments of tuyères and bedrock mortars are clear evidence of metal producing industries. The only architectural remains that can be connected to this group are stone circles, probably the foundations of houses.

Metal object There is a decrease in amount of metal objects visible in the Historical Period. Beside the fact that fewer sites were found and thoroughly excavated, the equipment might have been made for trade mainly. Some iron arrow points show the importance of hunting and defending in this period. But iron fragments of farming instruments and ornaments were also discovered.

The second pottery group decorated with rocker stamping has much more in common with recent ceramics. Rocker stamping, line-incision as well as strip- and stringroulette can still be found in modern houses and on local markets. The archaeological sites with these characteristics are far more numerous than the carvedroulette group and are dispersed randomly over the research area. But beside the differences in decoration techniques, other cultural items are identical with the carved-roulette group. The round stone circles were still used and the iron industry was again a very important craftsmanship.

Cowry shells Whereas cowry shells were relatively rare during the Iron Age (some were discovered in Yohongou-I, dated to the 9th century AD), from probably the 16th century AD onwards, they act as an important currency in West Africa (Johnson 1970:18; Ryder 1959, 1965). The countries in West Africa, even the ones farther south as the Inner Niger Delta5, have used the shells in earlier periods as value items for trade (Johnson 1970:18; York 1972:99). The trade between the Maladives, the place of origin for most cowry shells, and West Africa have continued well into the 19th century AD with very little change. Arab (such as Ibn Battuta, see Levtzion&Hopkins 1981:281) as well as European writers (e.g. Barbot 1732:338; an anonymous Dutchman 1754 and Dapper 1768:305) has mentioned the use of 5

Subsistence economy and land use After the end of the settlement era new groups has arrived, which were involved in iron and maybe gold metallurgy. Nevertheless, this activity was not a real industry, but more of a specialism beside normal farming, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing (Noel 1976-7:145155; Stride&Ifeka 1982:158). It would be, therefore, misleading to speak of iron smelting people. If I mention

These regions were much earlier familiar with cowries originated from the Indian Ocean through contacts with Arab merchants on a regular base (Johnson 1970:18-19). Polanyi notes the transmission of cowries by Venetian merchants from the Persian Gulf to the Niger by Tuareg caravans beginning between 1290 and 1352 (Polanyi 1966:179).

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Slag can also be the result of smiting, like examples found at Tampégré-I.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN iron smelting, it implies more the archaeological recognition, rather than the main activity of the inhabitants. Future research on both slag fragments, furnace remains and metal objects should be carried out to trace back trade lines, distribution pattern and studying technological characteristics of the iron production centres in north-western Benin.

6.8 Cultural identity and population movements Introduction It seems so easy to identify cultural identity and ethnicity by material culture dated to the Historical Period. However, the opposite is true (Denbow 1999:110). Well known scholars, when presenting the history of the Atakora region, have connected ancient iron smelting sites, pottery and graves with modern ethnic groups (Adande 1993; Tiando 1996, 1997). The time from the end of the settlement mound era until the present is a time of movements and change. Groups have entered the region and others have disappeared or assimilated. The waves of migration and population movements laid the foundations for population centres existing today and established the close ethnic ties between different groups in other countries, like Nigeria and Togo (Ronen 1975:13).

The change in diet and subsistence economy is also visible by a change in living units: from large settlement mounds during the Iron Age towards small, scattered houses at the beginning of the Historical Period. Most likely they still were farming the plains and keeping cattle, but the absence of large villages and thick occupation deposits, points to a more mobile life pattern7. Today, Igname, millet, Rice, Maize as well as fonio are the main products that are grown on the fields and probably in the last couple of centuries as well (Tiando 1996:51). Depending on the size of the field, 10 to 20 persons work together, all members of one family or clan (Noel 1976-7:148-9). Young children between 6 and 18 years old keep animals, mainly large cattle. Of course the more nomadic inhabitants of the region, like the Fulbe possess more animals (Demirag et al. 2001:307-320), but each sedentary village seems to keep only a certain number of them.

Cultural identity and population movements in northwestern Benin (Map 6.7) The Betammaribé, Besuribé and the Bètiabè belong to the largest group that lives in the region researched, the Somba people8. Almost all the oral traditions and ethnological studies refer to Boukombé and Manta as the place where these groups first settled (Noel 1976-7:63, Reikat et al. 2001:223-8).

Social and political organisation “C’est une femme, Kosataaku, qui est à l’origine des hommes, c’est-à-dire des Batammaribè. Elle vivait sous terre et pondit des œufs dont sont sortis les ancêtres des clans actuels...” In: Mouvement des populations dans les Traditions des Betammaribé by Mercier 1948:51

Information concerning social and political organisation forms in north-western Benin during the Historical Period arises mainly from the few historical sources that are available. The different groups were egalitarian, independent, and no central system is known to have existed in the early West African kingdoms (N’Tia 1993:113). According to Gruner, the Berba, who were living in the northern plains, had no visible political organisation or segmented society at the end of the 19th century (Gruner 1997:358). He assumed such segmentation started a little later in most parts of northwestern Benin (item: 363). Although this means that an army in time of war had to be formed spontaneously, the written sources seem to agree on the point that the inhabitants of north-western Benin were adequate in defending themselves (Gruner 1997). Others, like Troestler, have called these organisation forms very primitive, while they were based on individualism with the family as the basic and only unit (1939:7-8). The importance of the family in the society has been mentioned by Salaün (1947) and Chameny (unp: 6-20). But the individualism of the people did not affect the political stability. When a conflict existed within a family or between two families, the parties sat together and solved the problem, e.g. the crime (Noel 1976-7:140).

7

It is unknown where the Somba groups originate. Some ethnologists have proposed that they have arrived from Burkina Faso (Mercier 1948:50; Ki Zerbo 1978:254 as opposed to the south-north movement suggested by Troestler 1938). The most extreme scientific suggestion is that they were the direct descendants from Neolithic hunter-gatherers out of the Sahara. This suggestion is based mainly on similarities found in rock drawings (Maurice 1986:20). The inhabitants themselves have different and more romantic ideas: such as the egg-story, described above (Mercier 1948:51) or the arrival by helicopter (e.g. Noel 1976-7:65). Did these people settle on virgin grounds? Some traditions at Kouanwargou tell us that the first inhabitants have found other people, probably the Wama9 (Reikat 1999). I will deal with this question later in this chapter.

8

Not to be confused with a nomadic lifestyle. Nomads are populations who are economically reliant on their herds and are not defined by their mobility (Sadr 1991).

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The name Somba comes out of the Bariba language (Mercier 1968:8-10). It is however unknown what meaning this name have in Bariba, and why the region is lately been named the Sombaregion. Noel mentioned several meanings for the word “Somba” but none has been stated (1976-7:28). They are also known as Tamberma (Olson 1996:530). Also Waba, Woaba oder Yowabu genannt (Maurice 1986:20-1).

THE HISTORICAL PERIOD

Map 6.7 Population movements during the Historical Period

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN wood abundance. Tiando mentioned that the difference between the Betammaribé and the Wama were the fact that the Somba people forged the iron, whereas the second really produced the raw material (Tiando 1997:12). And even within the Wama group, which seems to consist of several dispersed sub-groups, there are differences (Noel 1976-7:35). Today, the Wama lives in the region east of Toukountouna inside the Atakora Mountains, where they arrived somewhere in the 1960s AD.

At the time the French and German colonialists appear in the Atakora region, the Somba people were already dispersed over the area. They probably lived first in the Atakora Mountains and moved to the southern plains a little later, around Perma, Taneka and Gouandé. The German traveller Gruner also stated the presence of Somba inside the Atakora Mountains. He mentioned that the mountain area (or Heidengebirge as he called it) was more densely inhabited at the end of the 19th century AD than the northern and southern plains (Gruner 1997:351). Struggles, internal conflicts, population growth, the climate and slave hunting10 could be reason for their expansion (Reikat 1999; Reikat et al. 2001:226). This expansion probably has set off a chain reaction in the area of moving and wandering groups. These groups, like the Wama11 and the Biyobé, had to move on after the arrival of Somba groups (Person 1955). The Biyobé were said to have been active slave traders, until the French and German colonialists arrived in the 19th century AD (Person 1955:507 opposed to Froelich et al. 1963:13). The study of Person (Person 1955:504) shows that recent ethnic groups are still wandering. He mentioned that, at the beginning of the 20th century AD, the Biyobé had to move again, this time to the north and the Somba to the south, both due to soil impoverishment.

The Yowa group, also one of the oldest ethnic groups, which survived to the present day, lives south and east of the capitals of the region, Natitingou and Kouandé. According to Tiando, they settled in the Atakora Mountains around the 17th century AD (Tiando 1996:46). The Historical Period in north-western Benin Introduction The following chapter is combined from survey material of sites in north-western Benin and results of research carried out by others, like Tiando (1997) and N’Dah (1999). The problem in presenting a historical overview is threefold: the sites belonging to this period possess only a limited amount of deposits in situ that could be excavated. Secondly, the few C14 dates that were made indicate a very large time span, due to the fluctuation in the calibration curve between 1650 and 1950 AD. And the third reason is the absence of ancient documents, due to the fact that this region was hardly visited by travellers or explorers in the past (Wolf&Kling 1890; Gruner 1997).

The central and eastern part of the research area are inhabited by three other groups: Natemba, Wama and the Bariba. The latter have arrived at the end of the 18th century AD in this region, due to the founding and expansion of the Kouandé Kingdom. The origin of the ethnic group Natemba, which now lives in and around Tayakou, Toukountouna and Kouandé, is not known. Some have suggested that they arrived from northern Togo (Cornevin 1962:37), whereas Dunglas and Dakpangou are convinced Fada N’Gourma and the Inner Niger Delta is the place where they came from (Dunglas 1942b; Dakpangou 2001).

The Historical Period in north-western Benin After the abandonment of the settlement mounds, in the southern plains, for three centuries later comparable with Yohongou-I and other tells situated in the northern plains the region was archaeologically invisible (this does not correspond with the familiar hypothesis that from the 14th century AD more settlements were erected in the area, see Dramani-Issifou 1981:655-72; N’Tia 1993:122). Part of the settlement mound inhabitants left probably this region and adapted a more nomadic way of life.

The Wama, one of the oldest settlers in the region, were probably former slaves of the Mossi (Dunglas 1942b; Mercier 1948:49; Noel 1976-7:33; Cornevin 1981:39) or Moose states (Strössel 1989). As specialists in iron production it is well possible that this people had to move to other places not only due to the arrival of the Somba group, but also by a lack of wood for the iron smelting furnaces (Reikat 1999). The difference between the Somba people and the Wama is the way they earn a living. Whereas the Betammaribé were dependent on the fertility of the soil, the Wama were mainly interested in 10

11

Based on the material culture, collected from sites that were inhabited during the Historical period, two groups may be distinguished: a carved-roulette and a rockerstamping group. The first type of pottery was found often in relation to slag hills, tuyères and bedrock mortars, whereas the second can be related to modern inhabitants.

Polanyi points out that no additional profit through the sale of slaves would induce the king to spare a single victim from the number required (Polanyi 1966:35). The king of Dahomey made also a statement to the Ouida governor in 1790 AD that he would never go into the country looking for and hunting slaves (Argyle 1966:81-2) It is, therefore, questionable if slave hunting could have had such an enormous influence on the region. Later on, as Maurice describes, during the Abomey dynasty slave hunting seemed to be a normal activity (Maurice 1986:31) Another theory is that they were chased away by the Bariba (Person 1955)

Recent inhabitants in north-western Benin do not use carved-roulette anymore, nor did they know of the existence of this surface treatment in their immediate past. This means that the carved-roulette technique was not used anymore at the beginning of the 18th century AD. Until counterarguments are presented, therefore all sites with carved roulette will be dated before that time and after the settlement mound era: from the 14th until the 121

THE HISTORICAL PERIOD 18th century AD. In this period, iron production was an important industry (Tiando 1996:48)12. The open-air sites with carved-roulette pottery contained several small stone circles, bedrock mortars, grinding stones and slag hills. These sites were dispersed over the region with a concentration in the northern plains and the Atakora Mountains. The settlement distribution might correlate with the presence of wood, which is needed for iron smelting (Reikat 1999) and the political situation. At the same time, large kingdoms in Mali as well as the Songhay tribes carried out raids (Ki-Zerbo 1978:246), well possible up to the Gourma Plains and Atakora Mountains. Some ancient travel reports mention that the north-eastern part of Benin near the Niger river as the place were northern ethnic groups have had contact with the locals (Stride&Ifeka 1982:72-73). Around the 17th century AD, the kingdoms and leaders of Birni, Nikki, Kouandé and Sansanne-Mangi in northern Togo are said to have attacked the Atakora region (Person 1956:38; Koussey 1977:144; Tiando 1978:95-111).

