The Kintampo Complex: The Late Holocene on the Gambaga Escarpment, Northern Ghana 9781841712024, 9781407352503

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
CHAPTER 1. Introduction
CHAPTER 2. The Past and Present Environment of West Africa
CHAPTER 3. The Prehistory of West Africa
CHAPTER 4. The Gambaga Escarpment: Environment, Culture and Archaeology
CHAPTER 5. The Sites and the Formed Artifacts
CHAPTER 6. Bipolar Technology and Basic Tools
CHAPTER 7. Kintampo Site Structure
CHAPTER 8. Conclusions
APPENDICES
REFERENCES
CAMBRIDGE MONOGRAPHS IN AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Citation preview

BAR S906 2000  CASEY  THE KINTAMPO COMPLEX

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 51 Series Editor: John Alexander

The Kintampo Complex The Late Holocene on the Gambaga Escarpment, Northern Ghana

Joanna Casey

BAR International Series 906 B A R

2000

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 51 Series editor: John Alexander

The Kintampo Complex The Late Holocene on the Gambaga Escarpment, Northern Ghana

Joanna Casey

BAR International Series 906 2000

Published in 2016 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 906 Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 51 The Kintampo Complex © J Casey and the Publisher 2000 The author's moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. 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.

ISBN 9781841712024 paperback ISBN 9781407352503 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841712024 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 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 2000. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2016.

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Table of Contents ~~

~

~~

h

Preface

xi

Chapter 1: Introduction

1

Chapter 2: The Past and Present Environment of West Africa The Present Environment of West Africa The Paleoecological History of the Sahara Desert

5 5 9

Chapter 3: The Prehistory of West Africa The Pleistocene Prehistory The Holocene Prehistory The Origins of Domestication in West Africa The Kintampo Complex

14 15 19 21 25

Chapter 4: The Gambaga Escarpment: Environment, Culture and Archaeology Environmental Setting Cultural Setting Human Ecology on the Escarpment Archaeological Implications

29 29 33 33 37

Chapter 5: The Sites and the Formed Artifacts The Archaeological Sites Lithic Raw Material Types The Formed Artifacts

39 39 50 53

Chapter 6: Bipolar Technology and Basic Tools Basic Tool Technologies Bipolar Technology Basic Tools

83 83 85 103

Chapter 7: Kintampo Site Structure

119

Chapter 8: Conclusions

130

Appendices

135

References

153

V

Figures

1.1

Map of Ghana

2

2.1 2.2

Map of West Africa The Inter Tropical ConvergenceZone

6 7

3.1 3.2

Map of Important West African Prehistoric Sites Map oflmportant Prehistoric Sites in Ghana

16 17

4.1 4.2 4.3

Geology of Ghana Vegetationof Ghana Rainfall of Ghana

30 31 32

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26

40 41 43 45 46 47 48 53 54 55 56 57 58 60 60 62 64 65 69 70 71 68 73 73 73

5.27 5.28 5.29 5.30 5.31 5.32 5.33 5.34 5.35

Map of the Study Area Map of Fulani Kuliga Map ofFKWMH South Hill Structure Plan View of Rock Shelter Section View of Rock Shelter Map of Gballa Kulbongu Unusual Pot Sherd from the Surface ofFKWMH Milling Stone Milling Stone Grinding Stone with Abraded End Small Cylindrical Grinding Stones Sphericity of Spheroids and Discoids Flaked and Ground Projectile Points Projectile Points from the Surface ofBirimi Shape Categories of Geometric Microliths Geometric Microliths from the Gambaga Sites Geometric Microliths from the Gambaga Sites Continuum of Battered Ground Stone Tools Pestles Chisels and an Unusual Flat Bladed Ground Stone Tool Dimensional Measurements of Bladed Ground Stone Tools Comparison of Lengths of Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Comparison of Widths of Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Comparison of Thicknesses of Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Comparison of Thickness to Width Ratios between Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Comparison of Blade Angles between Axes and Adzes (Chart) Comparison of Lengths of Blade Widths between Axes and Adzes (Chart) Blade Shape and Symmetry of Bladed Ground Stone Tools Loci of Battering and Regrinding Attributes of Bladed Ground Stone Tools Flaking on Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Pecking on Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Regrinding on Bladed Ground Stone Tools (Chart) Unusual Ground Stone Objects Bored Stones

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9

The Bipolar Method 86 Direct, Opposed Bipolar Percussion 86 Oblique Bipolar Percussion 86 Flake Removal from the Anvil Surface of the Nucleus with Oblique Percussion 92 Diagramatic Representation of Core Rotation in Bipolar Technology 92 Pieces Esquillees Shapes 99 Pieces Esquillees from the Gambaga Sites 101 Employable Unit Edge Shapes 105 Employable Unit Edge Measurements 106 vi

74 74 74 76 78 79 79 79 81 81

6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18

Employable Unit Use Attributes 'Types of Pieces used as Basic Tools (Chart) Distribution of Lengths and Widths of Basic Tools (Chart) Width to Length Ratios of Basic Tools (Chart) Matrix Attributes of Basic Tools (Chart) Distribution of Piece Types by Edge Types (Chart) Length of Modification of Employable Units (Chart) Height of Modification of Employable Units (Chart) Angle of Modified Edge of Employable Units (Chart)

