Ethnoarchaeological Importance of Lokoja Rockshelters

2012

This thesis represents the first comprehensive ethnoarchaeological study to date on the material culture of African mobile pastoralism, a way of life economically, culturally, and ideologically centered on the herding of livestock. In Africa, tens of millions of people today still rely on cattle-based pastoralism for survival in arid lands that are unsuitable for agricultural production. Our understanding of ancient pastoralism is still hampered, however, by a belief held by many that nomadic populations such as pastoralists are difficult to trace in the archaeological record. Results from ethnographic research among modern Samburu cattle pastoralists in Kenya in fact challenge common archaeological assumptions about relationships between mobility, subsistence practices, and material culture. Data from twelve months of participant observation, extensive interviewing, and the administration of 117 household surveys reveal a deep and perhaps unexpected integration of pottery and other container types into a highly nomadic lifestyle centered on the herding of livestock. Key findings demonstrate that ceramic production and consumption, for example, are not prohibited by high levels of residential mobility. Instead, ceramic technologies enable pastoralist systems of production in part by allowing people to better exploit certain resources in unpredictable and drought-prone environments. Despite prevailing wisdom, repeated use of some spaces by pastoralists would allow for significant and varied accumulations of ceramics and other archaeologically-recoverable material culture. These results should, ultimately, prompt new dialogue in the archaeological literature on the material consequences of food production.

Nsukka Journal of the Humanities, 2020

This paper is a presentation of the result of a preliminary archaeological investigation of part of Usambe Area (with specific emphasis on Bako and Kpe Hills), Kwande Local Government Area, Benue State. The paper is aimed at contributing more archaeological evidence to the study of the occupational history of the Tiv of Central Nigeria. Consequently, the research elicited data through empirical investigation (employing archaeological and ethnographic surveys), while written documents were also used to collaborate surveyed information for the interpretation and explanation of the data recovered from the various archaeological sites studied. This was done in conjunction with other data like those on the environment of Bako and Kpe Hills, as well as the settlement morphology of the Usambe people. Thus, findings in the research include remains of pottery objects, relics of stone artefacts (like grindstone and stone ball), settlement structures (such as foundations of granaries and houses or huts) a water cistern and fortified stone walls. Consequently, this research revealed close similarities in the overall characteristics of artefacts identified during the investigation. It also revealed that the past Usambe/Tiv people who lived in the area understood their environmental opportunities and utilized them for their wellbeing. The research also confirmed a clear cultural continuity amongst the past and present Usambe/Tiv people through a comparative analysis of the archaeological and ethnographic data acquired in the area.

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 2023

Purpose-The aim of this research is to discuss the effect of corruption on conventional management of cultural heritage (CH) resources in Nigeria. It identifies the means by which the effect can be curtailed to bring about proper management system in the CH sector and pave the way for economic/sustainable development through cultural tourism in the country. Design/methodology/approach-The research draws from both exploratory and comparative approaches. It took a study of selected locations and museums in the six geopolitical zones of the country, with a review of literatures on cultural heritage management (CHM). It also gives summarized information on the present overall effect of corruption in the CH sector of Nigeria. Findings-The research reveals that there are some levels of mismanagement and destruction of CH resources in the country. This is manifested in acts of museum theft, illicit trafficking, unlawful possession and general mishandling of CH, as well as the deterioration of facilities in the sector. The research gathered that the problem came as a result of wrongful appointment of none heritage experts as heads of heritage-related institutions and agencies. It also results from lack of required attention by the government and other relevant stakeholders (such as community leaders/members, academics and law enforcement agencies, inter alia) toward CH preservation, protection, management and promotion for sustainable development. The research recommends that the government and other CH stakeholders (mentioned above) should make efforts to address the issues discussed, so as to improve the management of CH in the country for sustainable development. Originality/value-Prior to this research, there has been no publication addressing the effect of corruption on CHM in this context and location. The article makes recommendations that call for action and also set grounds for future discourse.

