The beginning of the Iron Age south of the Congo rainforest : the first archaeological investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648
- Author
- Peter Coutros (UGent) , Igor Roland Matonda Sakala (UGent) , Jessamy Doman (UGent) , Sara Pacchiarotti (UGent) , Isis Mesfin and Koen Bostoen (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
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- BANTUFIRST (The First Bantu Speakers South of the Rainforest: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Human Migration, Language Spread, Climate Change and Early Farming in Late Holocene Central Africa)
- Abstract
- Archaeological investigations of the Idiofa region in the Kwilu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo have yielded the earliest evidence for iron production, combined with ceramics and lithic artefacts, south of the Congo rainforest during the second century BC. Palaeoecological data show that the producers of this industry did not settle in open grasslands but in a habitat where the forests had started to undergo climate-induced degradation before their arrival. The Early Iron Age at Idiofa continues until the third century AD and is followed by a long hiatus that was not driven by climate change until the fifteenth century. Later Iron Age (LIA) pottery in the area, which dates to c. 1487–1648, is markedly distinct from that of the EIA in vessel forms, size, recipe and decoration. EIA pottery from Idiofa resembles most closely slightly younger Kay Ladio pottery (c. cal. AD 30–475) from the Lower Congo region further west, which is also associated with the first metallurgy there. Idiofa’s LIA pottery is indicative of a fifteenth- through seventeenth-century exchange network between the Kamtsha and Kasai Rivers. These shifting dynamics in pottery production are reflected in the region’s linguistic stratigraphy, which may contribute to the interdisciplinary reconstruction of the history of ancestral Bantu speakers south of the rainforest.
- Les recherches archéologiques dans la région d’Idiofa, dans la province du Kwilu, en République Démocratique du Congo, ont mené à la découverte des premières traces de la production du fer au sud de la forêt du bassin du Congo. Elles remontent au cours du deuxième siècle avant J.-C et sont associées à la céramique et aussi aux vestiges lithiques. Les données paléoécologiques montrent que les producteurs de cette industrie ne se sont pas installés dans des savanes ouvertes, mais dans un habitat dont les forêts avaient commencé à se dégrader avant leur arrivée, suite aux changements climatiques. L’Âge du Fer ancien à Idiofa continue jusqu’au troisième siècle de notre ère. Après cela un long hiatus non lié au changement climatique perdure jusqu’au quinzième siècle. La poterie de l’Âge du Fer récent (c. 1487–1648 ap. J.-C.) se distingue nettement de celle de l'Âge du Fer ancien par la forme, la taille, la composition et la décoration. La poterie de l’Âge du Fer ancien d'Idiofa ressemble davantage à la poterie Kay Ladio (c. 30–475 ap. J.-C.) de la région du Bas-Congo, située plus à l’ouest et de date un peu plus récente. Elle est également associée à la métallurgie la plus ancienne de cette région. La poterie d’Idiofa de l’Âge du Fer récent est révélatrice d’un réseau d’échange qui s’étendaient entre les rivières Kamtsha et Kasai du quinzième au dix-septième siècles de notre ère. Ces dynamiques en mutation dans la production de la poterie se reflètent dans la stratigraphie linguistique de la région, ce qui est pertinent pour la reconstruction interdisciplinaire de l’histoire des communautés bantouphones ancestrales au sud de la forêt tropicale.
- Keywords
- Archeology, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Early Iron Age, Late Iron Age, Bantu, Idiofa, Kwilu Province, pottery, metallurgy, lithics, palaeoecology, ceramic analysis, lithic artefacts, iron production, Iron Age, BANTU EXPANSION, LAND-USE, CLIMATE, AFRICA, BASIN, ADAPTATION, PHYTOLITHS, LANGUAGES, HISTORY, CRISIS
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01HM11MJHE8WE3CGY0VHX6T2YS
- MLA
- Coutros, Peter, et al. “The Beginning of the Iron Age South of the Congo Rainforest : The First Archaeological Investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648.” AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA, vol. 59, no. 2, 2024, pp. 213–48, doi:10.1080/0067270x.2024.2296802.