107 110 110 111 111 112 115 116 117

7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19

Location of Units at FKWMH Distribution of Concentrations of Rock and Daub Distribution of Total Cultural Material Distribution of Quartz Distribution of Ground Stone Tools Distribution of Grinding Stones Distribution of Ceramics Distribution of Mudstone Distribution of Geometric Microliths Distribution of Total Basic Tools Distribution of Straight Edges Distribution of Concave Edges Distribution of Convex Edges Distribution of Sinuous Edges Distribution of Denticulates Distribution of Notches Distribution of Comers Distribution of Points Distribution of Spurs

122 122 122 123 123 123 124 124 124 125 125 125 126 126 126 127 127 127 128

vii

Tables

4.1 4.2

Monthly and annual rainfall for Gambaga Crop species though to be indigenousto West Africa

34 36

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8

Total cultural material at the sites by raw material Total formed lithic artifacts Student's t-test comparing the measurementsof axes and adzes Chi-square test for edge shape and symmetryof axe and adze blades Chi-squaretest for blade edge shape of axes and adzes Chi-squaretest for blade edge symmetryof axes and adzes Chi-square test for blade edge shape and symmetry Student's t-test comparing the measurementsof axes/adzesto pestles

51 52 75 75 75

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20

Nuclei used in bipolar experimentbefore reduction Size and weight categoriesfor flakes produced in bipolar experiment Summaryof pieces produced in bipolar experiment Total types of pieces produced in bipolar experiment Attributes of flakes produced in bipolar experiment Measurementsand attributes of nuclei from bipolar experiment Typesof nuclei Measurementsand attributes of "bipolar flakes" from bipolar experiment Measurementsof bipolar flakes Location of flake origination Measurements of pieces esquilleesfrom Gambaga Distribution of stepped surfacesper piece Typesof utilised stepped surfaces Stepped surfaces Other employableunits on pieces esquillees Measurementsof pieces used as basic tools Means and standard deviations of all pieces by edge type Number of employableunits per piece type Number of pieces with single and multiple employableunits Typesof edges that occur with each other on pieces with multiple employableunits 6.21 Unusual edges and modification 6.22 Use-action of projection employableunits

ix

77

77 77

93 94 94 95 96 98 98 100 100 100 102 102 102 102 102 108 113 113 113 114 114 114

Preface

The original field work for this monograph was carried out between 1987 and 1989 and formed the basis ofmy doctoral dissertation which was completed at the University of Toronto in 1993. In 1996 I started intensive investigations at the Birimi Site, one of the Kintampo sites that we discovered in conjunction with my dissertation field work. It was in thinking and writing about Birimi that I recognised how essential it is to have the data from my dissertation more readily available, and so I decided to publish it. Although I had had ample warning from those who have undergone this process themselves, I did not believe that preparing this manuscript for publication would be so consuming of time, thought and emotion. While my original vision for publication was simply to clean up some of the text and figures, in the end I almost completely rewrote the original manuscript. In the years between the submission of the dissertation and its preparation for publication, a lot had changed in the field of archaeology, and new research has been undertaken on African paleoenvironments and prehistory. More importantly for this monograph however, my own perspectives have changed. The new project at Birimi has forced me to re-evaluate my work on the Gambaga sites, and the dynamic academic community in which I find myself has caused me to question much of what I took for granted the first time I wrote this. Rewriting this piece was no easier the second time around, and was in some ways rendered all the more difficult by advances in computer technology that, at times, threatened to rob me of my sanity. In the end, though, it gives me considerable satisfaction to have been able to revisit this material after thinking about it for so many years, to be able to correct some of the things that had been bothering me, and to be able to reevaluate it in light of new research and new perspectives.

for me to imagine a better field assistant and travelling companion than Ann, whose boundless calm, humour and professionalism got us through many a rough spot. The ethnoarchaeological phase of the research has evolved into a long-term project on the use of wild resources, and the gendered economy in Gambaga. The project would never have got off the ground if Madam Azara Waari had not taken pity on me and decided to show me how to make shea butter and how to cook. Thanks to her patience and tutelage, I was able to excise the really stupid questions from my list before inflicting them on the rest of Mamprugu. The steady stream of friends and relatives that flows through her compound helped enormously by gently teasing me when I made mistakes, and wildly cheering when I did something right the first time. Thanks to her and her sister and brother, Hajia Mariama Waari and Alhaji Mahama Waari, Gambaga opened up for me. Spending time in Azara and Mariama's rambunctious compound, waist deep in laughing children, is one of the true joys of being in Gambaga. I would also like to thank the chiefs of Dindani, Gbangu, Nagbo and KpakpriGbangu for enabling me to conduct interviews in their villages. An enormous debt of gratitude is owed all those who participated in the surveys. Without exception the people of Mamprugu extended the friendly hospitality for which Ghanaians are famous, and answered all my tedious questions with patience and humour. More often than not, interviews led to extended conversations, offers to show me farms and gardens or to demonstrate techniques, and in some cases close friendships that have endured these many years. Kennedy Ayensu provided excellent and diligent work as my primary translator and assistant. I also thank Bintu Chilala, George Abuntoo, Alhaji IbrahimTanko, James Agombah, J.Ako Okoro, Adam Ali, Florence Loriba and Alice Ba:ffoefor their assistance during this phase.