Bariba states (Cornevin 1981:160-74) and later on of the Birni and Kouandé Kingdom (the role of these larger kingdoms have been described in Bernolles 1968:38 and Noel 1976-7:10-12)17. Noel was convinced that they were iron smelters. He describes several slag hills and some graves in the research area (Noel 1977:77). This discovery fits perfectly in the material culture found during my research. However, the archaeological finds have a different character than the material culture used today by the Wama or the Biyobé. Considering the conservatism in ceramic morphology and production, it seems not likely that these two groups were the first people in this area after the abandonment of the settlement mounds. The Yowa (also called Pila-pila) are now living slightly south of the region around Perma. Although they also do not use the carved-roulette technique, the extreme evertion of the rim as occur in the early times of the Historical period can still be viewed among the pottery assemblage of this group.

The pottery decorated with carved-roulette has a strong evertion in the rim. The evertion of the rim is a very wide spread character, as similar finds in Mali (Gallay et al. 1998) and Niger show (Vernet 1996; Idé 2000). The last two scholars have assumed that between the 12th and 18th century AD13, iron-smelting people have settled the region around the Mékrou River. But who were these iron smelting people?

The most likely explanation is that the first “modern” groups, like the Wama, Biyobé and Yowa arrived in the area between the 16th and 17th century AD and found other people in the region. Those might be the direct descendants of the inhabitants of the Iron Age settlement mounds.

They might belong to the Wama group or the Biyobé (or Babyetiba according to Noel 1976-7:77), who were already in the region before the 18th century AD. Maurice seems to be convinced of a date in the 16th century AD (Maurice 1986:22), and Tiando even in the 14th and 15th century AD (Tiando 1978:155; Dramani-Issifou 1981)14. The Wama were specialised in iron production, which correlates well with the material culture of the rockerstamping group15.

The first white men of Portuguese nationality landed in Ouidah in 1580 AD, followed by the Frenchman, Nicolas Olivier in 1623 AD. From that time onwards, commercial relation with European traders had been established. Whereas along the coast large forts were built, the northern inland rather kept untouched. At the same time, several kingdoms were founded in the south: first Allada, which was conquered by the king of Abomey around 1724 AD. The king of Abomey let slave trade flourish and established good contacts with the European sailors along the West African coast (Ronen 1975:17-9). Later on, the kingdom of Dahomey took power and formed the major state in southern Benin (Garcia 1988).

Another candidate to be the oldest “modern” settlers are the Biyobé. These were slave hunters, especially in the western region around Lama-Kara (Togo) and were under the authority of the Nikki Kingdom (Noel 1976-7:39)16 or 12

13

14

15

16

At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century AD, a second period of population movements has influenced north-western Benin (N’Tia 1993:111). New groups, like the Natemba and the Betammaribé first settled at Manta, Boukombé and Tanguiéta and later on in the mountain region and southern plains, pushing the “older” inhabitants like the Wama more into the Atakora

Also in neighbouring countries iron production centers appear, like north-western Togo in the twelfth century AD, in the Bassari region (Goucher&Herbert 1996:40-57). In Burkina Faso iron production was an old activity (Wai-Ogusu 1973:350; Adande 1993:70), which had according to Kiethega in this early Historical Period much in common with the iron producers of the Atakora mountain region (Kiethega 1993:228-33). Some of the sites were dated (175 + 70 BP, 335 + 120 BP, 820 + 40 BP, 365 + 65 BP, 335 + 175 BP) and Vernet suggests that iron smelting was very common in these regions between the 16th and 18th century AD (Vernet 1996:347; Idé 2000:217). He suggested that movement of the Waba (as well as the Tankamba and Databa) was induced by the Malinké (Mali Kingdom) and Songhai people. At the end of the 19th century AD, a German traveller mentioned iron furnaces, still in use near the Wama village of Farfa (Gunter 1997:353). The Nikki Kingdom, founded between the 14th and 17th century AD, and located near Parakou, Kandi and Gouandé, but also the

17

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leaders of Birni and Kouandé have carried out raids in the Atakora mountains, according to several scientists (Person 1956:38; Lombard 1965:104; Koussey 1977:144; Tiando 1978:95-111). What influenced these raids had on the inhabitants in the research area is unknown. Although slave trade was forbidden in the second half of the 19th century AD, it seems still have existed in these regions (Person 1955:507; von Francois 1972:21). Also Gruner points to the existence of slave trade and captures at the end of the 19th century AD (Gruner 1997:357).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Tanguiéta, especially in the vicinity of Tora.

Mountains. Despite this, the Wama did manage to live in relative peace with the Betammaribé in these early times. The Biyobé, on the other hand, were heavily disturbed and disappeared due to the arrival of these new groups (Person 1955:104). Also, the Yowa were pushed to the south, up to the region around Djougou (Cornevin 1981:40).

In 1894 AD the Bariba King at Nikki, a little south of the research area, signed an agreement with the French. This agreement did not change the border status the Atakora Mountains already possessed. And a little later, in the year 1897 AD the French and Germans agreed with the territorial division. From this time onwards, the Atakora Mountains and the northern and southern plains were incorporated in the French empire. However, the people of le Département de l’Atakora did not notice this change and moved on into the 20th century AD relatively unchanged.

Ki Zerbo presented a different picture (1978:254). He suggested that the Somba groups were the victims of the new groups and were pushed back in the 17th century AD as far as Bassari (by Yendabri (1709-1736)). In reaction to this theory, Maurice proposes that Ki-Zerbo’s Betammaribé were probably another ethnic group (Maurice 1986:23). From descendant schemes of the Betammaribé, Maurice has produced some dates, which go back to around 1700 AD for most groups and even 1550 AD for a group living near Kouaba (1986:223).

From the 18th century AD onwards, shallow settlement mounds arose again. These mounds are the direct result of a building method with mud, especially among the Betammaribé. The surface finds on top belong to the socalled rocker-stamping group. Archaeological research of these mounds in the future should result in absolute dates and in a detailed ceramic sequence.

The earliest Somba people in the region could have lived in relative peace with the iron producers (Tiando 1996:48). But around the 18th century AD, they seem to have taken control over the region and the material culture changes, compared to the older inhabitants of the region. Competition in iron production as well as the flourishing slave trade may have played a role in this change. At the time the French commandant Plé had captured Tanguiéta in 1905, the inhabitants of the region, and especially the Somba, seem to have gained much independence (Maurice 1986:24). The efficiency of the Somba groups to defend them at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century AD is also confirmed archaeologically. Sites found by N’Dah near Boukombé (Kouporgou) and Natitingou (Data-Wori, Pélima and Kwaténa) show stone ramparts. According to the different guides, these were made to defend themselves against the French (N’Dah 1999:67).

Other evidences of these last two centuries are numerous iron smelting furnaces, such as the remains found near Kouarfa. These remains are not to be confused with the iron smelting sites dated to the earlier period. An easy way to date them is the presence or absence of the carved-roulette pottery. Several German and French travellers mentioned the production of iron in the 19th century AD in this region as well as in northern Togo (Kersting in von Luschan 1909:40; Hupfeld 1899; Klose 1899:500; von Doering 1895:263; Fisch 1911). The hypothesis that there were two different periods during the Historical Period is not new. Research done by de Barros shows that there were several variations in the levels of iron production starting from the 11th century AD in Togo (de Barros 1985:209, table 10)18. Beside the difference in pottery in the two periods, the iron production sites in north-western Benin in the second phase show no living units close to the furnaces: a clear division between domestic units and the iron production (see also an example of Mali: Huysecom&Agustoni 1996).

In the 19th century AD, the northern plains around Dassari were inhabited by the Barba, not to be confused with the Bariba (Gruner 1997:358). Noel has suggested that they arrived from the north together with theTankambas a little before the 18th century AD (Noel 1976-7:32-48). The latter settled in the mountains around

18

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Other studies, like the one from Tiando (1997) but also Maurice (1986:97-8), do not divide the two iron-production periods, or better the two occupation phases.

Pots and potters today making. Metal- and especially plastic containers seem to exert a negative influence on the sale of pottery and this possibly predicts the tragic end of a long tradition (e.g. Sargent&Friedel 1986:177-195)3. Today, most of the clay vessels made by our potter are used in ceremonies, rather than for ordinary household activities. Sometimes she tries to sell her wares on the Perma market, but in most cases, the customer orders them at her house.

Introduction Traditional pottery making is in the process of disappearing (e.g. Rye 1981:14). The loss of such technology cannot be reversed and, consequently, many important lessons to be learned from the history of pottery making in West Africa will be erased forever. Any archaeologist should record the procedures of potters, addressing mainly archaeological questions in the process (Kramer 1982:1; Skibo 1992:16)1. In order to make the maximum use of ceramic data for the archaeological contexts, I have analysed the overall system of pottery making and its related activities (e.g. van der Leeuw 1977:75; Rice 1987:168; Wood 1990:11). Besides visiting several ateliers, watching the potter at work, I have collected ceramic vessels from all over the research area.

The clay originates from the banks of Koutié-Tchatidoh, a small river running nearby the potter’s house. She digs large clumps of yellow-brownish coloured clay, which is still moist, and brings it to her house. The clay is then crumbled, spread out in the sun and pounded between an upper and lower grinding stone4. The pounded clay is soaked in water for one day. She normally prepares the raw material a few days before a group of pots have to be produced and stocks it in a jar.

The first sub-chapter presents three ethnographical case studies of pottery making in north-western Benin. Although I have looked through archaeological-coloured glasses, I have tried to be as complete in my interviews as possible. However, the potter, while making his product, does not need to explain why he uses certain dimensions (like morphology, decoration, technology, tradition etc.) neither to think of the why which is so important for the scientist. The best way to study recent societies is to predict the actions and not to explain them: we must learn to think in and work with open-ended fuzzy categories (Zadeh et al. 1975). After some theoretical consideration, I will present a model of pottery making in ancient northwestern Benin, derived from the ethnographic study. The model will try to combine and compare archaeological and ethnographical information. Pots and Potters in north-western ethnographic case studies (Map 7.8)2

Foui de Fonio is used as non-plastic additive for the clay. These plants are being cultivated in the close environment of the house. Harvested, the farmers separate the cereals from the plants. The remaining dried stalk is crumbled in an old ceramic bowl and mixed with the clay and some water. A few minutes moulding is enough to get workable clay, as she showed us. The building process starts with a clay disc of ca. 4cm thick. She places the wet workable disc carefully over the concave mould by knocking the clay with an old potsherd. In order to avoid sticking, ashes are put on the mould, the clay and the hands (e.g. Rye 1981:81). During all processes, water is sprinkled on the clay. When the clay is moulded properly, she lets it dry long enough to stay in the right shape, when removing it from the mould. Due to the concavity of the mould, the clay shrinks away from the mould as it dries, thus simplifying the removal. During the secondary forming operation, the shape of the vessel is defined and completed. The potter of Dikouetikouni uses coiling as her main technique. Experienced potters, like N’Tcheï M’Po, can produce a vessel in a short time with almost the same body thickness all over.

Benin:

Case study 1: the potter of Dikouetikouni (Figure and Map 7.8) The village Dikouetikouni is situated a little south of Perma along the asphalt road to Djougou. The houses of this hamlet are spread over a large region in a similar pattern as the compounds in the area around Boukombé: every household is surrounded by its own farmland. The potter of our interest, named N’Tcheï M’Po, originates from a small village near Boukombé and arrived at this village by marriage. “A long time ago”, as she tells us. Her mother taught her the pottery making techniques. N’Tcheï M’Po also used to teach her children these techniques. In the last couple of years, however, the children, all in school, have refused to learn pottery 1

2

After forming the vessel, the rim is cut on equal height and traced with the lower side of a leave, called tiyapaati, 3

4

There are now increasing numbers of studies of traditional pottery production by archaeological ceramic specialists, like Drost 1967, Drost 1968, Arnold 1978, Nicholson&Patterson 1985, Desbat 1989, Skibo 1992 and LaViolette 2000. The ethnographical case studies were recorded on film and photo.