- APA
- Coutros, P., Matonda Sakala, I. R., Doman, J., Pacchiarotti, S., Mesfin, I., & Bostoen, K. (2024). The beginning of the Iron Age south of the Congo rainforest : the first archaeological investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648. AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA, 59(2), 213–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2024.2296802
- Chicago author-date
- Coutros, Peter, Igor Roland Matonda Sakala, Jessamy Doman, Sara Pacchiarotti, Isis Mesfin, and Koen Bostoen. 2024. “The Beginning of the Iron Age South of the Congo Rainforest : The First Archaeological Investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648.” AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA 59 (2): 213–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2024.2296802.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Coutros, Peter, Igor Roland Matonda Sakala, Jessamy Doman, Sara Pacchiarotti, Isis Mesfin, and Koen Bostoen. 2024. “The Beginning of the Iron Age South of the Congo Rainforest : The First Archaeological Investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648.” AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA 59 (2): 213–248. doi:10.1080/0067270x.2024.2296802.
- Vancouver
- 1.Coutros P, Matonda Sakala IR, Doman J, Pacchiarotti S, Mesfin I, Bostoen K. The beginning of the Iron Age south of the Congo rainforest : the first archaeological investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648. AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA. 2024;59(2):213–48.
- IEEE
- [1]P. Coutros, I. R. Matonda Sakala, J. Doman, S. Pacchiarotti, I. Mesfin, and K. Bostoen, “The beginning of the Iron Age south of the Congo rainforest : the first archaeological investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648,” AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 213–248, 2024.
@article{01HM11MJHE8WE3CGY0VHX6T2YS,
abstract = {{Archaeological investigations of the Idiofa region in the Kwilu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo have yielded the earliest evidence for iron production, combined with ceramics and lithic artefacts, south of the Congo rainforest during the second century BC. Palaeoecological data show that the producers of this industry did not settle in open grasslands but in a habitat where the forests had started to undergo climate-induced degradation before their arrival. The Early Iron Age at Idiofa continues until the third century AD and is followed by a long hiatus that was not driven by climate change until the fifteenth century. Later Iron Age (LIA) pottery in the area, which dates to c. 1487–1648, is markedly distinct from that of the EIA in vessel forms, size, recipe and decoration. EIA pottery from Idiofa resembles most closely slightly younger Kay Ladio pottery (c. cal. AD 30–475) from the Lower Congo region further west, which is also associated with the first metallurgy there. Idiofa’s LIA pottery is indicative of a fifteenth- through seventeenth-century exchange network between the Kamtsha and Kasai Rivers. These shifting dynamics in pottery production are reflected in the region’s linguistic stratigraphy, which may contribute to the interdisciplinary reconstruction of the history of ancestral Bantu speakers south of the rainforest.}},
author = {{Coutros, Peter and Matonda Sakala, Igor Roland and Doman, Jessamy and Pacchiarotti, Sara and Mesfin, Isis and Bostoen, Koen}},
issn = {{0067-270X}},
journal = {{AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA}},
keywords = {{Archeology,Democratic Republic of the Congo,Early Iron Age,Late Iron Age,Bantu,Idiofa,Kwilu Province,pottery,metallurgy,lithics,palaeoecology,ceramic analysis,lithic artefacts,iron production,Iron Age,BANTU EXPANSION,LAND-USE,CLIMATE,AFRICA,BASIN,ADAPTATION,PHYTOLITHS,LANGUAGES,HISTORY,CRISIS}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{213--248}},
title = {{The beginning of the Iron Age south of the Congo rainforest : the first archaeological investigations around Idiofa (Congo), c. 146 BC - AD 1648}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2024.2296802}},
volume = {{59}},
year = {{2024}},
}
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