The archaeological research that is the basis of this monograph was done as part of the Gambaga Archaeological Research Project directed by Fran~ois Kense. I owe Frank my biggest debt of gratitude for enabling me to undertake this research. Permission to undertake the research was granted by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, and also by Na Gamni, the late paramount chief of the Mamprusis, and Gambarana Tia and Gambarana Yahaya the late and present chiefs of Gambaga respectively. The crew supervisors of the 1987 and 1988 field seasons were: Ellen Bielawski, Claire Bourges, Cathy Boyce, Kirk Collins, Julie Cormack, Carol Krol, J. Ako Okoro, Brian Vivian and Pamela Willoughby. Birimi Project supervisory personel were: James Dodson, Alicia Hawkins, Roland Sawatzky and Michele Wollstonecroft. Cathy D' Andrea collaborated as Paleoethnobotanist and Dorothy GodfreySmith as Geophysicist. Many thanks are also due to the many people in Gambaga who provided archaeological and household labour. Special thanks to Mr. Bukari Sule for organising the early phases, and to Eric Koranteng and Okalla Mohammad who worked most closely with me on the Gambaga sites. Ann O'Sullivan spent five months doing laboratory work with me in Ghana in 1989. It is impossible

I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee Maxine Kleindienst, supervisor, Gary Crawford, Bruce Drewitt, Martha Latta and C.S. Churcher at the University of Toronto, and my external examiner Ann Stahl for their direction and comments. Also at the University of Toronto, J.C. Richie helped me to learn about African vegetation and ecosystems, and Loretta Reinhardt, Bruce Schroeder and Richard Lee also gave much appreciated guidance and advice at critical points during this research. Many thanks to Larry Pavlish for running the INAA on the silicious mudstone, to Cathy D' Andrea for looking at the original sediment samples and to Yodit Seifu for consultation on the statistics. The caring support of Winnie Smith and Wanda Barrett got me through my first, rough year at Toronto. Winnie's periodic pep talks and unwavering faith in me helped me find the strength to continue. Emil Hustiu from the Royal Ontario Museum drew the geometric microliths and pieces esquillees, while most of the other drawings were done at the University of Ghana. At the University of Ghana, Dr. Oraccaxi

Tetteh of the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition supervised my year in Ghana, and Dr. Abbiw at the herbarium provided botanical identifications. James Anquanda and Leonard Crossland are thanked for their help and support particularly for enabling me to see the Mumute, Bonoase and Bosumpra collections. At the Ghana National Museum, many thanks are due Isaac Debra, Joe Nkrumah and Joe Gazari for their help and support, and also for their periodic visits to Gambaga which are always a lot of fun.

Alice Baffoe has been my best friend in Gambaga throughout these many years. Alice is a feminist in a traditional society with all the complications that that entails - something that almost guaranteed our fast friendship. Alice is indispensable for running the household and helping me with my ethnographic work, but more than this, she grounds me in Gambaga by being the centre of a network of female friends who are as supportive and lively as those who form my most valued relationships in North America. In Gambaga Liman Alhaji Mesuna and the late Alhaji Ali are my self-appointed fathers who have given me unlimited protection and guidance. Adam Ali, wise beyond his years, has given me level-headed advice that has helped me to negotiate the labyrinth of personal and political relationships in Gambaga. I also thank him for keeping me up to date on the news from Gambaga through his regular phone calls. Alhaji Zac Ismael has been a good friend and ally throughout my time in Gambaga. Thanks to Mr. Apas who was both our cook and our elder in our household.

Funding for the various phases of this project came from several sources. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, provided Dr. Kense with the original research grant, and also provided me with doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships and a research grant to continue my work in Northern Ghana. The International Development Research Center funded the ethnoarchaeological part of the research. While I was at the University of Toronto I was funded by University of Toronto Open Fellowships and Ontario Graduate Scholarships. The University of South Carolina has funded parts of my ongoing research in Ghana with Research and Productive Scholarship and College of Liberal Arts Scholarship Support awards. The Department of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina provided funds for a library research trip to Toronto, and for technical support in the preparation of this manuscript. Special thanks to Leland Ferguson, then chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina for arranging a teaching release for me so that I could write the bulk of this manuscript.

The Baptist Medical Centre in Nalerigu has given us an enormous amount of security by providing first class medical attention and warm friendship. Special thanks to Laurel and David Fort and their daughters for attending so well to our medical, emotional and social needs. Thanks also to Vincent Waite, Willie Mae Berry and Diane Lees. An enormous debt of gratitude is owed Heather Henderson who has for many years hosted me on my stays in Toronto and taken care of my business while I am away in the field. She has been a gracious host, despite my chronic inability to travel light or to disseminate information regarding my itinerary. Many thanks to the Mackies, the Richardsons and the Waterers who hosted me in England on my stop-overs between North America and Ghana. Thanks to Simon Casey who took care of things in Toronto while I was away for a year.