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The same process can be viewed in other regions (Matson 1973: 119; Rice 1987:113, 450 and on the Jos-plateau, described by Weingarten 1990:203 and Isichei 1981:360). Some remarks are needed. First of all, pounding is normally not carried out with an upper and lower grinding stone. It is either a mistake in the translation of our guide, or a diffusion of the names of the different ground stone types by the potter. Secondly, other literature points out (Drost 1967:38; Hahn 1991a: 73, 1991b: 32) that clay pounding was in most cases done with a pestle and a mortar, or eventually a deep hollow grinding slab. Grounding, occurring during flower production, seems not the best technique for crushing clay (Petit 1997, 1999; Hersh 1981).

POTS AND POTTERS TODAY of the Mukonrimu tree5. The thick vein of this leave causes a grooved shape. The potter did not answer the question if this method was decorative or rather functional, although the groove facilitates the use of a cover. She was taught by her mother to do so and she had never asked questions like why or for what purpose.

layer of rice grass9. This structure is then set on fire. From this moment on, the potter is not allowed to speak anymore until the fire has burnt out. In the beginning she will be there guarding the fire. The potter has to be sure that there is an equal temperature at the beginning of the process. If not, she will put more grass and wood on the unlit sides10. The firing process will always start in the late afternoon and continues until the morning hours11. The morning wind will blow away the ashes and will uncover the pots. During the cooling down process, the oxygen creates a red layer on the then still hot vessels. When all pots are cooled down, they are taken back to the house and stored until the customers come and get them.

After a short period of drying, during which other pots are formed, surface modifications and other finishing techniques are carried out. Dependent on the function, their cultic and cultural meaning she uses special decorative techniques, like strip-roulette, rocker stamping and line-incisions. The upper parts of the vessel are decorated often by more than one surface treatment. A special stage in the finishing technique is the use of grounded leaves and seeds of the néré tree6. Mixed with water, it is smeared over the surface of, especially, the inside of the pots. In the firing process of the vessels, this extract will colour the vessel red or black. Although she did not know the reason to do so, other ethnographic examples show that this rite has its origin in iron smelting practices (Hahn 1991a, 1991b: 47)7. All ceramic vessels are smoothed. After several hours of drying, she burnishes some of the vessels, with a small polishing stone (in her case a natural red-quartz river pebble). Burnishing or polishing is never done on the inside of the vessels. After the surface modifications, the pots are let to dry for two days, to the maximum of three days, depending on the presence or absence of sun and/or wind.

During high seasons, she produces two pots a day and the whole cycle take up to four days and one night (under good conditions). This will hardly be the case anymore, however, because of dwindling clientele. She now works as housekeeper and farmer first and as potter second. Case study 2: the potter of Koutaagou (Figure 7.73b and Map 7.8) The second potter, whom we interviewed, lives in the village Koutaagou near Boukombé. Although in this village there were actually five women who produce pottery, we have questioned one person, named N’Tcha N’Tchei Delphine. She was born and raised in Koutaagou. Her parents taught her and an elder sister how to make pottery. In this village, ceramic production seems to be an important part of the village income. The woman as well as the chief of the village told us that a kind of workshop would be founded in the nearby future mainly for tourists. Until then, the pottery is sold on the Boukombé market. Other than standard vessels, the clients can always ask for special forms and decorative patterns.

The furnace is set up at an open place. The potter digs a shallow pit and removes all irregular parts around it in a circle of ca. 2m in diameter. The fuel and vessels are placed in alternating layers. First, rice grass is laid in this shallow deepening, followed by the vessels (she always fires more than one). The ceramics are placed upside down in the open fire, in order to be sure that the inside of the pot colours black (absence of oxygen hampers the total disappearance of carbon). This is the same traditional thinking as applied to using the fruit of Néré: the customers think that when the inside colours red you will get a disease and your skin will become red. Next, husk is laid over the vessels. Wood is never used to cover the vessels; otherwise, the ceramic will get too hot and will break. The husk of every tree except for the Mountchinrimou can be used8. When all pots are covered, a layer of small wood is placed on top, followed by a last 5

6

7

8

The clay originates from either the river Kounadorgou or Koutaagou. The clay will be dried, pounded and then soaked in water for one day. The pounding is necessary, so she tells us, to improve the soaking process. After one day of soaking, the clay is ready for use. Rice grass, Foui de Fonio, is used as temper. She did not know any other material that could be used as temper. She uses two forming operations. The first method starts with a lump of clay. By pinching a hollow in the centre, she forms the shape of the vessel between the thumb and fingers. This technique is generally used only for the production of the simplest, small round-bodied vessels. Characteristic is that these pots are less regular in shape.

This leave belongs to the Ackee plant (Blighia sapida). Similar leaves were used in the Bassari region of northern Togo (Hahn 1991a: 75). Cornevin also mentioned this plant being used for forming the rim: „une feulle dure“ (1962:93). Hahn mentioned the same process for the Bassari pottery in northern Togo. Among the Konkomba the smearing was done directly after the burning, to get a dark brown coat (Hahn 1991a: 75-77, 1991b: 38). The Lamba in northern Togo (Hahn 1991b: 47) have carried out the same activity as the potters of North-western Benin. From other groups, like Hausa, the same procedure is known, although with other material, like a mixture of charcoal and tokan sanyi (potash), e.g. Isichei 1981:79. When you use this tree the fire will be too irregular, caused by the presence of salt in the tree.

9

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In northern Togo, a thick layer (1-2m) of wet grass or straw was used in order to slow down the firing process (Hahn 1991a: 76-77). Drost (1967:235) also has mentioned this process. Temperature measurements, however, show that adding fuel to the outside lowers the temperature at the centre by decreasing the available air (Rye 1981:98). This is strange, while it is known that open fires maximum takes a few hours, and normally not more than one-and-a-quarter hours of firing (Cardew 1979:171).

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Map 7.8 The living locations of the tree potters

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Figure 7.73 The compound of the potter in the village Dikuetikunni, ceramics produced by the same potter

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN and show a flexible wall thickness. Water as well as ashes is used during the production process to avoid sticking. The exterior is smoothed at the end of the process and eventually some form of decoration is applied.

instead of using the monetary system. Special wishes in form or decoration can be made, but only if she has an example. Most pots are sold in times when many ceremonies take place.

The second forming technique starts similar to the methods used by the potter of Dikouetikouni. A clay disc with a diameter of ca. 30cm and approximately 5cm thick is placed on top of an old pot. The potter forms the disc with a pestle carefully around the mould by knocking. Ashes are thrown on the wet clay surface to avoid sticking. She rotates the mould now and then. Dependent on the type of vessel a stand base is made by fixing a small coil to the rounded base. After a short drying period the lower part of the vessel is decorated by strip-roulette. But it also occurs that the decoration is made after finishing the vessel. As it dries, the clay shrinks away from the mould and the vessel can easily be removed. By scraping the inside, the potter reduces the wall thickness. Although at a later stage the interior will be smoothed (or burnished), the traces of scraping operations are still visible after firing. When the vessel is dry enough to stay in shape, it is removed from the mould. A coil, ca. 5cm in diameter is then fixed to the orifice of the vessel with horizontal and vertical movements of the fingers. To get an equal wall-thickness, the potter adds bits of clay to the wall. The rim is made by hand and in some cases with the leaves of the Mukonrimu tree. In the last stage of the production process, the vessel is decorated, either by comb-impression, rocker stamping, strip-roulette or a combination of these techniques.

The clay arrives from a small river called Fuuryere not far from the house. After drying, the clay is pounded and put in water for at least one day. The clay is then mixed with water and Foui de Fonio. A small child, approximately nine years old, was moulding the mixture into workable clay during our visit. The potter uses two forming operations, similar to the potter of Koutaagou: one with a mould and one by pinching a lump of clay. When using the moulding technique, she starts with a plaque of clay. Similar to the other case studies, the mould normally is an old pot placed up side down in front of the potter. She forms the clay around the mould with an old potsherd. By adding more clay she then makes a flat stand base, from which the sides are often traced with the leaves of Tuyapaati in order to gain a groove. After a short drying period, the body is erected with coils of clay. The second method differs only at the beginning of the production stage. The lower body is not made on a mould, but out of a clay ball. A hollow is made with the thumb and the clay is pushed out- and upward. If a larger vessel was needed clay roles are fixed to the body. Smoothing finishes the vessels. The rim is traced with the leaves of the Tuyapaati. If the body is irregular or too thick, the sides are scraped either with a shell or with the fruit of the tree Musapaati, the so-called kusapaaku.

She fires the pottery not very far from the house on a small open place. A layer of cow faeces is placed on the ground on top of which Four de Fonio grass is laid. The pots are then placed up side down on top of this structure, followed by wood and again a layer of rice grass. The choice of Fonio grass is explained by a long burning time and because it produces a black colour on the interior (at least that is what the potter thinks). The use of other plants will make the pot red, which causes the Kumaaku illness (Haemorrhoid). The firing structure is lit in the afternoon and burns during the night. No mention of a certain ceremony is made. If the smell is good, so the potter says, she can go to bed.

After a short drying process, the pot is decorated. Here, a clear difference between the decoration and the function can be recognised. She uses Tebinte, strip-roulette, for the cooking pots and Tedinke, comb-impression, for water jars and bowls. I assume that this distinction is not always as strictly kept as she explains. I witnessed a combination of both techniques on the exterior of a vessel in her courtyard. After the last forming operation, the pot is placed in the sun, on top of an older pot, up side down. The period of time the vessel should dry depends on the weather and the size of the pot. After a few hours the body is polished, first with straw, then with a small stone and at the end again with straw. The potter explains that the straw is used to make the sides a little wet, which gives a better polishing result. Shortly before firing, the interior of the vessels is treated with the fruit of Néré, in order to get a black colour. Without the leaves, the inside will not be black. She never tried it without.

Case study 3: the potter of Tchirimina (Figure 7.73c and Map 7.8) The third potter of our interest, named N’Ko M’Po, lives in a small village called Tchirimina near Natitingou. She is approximately 53 years old and originates from Koutaago. She tells us that her mother taught her the art of pottery making. One of her children is already familiar with most of the techniques and is incorporated in the family’s pottery making. But there is no future, she explains to us. All children go to school and, though not without pride, she mentions that one of her daughters lives in the capital of Benin, Cotonou. She is used to go to the market of Natitingou, but sometimes people come to her house. People in their own village exchange goods

The furnace is constructed on a flat surface, starting with a layer of grass. Any kind of grass could be used. Although the potter did not mention the use of cow faeces, she talked about the use of this material later on 129

POTS AND POTTERS TODAY has dramatic influences on the continuation of pottery production. The children of all potters seem not to be very enthusiastic about following up their mother’s work. No time and no future. This might be the last generation of potters in the area.

during the interview. The pots are put up side down on the grass and covered with small pieces of wood, any kind of wood. Everything is then again covered with grass. In the afternoon, the structure is put on fire and the fire will burn during the night. More grass will be added when the fire is not good enough. No wood was used in order to avoid smoking. The pots are ready when the outside is red and the inside black. The black colour was caused by smoke, as her mother taught her. When one pot is red on the inside (accidentally), it means that ironworking activity has contaminated the place. This can happen if you have someone in the family who is working with iron. Small pots, which have been covered inside the fire, can be black on the exterior. This seems not to be a big problem.

The firing procedure is not very different in the three case studies. Grass and small wood are the main elements in the fire structure, which is never fired more than one night. The whole issue of what colours the pots must get, seems to be theoretically known, but practically not very present. I have seen pots of different colours, black as well as red. Nevertheless, the inside is always black, due to the position of the vessels during firing. The relation between the red colour and iron production might originate in the Historical Period.

A large pot can be made from the start to finish in 6.5 days and she can produce about 4 pots a day. She denies that there is a decrease in her production. She always made the same amount of pottery. However, a little later she contradicts herself and tells that less people are buying. The last is probably true.

Comparison between archaeological ethnographical data: a model

Introduction The result of the ethnographical research supra is interesting as such. However, within the goals and objectives of this research a descriptive approach will not suffice. Information extracted from the current situation is a valid source for an archaeological reconstruction and probably the only one for interpreting the sociology of the pots and potters.

