Abstract
After a brief introduction, this paper discusses the various types of ethnoarchaeological sources useful to African prehistorians. These include ‘living archaeology’ or the ethnography of material culture, experimental archaeology in the field, published materials (including ethnographies and travellers' accounts), manuscript materials and museum collections. Discussion of application is centred around three topics: economy, settlement patterns and ethnicity. Several examples are given to show how ethnoarchaeological materials are (and sometimes are not) useful in the reconstruction of prehistoric situations. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some of the ways in which archaeological, environmental and ethnoarchaeological data can be productively combined; it is suggested that a systems approach is the most appropriate.
Résumé
Suivant une brève introduction, le présent article discute des diverses sources ethnoarchéologiques qui servent aux préhistoriens africanistes. Celles-ci comprennent ‘l'archéologie vivante’ ou l'ethnographie de la culture matérielle, l'archéologie expérimentale sur le champs, les publications (y compris les ethnographies et les récits de voyage), les manuscrits et les collections muséales. Trois thèmes ressortent dans la discussion sur l'application à la préhistoire africaine: l'économie, la structure d'établissement et l'appartenance ethnique (ethnicité). En conclusion, une brève discussion de quelques-unes des façons selon lesquelles les données archéologiques, ethnoarchéologiques et du milieu peuvent être mises à bon usage en étant combinées, en vient à suggérer qu'une méthode systématique serait plus appropriée.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Bibliography
Abraham, A. 1975. The pattern of warfare and settlement among the Mende of Sierra Leone in the second half of the nineteenth century.Kroniek van Africa 2:121–40.
Agorsah, E. K. 1982a. Spatial expressions of traditional behavior (an ethnoarch-aeological study)Archaeology at UCLA 2 (6).
Agorsah, E. K. 1982b. Social behavior and spatial context. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists in America, Berkeley.
Alldridge, T. J. 1901.The Sherbro and its hinterland. London: Macmillan.
Alldridge, T. J. 1910.A transformed colony: Sierra Leone. London: Seeley.
Ammerman, A. J., Gifford, D. P. and Voorrips, A. 1978. Towards an evaluation of sampling strategies: simulated excavations of a Kenyan pastoralist site. InSimulation studies in archaeology (. I. Hodder). Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
Atherton, J. H. 1968. Válečné jeskyně kmene Limba.Nový Orient 23:257–58.
Atherton, J. H. 1970–1. Liberian prehistory.Liberian Studies Journal 3 (2):83–111.
Atherton, J. H. 1972. Protohistoric habitation sites in northeastern Sierra Leone.Bull. Soc. Roy. Belge d'Anth. et de Préhist. 83:5–17.
Atherton, J. H. 1979. Early economies of Sierra Leone and Liberia: archaeological and historical reflections. InEssays on the economic anthropology of Liberia and Sierra Leone (eds V. R. Dorjahn and B. L. Isaac): pp. 27–43. Philadelphia: Inst. for Liberian Stud.
Atherton, J. H. and Kalous, M. 1970. Nomoli.J. Afr. Hist. 11(3):303–17.
Balfet, H. 1965. Ethnographical observations in North Africa and archaeological interpretation: the pottery of the Maghreb. InCeramics and man (ed. F. R. Matson): pp. 161–77. Chicago: Aldine.
Baumann, H. (ed.) 1975, 1979.Die Völker Afrikas und ihre traditionellen Kulturen (two volumes). Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
Baumann, H. and Westermann, D. 1967.Les peuples et les civilisations de l'Afrique suivi de les langues et l'education. Paris: Payot.
Behrensmeyer, A. K. and Hill, A. P. 1980.Fossils in the making: vertebrate taphonomy and paleoecology. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press.
Bender, B. 1978. Gatherer-hunter to farmer: a social perspective.World Arch. 10:204–22.
Binford, L. R. 1978.Nunamiut ethnoarchaeology. New York: Academic Press.
Blackburn, R. H. Okiek ceramics: evidence for central Kenya prehistory.Azania 8:55–70.
