Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T04:26:12.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The settlement mound of Birnin Lafiya: new evidence from the eastern arc of the Niger River

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

A. Haour ,
S. Nixon ,
D. N'Dah ,
C. Magnavita  and
A. Livingstone Smith
A. Haour
Affiliation:
Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK (Email: A.Haour@uea.ac.uk)
S. Nixon
Affiliation:
Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK (Email: A.Haour@uea.ac.uk)
D. N'Dah
Affiliation:
Université d'Abomey Calavi, 01 Bp 526 Cotonou, Republic of Benin
C. Magnavita
Affiliation:
Archaeoscan—Geophysical Prospecting, Altkönigblick 83, 60437 Frankfurt, Germany
A. Livingstone Smith
Affiliation:
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium Centre de Recherches en Archéologie et Patrimoine, Université libre de Bruxelles, CP 133/01, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The development of complex social organisation and trade networks during the first and second millennia AD in the Sahel region of West Africa has long been hampered by a paucity of reliable data. Investigations at Birnin Lafiya, a large settlement mound of this period on the eastern arc of the Niger River, help to fill this gap. The site can now be placed within its broader landscape, and discoveries of early mud architecture, circular structures, human burial remains, personal ornamentation and striking potsherd pavements can be contrasted with contemporary sites both within the inland Niger region and at Ife to the south.

