Africa (Archaeology)

The fourth season of the Fezzan Project continued the interdisciplinary approaches of previous seasons. Geographical and environmental work focused principally in sampling sediments for scientific dating and with integrating ground observation with remote sensing data. Excavations continued at Old Germa, where the site has now reached Garamantian levels. In a separate development, the tentative identification has been made of an early mosque at the site, in an area adjacent to the G1 excavation trench. Substantial results were gained from work aimed at enhancing the important data recorded by Charles Daniels in his earlier excavations and survey in the Wadi al-Hayat. The enhancement of the Daniels' survey archive was integrated with completion of the wider prospection being undertaken by the new project. This survey included fieldwalking, standing building survey, analysis of thefoggarairrigation systems and recording of rock art scenes. Finds work comprised the finalisation of ...

The 2010 season saw excavations divided between two sites situated 9 km apart, Banganarti and Selib. Continued exploration of the fortifications at Banganarti (discussed separately in this volume) and especially in the area between the enclosure wall and the east wall of the Raphaelion (Upper Church), was aimed at investigating the earliest phases of the complex. Extensive restoration and conservation were carried out inside the Upper Church. Fieldwork was carried out concurrently at three sites in the locality of Selib: a complex of superimposed churches and saqiya installations (1), a Meroitic settlement (2; finds from this location are discussed in the appendix) and an early Christian house (3). Work continued on the program of aerophotographical documentation of the sites and their immediate surroundings.

Socio-political developments in the Limpopo Valley are of considerable
interest to Iron Age archaeologists and some have suggested a pivotal
role for cattle within this context, especially during the Middle
Iron Age. In the past, many faunal assemblages from the region were
quantified using the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) only.
In this study, the Cattle Index, which measures the ratio of cattle to
sheep/goats in a faunal assemblage, is applied to archaeofauna from the
Limpopo Valley, as well as to other Iron Age samples for which
onlyMNIsare available. The resulting Cattle Indices show that wealth
was not based on cattle alone in the Limpopo Valley. Most faunal
samples from the Early and Middle Iron Ages are dominated by
sheep/goats. However, exceptions occur at KwaGandaganda, Mamba,
Bosutswe and Nqoma. During the Late Iron Age, most assemblages
are dominated by cattle. We consider potential reasons for the identified
Early and Middle Iron Age exceptions, and also for variable livestock
numbers in general.

As part of a larger project examining the introduction of herding into northern Tanzania, surveys and excavations were conducted at the southern edge of the Mbulu Plateau, documenting the presence of Narosura ceramics dating to the early third millennium BP, as well as a Later Stone Age occupation dated via ostrich eggshell to the tenth millennium BP. This marks the southernmost extent of the Pastoral Neolithic in eastern Africa. The paucity of sites attributable to early herding in this area may be due to a lack of survey in landscapes likely to have been preferred by livestock owners and to extensive contemporary cultivation in those same areas. Links can be drawn between the study area and previously documented sites with Narosura materials near Lake Eyasi, and between the study area and obsidian sources in the Lake Naivasha area of the Rift Valley, making the plateau and its surroundings a potentially promising area for further research.