Conclusions A similar production pattern is visible throughout the region. It must be stated that all of these women belong to the same ethnic group (Betammaribé) and have been subjected to the same traditions.

Long debated and discussed, it is now generally accepted that ethnographic analogy forms a fundamental part of interpretation and reasoning in all aspects of archaeology, including pottery studies (Hodder 1983; Wylie 1985)13. Some of the problems for archaeologists, when using ethnographical and ethnoarchaeological data, have been viewed below.

The subjectivity appearing in the interviews may show incredible blindness in the mind of ethnographers and ethnoarchaeologists. I have mainly asked questions concerning techniques and materials: activities that are also traceable in the archaeological record. The other subjects, like the colour symbolism, the meaning of innovation etc. were probably insufficiently questioned. That can also be seen in the contradicting answers of the three potters.

“It cannot be assumed that all past behaviors have analogs available for observation today; conversely, we cannot assume that all forms of cultural behavior which may be observed today have analogs in the past” in: Ethnoarchaeology. Implications of Ethnography for Archaeology by Kramer 1979:2

The pottery forming techniques is similar in the whole region. No fast wheel is used and the two different kinds of forming operations were already in use several generations ago: a long continuing tradition of pottery making. The decoration techniques also have not changed. Innovation, a word, which has become normal in modern society, is surprisingly absent.

Besides the main problem Kramer points out, the danger in the comparison of archaeological and ethnographical information lays mainly in the subjectivity of the researcher: that what fits will be recorded and other data will be discarded, sometimes even without himself noting. Subjectivity within the ethnographical and ethnohistorical science is something the ethnographers

The potter is always a woman, sometimes assisted by her children. When a potter is working full time, she can produce four pots a days on average, and the whole cycle takes about 4.5 days on average. But the job is not being executed completely full time12. Except for, perhaps, the situation near Boukombé where the women of the village are planning a co-operation with especially tourists as customers, all other women are doing the job seasonal and part-time. The decrease in the amount of pots sold 12

and

13

Ethnohistorical research in northern Togo has revealed that the women have produced the whole year around pottery, even during the rainy season (Hahn 1991a: 71). But the main production was during the dry periods.

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On the long disputed discussion about the use of anthropology and ethnography in archaeological science (or also Ethnoarchaeology) see the following: Taylor 1948; Kleindienst&Watson 1956; Ascher 1961; Binford 1962, 1967, 1972, 1983; Chang 1967; Schiffer 1978:239; Kramer 1979; Lewis-Williams 1981; Rathje&Schiffer 1982; Hodder 1983; Wadley 1987; Agorsah 1990:192; and about the pottery production: Thompson 1958; Arnold 1975; Hardin 1979; Rye 1981; Rice 1987:170; Kolb 1989; Van der Leeuw 1991.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 7.74 The compound of the potter in the village Koutaagou, ceramics produced by the same potter

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Figure 7.75 The compound of the potter in the village Tchirimina, ceramics produced by the same potter have accepted. But, due to a remarkably bad methodological approach, this is hardly the matter in ethnoarchaeology (Stahl 1993:248; Bernbeck 1997:106). Not everyone does accept ethnoarchaeology and the use of ethnological analogies in historical reconstructions. The new trend to see archaeology as a real science (almost a new form of the New Archaeology), in which mathematical and statistical research methods have

become more influential as comparative methods, makes sociological and ethnological approaches within the socioarchaeological science hardly possible anymore. The use of recent analogues is, in my opinion, an important and useful method to reconstruct and give insightful information about the sociology of the pottery (LaViolette 2000). The model of the prehistoric and 132

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Figure 7.76 Pottery vessels from the market of Matéri (north) and Shabi-Kouma (south)

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Figure 7.77a. Ethnographic data

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Figure 7.77b. Ethnographic data

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processes, while implementing them all the same. Past and present and their differences are probably not so important in their lives as these terms are for the scientist, especially one who is interested in the past. The first argument to reject this overseeing of change is the older vessels, stored in the Museum of Natitingou and in the different pottery workshops. These are identical to the newly produced vessels16. The second argument has to do with ethnicity and group building processes. In the research area, the different ethnic groups stimulate their tradition and their own culture. Almost sharp borders can be traced between them. These borders are reflected also in the pottery making techniques. The own character of their culture was kept even on the frontiers17. The incentive to innovate must either originate from the group itself or from large intervening factors, whereas surrounding factors, like ‘neighbouring groups’ information, exchange or transportation facilities do not seem to affect the production. A possible explanation for this was given by Winkler (1997). She describes the transmission of techniques from parents, in most cases from mother or aunt to the children. First, the child will only play with the clay at the same time one of the parents is producing the vessels. The child notices, when the mother is satisfied with a vessel or when she ruined the creation of the child. In this way, the child learns the “correct” forms and shapes and the same process will continue from generation to generation (Winkler 1997:32). Other explanations for the resistance to change are given by Van der Leew, Papousek and Codart: the fact that they permeate very large areas of the activity of any group of people, the fact that they are shared and form the basis of all communication between the members of the group and that those members are largely unaware of their existence (Van der Leeuw et al. 1992; Van der Leeuw 1994:137).

historic pottery production in north-western Benin has been built up with analogues taken from recent societies in the same area. I am aware of the difference in time, the difference in ethnicity, the difference in subsistence strategies and the different ideas about one’s life and the meaning of it. As the following study shows, the similarities in the raw material, the morphology, the decoration and the building and firing techniques, or in short the result of the pottery production, makes a comparison with recent potters useful to fill up blanks in the historical theories concerning pottery making. Every new information source in the future has to be compared with our model and eventually reject it or added to it (Binford 1967: 9-10). Risk, perception and innovation in pottery making today14 Something, which does have close relation with change, development and cultural evolution of pottery making and which seems to be almost absent from archaeological literature, is the mechanism which lies at the core of all these aspect of change: innovation (Van der Leeuw 1988:301). Changes in production techniques, in morphology or in decoration have been studied (the how), but the why has been shied away from. The stress was on the effects of change not on the reason behind this change. “If something can be said to change, what is then the ‘essence’ of that something?” in: by Aristotle, 5th century BC The reason for tackling the why comes out of the ethnographic study carried out in north-western Benin, in which different potters seem to have been hardly influenced by innovation processes. The different women did not change their production, neither the form, nor the material and the sociology for at least the last three generations, despite the fact that their society has changed enormously15. Factors, such as transportation facilities, have had a major impact on the normal living pattern (Lauer 1971:199), yet left the pottery production unscathed. The only change was the ‘remake’ of certain metal containers with their specific design in Boukombé (e.g. Sargent&Friedel 1986:177-195). But this was more like an exception as a longue durée process. Is this resistance to change caused by the extremely conservative character of the ethnic group in which the potter lives?

Is it not boring to always produce the same pots with the same decoration? Would one not have any wishes to break through this never ending pattern of similar actions during the process, from procuring raw material to the selling on the market? Questions like these are totally eurocentric: the result of the luxurious society that most archaeological scholars are part of (Cardew 1979:237254). Innovations in any research area are not the result of individual decision-making, but of large society changing phenomena18. At least this is true for the modern society. Some of the processes that affect the pottery industry could be migration, change in subsistence economy, change in living pattern (towards a

The first question to ask is if we did not oversee the changes. Potters do not have to be aware of innovating

16

14

15

I will not discuss the innovation process and the different models, scholars have made till now, neither the factors influencing these models. See for more information: Hagerstrand 1952; Barnett 1953; Rogers 1962; Foster 1962; Clarke 1968; Nicklin 1971; Annis 1985; van der Leeuw&Torrence 1989; Girard 1990; van der Leeuw, Papousek & Coudart 1992 A change in techniques and operations is a normal consideration; see Graburn 1976; Rice 1987: 450.

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The absence of innovation can also be seen by older pottery in the Patzcuaro museum, during the ethnographic research carried out by S. van der Leeuw et al. Shaping methods have here been in use for at least a century, maybe much longer (van der Leeuw et al. 1992:165). See also Nicklin 1971. This situation is in contrast with the assumption of Shinnie&Kense for the Iron Age (1989:242). This statement is in contrast to the ideas of Sheppard (1987). According to Sheppard, each individual is a national decision maker within a particular cultural context.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN different from the modern one, such as have been stated at Old Oyo (Gbadegesin Ajekigbe 1996:134).

more nomadic way of life), eventual environmental stress and population pressure. All of which are not visible today (and probably not in the last 200 years). A stable society and craftsmanship do not change voluntarily. But why do the potters not change their style and morphology in times when the yield on the market is decreasing? A lack of cash normally stimulates innovation19. It might be the end of seven thousand year old tradition in northwestern Benin. The children do not follow their mothers while pottery making is not profitable anymore to earn a living20. Probably the only innovation, which can be seen at Boukombé, is the willingness to set up a pottery association, changing the target group from villagers towards tourists. A similar association was founded in north-western Burkina Faso at Tchéribas (Winkler 1997:35). Eventually this will also lead to innovation in the material culture, the morphology, the vessel sizes, the decoration and certainly the prices.

The model In almost all ethnographic cases the potter is female (e.g. Hahn 1991b: 28), and was taught the pottery techniques by her mother, sister or aunt. In ancient north-western Benin the sex of the potter might also be female. The men were working on the farmlands, fishing and hunting. Probably also iron production was carried out by men (Winkler 1997:32). A clear division between men and women can be expected. Each village had several potters, who might be ethnically affiliated, similar to modern Benin. It has not yet been stated if a market mechanism had existed in ancient Benin. The local economic system of especially the Iron Age villages in north-western Benin makes individual buying and exchanging more likely. The pottery craftsmanship was very locally oriented and was only carried out during the dry periods. In these months, the pottery production should be a full time job, to produce the amount of vessels the village needed for the whole year. It can be assumed that the ancient potters had produced a surplus, in case vessels broke in time of the rainy seasons.

However, the general lack of innovation and risk taking is something which might be interesting for studying past societies. Different ethnic groups have different vessel shapes, rim types and decoration patterns. It is quite easy to connect a certain modern sherd found in the field to an ethnic group (e.g. Huffmann 1989)21. Even the markets are group oriented. Although this connection between material culture and ethnic groups should be studied with care, the idea might be useful for the model. Potters are conservative and resistant to changing social circumstances (Tschopik 1950:217; van der Merwe&Scully 1971:184; Rice 1987; Costin 1991; S.K.McIntosh 1995:157, 163; Costin&Hagstrum 1995). This assumption has also been stated by the correlation between ceramic change in the archaeological record and known political, economical or religious disjunctions.

The clay was collected from the banks of a nearby located river and not from settlement mounds, as was seen in Jenné by LaViolette (2000). Although no evidence was found of clay preparation in the past, it was probably carried out inside the villages and hamlets. The clay was dried and pounded to an equal substance that can be easier moulded after soaking. Grog, sand and plants were then added to the clay as temper. The second and third material can sometimes be originally part of the clay. Most of the temper materials were first grounded in a mortar, either made of wood or stone.

Set of data (Figure 77a, 77b) Before presenting this model, I will sum up a set of data: a summary of archaeological and ethnographical information. The first step is a comparison of the two information sources. All different phases of the production and decoration techniques are part of the scheme (Figure 77, 77b). The result is definitively not a proofed reflection and reconstruction of the pottery craftsmanship in the past. Similar to the book of Rye (1981), I will base my model for pottery making in the past on modern ethnographic results. I am aware of the different groups, the enormous gap in time between the two periods and the different information system and techniques the potters have been influenced by. And it is also clear to me, that Iron Age pottery might be totally

20

21

Either the moulding technique, in or on top of an old pot, or the pinching technique was used. A small number of ancient pots were produced with the coiling technique, as well as (very rare) slab building. The rim was either attached to the half dried body or directly turned up from the body. The first method seems to be normal for the Historical Period. Scraping, burnishing and smoothing can be carried out with different instruments. Archaeologically, only the polishing stone was found. Shell fragments as well as iron objects, discovered in the different excavations, might also be used in pottery production, although not recognised as such. Smoothing with transitorily material, such as grass and leather can only be expected to have played a part in the pottery production. Strip-roulette, string-roulette and the comb-impression (including rocker-stamping) are normal finishing techniques and show similarities with modern designs. The comb can be made from the calabash and the strip-roulette from thick grass that grows around the house of the potter. All other materials, including the polishing stones and the red

19 Innovations caused by changes in the society, can be seen in different part of the world: In Yucatan (Thompson 1958:115) at the Philippines (Longacre 1981:49-66, 1985:345) and in Cameroon (David & Hennig 1972:25). This is in contrast with the Jenné area, where the potters continued to teach their daughters and daughters-in-law how to pot, despite the fact that also here the pottery industry is in danger (LaViolette 2000:58). There is a difference in innovation speed between art and ceremonial pottery and utilitarian ceramics (Rice 1987:460)

137

POTS AND POTTERS TODAY

Figure 7.78. Time table, sites and material culture in north-western Benin 138

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

ochre (hematite), used for the colour in many incisions, was of local origin.

unclear. The different times it takes to fire pots in the ethnographic literature (from 1 hour to four days), makes it impossible to fix the time for ancient Benin. The disadvantages of open fires are the limited amount of vessels that the potter can fire at once, the atmosphere, which cannot be controlled and the increasing chances of breaking.