I would like to thank Peter and Arna Shinnie for giving me my first exposure to Ghana, thereby starting what will surely be a lifelong involvement with this country. I thank them also for their support of my work, and for their hospitality. The Shinnies' home in Kumasi, with its cool interior and peaceful courtyards and gardens is my haven on my trips up and down the country. I warmly remember and eagerly look forward to our evenings of stories over "paper wine" wherein the history of Africanist archaeology is revealed in all its bizarre complexity.

My thinking about things anthropological and archaeological has been shaped and challenged by numerous people and I am fortunate indeed to have had such a great collection of friends and colleagues with whom to discuss things. Special thanks to Francis Ahia, LuisaBeram, Ben Cole, Marcia-Anne Dobres, Mark Campbell, Alicia Hawkins, Heather Henderson, Pat Julig, John Kirby, Jim Lance, Diane Lyons, Julian Siggers, Kathy Stewart, Larry Titus and Alexandra Wilson. Thanks to the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina for providing such a supportive and dynamic environment in which to continue my research. Many thanks to Merrick Posnansky and Nicholas David whose support of my work has given me some wonderful opportunities.

There are no words to express my gratitude to my friends in Ghana who have enriched my life in so many ways. Bismarck Seidu, whom I have known since 1983, has been more than a brother to me. Through him I have come to know his family and they have welcomed me in as one of their own. Kivilwura Yahaya Seidu, the head of the family, has been one of the most influential people in my life. It is his friendship, his wisdom and his humour that have guided me through the intricacies of Ghanaian culture, and his presence as a man of substance that has legitimised my position in Ghana. I used to telephone him regularly from North America for his sane advice. Without fail, every conversation with Yahaya ended in laughter, because he could not stand for anyone to be upset. Yahaya's death in 1998 is a blow from which I will never recover. lf there is any sweetness in this tragedy it is that in tightening the family circle to close the gap he left, the family members have made me aware of how much I am a part of that circle. I thank Joyce, Hajia Afisa, Habib, Fatawu, Hindiatu, Sirina and especially Bismarck for giving me a family in what was once a very foreign land.

Several people assisted in the preparation of this manuscript. I would especially like to thank Graham Connah for his meticulous reading of this manuscript. His extensive comments improved the manuscript immeasurably. Many thanks to Mark Morreale for editing an early version of Chapter 2. Cecile Lomer restored my sanity by formatting the manuscript. Jamie Civitello scanned graphics, checked citations, tracked down references and assisted with the minutiae of preparing this manuscript, for which I am forever grateful. Claudia Carriere helped me with the tedious job of checking the citations again. Mark Spagnolo is thanked for xii

preventing me from becoming a serial killer of computers, and also for ending my ten-year search by tracking down my own copy of The Woody Plants of Ghana. It is hard to resist the urge to thank everybody who has had anything to do with me for the past 10 years. In truth, people impact the process in myriad ways and often, an off hand comment or a small show of understanding at a critical moment can have an enormous effect on the project as a whole. Writing is for me an all-consuming process, and when I get to the end of a large project I am surprised to find that my friends are still there despite my months of irritability and preoccupation. I thank you all for your support and for celebrating all my little victories along the way. I dedicate this monograph to my parents, Colin and Janet Casey.

Xlll

CHAPTER I Introduction The Kintampo Complex is the first settled, sub-Sahelian complex in West Africa, and as such, it is critical to our understanding of West African prehistory. Kintampo appeared in Ghana around 4000 years ago, just after the onset of the last arid phase in the Sahara. The timing, coupled with a material culture comprised of pottery, ground stone tools, grinding stones and wattle and daub structures and projectile points similar to those found in the vicinity of the Niger Bend, suggest a scenario wherein early food-producing migrants fled south in advance of the expanding Sahara Desert. While this scenario is a compelling one that appears to explain much about West African prehistory, recent investigations into Kintampo have challenged it in favour of a much more complex set of circumstances highlighting both social and economic factors in the origin and spread of the Kintampo Complex throughout Ghana.

research has concentrated primarily on the lithic technology of the Kintampo people because this was virtually the only preserved component of the sites investigated. The published information on Kintampo lithics has previously been limited to superficial descriptions of the few formal tool classes with no analysis of the variation among tool classes, nor of the technology involved in the procurement, manufacture use, repair, recycling and discard ofKintampo material culture. It is this lack of intensive research, more than anything else that has hampered our ability to see Kintampo in a wider social context. Currently, perceived variations in the formal tool classes between Kintampo sites take on a significance that may be out of proportion to what they actually signify. Without an understanding of the whole technology and attitudes toward technology that are embedded in the way the materials were sought after and used, it is impossible determine the significance of variations among and between tool types, either within sites or between them.

Ultimately, Kintampo's importance lies in its position at the cross roads of foraging and farming and on the threshold of social complexity. It is one of the few prehistoric complexes in West Africa that has been at all adequately described, and consequently it tends to stand unchallenged as the first subSahelian farming complex. But despite Kintampo's pivotal position little is actually known about the complex. Many sites have been found in Ghana, but fewer than a dozen have been excavated (Anquandah 1993 :256-257) and most of these have had only limited excavations and/or the results have been inadequately published. Cultigens have never been found at Kintampo sites, and the evidence for domestic animals is present but limited and enigmatic. The origins of Kintampo become increasingly obscure as research continues and, with little evidence for continuity between Kintampo and later ironusing societies it is unclear what eventually became of the Kintampo peoples.