Brain, C. K. 1967. Hottentot food remains and their bearing on the interpretation of fossil bone assemblages.Scien. Pap. Namib Desert Res. Stat. 32:1–11.
Brain, C. K. 1969. The contribution of the Namib desert Hottentots to an understanding of Australopithecine bone accumulations.Scien. Pap. Namib Desert Res. Stat. 39:13–22.
Brain, C. K. 1981.The hunters or the hunted? An introduction to African cave taphonomy. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press.
Braithwaite, M. 1982. Decoration as ritual symbol: a theoretical proposal and an ethnographic study in southern Sudan. InSymbolic and structural archaeology (ed. I. Hodder): pp. 80–88. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
Bravmann, R. A. 1974.Islam and tribal art in west Africa. London: Cambridge U. Press.
Büttikofer, J. 1890.Reisbilder aus Liberia: Resultate geographischer, naturwissenschaftlicher und ethnographischer Untersuchungen wärend der Jahre 1879–1882 und 1886–1887. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Carreira, A. 1971. A baga-baga.Boletim cultural da Guiné Portuguesa 26 (103):549–71.
Chappel, T. J. H. 1977.Decorated gourds in northeastern Nigeria. London: Ethnographica.
Chevalier, A. 1909. Les massifs montagneux du nord-ouest de la Côte d'Ivoire.La Géographie 20:217–22.
Clark, J. D. 1971. A re-examination of the evidence for agricultural origins in the Nile valley.Proc. Prehist. Soc. 37:34–79.
Clark, J. D. 1976. Prehistoric populations and pressures favoring plant domestication in Africa. In Harlanet al. (eds), pp. 67–105.
Clark, J. D. and Kurashina, H. 1981. A study of a modern tanner in Ethiopia and its relevance for archaeological interpretation. InModern material culture: the archaeology of us (eds R. A. Gould and M. B. Schiffer): pp. 303–21. New York: Academic Press.
Cline, W. 1937.Mining and metallurgy in negro Africa. Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta.
Cohen, M. M. 1977.The food crisis in prehistory. New Haven: Yale U. Press.
Crader, D. C. 1974. The effects of scavengers on bone material from a large mammal: an experiment conducted among the Bisa of the Luanga Valley, Zambia. InEthnoarchaeology (eds C. B. Donnan and C. W. Clewlow, Jr): pp. 161–73. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, U. of California.
Curtin, P. D. 1968. Field techniques for collecting and processing oral data.J. Afr. Hist. 9 (3):367–85.
d'Almada, A. A. 1841.Tratado breve dos rios de Guine do Cabo Verde (1594). Porto: Diogo Köpke.
Dart, R. A. 1957.The osteodontokeratic culture of Australopithecus prometheus. Pretoria: Transvaal Museum.
David, N. 1971. The Fulani compound and the archaeologist.World Arch. 3 (2):111–31.
David, N. 1972. On the life span of pottery, type frequencies and archaeological inference.Amer. Antiq. 37 (1):141–2.
David, N. and Hennig, H. 1972.The ethnography of pottery: a Fulani case seen in archaeological perspective. McCaleb Module in Anthropology, No. 21.
Denzer, L. 1971. Sierra Leone—Bai Bureh. InWest African resistance, the military response to colonial rule (ed. M. Crowder): pp. 233–67. New York: Africana Publishing Corp.
Denzer, L. and Crowder, M. 1970. Bai Bureh and the hut tax war of 1898. InProtest and power in west Africa (eds R. I. Rotberg and A. A. Mazrui): pp. 169–212. New York: Oxford U. Press.
Dittmer, K. 1967. Bedeutung, datierung und kulturhistorische zusammenhänge der ‘prähistorischen’ steinfiguren aus Sierra Leone und Guinée.Baessler Archiv 15 (1):183–223.
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. 1972. Die !Ko-buschmann Gesellschaft. München: Piper.