Although an open fire was used to fire the pots, the vessels are relatively equal in quality. Early pottery examples, like the sherds found at Pendjari-II, are soft and were fired under lower temperatures like the ceramics produced during the Iron Age and Historical Period. Both oxidising and reducing atmospheres were used. The presence in many sherds of a thin oxidised layer on a totally reduced sherd might be the result of a cooling down process in the air. If this time is early in the morning, when the wind has blown off the cover of the open fire, or that it was taken off on purpose remains

This model how pottery was produced in north-western Benin from the Later Stone Age until modern times is a mixture of archaeological and ethnographic data. It must be added or changed in the future when more results about pottery production and techniques in ancient times are published.

139

Summary The oldest produced evidence of human existence in north-western Benin, Stone Age I, was discovered near the village Korontière. An eroded profile through thousand years of sedimentation had exposed a chipped stone assemblage, with Acheulian and Levallois characteristics: rough bifaces, cleavers and large flakes, all made of a greyish silicate. Despite the fact that no absolute date could be extracted from this location, the assemblage might belong to the Middle or maybe even to the Early Stone Age by comparison with stone tools of other sites in West Africa.

closed deep bowls, carinated bowls, open deep and shallow bowls and jars with everted rims were common during the first millennium AD. Strip-roulette, burnishing and slip occur on most containers, however also braidedstrip-roulette, rocker stamping, comb and mat-impression were discovered. In the 9th century AD “foreign” influences are visible. Cowry shells, probably originated from the Indian Ocean, new pottery shapes and formal produced carnelian beads are indications for contacts with other regions. In these times people settled in the southern plains and the Atakora Mountains. The ceramic containers changed slightly and more s-shaped jars and deep bowls were used. The punctuation technique was carried out more frequently and strip-roulette became the major technique in the region. The archaeozoological data show that although still domesticates were herded, an increase in wild animals, like hares and antelopes is visible from the 10th century AD onwards.

Assemblages found on Stone Age II sites, like TanougouI, have a more advanced Levallois character with longer flakes and discoid cores. The chipped stone industries evolved into an Aterian like assemblage with several arrowheads and, in general, smaller tools. The increase in points implicates a larger complexity in technology and the introduction of the hafting of stone tools. Around 6000 BC several changes are visible in northwestern Benin, the Stone Age III period. People had started to use flint-stones, available in every riverbed, instead of greyish silicates. Also more and more quartz pebbles were used for producing tools. The decrease in size of the tools continued and microlithic tools in different shapes were now commonly used. Another change in society is the introduction of ceramics. The earliest pottery in north-western Benin is dated to 5500 BC.

In the northern plains the following centuries are a time of abandoning and probably miserable living circumstances. All settlements were left open: some earlier, some later. Around the 12th century AD only burials on the settlement mounds show that people were still in the neighbourhood. In the southern plains and the Atakora Mountains a totally different pattern is visible. More and larger sites were founded, like Perma-I. The tauf method was used in most cases for building the houses. I only can assume a north-south movement of people in these centuries: the northern sites were abandoned and the inhabitants were forced to move southwards. The ceramic evidence, however, did not proof this movement hypothesis and only a few slighter changes appear on the ceramics of the southern plains. A new surface treatment, for example, is the combination of several different techniques on one vessel, like lineincision, strip-roulette and comb-lines. Iron was produced in the vicinity of the settlements. The society still seems to have a very local village-culture, similar to the first Iron Age people at Yohongou-I.

It is still unknown what has happened during the transitional period between the Stone Age and the Iron Age, the time of the first fully sedentary living communities. A climate change could have had major impact on the society at the beginning of the first millennium BC. The high-evolved cultures of the Late Stone Age disappeared and only scattered remains occur in West Africa. The archaeological research in northwestern Benin did not change this pictures. Not one sites was found that could be dated to this intermediate period. Further research should also find out why relatively sudden fully sedentary groups appear at the beginning of the Iron Age again.

In the 14th century AD also these southern sites were abandoned and, again, used temporarily as a cemetery. Burial gifts, identical with material culture used during the Iron Age, show the relation with the former inhabitants. Did the people adopt a more mobile life-style and used the site temporarily as burial mound?

In north-western Benin people started to build houses from mud around the 6th century AD. The oldest settlement found in north-western Benin is Yohongou-I, situated in the northern plains. It was a village that could survive almost fully independent. The raw material in the archaeological record was available in the direct surrounding and no traces of specialism were detected. Yohongou-I shows two kinds of building methods: with sun-dried mudbricks and with the so-called tauf method. These two methods interchanged through time. Extreme

The Historical Period did have a different character than the Iron Age, in lifestyle, building methods, as well as in the ceramic production and ornamenting. Most remains were found in and around the mountain area, which exclude a society heavily depending on farming. Round

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SUMMARY stone circles, the scarce remains of houses and several slag hills show, however, that they were at least semisedentary. The pottery was decorated with carved-roulette and shows extremely everted rims. Iron production seemed an important income for the inhabitants, besides herding animals.

succeeded in keeping intruders out. Iron smelting was still practice as several good preserved furnaces in the region show. In 1897 the French and German agreed in a territorial division of this part of West Africa. The Atakora region was included in the country of Dahomey (the older name of Benin). However nothing really changed and the political system, placed by the French, is still today not hundred percent accepted in the traditional villages of this scarcely inhabited region. The ceramics of the modern inhabitants do have similarities with the late Historical Period. Rocker stamping, deep impressed strip-roulette and line-incision are visible and are the result of a long conservative tradition in pottery making.

At the end of the 17th century AD the first modern ethnic groups appeared in the region, probably the Wama and Biyobé. These groups were also iron producers. From the 18th century AD other groups, like the Somba, settled in the region, probably originating from southern Burkina Faso. New pottery shapes and decoration techniques were introduced by these incoming groups. Carved-roulette disappeared and now strip-roulette and rocker stamping was used for decorating the pots. The everted rim, so characteristic for the period between the 14th and 18th century AD did disappeared. Although several kingdoms and states, like Nikki and Bariba, have tried to conquer and dominate the Atakora region, written sources and oral traditions show that this had actually never happened. The region stayed independent and the inhabitants

Archaeology and History in North-western Benin offers a comprehensive framework from the Stone Age up to modern times.

142

Résumé Les traces d’activités humaines les plus anciennes dans le Nord-ouest du Bénin furent trouvées dans la proximité du village de Korontière. Le lit creusé par la rivière Komoungou y a fait apparaître un atelier très ancien qui, grâce à la trouvaille des outils lithiques de type Acheuléen ou Levallois, doit être attribué à l’âge de pierre moyen ou ancien : Âge de Pierre I. D’autres sites dans la région de recherches, comme par exemple Tanougou-I et Koukouan-I, montrent l’évolution des techniques de travail avec la pierre à une culture matérielle caractérisée par des outils microlithiques et d’une céramique pendant l’Âge de Pierre III. Cette culture est attribuée à l’Âge de Pierre récent et existait dans le Nord-ouest du Bénin au 6e millénaire avant la naissance de Jésus Christ comme le montre une datation du site Pendjari-II. L’apparition très rapide de la céramique nécessite des recherches postérieures sur ce site de l’Âge de Pierre. Entre le 6e millénaire avant Jésus Christ et le 6e siècle de notre ère il n’y a pas traces d’existence humaine dans le Nord-ouest du Bénin. Si ce fait était lié à un changement de climat ne peut pas être clarifié jusque-là.

trouvés dans les buttes d’habitat montrent que la chasse gagnait de l’importance vers la fin du premier millénaire après Jésus Christ. Dans la partie septentrionale de la région de recherches, les buttes d’habitat furent abandonnées pendant le 11e et 12e siècle sans que des traces de destruction soient visibles. Au sud de la chaîne de l’Atakora, un autre modèle d’occupation de l’espace est perceptible. La plupart des villages ne fut fondée que pendant le 12e siècle, comme par exemple un des sites les plus grands: Perma-I. La raison pour laquelle le peuplement commençait tellement plus tard dans cette région reste inconnue. Les villages n’avaient pas de centralisation de pouvoir ou une structure politique visible, mais ils s’élargissaient quand même jusqu’à une étendue de 2,4 hectares. Cette largeur dépasse les villages du plateau septentrional. Il est possible que les populations du Nord aient traversé la chaîne de l’Atakora vers le sud. La raison pour cet abandon des villages qui se déroulait pendant le 14e et 15e siècle après la naissance de Jésus également dans la plaine méridionale reste inconnu. Dans la Boucle du Niger et dans le Nord du Burkina Faso le même processus d’abandon des buttes d’habitat est à constater. Il se peut qu’une détérioration du climat ou une période de troubles politiques soient à l’origine d’une société plus mobile dans une grande partie de l’Afrique de l’Ouest pendant le 15e siècle après la naissance de Jésus. L’utilisation des buttes d’habitat comme lieu d’enterrement indique que la population est peut être restée dans la proximité.

A partir de l’Âge de Fer les maisons du Bénin furent construites en banco, une matière facilement identifiable par l’archéologue. Le site de Yohongou-I n’est qu’un seul exemple où des briques en banco bien conservées furent trouvées. Même si des débris de toit ne furent pas découverts, il est très probable qu’on utilisait du bois et du roseau pour la toiture. Les premiers habitants de l’Âge de Fer se nourrissaient de plantes, de l’élevage, de la pêche et de la chasse; un système de nutrition assez varié dans l’ensemble. Tous les outils furent produits localement, et sur ce champ aucune preuve d’une spécialisation ni de relations commerciales de grande envergure ni de centralisation de pouvoir n’a pu être trouvée.

Les premiers siècles après la fin de l’Age de Fer sont marqués par des sites d’habitat et d’activité métallurgique plus petite. Des cercles de pierres ronds et une multitude de débris de fentes indiquent un changement social. L’absence de sites dans la plaine peut signifier que la population dépendait beaucoup plus de l’élevage. La céramique de cette époque est caractérisée d’un bord très prononcé qui fut collé subséquemment au récipient dans beaucoup de cas. Maintenant, on utilisait très souvent du décor à roulette gravée, technique de décoration appliquée seulement pendant cette période dans le Nordouest du Bénin.

La céramique trouvée montre une grande diversité de formes allant de pots avec un bord prononcé jusqu’à des plats/ bols. La plupart de récipients furent décorés avec de roulette aux fibres plattes, mais aussi impression pivotante, impression de peigne et par la natte sont présents pendant l’Âge de Fer ancien. Au cours du 9e siècle après Jésus Christ cette culture villageoise locale commence à changer. Des formes de récipient et des décorations nouvelles apparaissent et des objets extraordinaires comme des cauris et des perles en carnéol témoignent de l’existence d’un réseau commercial étendu. La céramique montre maintenant un profil ‘S’ prononcé et est décoré principalement avec roulette aux fibres plattes. A part des décors connus, des objets gravés sous forme de points sur la superficie de la céramique apparaissent pendant cette période. Des os

De la tradition orale on sait qu’à partir du 17e siècle les premiers groupes ethniques modernes comme par exemple les Wama et les Biyobé sont venus dans la région. L’inventaire de céramique changea, notamment concernant les décors. Maintenant, roulette aux fibres plattes, le décor incisé et impression pivotante furent très souvent utilisés.

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RÉSUMÉ

A la fin du 18e siècle, décor à roulette gravée ont disparu définitivement. L’activité métallurgique prend encore plus d’envergure, une tendance également à constater dans le Nord du Togo. C’est l’époque également quand les Sombas venus du Burkina Faso ont peuplé cette région. Les premiers Européens la décrivaient comme éloignée, avec une multitude de concessions petites et sans la moindre structure politique. A partir de sources différentes on peut conclure que la population ne fut jamais dominée par des pouvoirs étrangers, un des rares cas en Afrique de l’Ouest.