A second contribution this research makes is that it places the northern manifestation ofKintampo in the context of what is known about the Kintampo complex, and also within the context of West African prehistory. We see emerging a picture not of isolated Kintampo hamlets, but of a dynamic culture connected by a network of trade relationships and alliances. Virtually all the lithic material in the sites is of exotic origin, yet it is utilised in a manner that is only achievable if extensive and reliable networks for trade and travel are in place. It is the reliability of these networks that suggests close and frequent contact among Kintampo communities, and sets the basis for contacts further afield. Third, this research explores the question of a farming base for Kintampo subsistence and embeds it in the current discussions on the origins of agriculture. West Africa is one of the regions of the world where agriculture was independently developed (Harlan 1971; Harlan et al. 1976; Harris 1976). Unlike other places in the world, West African agriculture does not appear to have spread from a single centre, but rather to have been non-centred (Harlan 1971), probably developing at many times and in many places. Understanding the origins of agriculture in West Africa is less a matter of locating the earliest site, than it is of understanding the nature of early food-producing societies and the dynamic relationships between farming, hunting and gathering. Understanding these relationships will help to shed light on why food production became the most important means of subsistence across sub Saharan West Africa in the late Holocene, and also on the reasons behind related cultural changes visible in the archaeological record. ·

This research is primarily interested in the place ofKintampo in the context of West African prehistory, particularly as it pertains to the origin and development of West African farming societies. Whereas many discussions of Kintampo focus on whether or not the Kintampo peoples were farmers, this research explores the possibilities for Kintampo existence in northern Ghana with and without farming. In the absence of the actual cultigens, it is only possible to approach the issue by allowing the material culture and settlement patterns to shed light on the mobility strategies, social organisation and regional interaction of the Kintampo peoples. This research takes place on the Gambaga Escarpment in Northern Ghana (Figure 1.1). It expands our understanding of the Kintampo Complex in three ways. First, it provides the first description of the Kintampo Complex in Northern Ghana. Kintampo sites are best known from the woodlands and forests of the central and southern parts of Ghana where archaeological research has been most intense. The savannas of northern Ghana provide an entirely different environmental setting. As Kintampo sites are known to exhibit significant regional differences, lack of information on Kintampo in the north has been a lacuna in our understanding of the complex. This

V Gordon Childe (1928, 1934, 1936)visualised the move from foraging to farming in revolutionary terms and emphasised its role as a necessary precondition for state formation and the rise of civilisation. Archaeologists who undertook the study ofagricultural origins after the Second World War, were largely operating from the perspective, promoted by Childe, that since the development of agriculture made possible technological

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and social advancements, it stood to reason that once societies discovered agriculture, either by invention or diffusion, the benefits of food production would be self-evident and societies would readily take it up. These studies, from the 1940s to the early 1960s (for example Braidwood and Braidwood 1950; Kenyon 1960; MacNeish 1950; Mellart 1958, 1962; Sauer 1952) searched for the places where domestication first began in the expectation that conditions would be such, that people could hardly help developing agriculture and passing it on to their neighbours.

Reid 1989; 1991; Wilmsen 1985). Some researchers have even questioned whether in some environments, such as the rainforests of Asia, Africa and South America, hunter-gatherers could have existed unless they were in some kind of reciprocal relationship with farmers (Bailey et al. 1989; Bailey and Headland 1991; Headland 1987). Complex hunter-gatherers who lived in optimal environments, and took on many of the features previously thought only present in farmers, became recognised as a separate kind of hunter-gatherer lifestyle that has very few counterparts in the ethnographic present (Price and Brown 1985b ). At the other end of the spectrum, archaeologists began to view farming not as an absolute split from hunting and gathering, but as one subsistence strategy that need not necessarily require nor result in a lifestyle that was significantly different from a foraging one. Consequently, it became evident that domestication could easily have arisen for entirely different reasons in different times and places, and that it may also have been developed and abandoned many times before becoming archaeologically visible. This perspective is reflected in studies that look to social phenomena in order to explain why the commitment to food production may have taken precedence over hunting and gathering (Bender 1978, 1985; Hayden 1990, 1995; Testart 1982). Increasingly, the issue of origins seems to be beside the point. If foraging and farming are a continuum, then establishing points of origin is considerably less important and less interesting than understanding the nature and meaning of these changes. Recent theoretical perspectives in archaeology have shifted the focus toward understanding group dynamics and how these are played out symbolically in the material cultures of peoples whose relationships to nature and society changed dramatically just prior to or as a result of domestication (Hayden 1990, 1995; Hodder 1990).