Epelboin, A. in prep.Phytopharmocopées et savoirs médicaux chez les Fulbe Bande et les Nyokholonke du Sénégal oriental: essai d'ethnomédecine.
Epelboin, S. 1982.La femme en état; representations populaires de la fécondité en milieu rural africain (l'exemple des Peuls Bandé du Sénégal oriental). Thèse pour le doctorat en médecine (diplôme d'état). Paris: Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), Faculté de Médecine Pitié-Salpêtrière.
Fagan, B. M. and van Noten, F. L. 1971.The hunter-gatherers of Gwisho. Tervuren, Belgium: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale.
Finnegan, R. H. 1965.Survey of the Limba people of northern Sierra Leone. London: H.M.S.O.
Friede, H. M. and Steel, R. H. 1980. Experimental burning of traditional Nguni huts.African Studies 39 (2):175–81.
Germann, P. 1933.Die Völkerstämme im norden von Liberia. Leipzig: R. Voigtländers.
Gifford, D. P. 1978. Ethnoarchaeological observations of natural processes affecting cultural materials. InExplorations in ethnoarchaeology (ed. R. A. Gould): pp. 77–101. Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico Press.
Gifford, D. P. 1980. Ethnoarchaeological contributions to the taphonomy of human sites. InFossils in the making: vertebrate taphonomy and paleoecology (eds A. K. Behrensmeyer and Andrew P. Hill): pp. 93–106. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press.
Gomila, J. and Ferry, M.-P. 1966. Notes sur l'ethnographie des Bedik (Sénégal oriental).J. Soc. Africanistes 36 (2):209–49.
Goucher, C. L. 1981. Iron is iron 'til it is rust: trade and ecology in the decline of west African iron-smelting.J. Afr. Hist. 22 (2):179–89.
Gould, R. A. 1978. From Tasmania to Tucson: new directions in ethnoarchaeology. InExplorations in ethnoarchaeology (ed. R. A. Gould): pp. 1–10. Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico Press.
Hair, P. E. H. 1962. An account of the Liberian hinterlandc 1780.Sierra Leone Stud. 16:218–26.
Hair, P. E. H. 1967. Ethnolinguistic continuity on the Guinea coast.J Afr. Hist. 8:247–68.
Harlan, J. R. 1971. Agricultural origins: centers and noncenters.Science 174:468–74
Harlan, J. R., de Wet, J. M. J. and Stemler, A. B. L. 1976. Plant domestication and indigenous African agriculture. In Harlanet al. (eds) 1976:3–19.
Harlan, J. R., de Wet, J. M. J. and Stemler, A. B. L. (eds) 1976.Origins of African plant domestication. The Hague: Mouton.
Harris, D. R. 1976. Traditional systems of plant food production and the origins of agriculture in West Africa. In Harlanet al. (eds) 1976:311–56.
Heidegger, M. 1968.What is called thinking? New York: Harper and Row.
Herskovits, M. J. 1924. A preliminary consideration of the culture areas of Africa.Amer. Anth. 26 (1):50–63.
Herskovits, M. J. 1930. The culture areas of Africa.Africa 3:59–77.
Herskovits, M. J. 1962.The human factor in changing Africa. New York: Knopf.
Hester, T. R. and Heizer, R. F. 1981. Making stone vases: ethnoarchaeological studies at an alabaster workshop in upper Egypt.Occ. Pap. Near East 2 (1):21–66. International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies. Malibu, California: Undena Publications.
Higgs, E. 1976. Archaeology and domestication. In Harlanet al. (eds) 1976: 29–39.
Hirschberg, W. and Duchateau, A. 1972. Die Glaubensvorstellungen in Sierra Leone um 1500.Wiener Ethn. Blätter 4:3–35.
Hivernel, F. 1978.An ethnoarchaeological study of environmental use in the Kenya highlands. Ph.D. thesis. London: Inst. of Archaeology.
Hodder, I. 1977. The distribution of material culture items in the Baringo district, western Kenya.Man 12 (2):239–69.