Keywords

Nigerfourth–thirteenth centuries ADsettlement moundpotsherd pavementtrade networkssocial organisation
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 90 , Issue 351 , June 2016 , pp. 695 - 710
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bedaux, R., Polet, J., Sanogo, K. & Schmidt, A. (ed.). 2005. Recherches archéologiques à Dia dans le Delta Intérieur du Niger (Mali): bilan des saisons de fouilles 1998–2003. Leiden: CNWS.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Champion, L. & Haour, A.. 2013. Le site de Tin Tin Kanza, nord-Bénin, hiver 2013: une étude préliminaire du matériel céramique du sondage I. Nyame Akuma 79.Google Scholar
Chouin, G. 2013. Fossés, enceintes et peste noire en Afrique de l'Ouest forestière (500–1500 AD). Réflexions sous canopée. Afrique: Archéologie & Arts 9: 43–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/aaa.284 Google Scholar
Cissé, M., McIntosh, S.K., Dussubieux, L., Fenn, T., Gallagher, D. & Chipps Smith, A.. 2013. Excavations at Gao-Saney. Journal of African Archaeology 11: 9–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.3213/2191-5784-10233 Google Scholar
Connah, G. 2009. Contained communities in tropical Africa, in Tracy, J.D. (ed.) City walls: the urban enceinte in global perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Denyer, S. 1978. African traditional architecture: an historical and geographical perspective. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Dmochowski, Z.R. 1990. An introduction to Nigerian traditional architecture. Vol.1: northern Nigeria. London: Ethnographica.Google Scholar
Dueppen, S. 2012. Egalitarian revolution in the savanna: the origins of a West African political system. Sheffield: Equinox.Google Scholar
Eyo, E. 1974. Odo Ogbe street and Lagofido: contrasting archaeological sites in Ile-Ife, western Nigeria. West African Journal of Archaeology 4: 99–109.Google Scholar
Fleisher, J., Wynne-Jones, S., Steele, C. & Welham, K.. 2012. Geophysical survey at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeology 10: 207–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.3213/2191-5784-10220 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gado, B. 1980. Le Zarmatarey: contribution à l'histoire des populations d'entre Niger et Dallol Mawri. Niamey: Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines.Google Scholar
Gado, B. 1993. Un “village des morts” à Bura en République du Niger. Un site méthodiquement fouillé fournit d'irremplaçables informations, in Devisse, J. (ed.) Vallées du Niger: 365–74. Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux.Google Scholar
Gaffney, C. & Gater, J.. 2003. Revealing the buried past. Geophysics for archaeologists. Stroud: Tempus.Google Scholar
Garlake, P. 1974. Excavations at Obalara's Land, Ife: an interim report. West African Journal of Archaeology 4: 111–48.Google Scholar
Haour, A. 2013. Mobilité et archéologie le long de l'arc oriental du Niger: pavements et percuteurs. Afriques: débats, méthodes et terrains d'histoire 2013(04). Available at: http://afriques.revues.org/1134 (accessed 23 June 2015).Google Scholar
Haour, A., Winton, V., Idé, O., Rendell, H. & Clarke, M.. 2006. The Project Sahel 2004: the archaeological sequence in the Parc W, Niger. Journal of African Archaeology 4: 299–315. http://dx.doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10077 Google Scholar
Huysecom, E., Ozainne, S., Jeanbourquin, C., Mayor, A., Canetti, M., Loukou, S., Chaix, L., Eichhorn, B., Lespez, L., Le Drézen, Y. & Guindo, N.. 2015. Towards a better understanding of Sub-Saharan settlement mounds before AD 1400: the tells of Sadia on the Seno Plain (Dogon Country, Mali). Journal of African Archaeology 13: 7–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.3213/2191-5784-10266 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Insoll, T. 1996. Islam, archaeology and history: Gao region (Mali) ca. AD 900–1250 (British Archaeological Reports international series 647). Oxford: Tempus Reparatum.Google Scholar
Insoll, T. 2000. Urbanism, archaeology and trade: further observations on the Gao Region (Mali), the 1996 field season results (British Archaeological Reports international series 829). Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Insoll, T. & Shaw, T.. 1997. Gao and Igbo-Ukwu: beads, interregional trade, and beyond. African Archaeological Review 14: 9–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02968364 Google Scholar
Kuba, R. 2009. Trade along the eastern Niger, in Magnavita, S., Koté, L., Breunig, P. & Idé, O.A. (ed.) Crossroads/Carrefour Sahel: cultural and technological developments in first millennium BC/AD West Africa: 147–56. Frankfurt: Africa Magna.Google Scholar
Kvamme, K.L. 2005. Terrestrial remote sensing in archaeology, in Maschner, H.D.G. & Chippindale, C. (ed.) Archaeological methods: 423–77. Oxford: Altamira.Google Scholar
Lowe, K.M. 2012. Review of geophysical applications in Australian archaeology. Australian Archaeology 74: 71–84.Google Scholar
Luiz, J.G. & da Silva Pereira, E.. 2013. Archaeological prospection in southeastern Pará State, Brazil using geophysical methods: a case study of Sítio Domingos. Revista Brasileira de Geofísica 31 (3): 515–31.Google Scholar
Magnavita, S. 2009. Sahelian crossroads: some aspects on the Iron Age sites of Kissi, Burkina Faso, in Magnavita, S., Koté, L., Breunig, P. & Idé, O.A. (ed.) Crossroads/Carrefour Sahel: cultural and technological developments in first millennium BC/AD West Africa: 79–104. Frankfurt: Africa Magna.Google Scholar
Magnavita, S. 2013. Initial encounters: seeking traces of ancient trade connections between West Africa and the wider world. Afriques: débats, méthodes et terrains d'histoire 2013(04). Available at: http://afriques.revues.org/1145 (accessed 19 June 2015).Google Scholar
Magnavita, S. 2015. 1500 Jahre am Mare De Kissi: Eine Fallstudie zur Besiedlungsgeschichte des Sahel von Burkina Faso. Frankfurt: Africa Magna.Google Scholar
Magnavita, C. & Schleifer, N.. 2004. A look into the earth: evaluating the use of magnetic survey in African archaeology. Journal of African Archaeology 2: 49–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10018 Google Scholar
Magnavita, C., Breunig, P., Ameje, J. & Posselt, M.. 2006. Zilum: a mid-first millennium BC fortified settlement near Lake Chad. Journal of African Archaeology 4: 153–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10068 Google Scholar
Magnavita, C., Breunig, P., Ishaya, D. & Adebayo, O. 2009. Iron Age beginnings at the southwestern margins of Lake Chad, in Magnavita, S., Koté, L., Breunig, P. & Idé, O.A. (ed.) Crossroads/Carrefour Sahel: cultural and technological developments in first millennium BC/AD West Africa: 27–58. Frankfurt: Africa Magna.Google Scholar
McIntosh, S.K. (ed.). 1995. Excavations at Jenné-Jeno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana (Inland Niger Delta, Mali), the 1981 season. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
N'Dah, D. 2006. Prospection archéologique dans la vallée du Niger et la vallée de la Mékrou en République du Bénin. Nyame Akuma 65: 2–11.Google Scholar
N'Dah, D. 2009. Contribution de l'archéologie à la connaissance de l'histoire du peuplement de l'Atakora entre le premier and le second millénaire après Jésus-Christ, in Magnavita, S., Koté, L., Breunig, P. & Idé, O.A. (ed.) Crossroads/Carrefour Sahel: cultural and technological developments in first millennium BC/AD West Africa: 179–91. Frankfurt: Africa Magna.Google Scholar
Nixon, S., Rehren, Th. & Guerra, M.F.. 2011. New light on the early Islamic West African gold trade: coin moulds from Tadmekka, Mali. Antiquity 85: 1353–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00062104 Google Scholar
Nzewunwa, N. 1983. A sourcebook for Nigerian archaeology. Jos: National Museum.Google Scholar
Nzewunwa, N. 1989. Prehistoric pavements in West Africa. West African Journal of Archaeology 19: 93–116.Google Scholar
O'Hear, A. 1986. Ilorin lantana beads. African Arts 19 (4): 36–39, 87–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3336285 Google Scholar
Osella, A., de la Vega, M. & Lascano, E.. 2005. 3D electrical imaging of an archaeological site using electrical and electromagnetic methods. Geophysics 70 (4): 101–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/1.1993727 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petit, L., von Czerniewicz, M. & Pelzer, C. (ed). 2011. Oursi Hu-Beero: a medieval house complex in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Leiden: Sidestone.Google Scholar
Reindel, M. & Wagner, G.A.. 2009. Introduction: new methods and technologies of natural sciences for archaeological investigations in Nasca and Palpa, Peru, in Reindel, M. & Wagner, G.A. (ed.) New technologies for archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru: 1–13. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sule, A. & Haour, A.. 2014. The archaeology of northern Nigeria: trade, people and polities, 1500 BP onwards. Azania 49: 439–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0067270X. 2014.968330 Google Scholar
Sutton, J. 1991. The international factor at Igbo-Ukwu. African Archaeological Review 9 (1): 145–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01117219 Google Scholar
Sutton, J. 2001. Igbo-Ukwu and the Nile. African Archaeological Review 18: 49–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1006792806737 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willett, F. 1959. Bronze and terra-cotta sculptures from Ita Yemoo, Ife. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 14 (56): 135–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3886983 Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Haour supplementary material

Haour supplementary material

Download Haour supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 53.6 KB