In the early 1960s, the Man the Hunter conference (Lee and Devore 1968) changed the way archaeologists and anthropologists thought about the hunting and gathering lifestyle. Previously, hunter-gatherers had been thought to lead a particularly arduous and precarious existence that could be alleviated somewhat by the introduction of farming. At the conference, scholars presented case studies from around the world that indicated that far from being deprived of the advantages of civilisation, hunter-gatherers were "the original affluent society" (Sahlins 1968) enjoying a truly enviable degree of health, leisure, security and freedom. Around this time it was recognised that agriculture may not have been the boon to the human condition that was originally envisioned. Farmers, it turned out, work longer hours, have a poorer diet, are more susceptible to famine, have a much higher incidence of communicable and nutrition-related diseases (Cohen and Armelagos 1984), and give up virtually all their freedom of movement in exchange for burdensome material possessions and social hierarchies that have the potential to give some people considerable power over the lives of others. Furthermore, it became apparent that hunter gatherers have a sophisticated understanding of plant and animal reproduction and life cycles, so it was not ignorance of the basics that kept hunter gatherers from growing their own food. Consequently, the next generation of scholars who studied the origins of food production sought to explain why hunter-gatherers would leave their idyllic lifestyleto pursue one that was much more difficult. Ecological explanations became particularly important as a means of understanding the processes by which huntergatherers converted to agriculture. Ecological disasters such as dramatic post-Pleistocene climate change (Binford 1968), resource depletion (Hayden 1982), or over-population (Cohen 1977)were evoked as possible stimuli to food production. More systemic approaches modelled relationships between humans and biotic communities and showed how over time they became locked in feedback loops from which neither could be extricated (Rindos 1980, 1984; Flannery 1968).

Most of the theoretical work on agricultural origins has been undertaken in the Near East and Mesoamerica, where massive data bases enable archaeologists to see long term patterns over great distances. In contrast, theoretical development in the question of agricultural origins in West Africa has lagged as archaeologists have struggled to describe and interpret the limited evidence for early agriculture scattered throughout this large portion of Africa (Stahl 1984). In this study I use both ecological and social approaches to understand the dynamics of early food-production in West Africa. The paleoenvironmental history of West Africa is one of dramatic climate changes that presented opportunities and constraints to human movement and occupation throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene. While climatic changes may have influenced the timing and location of events that affected the process of domestication, they do not fully explain the development of food-production in West Africa, nor do they illuminate either variations in the commitment to farming, or social changes that resulted from adjusting to the farming lifestyle. In order to understand these aspects I draw on ethnographic information and the archaeological record.

By the 1980s archaeologists had started to grow dissatisfied with these largely deterministic models. They put human beings purely at the mercy of external forces, and did not adequately explain why agriculture arose world-wide within a 5000-year time frame and not earlier during other environmental catastrophes. At this time the boundaries between hunter-gatherers and farmers had started to become blurred. Archaeologists started to realise that the archaeological record contained many more types of huntergatherer adaptations than are visible in the ethnographic present (Wobst 1978). Revisionists demonstrated that modern hunter-gatherer societies are not now and probably never have been isolated from the influences of their neighbours and their different types of economies (Headland 1997; Headland and

This research does not solve the question of whether the Kintampo peoples were farmers or not, but rather looks at aspects of the Kintampo lifestyle that are made evident by their material culture, and postulates whether such a lifestyle would have been possible in the absence of agriculture in the environment of the Gambaga escarpment 3500 years ago. In order to assess this, I undertook ethnographic research in 3

Gambaga in which I investigated the use of wild resources in order to model options for human occupation of the area. This research yielded three important observations that have bearing on the Kintampo Complex. First, the extreme seasonality of the savanna environment has a severely limiting effect on all life. Second, the people of the escarpment, despite being committed to farming, continue to use a significant number of wild resources, and these resources are essential for livelihood there even in the presence of farming. Third, resource acquisition and use is a complex interplay not only of availability and need but of value and symbolism. The people of the escarpment recognise a strict dichotomy between wild and domestic in space and resources. Wild resources are ranked in a hierarchy that has less to do with scientific definitions of wild and domestic than it has to do with linkages to home, field and forest. The implications of these three things for Kintampo are several. First, Kintampo peoples would also have had to contend with a regime of intense seasonality in which storage of harvested plants would have been the only option for year-round occupation of the escarpment. Second, although the Kintampo peoples may have cultivated plants, it is most likely that wild resources still had a central role to play in the subsistence regime. It is therefore not particularly useful to imagine the Kintampo Complex subsistence base as being substantially different from that of complex huntergatherers whether or not they do cultivate. Consequently, relevant changes at the time of Kintampo need to be sought elsewhere than just a change in food. Third, the more important variables are those that are associated with changes in social structure. Although the cognitive dichotomy between wild and domestic is thought to be characteristic offarming peoples, it is likely that this cognitive shift happens at the time of sedentism and investment in the built environment rather than as a result of cultivation. It may possible to detect a similar shift in focus in the Kintampo Complex, as attention becomes increasingly directed toward the immediate vicinity of the community and its surrounding territory while maintaining links with other Kintampo communities across the country and possibly other LSA peoples further afield.

4

CHAPTER2 The Past and Present Environment of West Africa

The decreasing intensity of rainfall inland from the coast results in vegetation zones that appear as broad bands from east to west. No major changes in altitude complicate the symmetry, although the smaller escarpments and low mountains alter the local vegetation to some extent (Lawson 1986: 1). From the south to the north of West Africa the vegetation becomes increasingly sparse as the mean annual rainfall tapers off and the dry season lengthens. Along the coast of West Africa mangrove swamps around the river deltas indicate low-lying areas of soils saturated by brackish water. North of the coast rainforests and savannas of progressively drier types extend to the desert. Each zone indicates the vegetational response to variations in climate and rainfall.