Hodder, I. 1979. Economic and social stress and material culture patterning.Amer. Antiq. 44:446–54.
Hodder, I. 1982.Symbols in action: ethnoarchaeological studies of material culture. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
Ingersoll, D., Yellen, J. E. and Macdonald, W. 1977.Experimental Archaeology. New York: Columbia U. Press.
Isaac, G. Ll. 1967. Towards the interpretation of occupation debris: some experiments and observations.Kroeber Anth. Soc. Pap. 37:31–57.
Keeley, L. H. 1980.Experimental determination of stone tool uses: a microwear analysis. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press.
Kleindienst, M. R. and Keller, C. M. 1976. Towards a functional analysis of handaxes and cleavers: the evidence from eastern Africa.Man 11(2):176–87.
Knuffel, W. E. 1973.The construction of the Bantu grass hut. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck u. Verlagsanstalt.
Lebeuf, J.-P. 1961.L'habitation des Fali: montagnards du Cameroun septentrional. Paris: Hachette.
Leopold, E. B., Nickmann, R., Hedges, J. I. and Ertel, J. R. 1982. Pollen and lignin records of late Quaternary vegetation, Lake Washington.Science 218 (4579):1305–7.
Lestrange, M.-T. de n.d. Équilibres alimentaires chez les Bassari du Sénégal oriental: anciens chasseurs-cueilleurs devenus agriculteurs.Colloques internationaux du C.N.R.S.: No. 599-Les Processus de l'hominisation, pp. 245–51.
Lewis, I. M. 1961.A pastoral democracy. London: Oxford U. Press.
McIntosh, R. J. 1974. Archaeology and mud wall decay in a West African village.World Arch. 6 (2):154–71.
McIntosh, R. J. 1975.Archaeological studies in mud-wall architecture: with special reference to West Africa. M. Litt. thesis, U. of Cambridge.
McIntosh, R. J. 1976. Square huts in round concepts: prediction of settlement features in west Africa.Archaeology 29 (2):92–101.
McIntosh, R. J. 1977. The excavation of mud structures: an experiment from west Africa.World. Arch. 9 (2):185–99.
Migeod, F. W. H. 1926.A view of Sierra Leone. London: Kegan Paul.
Milisauskas, S. 1978.European prehistory. New York: Academic Press.
Montandon, G. 1934.Traité d'ethnologie culturelle. Paris: Payot.
Moreira, J. M. 1948.Fulas do Gabú. Bissau: Centro de Estudes da Guiné Port.
Murdock, G. P. 1959.Africa: its peoples and their culture history. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Orme, B. 1981.Anthropology for archaeologists: an introduction. Ithaca, New York: Cornell U. Press.
Pei, Wen-Chung 1938.Le rôle des animaux et des causes naturelles dans la cassure des os. Nanking: Geological Survey of China.
Person, Y. 1961. Les Kissi et leurs statuettes de pierre dans le cadre de l'histoire oues-africaine.Bull. IFAN (sér. B) 23 (1–2):1–59.
Pfeiffer, J. E. 1976. A note on the problem of basic causes. In Harlanet al. (eds) 1976:23–28.
Pirsig, R. M. 1974.Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: an inquiry into values. New York: William Morrow.
Pison, G. (1982).Dynamique d'une population traditionnelle: les Peul Bandé (Sénégal oriental). Paris: Presses Univ. de France.
Plog, S. 1980.Stylistic variation in prehistoric ceramics. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
Portères, R. 1976. African cereals: eleusine, fonio, black fonio, teff,Brachiara, Paspalum, Pennisetum and African rice. In Harlanet al. (eds) 1976:409–52.
Posnansky, M. 1973. Aspects of early west African trade.World Arch. 5 (2):149–62.
Posnansky, M. 1982. African archaeology comes of age.World Arch. 13 (3):345–58.
Prins, A. H. J. 1953. Cultuurprovincies in Afrika.Kongo-Overzee 19 (4):289–305.