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2018

Organic residue analyses of archaeological ceramics can provide important insights into ancient foodways. To date, however, there has been little critical reflection on how lipid residues might (or might not) reflect dietary practices or subsistence strategies more generally. A combination of ethnoarchaeological research and chemical and isotopic analyses of lipid residues from pottery made and used by modern Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya was undertaken to supplement the interpretive framework used in archaeological investigations. A total of 63 potsherds were collected from various contexts, including settlement sites and rockshelters, and analysed using gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). The results showed that the free fatty acids, palmitic (C 16:0) and stearic (C 18:0), dominated the lipid profiles, with extremely broad ranges of δ 13 C values. The majority of the Δ 13 C values from Samburu pots suggest that vessels were intensively used to process ruminant carcass products, yet the Samburu economy is not, in fact, meat-based at all. Despite an overall reliance on dairy products, milk is rarely processed in ceramic vessels, largely due to cultural prohibitions. Surprisingly, a number of vessels from one site, Naiborkeju Hill, were used to process dairy products. Compound-specific radiocarbon dating of lipids from these sherds suggests that this pottery originated from an earlier period, demonstrating a possible shift in ceramic use by pastoralist communities

Archeological Papers of The American Anthropological Association, 1993

Whatever may be the analytic utility of any specific model (Binford's or anyone else's) for the early development of hunting behavior, the broader question of the relationship between behavioral modernity and anatomical modernity at the end of the Pleistocene is a matter of widespread concern within anthropology (e.g., Trinkaus 1989; Mellars and Stringer 1989; Mellars 1990;). Regardless of when technologically assisted hunting may have started, it is clear that hunting was practiced during the later Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Whether or not it is uniquely "modern," hunting is undeniably an important part of "modern" human behavior. Because the technology associated with hunting activities became more complex and more elaborated during the course of the Upper Pleistocene, and because the hunting weaponry and the osteological results of hunting form such major parts of the relevant archaeological record, the study of animal exploitation strategies and associated technology provides some of the most direct insights into the development of human societies existing at and immediately following the end of the Pleistocene.

In southeastern Colorado, bedrock ground stone (BGS) features, also called bedrock metates or mortars, are a well-recognized part of the archaeological record. Although sometimes documented or recorded, they are rarely studied. However, elsewhere BGS are considered an important aspect of subsistence strategies, landscape adaptation, and symbolic ideology. A critical examination of any aspect of material culture begins with an unbiased description, and subsequent development of methods to scientifically examine the phenomena. This paper offers a methodology for recording BGS features to encourage reporting in the region. Results underscore the importance of developing accurate feature planviews, but also illustrate that minimal metric data (length, width, and depth) offer insight into how the landscape was inhabited by ancient peoples.

Evidence concerning use of space in caves and rockshelters by present-day foragers and horticulturists in tropical and arid regions is reviewed. The implications of this evidence for cave/rockshelter archaeology are investigated. The various ways in which people from different cultural backgrounds adapt to naturally confined locations are described. Patterns of refuse disposal, the role of hearths, and the possibility of identifying activity areas are also explored. It is suggested that spatial adaptations to these sites are determined not by the constraints that these present to their occupants but by the ways in which the occupants perceive and experience space. An account is given of those dimensions of variability in site structure that appear likely to be useful in formulating a new agenda for spatial analysis of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites containing palimpsests of material. Finally, the necessity of adopting a comparative approach in order to understand the elements of spatial site structure is stressed.

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2021

The archaeological research carried out in caves and rockshelters provided fundamental information for our understanding of the past, especially for the periods and regions dominated by groups with a hunter-gatherer economy. In spite of its clear importance, information on the use of caves and rockshelters by anatomically modern humans has encountered the persistent problem of the representativeness of the occupations in this naturally confined locations. In this research, a cross-cultural survey of ethnographic foragers was carried out in order to understand in depth the relationship between the use of caves/rockshelters and the organization of human groups. The interrelationships between the use of these places and the environment, mobility, technology, subsistence and land use are here analyzed and compared. Ethnographic records show a great variety of uses for these kind of sites, much more than what is usually considered in literature. Likewise, it is concluded that residential use, frequently cited, only occurs at low latitudes. At high latitudes, the combination of resource distribution, mobility strategies and the existence of means of transport make residential occupation unlikely. The information obtained suggest the existence of differences in the representativeness of the archaeological record of caves in relation to the surrounding archaeological landscapes.

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2000

Evidence concerning use of space in caves and rockshelters by present-day foragers and horticulturists in tropical and arid regions is reviewed. The implications of this evidence for cave/rockshelter archaeology are investigated. The various ways in which people from different cultural backgrounds adapt to naturally confined locations are described. Patterns of refuse disposal, the role of hearths, and the possibility of identifying activity areas are also explored. It is suggested that spatial adaptations to these sites are determined not by the constraints that these present to their occupants but by the ways in which the occupants perceive and experience space. An account is given of those dimensions of variability in site structure that appear likely to be useful in formulating a new agenda for spatial analysis of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites containing palimpsests of material. Finally, the necessity of adopting a comparative approach in order to understand the elements of spatial site structure is stressed.