(renommé Bénin plus tard), n’avait pas d’impact majeur et ne signifiait pas de changement significatif pour la population. Jusqu’à aujourd’hui les coutumes et lois traditionnelles sont plus importantes que les organisations modernes instaurées par le pouvoir colonial français. Le voyage à travers l’histoire du Bénin prend fin avec une étude des potiers d’aujourd’hui et leurs techniques de production. Archaeology and History in North-western Benin est une synthèse des derniers 20.000 ans dans une région encore peu connue de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.

L’inclusion de l’Atakora dans la colonie de Dahomey

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Tidjani, A., 1951, Notes sur le mariage au Dahomey. In: Études Dahoméenes 6:43-45 Tillet, T., 1991, Le Paléolithique du Bassin Tchadien septentrional (Niger-Tchad). Paris, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique Tillet, T. & A. Novikoff, 1989, Industrie pré-acheuléenne sur les bords du fleuve Niger et a mont de Bamako (Mali). In: C.R. Aca. Sciences de Paris, tome 309, Série II:633-5 Togola, T., 1996, Iron Age Occupation in the Méma Region, Mali. In: African Archaeological Review 13, N°2 Trigger, B.G., 1969, Beyond History: the methods of Prehistory. New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston Trigger, B.G., 1989, A History of an archaeological thought. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Troestler, Ltd., 1938, Étude sur le groupement Somba. MS, Natitingou, Revue Militaire de l’OAF Tschopik, H., Jr., 1950, An Andean ceramic tradition in historical perspective. In: American Antiquity 15:196-218 Twagiramutara, P., 1989, Archaeological and anthropological hypotheses concerning the origin of ethnic divisions in sub-Saharan Africa. In: Conflict in the archaeology of Living Traditions (Layton ed.). London, Unwin Hyman:88-96 Tylecote, R., 1975a, Iron Smelting at Taruga, Nigeria. In: Journal of the Historical Metallurgical Society 9:49-56 Tylecote, R., 1975b, The Origin of Iron Smelting in Africa. In: West African Journal of Archaeology 5:1-9 Urvoy, Y., 1936, Histoire des populations du Soudan central. Paris, Emile Larose Urvoy, Y., 1942, Les bassins du Niger. Mémoire de l’IFAN N°4 Vallois, H.-V. & J. Roche, 1958, La mandibule acheuléene de Tamara, Maroc. In: C.R.Acad. des Sci. Paris 246:3113-3116 Vansina, J., 1966, Kingdom of the Savanna. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press Vansina, J., 1971, Once upon a time: oral traditions as history in Africa. In: Daedalus:450-1 Vansina, J., 1973, Oral tradition: a study in historical methodology. Harmondsworth, Penguin Vansina, J., 1990, Path in the rainforest: toward a history of political tradition in Equatorial Africa. London, James Currey Vansina, J., 1995, Historians, are archaeologists your siblings? In: History in Africa 22:369-408 Vansina, J., 1999, Pathways of political development in equatorial Africa and neo-evolutionary theory. In: Beyond Chiefdoms. Pathways to complexity in Africa (McIntosh ed.). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press:166-172 Veldhuijzen, H.A. & E. van der Steen, 1999, Iron Production Center Found in the Jordan Valley. In: Near Eastern Archaeology 62.3:195 Veldhuijzen, H.A. & E. van der Steen, 2000, Early Iron Smelting. In: Archaeology, Vol. 53, N°1 160

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN Wolf, L. & hpt. Kling, 1890, Expedition von Dr. L Wolf und Hauptman Kling. In: Mitteilungen von Forschungsreisenden und Gelehrten aus der Deutsche Schutzgebieten, Band 3, Berlin:46-168 Wood, B.G., 1990, The sociology of pottery in ancient Palestine. The Ceramic Industry and the Diffusion of Ceramic Style in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press Woodhouse, J., 1998, Iron in Africa: Metal from Nowhere. In: Transformations in Africa. Essays on Africa’s later Past (Connah ed.). London and Washington, Leicester University Press:160-85 Wotzka, H.-P. & C. Goedicke, 2001, Thermoluminescence dates on Late Stone Age and later ceramics from Tapoa Province (south-eastern Burkina Faso) and Konduga (Borno, north-eastern Nigeria). In: Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie 21:75-126 Wylie, A., 1985, The reaction against analogy. In: Advances in Archaeological Theory 8 (Schiffer ed.). London, Academic Press:63-111

Yansane, A.Y., 1990, Cultural, political and economic universals in West Africa. In: African Culture, The rythms of Unity (M.K.Asante & K.W.Asante eds.). Trenton, Africa World Press:39-68 Yoffee, N., 1993, Too many Chiefs? In: Archaeological Theory: Who Sets the Agenda (Yoffee & Sheratt eds.). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press:60-78 York, R.N., 1972, Cowries as Type-Fossils in Ghanaian Archaeology. In: West African Journal of Archaeology 2:93-101 York, R.N., 1973, Excavation at New Buipe. In: West African Journal of Archaeology 3:1-189 York, R.N., 1978, Excavations at Dutsen Kongba, Plateau State, Nigeria. In: West African Journal of Archaeology 8:139-63 Zadeh, L.A., K.S. Fu & K. Tanaka (eds.), 1975, Fuzzy Sets and the Application to Cognitive and Decision Processes. New York, Academic Press Ziegert, H., 1969, Gebel Ben Ghnema und Nord-Tibesti. Wiesbaden, Franz Steiner Verlag Gmbh

161

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Appendix A Site name

District

N

E

– List of Sites Type of site

Akongeshwa-I

Kobli

10°29'15'' 0°52'48''

Akongeshwa-II Batia-I

Kobli Tanguiéta

10°29'29" 0°52'29" pottery concentration Historical Period 10°55'32" 1°31'08" open air site Stone Age/Historical Period

Batia-II Batia-III Batia-IV

Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Tanguiéta

10°56'15" 1°31'46" open air site 10°57'11" 1°32'35" open air site 10°58'46" 1°34'03" open air site

Biakou-I

Tanguiéta

Biakou-II Boukombé-I Boukombé-II

Tanguiéta Boukombé Boukombé

Boukombé-III

Boukombé

Boukombé-IV Boukombé-V Boukombé-VI Boukombé-VII Boukombé-VIII Boukombé-IX Boukombé-X Boukombé-XI Boukombé-XII Boukombé-XIII Boukombé-XIV Dassari-I Diko-I

Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Boukombé Matéri Boukombé

Historical Period Historical Period Stone Age/Historical Period 10°35'28" 1°14'17" open air site Stone Age/Historical Period 10°34'49" 1°14'49" open air site Stone Age 10°11'33" 1°05'14" stray finds Stone Age 10°11'44" 1°05'04" open air site Stone Age/Historical Period 10°11'52" 1°04'34" open air site Stone Age/Historical Period 10°23'23" 1°03'44" stray find Stone Age 10°09'55" 1°07'25" stray find Stone Age 10°09'54" 1°07'19" stray find Stone Age 10°09'56" 1°07'25" pottery concentration Historical Period 10°09'56" 1°07'25" pottery concentration Historical Period 10°10'01" 1°07'46" stray find Stone Age 10°09'59" 1°07'53" abandoned house Historical Period 10°09'39" 1°07'06" stray find Stone Age 10°09'36" 1°07'12" stray find Stone Age 10°09'55" 1°07'14" stray find Stone Age 10°09'53" 1°07'16" stray find Stone Age 10°48'06" 1°08'44" pottery concentration Historical Period 10°23'54" 1°04'54" settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period

Dissari-I Fokoinfe-I Gouandé-I Gouandé-II Kadékè-I Kadékè-II

Kobli Boukombé Matéri Matéri Kobli Kobli

10°29'41" 10°11'12" 10°46'03" 10°46'41" 10°28'50" 10°28'46"

Kalobori-I Kalobori-II Kantcheni-seri-I

Matéri Matéri Matéri

10°43'45" 1°09'60" open air site Stone Age 10°43'20" 1°05'49" pottery concentration Historical Period 10°42'13" 1°02'50" settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period

0°58'20" 1°17'08" 0°55'35" 0°55'24" 0°55'36" 0°55'11"

settlement mound

Occupation period

settlement mound pottery concentration settlement mound settlement mound open air site settlement mound

163

Iron Age

Iron Age/Historical Period Iron Age/Historical Period Iron Age Stone Age/Iron Age Historical Period Iron Age/Historical Period

Material culture Pottery, grinding stones and iron objects Pottery Glass fragments, pottery, stone tools, slag Pottery, slag Pottery, slag, stone tools Stone tools, pottery, cowry shells Stone tools Stone tools Stone tools, pottery Stone tools, pottery Stone tool Stone tool Stone tool Pottery Pottery Stone tool Pottery Stone tool Stone tool Stone tool Stone tool Pottery Pottery, grinding stone, pipe fragment, iron object and figurine Pottery Pottery Pottery Stone tools, pottery Slag Grinding stone, pottery and pipe fragment Stone tools Pottery Polishing stone, pottery and pipe fragment

APPENDIX A – LIST OF SITES Site name

District

Kantcheni-seri-II

Matéri

Kantcheni-seri-III

Matéri

Kantcheni-seri-IV Matéri Kobli-I Kobli

N

E

Type of site

10°42'20" 1°02'39" settlement mound

Occupation period

Material culture

Stone tools, polishing stone, slag, pipe fragment and pottery 10°42'32" 1°02'34" settlement mound Iron Age Polishing stone, pottery and iron objects 10°43'23" 1°00'39" pottery concentration Iron Age Pottery 10°28'52" 1°01'57" pottery concentration Historical Period Pottery and cowry shells 10°28'27" 0°58'10" settlement mound Iron Age Stone tools, slag and pottery 10°25'13" 0°57'07" settlement mound Iron Age Pottery 10°22'34" 0°56'42" pottery concentration Iron Age/Historical Period Grinding stone and pottery 10°26'51" 0°59'56" cave Historical Period Pottery 10°26'38" 1°00'00" open air site Stone Age Stone tools 10°24'39" 0°59'35" open air site Stone Age Stone tools 10°28'55" 1°01'04" settlement mound Stone Age/Iron Age Stone tools and pottery 10°14'28" 1°00'31" open air site Stone Age Stone tools open air site Stone Age Stone tools

Kobli-II

Kobli

Kobli-III Kobli-IV

Kobli Kobli

Kobli-V Kobli-VI Kobli-VII Kobli-VIII

Kobli Kobli Kobli Kobli

Korontière-I Korontière-II

Boukombé Boukombé

Korontière-III

Boukombé

Korontière-IV Kouaba-I

Boukombé Natitingou

10°14'36" 1°00'18" open air site 10°14'14" 1°13'42" settlement mound

Kouandata-I Kouguatogou-I

Boukombé Boukombé

10°05'17" 1°21'59" 10°25'43" 1°03'08"

Kouisougou-I

Boukombé

10°09'01" 1°14'33"

Kouisougou-II

Boukombé

10°09'04" 1°14'37"

Kouisougou-III Kouisougou-IV

Boukombé Boukombé

10°08'44" 1°14'52" 10°10'10" 1°15'39"

Kouisougou-V Kouisougou-VI

Boukombé Boukombé

10°08'41" 1°14'37" 10°08'22" 1°14'16"

Koukouan-I

Boukombé

10°12'40" 1°03'45"

Koukouan-II

Boukombé

10°13'01" 1°02'55"

Koukouan-III Koukpartikou-I

Boukombé Natitingou

10°14'23" 1°00'53" 10°14'45" 1°19'44"

Kouporgou-I

Boukombé

10°16'21" 1°07'46"

open air site

Stone Age/Iron Age/Historical Period

Stone Age

Stone tools Pottery and grinding stones settlement mound Iron Age Pottery settlement mound Stone Age/Iron Stone tools, grinding Age/Historical Period stones and pottery settlement mound Iron Age Grinding stones, pottery and iron objects stray finds Stone Age/Historical Stone tools and Period pottery settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period Pottery settlement mound Stone Age/Iron Stone tools, slag and Age/Historical Period pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools settlement mound Iron Age Stone tool, pottery and iron objects open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools and Period pottery settlement mound Stone Age/Historical Stone tools, grinding Period stone, polishing stone and pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools settlement mound Iron Age Grinding stones, pottery, figurine, slag and iron objects pottery concentration Historical Period Pottery