Rivallain, J. 1981. Aspects des civilisations lagunaires et littorales de l'Afrique de le frontière nigeriane à l'ouest de la Côte d'Ivoire. Paper presented at the third meeting of the West African Archaeological Association, Dakar, Sénégal.
Robbins, L. H. 1973. Turkana material culture viewed from an archaeological perspective.World Arch. 5 (2):209–14.
Robbins, M. C. and Pollnac, R. B. 1977. A multivariate analysis of the relationship of artifactual to cultural modernity in rural Buganda. InExperimental archaeology (eds D. Ingersoll, J. E. Yellen and W. Macdonald): pp. 332–51. New York: Columbia U. Press.
Rodney, W. 1967. A reconsideration of the Mane invasions of Sierra Leone.J. Afr. Hist. 8:219–46.
Sampson, C. G. 1982. the spatial archaeology of the Zeekoe valley San. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists in America, Berkeley.
Schiffer, M. B. 1978. Methodological issues in ethnoarchaeology. InExplorations in ethnoarchaeology (ed. R. A. Gould): pp. 229–47. Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico Press.
Schmidt, M. 1926.The primitive races of mankind: a study in ethnology. Boston: Little, Brown.
Schmidt, P. R. 1978.Historical archaeology: a structural approach in an African society. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Schmidt, P. and Avery, D. H. 1978. Complex iron smelting and prehistoric culture in Tanzania.Science 201:1085–89.
Schmidt, P. and Avery, D. H. 1979. A metallurgical study of the iron bloomery, particularly as practised in Buhaya.J. of Metals 31:14–20.
Schwab, G. 1947.Tribes of the Liberian hinterland. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum.
Schwartz, D. W. 1978. Foreword.Explorations in ethnoarchaeology (ed. R. A. Goud): pp. vii-viii. Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico Press.
Shaw, T. 1978.Nigeria: its archaeology and early history. London: Thames and Hudson.
Shaw, T. (1980). Attribute of function: another cautionary tale.Antiquity 54 (210):59–60.
Sibley, J. L. and Westermann, D. H. 1928.Liberia, old and new. London: Heinemann.
Siddle, D. J. 1968. War-towns in Sierra Leone: a study in social change.Africa 38 (1):47–56.
Silberbauer, G. B. 1981.Hunter and habitat in the central Kalahari Desert. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
Sillen, A. 1981. Strontium and diet at Hayonim cave.Amer. J. Phys. Anth. 56:131–37.
Smith, P. E. L. 1976. Early food production in northern Africa as seen from southwestern Asia. In Harlanet al. (eds) 1976:155–83.
Smith, S. E. 1980. The environmental adaptation of nomads in the west African Sahel: a key to understanding prehistoric pastoralists. InThe Sahara and the Nile: quaternary environments and prehistoric occupation in northern Africa (eds M. A. J. Williams and H. Faure): pp. 467–87. Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema.
Sollas, W. J. 1924.Ancient hunters and their modern representatives. London: Macmillan.
Stevens, E. T. 1870.Flint chips: a guide to pre-historic archaeology. London: Bell and Daldy.
Stiles, D. 1977. Ethnoarchaeology: a discussion of methods and applications.Man 12 (1):87–103.
Strouhal, E. 1981. Folk medical treatment in Egyptian mummies.Ann. Náprstek Mus., pp. 183–90. Prague.
Strouhal, E. and Jungwirth, J. 1981. Künstliche Eingriffe an Schädeln aus den spätrömischen bis frühbyzantinischen Gräberfeldern in Sayala (Ägyptisch-Nubien).Anthropologie 19 (2):149–60.
Sullivan, C. H., Krueger, H. W., Schoeninger, M. J. and DeNiro, M. J. 1983. Carbon isotope ratios of bone apatite and animal diet reconstruction.Nature 301 (5896):177–78.
Teixeira da Mota, A. 1975. Gli avori africani nella documentazione protoghese dei secoli XV–XVII.Africa 30 (4):580–89.