The vegetation zones of sub-Saharan West Africa appear as broad east-west bands that traverse the entire region from the Atlantic coast of Senegal to Lake Chad. They indicate the seasonal movements of two major air masses and map a reduction in both the amount and distribution of rainfall from the rainforests along the Guinea Coast in the south to the Sahara Desert in the north. Prior to recent technological advances in farming and transportation, each vegetation zone was home to cultures with food-production strategies adapted to its specific environmental conditions. In the remote past however, the vegetation zones shifted in response to global climatic conditions. As the climatic conditions changed, so did the opportunities for and constraints on human occupation. The human reaction to these changes is visible in the archaeological record. ·

Within this simplified scheme of broad vegetation zones, climate works in conjunction with geomorphology, geology and other factors to determine the vegetation types. The amount and distribution of rainfall influence the placement of vegetation zones most strongly, but within each zone a host of other interrelated factors affect the structure of local and regional plant communities (Goldstein and Sarmiento 1987).

The Present Environment of West Africa Sub-Saharan West Africa stretches west from Lake Chad (approximately 14 degrees East) to the Atlantic coast of Senegal and south from the southern limits of the Sahara Desert (approximately 20 degrees north) to the Guinea Coast (Figure 2.1). It is an area ofrelatively even topography with no major mountain ranges. Those that do exist are most notably the Loma-Nimba massif in Sierra Leone and Guinea, the Togoland Hills, the Jos and Obudu Plateaux in Nigeria and the Bamenda Highlands and Cameroun Mountain of Cameroun. West Africa is cross-cut by three major river systems - the Niger-Benue, Senegal and Volta - and by numerous smaller rivers.

In West Africa much of the underlying parent material is Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock, although the Voltaian formation which covers much of Ghana consists of massive sandstones. These two rock formations give rise to very different types of soils. Igneous and metamorphic rocks contain silicate minerals that break down during weathering to release plant nutrients; therefore soils over these rocks tend to be chemically rich and fertile. In contrast, sandstone and mudstone formations contain little other than quartz sand, and therefore give rise to poor, sandy soils with low reserves of plant nutrients (Ahn 1970:59).

The position of seasonally shifting high-and low-pressure zones controls the climate of West Africa. During the winter the Sahara Desert is a high-pressure zone where the hot, dry Northeast Tropical Continental Trade wind has its origin. During the summer, the position of the sun heats the Sahara Desert and creates a low pressure zone which draws to it humid equatorial air from the south known as the Southwest Tropical Marine Monsoon. These two air masses meet at the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which shifts from north to south seasonally. The humid coastal air pushes the continental current upward, cooling it. This cooling produces squall lines and consequently storms. The Harmattan is a third air mass that influences the climate of West Africa. It produces a hot, dry continental wind that blows throughout the year. The maritime equatorial air mass pushes the Harmattan to a high latitude as it travels north. The ITCZ reaches its maximum northern position in July and its most southerly extent in January (Figure 2.2). Not only does rainfall decrease in intensity from south to north, but its distribution changes. In northern areas at the maximum extent of the ITCZ rain falls in a single peak and is followed by a dry season ofu~ to nine months. In the south the rain falls in two peaks, first as the ITCZ starts to move north and then again when it returns. A long humid season occurs between the two peaks and the actual dry season may be less than three months long (Whyte 1968). When the ITCZ is displaced south, the dry season is exacerbated by the effect of the dry, dust-laden Harmattan.

The effects of rainfall and leaching also have a significant influence on soil formation in West Africa. In southern rainforest areas, rainfall is high and distributed throughout the year with only a short dry season. Here, leaching of soil nutrients can be a serious problem. In hilly topography characteristic of rainforest environments, gravity causes minerals and clay particles to be washed downhill toward streams and rivers, resulting in discrete complexes of soil and vegetation in relation to relief. This pattern repeated over a series of hills is known as a catena (Ahn 1970; Cole 1986:35). The topography of savanna areas consists of level plateaux ending in abrupt escarpments, which descend to equally level plateaux (Cole 1986:35). Unlike the rainforest, the savanna suffers from both water shortages and poor water distribution. The presence of ironstone or indurated layers at or near the surface of shallow soils, exacerbates the problem of water storage (Ahn 1970:94). In northern savanna zones, soluble substances released during weathering can become concentrated by evaporation in the top few inches of the soil. The water deficit, which prevails throughout the year, allows these nutrients to accumulate and gives the soil some degree offertility (Ahn 1970:94). In West Africa, the boundary between the forest and savanna 5

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superior quality to that at RS 1 or anywhere else in the Gambaga area.. At RSI, quartz was a low-quality, pebble and vein variety. Gballa Kulbongu (GK)

A series of stone concentrations measuring between 50 cm and 1.5 metres in diameter were noted on the hill directly north of the Main Hill. One of these was excavated but this feature did not extend below the surface, and contained very little cultural material. To the south of the Main Hill another feature, the South Hill Structure, appeared to be more intact than those features to the north (Figure 5.4). This structure had a foundation oflarge rocks and worn-out and broken lower grinding-stones. Concentrations of burned, impressed daub were present between the stones. Excavation of one quarter of this feature indicated that structural evidence did not extend below the surface. Although there were few artifacts within the area circumscribed by stones, the area surrounding it was littered with grinding-stones and scatters of siliceous mudstone and quartz. The feature is too small to have been a habitation. The large chunks of rock suggest that it may have been a storage facility such as a granary and that it is likely that a clay container was built on a platform of large stones as is characteristic of granaries in many parts of West Africa (see also Amblard-Pison 1996).