164

Stone Age Iron Age

Stone tools

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Site name

District

N

E

Type of site

Occupation period

Kouporgou-II

Boukombé

10°16'23" 1°07'50" open air site

Koussantoukou-I

Natitingou

10°11'13" 1°17'18" open air site

Stone Age/Iron Age/Historical Period Historical Period

Koussantoukou-II Natitingou

10°14'19" 1°19'30" open air site

Historical Period

Koussoukoingou-I Boukombé

10°09'43" 1°12'27"

Koussoukoingou-II Boukombé

10°09'14" 1°12'54"

KoussoukoingouIII KoussoukoingouIV

Boukombé

10°09'08" 1°13'06"

Boukombé

10°08'56" 1°13'31"

Koussoukoingou-V Boukombé

10°08'48" 1°14'17"

Koutagou-I

Boukombé

10°08'49" 1°10'19"

Koutchèkè-I Koutchèkè-II Manougou-I

Kobli Kobli Tanguiéta

10°29'19" 0°57'57" 10°29'12" 0°57'34" 10°39'14" 1°19'28"

Manougou-II Manougou-III Manta-I

Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Boukombé

10°38'43" 1°19'10" 10°38'37" 1°19'01" 10°18'27" 1°07'01"

Manta-II

Boukombé

10°22'31" 1°05'50"

Méhentokoukou-I Tanguiéta Nagassega-I Matéri Nagassega-II Matéri Nanagade-I Kobli Nata-I Boukombé Natitingou-I Natitingou

10°35'25" 1°14'15"

Natitingou-II Ndahonta-I

Natitingou Tanguiéta

10°23'08" 1°24'49" 10°31'29" 1°07'18"

Ndahonta-II Ndahonta-III Ndahonta-IV Ndahonta-V

Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Tanguiéta

10°31'23" 10°31'26" 10°31'17" 10°31'15"

Ndahonta-VI Oabou-I

Tanguiéta 10°31'05" 1°06'08" Toukountou 10°27'58" 1°27'08" na Toukountou 10°28'23" 1°27'02" na

Oabou-II

10°50'46" 10°29'48" 10°13'02" 10°21'42"

1°06'16" 0°52'20" 1°07'05" 1°23'40"

1°07'17" 1°07'17" 1°07'18" 1°06'20"

Material culture Stone tools and pottery Slag and pottery

Grinding stones and pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools and Period pottery settlement mound Stone Age/Iron Stone tools, slag and Age/Historical Period pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tool and Period pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools, slag, Period grinding and sharpening stones and pottery open air site Historical Period Grinding stone and pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools, slag, Period hammerstone and pottery settlement mound Iron Age Pottery settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period Pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tool, slag and Period pottery open air site Iron Age/Historical Period Pottery pottery concentration Historical Period Pottery settlement mound Iron Age Grinding stones and pottery settlement mound Stone Age/Historical Stone tool, Period sharpening stone and pottery pottery concentration Historical Period Pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools open air site Stone Age Stone tools open air site Stone Age Stone tools abri Historical Period Pottery open air site Stone Age/Iron Stone tool and Age/Historical Period pottery open air site Historical Period Slag and pottery settlement mound Iron Age Grinding stone and pottery settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period Pottery settlement mound Iron Age Pottery settlement mound Iron Age Pottery settlement mound Iron Age Grinding stone and pottery settlement mound Iron Age Pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools, slag and Period tuyere fragments open air site Historical Period Pottery and iron smelting furnace remains

165

APPENDIX A – LIST OF SITES Site name Oabou-III Oabou-IV

District

N

E

Toukountou 10°27'28" 1°27'11" open air site na Toukountou 10°29'15" 1°25'22" open air site na

Occupation period

Material culture

10°25'06" 1°20'17"

Slag and tuyere fragments Historical Period Slag and iron smelting furnace remains open air site Stone Age Stone tools open air site Stone Age Stone tools and pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools and pottery pottery concentration Historical Period Pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools settlement mound Iron Age Pottery, grinding stones, slag and iron objects settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period Pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools, grinding Period stones and pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tool and Period pottery settlement mound Historical Period Stone tool, grinding stones and pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools and Period pottery settlement mound Iron Age/Historical Period Grinding stones, slag and pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools settlement mound Stone Age/Iron Age Stone tool and pottery open air site Stone Age Stone tools and pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Grinding stones, Period stone tools, slag and pottery open air site Stone Age/Iron Age Stone tools and pottery open air site Historical Period Slag and pottery open air site Stone Age/Historical Stone tools, slag and Period pottery pottery concentration Iron Age Pottery open air site Historical Period Slag and pottery stray finds Stone Age/Historical Stone tool and Period pottery pottery concentration Historical Period Pottery settlement mound Iron Age Pottery, slag, iron objects and grinding stones ancient mine Historical Period

10°35'52" 10°35'54" 10°35'52" 10°36'51" 10°48'14"

open air site surface find surface find cave cave

Pendjari-I Pendjari-II

Matéri Matéri

Pendjari-III

Matéri

Pendjari-IV Pendjari-V Perma-I

Matéri Matéri Natitingou

10°59'54" 0°58'34" 11°00'09" 0°58'26" 10°06'46" 1°26'07"

Perma-II Perma-III

Natitingou Natitingou

10°06'40" 1°26'02" 10°06'31" 1°25'41"

Perma-IV

Natitingou

Perma-V

Natitingou

10°02'32" 1°21'27"

Pondissari-I

Matéri

10°43'14" 1°05'38"

Porga-I

Matéri

11°02'24" 0°58'09"

Porga-II Porga-III

Matéri Matéri

11°01'10" 0°59'14" 11°00'55" 0°59'24"

Porga-IV

Matéri

10°59'36" 0°59'47"

Sina-Issiré-I

Natitingou

10°03'22" 1°29'22"

Sina-Issiré-II

Natitingou

10°04'12" 1°31'10"

Sina-Issiré-III Sina-Issiré-IV

Natitingou Natitingou

10°05'32" 1°32'49" 10°07'19" 1°34'05"

Sina-Issiré-V Sina-Issiré-VI Sina-Issiré-VII

Natitingou Natitingou Natitingou

10°07'48" 1°34'10" 10°08'50" 1°34'20" 10°03'08" 1°29'13"

Tadota-I Tampégré-I

Boukombé 10°22'59" 1°07'34" Toukountou 10°25'38" 1°20'22" na

Tampégré-II

Toukountou na Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Tanguiéta

Tanguiéta-I Tanguiéta-II Tanguiéta-III Tanguiéta-IV Tanougou-I

Type of site

10°59'41" 0°58'38"

1°14'35" 1°14'36" 1°14'33" 1°16'57" 1°26'30"

166

Historical Period

Stone Age Stone Age Stone Age Historical Period Stone Age/Historical Period

Stone tools Stone tool Stone tool Slag and pottery Stone tools, iron object and pottery

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Site name

District

N

E

Type of site

Occupation period

Tatouta-I Tatouta-II

Boukombé Boukombé

10°25'50" 1°03'26" settlement mound 10°25'38" 1°02'17" settlement mound

Tatouta-III

Boukombé

10°25'51" 1°01'54" settlement mound

Iron Age Stone Age/Iron Age/Historical Period Historical Period

Tchikandou-I

Matéri

10°51'24" 1°05'50" settlement mound

Iron Age

Tchoumi-TchoumiI Tchoumi-TchoumiII Tchoumi-TchoumiIII Tchoumi-TchoumiIV Tiéle-I

Natitingou

10°02'21" 1°21'14" pottery concentration Historical Period

Natitingou

10°02'17" 1°21'08" settlement mound

Natitingou

10°02'17" 1°21'08" settlement mound

Natitingou

10°04'36" 1°23'11" settlement mound

Matéri

10°44'43" 1°11'38" open air site

Tiéle-II Tiéle-III

Matéri Matéri

10°44'55" 1°11'41" cave 10°45'28" 1°11'28" cave

Tokibi-I Tora-I Tora-II

Kobli Tanguiéta Tanguiéta

10°30'34" 0°50'37" settlement mound 10°37'34" 1°20'33" settlement mound 10°38'10" 1°20'39" settlement mound

Stone Age/Iron Age/Historical Period Stone Age/Historical Period Stone Age Stone Age/Historical Period Iron Age Iron Age/Historical Period Iron Age

Tora-III Tora-IV Touga-I Yohongou-I

Tanguiéta Tanguiéta Kobli Tanguiéta

10°39'13" 10°41'27" 10°29'09" 10°31'54"

Iron Age Historical Period Iron Age Iron Age

Yohongou-II Yohongou-III

Tanguiéta Tanguiéta

10°32'27" 1°11'26" settlement mound 10°32'49" 1°11'49" settlement mound

1°20'52" 1°23'02" 1°04'14" 1°10'41"

settlement mound open air site settlement mound settlement mound

167

Material culture Pottery Stone tool, grinding stone and pottery Grinding stones, slag and pottery Pottery, grinding stones, iron objects and slag Pottery

Iron Age

Grinding stone and pottery Iron Age/Historical Period Pottery

Iron Age Iron Age

Stone tool and pottery Stone tools, slag and pottery Stone tools Stone tools and pottery Pottery Pottery Grinding stone and pottery Pottery Slag and pottery Pottery Pottery, grinding stones, iron objects, slag and cowry shells Pottery Grinding stone and pottery

Appendix B – Tables Plate

the height is under one fifth the maximum body diameter, identical with the rim diameter

Shallow bowl

the height is over one fifth the maximum body diameter but under half the maximum diameter

Deep bowl

the height is over half the maximum body diameter but not equal to it

Juglet

a restricted vessel with its height at least three times taller than the maximum body diameter

Vase

an unrestricted vessel with the height and the rim diameter bigger than the maximum body diameter

Jar

a restricted vessel with the height bigger and the rim diameter smaller than the maximum body diameter Table 1: Definitions of the different classified vessel groups (e.g. Figure 3.14). After Rice 1987:216 and Shepard 1956:fig. 21k-g.

Stone Age

starts with the appearance of stone tools and ends with the appearance of iron and iron production

Iron Age

starts with the appearance of iron and iron production and ends with the abandoning of the settlement mounds

Historical Period starts with the abandonment of settlement mounds and continues until the present day Table 2: The main periods and the definitions in north-western Benin Greyish silicate

Korontière-I

Quartz

Quartzite

Flint

Core

14

4

2

-

20

7.5%

Flake

50

3

8

-

61

22.9%

Microlith

1?

1?

-

-

2

0.8%

Scraper

12

-

-

-

12

4.5%

Cleaver

3

2

1

-

6

2.3%

Biface

-

-

3

-

3

1.1%

Levallois core

3

-

-

-

3

1.1%

Levallois flake

30

3

-

33

11.3%

Debitage

84

11

8

2

105

39.8%

Natural

15

7

-

-

22

8.3%

Total

212

31

22

2

267

100%

Table 3: Material and stone tools type of Korontière-I

169

APPENDIX B – TABLES Silicate

Tanougou-I

Quartzite

Core

-

1

1

1.2%

Flake

7

7

14

18.0%

Microlith

1?

-

1

1.2%

Scraper

7

17

24

30.8%

Biface

2

-

2

2.6%

Levallois flake

4

7

11

14.1%

Debitage

9

16

25

32.1%

Total

30

48

78

100%

Table 4: material and stone tool type of Tanougou-I Silicate

Koukouan-I

Quartz

Quartzite

Flint

Core

3

2

-

-

5

4%

Flake

17

2

1

1

21

16.8%

Microlith

2?

