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THE IRON AGE IN WEST CENTRAL AFRICA: RADIOCARBON DATES FROM CORISCO ISLAND (EQUATORIAL GUINEA)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2016

MANUEL SÁNCHEZ-ELIPE LORENTE ,
ALFREDO GONZÁLEZ-RUIBAL Open the ORCID record for ALFREDO GONZÁLEZ-RUIBAL [Opens in a new window] ,
JESÚS F. JORDÁ PARDO  and
CARLOS MARÍN SUÁREZ
MANUEL SÁNCHEZ-ELIPE LORENTE
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Complutense University of Madrid
ALFREDO GONZÁLEZ-RUIBAL
Affiliation:
Institute of Heritage Sciences, Spanish National Research Council (Incipit-CSIC)
JESÚS F. JORDÁ PARDO
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, National University for Distance Education (UNED)
CARLOS MARÍN SUÁREZ
Affiliation:
Independent Researcher
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Abstract

Over the last few decades the number of radiocarbon dates available for West Central Africa has increased substantially, even though it is still meagre compared with other areas of the continent. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the Iron Age of this area we present and analyze a total of 22 radiocarbon dates obtained from sites from the island of Corisco (Equatorial Guinea). By comparing them with those from Equatorial Guinea, southern Cameroon, and coastal Gabon and Congo we intend to clarify the picture of the West Central African Iron Age and propose a more accurate archaeological sequence.

Keywords

Equatorial GuineaGabonCongoCameroonEquatorial AfricaCentral Africaarchaeologyprecolonialritualmethod
Type
New Archaeological Data from Atlantic Africa
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , November 2016 , pp. 345 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

*

Funding for radiocarbon dating was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Culture (Archaeology Abroad Program, 2010 and 2011). The Consolider INGENIO 2010 TCP Program funded research determining two of the dates.

References

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16 What we have called Nandá tradition corresponds with Clist's Group II, which was, according to him, a groupe d'attente (literally ‘waiting group’, meaning temporary category) until a better preserved site was excavated. We decided to rename that tradition with the place name of the area where the largest Group II site has been found so far: the grasslands site of Nandá. From here on we will use the term Nandá.

17 Clist, Gabon, 164–7, 176–9.

18 We were able to assert that those pits were burials and not ritual deposits because some bone fragments were preserved stuck to the iron objects thanks to iron corrosion, as can be seen in González-Ruibal et al., ‘An ancient and common tradition’, 124, Fig. 8. The rest of the burials did not provide any human remains but the acidity of rainforest soil inhibits organic preservation.

19 B. Clist, ‘Des premiers villages aux premiers europeens autour de l'Estuaire du Gabon: quatre millenaires d'interactions entre l'homme et son milieu’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2004), 564, tableau 7–4.

20 González-Ruibal et al., ‘An ancient and common tradition’. See also Meister, ‘Remarks on Early Iron Age burial sites’.

21 Clist, Gabon, 167–8, 178–9.

22 González-Ruibal et al., ‘An ancient and common tradition’, 138.

23 González-Ruibal et al., ‘Excavaciones arqueológicas’, 253–4.

24 González-Ruibal et al., ‘An ancient and common tradition’, 139.

25 Clist, Gabon, 168.

26 Ibid . 176–9.

27 We have deliberately omitted the Yaoundé-Obobogo site as there were no radiocarbon dates provided.

28 Meister and Eggert, ‘On the Early Iron Age’; Meister, ‘Remarks on Early Iron Age burial sites’.

29 Meister, ‘Remarks on Early Iron Age burial sites’, 237–8.

30 Ibid . 246–7.

31 The lack of plans for the Mpoengu pits prevents us from ascertaining whether a full body without excarnation could have been interred in them. The layout of the pits and distribution of finds in the negative features of Akonetyé, instead, allow us to interpret them as graves with primary interments.

32 Meister and Eggert, ‘On the Early Iron Age’, 194.

33 Ibid . 188, 195.

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35 Denbow, ‘Pride, prejudice, plunder’, 397.

36 Ibid . 398–9.

37 Denbow, The Archaeology, 123, 128, 131.

38 We are not absolutely sure of this association since the sherd we refer is not drawn but photographed (Denbow, ‘Pride, prejudice, plunder’, 401, Fig. 12).

39 Denbow, The Archaeology, 138–44.

40 Denbow, ‘Pride, prejudice, plunder’, 402–3; Denbow, The Archaeology, 150.

41 Clist, ‘Nouvelles données archéologiques’.

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47 Neither the bracelets nor the pottery sherds have been published to date, but they were showed to one of us by Bernard Clist at the Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren.

48 González-Ruibal et al., ‘Early Iron burials’, 51, 55.

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