Location: 10° 33' 25" N; 0° 26' 15" W Description: surface scatter between interfluves. Excavation: eight test pits (seven 1 x 1 m; one 1 x2 m) Finds: quartz, some mudstone artifacts; grinding-stones, ground-stone. Few ceramics in top 30 cm. Context: Possibly redeposited; geological context The site of Gballa Kulbongu (GK) is located well into the Forest Reserve, approximately 4 km north of Gambaga, near the path to Gballa (Figure 5. 7). The site was identified during foot surveys in 1987. It was evident as a scatter oflithic material over another eroded gully system. Seven lxl m and one 2xl m test pits were located across the scatter and excavated to a maximum depth of 120 cm. Lithic artifacts were predominantly quartz, although some siliceous mudstone material was also found. All units ended at bedrock. The main concentration at the site appears to be between 50 and 90 cm below surface (Appendix A.4).

Birimi (BM)

The Rock Shelter (RSI)

Location: 10° 32' 50" N; 0° 23' 00" W Description: open site, occupation area; in forest cover. Excavation: three test pits on periphery of site (one lxl; one lx2; one l.5xl.5 m); One exposed profile was cut-back and sediment samples were collected from it. Finds: mudstone, quartz, ceramics, terracotta cigars, grindingstones, ground-stone, burned daub. Context: Primary

Location: 10° 33' 00" N; 0° 26' 55" W Description: small shelter, rock overhang. Excavation: four lxl m test pits, not to bedrock. Finds: quartz, some mudstone artifacts. Few grinding-stones, ceramics. Context: primary The rock shelter is located approximately 3.5 km northnorthwest of Gambaga. It is an outcropping of large boulders with an overhang at its western face. A scatter of quartz material, grinding-stones and some recent pottery were evident around the outside of the shelter and continued beneath the overhang. According to local people, the Rock Shelter has been used in recent times as a place to hide during tribal wars.

Birimi (BM) was originally discovered during survey operations in 1987. Initially a scatter of siliceous mudstone and quartz was noted on a footpath leading from Nalerigu to the edge of the escarpment, where the path reaches the Birimi Kuliga. Surveys of the stream bank toward the Nalerigu road produced a continuous, light scatter of Kintampo materials. Excavations at Birimi commenced in 1988 with two lxl m units on the east side of the stream and one lxl m unit on the west side. These units produced a small quantity of lithic material, but as at FKW, they did not seem to hit the concentration from which the surface material was derived (Appendix A.5). The main concentration at Birimi was discovered to the west of the stream-bed when a crew member (Kirk Collins) took a wrong turn to the north of the path to Bukpiri and found a number of terracotta cigars. Lack of time permitted only sectioning and mapping of one feature that was at the edge of an eroding bank. Flotation samples were also taken. These samples contained charcoal that produced a date of3000 ± 220bp (AECV-708C) (Kense 1992:150) and placed Birimi securely within the known dates for Kintampo.

RS 1 was discovered during the first day of survey in 1987. Three test pits were excavated inside the drip line in 1987, and in 1988 a pit was excavated just outside the overhang (Figure 5.5). Within the Rock Shelter, excavations extended down only 1 metre before large sandstone slabs of roof fall made further excavation impossible (Figure 5.6; Appendix A.3). The Rock Shelter contained primarily quartz flakes and some siliceous mudstone. Shaped artifacts included tiny quartz lunates and two finely worked, backed mudstone blades. The presence of quartz geometric microliths at RS 1 is reminiscent of Bosumpra Cave (Shaw 1944). However, the one date obtained for RSI is 2200 ± 240 bp. (AECV-478C) (Kense 1992:150), making it rather too late even for the Kintampo sequence, and very much later than the date for Bosumpra. Additional dates are certainly necessary for this site. The tools from Bosumpra were much larger, better-made and of a much greater variety than those from RS 1, but this is likely due to the quality of the raw material. Shaw noted the extremely high quality of the quartz at Bosumpra, comparing its flaking qualities to that of flint (Shaw 1944:6). I have seen the Bosumpra material and can varify that it is of a vastly

Mapping and excavation were also undertaken at Birimi in 1996 and 1997. It was found to be a multi component site consisting of MSA, Kintampo and later occupations. The Kintampo occupation covers at least 7200 m 2 with scatters of Kintampo materials occurring throughout the gully system in every direction. Preliminary reports can be found in Casey et al. 1997, Hawkins et al. 1996, and Sawatzky 1998.

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