Teixeira da Mota, A. and Hair, P. E. H. (eds) 1977.An account of Sierra Leone and the rivers of Guinea and Cape Verde (1625) by A. Donelha. Lisbon.
Teixeira da Mota, A. and Neves, M. G. V. 1948.A habitação indígena na Guiné Portuguesa. Bissau: Centro de Estudos da Guiné Port.
Thomas, N. W. 1916.Anthropological report on Sierra Leone: part I: law and custom of the Temne and other tribes. London: Harrison and Sons.
Toit, B. M. du (ed.) 1978.Ethnicity in modern Africa. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
Toth, N. 1982. Use-wear polish workshop. Presented at the meeting of the Soc. Afr. Archaeologists in America, U. of California, Berkeley.
van Bulk, V. 1950. La stratification culturelle de l'Afrique d'après H. Baumann.Anthropos 45:593–617.
van den Berghe, P. L.The ethnic phenomenon. New York: Elsevier.
van der Merwe, N. J. 1982. Carbon isotopes, phososynthesis and archaeology.Amer. Sci. 70 (6):596–606.
van der Merwe, N. J. and Scully, R. T. K. 1971. The Phalaborwa story: archaeological and ethnographic investigation of a South African Iron Age group.World Arch. 3 (2):178–96.
Vansina, J. 1961a.Oral Tradition. Chicago: Aldine.
Vansina, J. 1961b. Les zones culturelles de l'Afrique.Africa-Tervuren 7 (2):41–6.
van Zinderen Bakker, E. M. 1976. Paleoecological background in connection with the origin of agriculture in Africa. In Harlenet al. (eds) 1976:43–63.
Vermeulen, D. and Arnott, F. 1980. Use of a pulsed induction meter for locating buried archaeological material at Klipriviersberg.S. Afr. J. Sci. 76 (7):320–22.
Volz, W. 1911.Reise durch das Hinterland von Liberia im Winter, 1906–1907. Bern: A. Francke.
Wallis, C. B. 1903.The advance of our West African empire. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Wallis, C. B. 1910. A tour in the Liberian hinterland.J. Roy. Geog. Soc. 35:285–95.
Washburn, S. L. 1976. Forward. InKalahari hunter-gatherers (eds R. B. Lee and I. DeVore): pp. xv-xvii. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U. Press.
Wendorf, F., Schild, R. and Close, Ā. E. 1982. An ancient harvest on the Nile.Science 82 3 (9):68–73.
White, J. P. and O'Connell, J. F. 1979. Australian prehistory: new aspects of antiquity.Science 203:21–28.
Wilmsen, E. N. 1979a.Prehistoric and historic antecedents of a contemporary Ngamiland community. Boston U. Afr. Studies Center, Working Papers in Afr. Studies No. 12.
Wilmsen, E. N. 1979b.Diet and fertility among Kalahari Bushmen. Boston U. Afr. Studies Center, Afr. Studies Center Working Paper No. 14.
Wilmsen, E. N. 1982. Studies in diet, nutrition, and fertility among a group of Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana.Soc. Sci. Inf. 21 (1):95–125.
Yellen, J. E. 1976. Settlement patterns of the !Kung: an archaeological perspective. InKalahari hunter-gatherers: studies of the !Kung San and their neighbors (eds R. B. Lee and I. DeVore): pp. 47–72. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U. Press.
Yellen, J. E. 1977a. Cultural patterning in faunal remains: evidence from the !Kung Bushmen. InExperimental archaeology (eds. D. Ingersoll, J. E. Yellen and W. Macdonald). New York: Columbia U. Press.
Yellen, J. E. 1977b.Archaeological approaches to the present: models for reconstructing the past. New York: Academic Press.
Zwernemann, J. 1979. Die westatlantische Provinz. In H. Baumann, ed. 1979, pp. 427–60.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Atherton, J.H. Ethnoarchaeology in Africa. Afr Archaeol Rev 1, 75–104 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01116773
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01116773