-

-

-

2

1.6%

Scraper

12

-

2

-

14

11.2%

Burin

1

-

-

-

1

0.8%

Point

2

-

-

-

2

1.6%

Arrow head

4

-

-

-

4

3.2%

Bearded arrow head

2

-

-

-

2

1.6%

Debitage

28

4

-

1

33

26.4%

Natural

21

14

1

5

41

32.8%

Total

92

22

4

7

125

100

Table 5: Material and stone tool type of Koukouan-I Pendjari-II

Flint

Quartz

Quartzite

Sandstone

Core

41

23

-

-

64

12%

Core-tool

7

-

-

-

7

1.3%

Flake

116

9

-

-

125

23.4%

Microlith

58

41

-

-

99

18.5%

Scraper

2

-

-

-

2

0.4%

Burin

1

1

-

-

2

0.4%

Point

5

2

-

-

7

1.3%

Biface

1

-

-

-

1

0.2%

Natural

10

11

1

2

24

4.5%

Debitage

137

66

-

-

203

38%

Total

382

149

1

2

534

100%

Table 6: Material and stone tool type of Pendjari-II 170

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY IN NORTH-WESTERN BENIN

Flint

Pendjari-II

Quartz

Quadrangular

15

8

23

23.3%

Triangular

13

4

17

17.1%

Micro point

3

5

8

8.1%

Crescent

-

5

5

5%

Rounded

3

1

4

4%

Irregular

2

-

2

2%

?

22

18

40

40.5%

Total

58

41

99

100%

Table 7: Microlithic stone tools

171

CAMBRIDGE MONOGRAPHS IN AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY No 1 No 2 No 3 No 4 No 5 No 6 No 7 No 8 No 9 No 10 No 11 No 12 No 13 No 14 No 15 No 16 No 17 No 18 No 19 No 20 No 21 No 22 No 23 No 24 No 25 No 26 No 27 No 28 No 29 No 30

BAR S75, 1980 The Niger Delta Aspects of its Prehistoric Economy and Culture by Nwanna Nzewunwa. ISBN 0 86054 083 9 BAR S89, 1980 Prehistoric Investigations in the Region of Jenne, Mali A Study in the Development of Urbanism in the Sahel by Susan Keech McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh ISBN 0 86054 103 7 BAR S97, 1981 Off-Site Archaeology and Human Adaptation in Eastern Africa An Analysis of Regional Artefact Density in the Amboseli, Southern Kenya by Robert Foley. ISBN 0 86054 114 2 BAR S114, 1981 Later Pleistocene Cultural Adaptations in Sudanese Nubia by Yousif Mukhtar el Amin. ISBN 0 86054 134 7 BAR S119, 1981 Settlement Patterns in the Iron Age of Zululand An Ecological Interpretation by Martin Hall. ISBN 0 86054 143 6 BAR S139, 1982 The Neolithic Period in the Sudan, c. 6000-2500 B.C. by Abbas S. Mohammed-Ali. ISBN 0 86054 170 3 BAR S195, 1984 History and Ethnoarchaeology in Eastern Nigeria A Study of Igbo-Igala relations with special reference to the Anambra Valley by Philip Adigwe Oguagha and Alex Ikechukwu Okpoko. ISBN 0 86054 249 1 BAR S197, 1984 Meroitic Settlement in the Central Sudan An Analysis of Sites in the Nile Valley and the Western Butana by Khidir Abdelkarim Ahmed. ISBN 0 86054 252 1 BAR S201, 1984 Economy and Technology in the Late Stone Age of Southern Natal by Charles Cable. ISBN 0 86054 258 0 BAR S207, 1984 Frontiers Southern African Archaeology Today edited by M. Hall, G. Avery, D.M. Avery, M.L. Wilson and A.J.B. Humphreys. ISBN 0 86054 268 8. £23.00. BAR S215, 1984 Archaeology and History in Southern Nigeria The ancient linear earthworks of Benin and Ishan by P.J. Darling. ISBN 0 86054 275 0 BAR S213, 1984 The Later Stone Age of Southernmost Africa by Janette Deacon. ISBN 0 86054 276 9 BAR S254, 1985 Fisher-Hunters and Neolithic Pastoralists in East Turkana, Kenya by John Webster Barthelme. ISBN 0 86054 325 0 BAR S285, 1986 The Archaeology of Central Darfur (Sudan) in the 1st Millennium A.D. by Ibrahim Musa Mohammed. ISBN 0 86054 367 6. BAR S293, 1986 Stable Carbon Isotopes and Prehistoric Diets in the South-Western Cape Province, South Africa by Judith Sealy. ISBN 0 86054 376 5. BAR S318, 1986 L'art rupestre préhistorique des massifs centraux sahariens by Alfred Muzzolini.. ISBN 0 86054 406 0 BAR S321, 1987 Spheriods and Battered Stones in the African Early and Middle Stone Age by Pamela R. Willoughby. ISBN 0 86054 410 9 BAR S338, 1987 The Royal Crowns of Kush A study in Middle Nile Valley regalia and iconography in the 1st millennia B.C. and A.D. by Lázló Török.. ISBN 0 86054 432 X BAR S339, 1987 The Later Stone Age of the Drakensberg Range and its Foothills by H. Opperman. ISBN 0 86054 437 0 BAR S350, 1987 Socio-Economic Differentiation in the Neolithic Sudan by Randi Haaland. ISBN 0 86054 453 2 BAR S351, 1987 Later Stone Age Settlement Patterns in the Sandveld of the South-Western Cape Province, South Africa by Anthony Manhire. ISBN 0 86054 454 0 BAR S365, 1987 L'art rupestre du Fezzan septentrional (Libye) Widyan Zreda et Tarut (Wadi eshShati) by Jean-Loïc Le Quellec. ISBN 0 86054 473 7 BAR S368, 1987 Archaeology and Environment in the Libyan Sahara The excavations in the Tadrart Acacus, 1978-1983 edited by Barbara E. Barich. ISBN 0 86054 474 5 BAR S378, 1987 The Early Farmers of Transkei, Southern Africa Before A.D. 1870 by J.M. Feely. ISBN 0 86054 486 9 BAR S380, 1987 Later Stone Age Hunters and Gatherers of the Southern Transvaal Social and ecological interpretation by Lyn Wadley. ISBN 0 86054 492 3 BAR S405, 1988 Prehistoric Cultures and Environments in the Late Quaternary of Africa edited by John Bower and David Lubell. ISBN 0 86054 520 2 BAR S418, 1988 Zooarchaeology in the Middle Nile Valley A Study of four Neolithic Sites near Khartoum by Ali Tigani El Mahi. ISBN 0 86054 539 3 BAR S422, 1988 L'Ancienne Métallurgie du Fer à Madagascar by Chantal Radimilahy. ISBN 0 86054 544 X BAR S424, 1988 El Geili The History of a Middle Nile Environment, 7000 B.C.-A.D. 1500 edited by I. Caneva. ISBN 0 86054 548 2 BAR S445, 1988 The Ethnoarchaeology of the Zaghawa of Darfur (Sudan) Settlement and Transcience by Natalie Tobert. ISBN 0 86054 574 1

No 31

BAR S455, 1988 Shellfish in Prehistoric Diet Elands Bay, S.W. Cape Coast, South Africa by W.F. Buchanan. ISBN 0 86054 584 9 No 32 BAR S456, 1988 Houlouf I Archéologie des sociétés protohistoriques du Nord-Cameroun by Augustin Holl. ISBN 0 86054 586 5 No 33 BAR S469, 1989 The Predynastic Lithic Industries of Upper Egypt by Liane L. Holmes. ISBN 0 86054 601 2 (two volumes) No 34 BAR S521, 1989 Fishing Sites of North and East Africa in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Change and Human Adaptation by Kathlyn Moore Stewart. ISBN 0 86054 662 4 No 35 BAR S523, 1989 Plant Domestication in the Middle Nile Basin An Archaeoethnobotanical Case Study by Anwar Abdel-Magid. ISBN 0 86054 664 0 No 36 BAR S537, 1989 Archaeology and Settlement in Upper Nubia in the 1st Millennium A.D. by David N. Edwards. ISBN 0 86054 682 9 No 37 BAR S541, 1989 Prehistoric Settlement and Subsistence in the Kaduna Valley, Nigeria by Kolawole David Aiyedun and Thurstan Shaw. ISBN 0 86054 684 5 No 38 BAR S640, 1996 The Archaeology of the Meroitic State New perspectives on its social and political organisation by David N. Edwards. ISBN 0 86054 825 2 No 39 BAR S647, 1996 Islam, Archaeology and History Gao Region (Mali) ca. AD 900 - 1250 by Timothy Insoll. ISBN 0 86054 832 5 No 40 BAR S651, 1996 State Formation in Egypt: Chronology and society by Toby A.H. Wilkinson. ISBN 0 86054 838 4 No 41 BAR S680, 1997 Recherches archéologiques sur la capitale de l’empire de Ghana Etude d’un secteur d’habitat à Koumbi Saleh, Mauritanie. Campagnes II-III-IV-V (1975-1976)-(1980-1981) by S. Berthier. ISBN 0 86054 868 6 No 42 BAR S689, 1998 The Lower Palaeolithic of the Maghreb Excavations and analyses at Ain Hanech, Algeria by Mohamed Sahnouni. ISBN0 86954 875 9 No 43 BAR S715, 1998 The Waterberg Plateau in the Northern Province, Republic of South Africa, in the Later Stone Age by Maria M. Van der Ryst. ISBN 0 86054 893 7 No 44 BAR S734, 1998 Cultural Succession and Continuity in S.E. Nigeria Excavations in Afikpo by V. Emenike Chikwendu. ISBN 0 86054 921 6 No 45 BAR S763, 1999 The Emergence of Food Production in Ethiopia by Tertia Barnett. ISBN 0 86054 971 2 No 46 BAR S768, 1999 Sociétés préhistoriques et Mégalithes dans le Nord-Ouest de la République Centrafricaine by Étienne Zangato. ISBN 0 86054 980 1 No 47 BAR S775, 1999 Ethnohistoric Archaeology of the Mukogodo in North-Central Kenya Hunter-gatherer subsistence and the transition to pastoralism in secondary settings by Kennedy K. Mutundu. ISBN 0 86054 990 9 No 48 BAR S782, 1999 Échanges et contacts le long du Nil et de la Mer Rouge dans l'époque protohistorique (IIIe et IIe millénaires avant J.-C.) Une synthèse préliminaire by Andrea Manzo. ISBN 1 84171 002 4 No 49 BAR S838, 2000 Ethno-Archaeology in Jenné, Mali Craft and status among smiths, potters and masons by Adria LaViolette. ISBN 1 84171 043 1 No 50 BAR S860, 2000 Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers An enduring Frontier in the Caledon Valley, South Africa by Carolyn R. Thorp. ISBN 1 84171 061 X No 51 BAR S906, 2000 The Kintampo Complex The Late Holocene on the Gambaga Escarpment, Northern Ghana by Joanna Casey. ISBN 1 84171 202 7 No 52 BAR S964, 2000 The Middle and Later Stone Ages in the Mukogodo Hills of Central Kenya A Comparative Analysis of Lithic Artefacts from Shurmai (GnJm1) and Kakwa Lelash (GnJm2) Rockshelters by G-Young Gang. ISBN 1 84171 251 5

No 53 BAR S1006, 2001 Darfur (Sudan) In the Age of Stone Architecture c. 1000 - 1750 AD Problems in historical reconstruction by Andrew James McGregor. ISBN 1 84171 285 X No 54 BAR S1037, 2002 Holocene Foragers, Fishers and Herders of Western Kenya by Karega-Mũnene. ISBN 1 84171 1037 No 55 BAR S1090, 2002 Archaeology and History in Ìlàrè District (Central Yorubaland, Nigeria) 1200-1900 A.D. by Akinwumi O. Ogundiran. ISBN 1 84171 468 2 No 56 BAR S1133, 2003 Ethnoarchaeology in the Zinder Region, Republic of Niger: the site of Kufan Kanawa by Anne Haour. ISBN 1 84171 506 9 No 57 BAR S1187, 2003 Le Capsien typique et le Capsien supérieur Évolution ou contemporanéité. Les données technologiques by Noura Rahmani. ISBN 1 84171 553 0 No 58 BAR S1216, 2004 Fortifications et urbanisation en Afrique orientale by Stéphane Pradines. ISBN 1 84171 576 X No 59 BAR S1247, 2004 Archaeology and Geoarchaeology of the Mukogodo Hills and Ewaso Ng’iro Plains, Central Kenya by Frederic Pearl. ISBN 1 84171 607 3 No 60 BAR S1289, 2004 Islamic Archaeology in the Sudan by Intisar Soghayroun Elzein. ISBN 1 84171 639 1. No 61 BAR S1308, 2004 An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Iron-Smelting Practices among the Pangwa and Fipa in Tanzania by Randi Barndon. ISBN 1 84171 657 X.