Hunter-gatherers on the basin’s edge: a preliminary look at Holocene human occupation of Nangara-Komba Shelter, Central African Republic

ABSTRACT

Limited excavations at Nangara-Komba Shelter along the northern margin of the Congo Basin have recovered evidence for intermittent and at times intensive human visits beginning approximately 5100 cal. BC. Numerous rock art panels adorn the shelter’s walls and ceramics appear to have initially been brought to the site between 1050 and 900 cal. BC, if not earlier. Charred Canarium schweinfurthii endocarp fragments were collected in all stratigraphic aggregates and reflect the use of canarium for food, fuel and/or medicinal purposes during the middle and late Holocene. Abundant quartz and quartzite artefacts occur throughout the deposits and mark a continuous and stable microlithic tradition. The site was used only by foraging groups who ultimately interacted with Bantu and later Ubangian farmers and possibly smelters. Nangara-Komba represents a sheltered context where the use of lithic tools appears to have persisted well into the late Holocene and is the only known site in the Central African Republic and Sangha River Interval with episodic occupations spanning the past 7000 years.

RÉSUMÉ

Les fouilles limitées de l’abri sous roche de Nangara-Komba sur la marge nord du bassin du Congo ont permis de découvrir des preuves d’une longue occupation humaine intermittente et parfois intensive aux environs de 5100 cal. av. J-C. De nombreux panneaux d'art rupestre ornent les murs de l'abri et la céramique semble avoir été initialement apportée sur le site entre 1050 et 900 cal. av. J.-C, sinon plus tôt. Des fragments d'endocarpes carbonisés de Canarium schweinfurthii ont été collectés dans toutes les accumulations stratigraphiques et reflètent l'utilisation du canarium à des fins alimentaires, de carburant et/ou médicinales au cours de l'Holocène moyen et tardif. De nombreux artefacts en quartz de petites dimensions et de quartzite sont présents dans les gisements et marquent une tradition microlithique continue et stable. Le site a été utilisé uniquement par des groupes de chasseur-cueilleurs qui ont finalement interagi avec des agriculteurs et éventuellement des métallurgistes bantous et plus tard oubanguiens. Nangara-Komba représente un contexte abrité où l'utilisation d'outils lithiques semble avoir persisté tardivement en l'Holocène. C’est aussi le seul site connu en République centrafricaine en haute vallée de la rivière Sangha avec des occupations épisodiques couvrant les 7000 dernières années.

KEYWORDS:

• Central Africa
• chronology
• foragers
• Holocene
• radiocarbon

Acknowledgements

Our thanks go to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions and to Eduard Mboula, Tim Tikouzou, Lucy Tamlyn, Pete Giorgianni, Emanuel Mbomon, Xavier Mbembele, Blaise Yandji and Henri Zana for crucial field and/or administrative support. Special thanks to Dr Ginette Amara Ali Mazicki for guidance and Chef Paul Mbomon and all our Mogana-Ngandji village neighbours for their interest, friendship, generosity and two unforgettable New Year’s celebrations.

Supplemental Online Materials

Additional rock art images.

Notes

1 We emphasise that the shelter’s flaked stone artefacts are considered ‘microliths’ based solely on their size and not technology. There is no evidence for the production or use of backed microliths and the recovered tools and detritus reflect what Pargeter (2016: 221) termed ‘lithic miniaturisation’, i.e. a situation where small tools are simply the product of small source materials and do not manifest a purposeful miniaturisation of toolkits.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by funding to K.D. Lupo from the National Science Foundation (HRRBAA 1838500). Excavations and analyses were authorised by the Central African Republic’s Ministre de la Recherche Scientifique et de l’Innovation Technologique and conducted under permits issued by the Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centraficaines, Bangui.

Notes on contributors

Karen D. Lupo

Karen D. Lupo is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology in Dedman College at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. She is a zooarchaeologist and anthropological archaeologist who employs evolutionary theory, ethnographic records and ethnoarchaeological observations to investigate human-animal interactions, Central African prehistory and human subsistence adaptations in modern, historic and prehistoric contexts.

Dave N. Schmitt

Dave N. Schmitt is a Research Affiliate with the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and a Principal Investigator with SWCA Environmental Consultants, Salt Lake City, Utah. His research focuses on Central African farmer and forager subsistence, Congo Basin prehistory and late Quaternary human prehistory and biogeography in the Great Basin of western North America.

Jean-Paul Ndanga

Jean-Paul Ndanga is a Research Archaeologist with the Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centraficaines, Université de Bangui. His research interests include hunter-gatherer technology, ceramics and chronology and Central African metallurgy.

Lucien P. Nguerede

Lucien P. Nguerede is a Research Archaeologist and instructor at the Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centraficaines, Université de Bangui. His research centres on ceramic production and chronology, Central African metallurgy and lithic technology.

Guy T. Amaye

Guy T. Amaye is an archaeologist with the Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centraficaines, Université de Bangui. His research interests include the timing and nature of Central African iron production and lithic technological organisation during the Holocene.

Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Alexandre Livingstone Smith is a Research Archaeologist with the Royal Museum for Central Africa Heritage Studies in Tervuren, Belgium, and has worked on numerous archaeological projects in the Congo Basin rainforest. His research includes investigations of pottery traditions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Holocene Central African prehistory and the anthropology of technology.

Nicolette M. Edwards

Nicolette M. Edwards is currently a PhD candidate in archaeology at Southern Methodist University and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Her research interests include Central African forager social and dietary practices in contemporary and past contexts, with her dissertation focusing on contemporary African forager women’s roles in meat-sharing.

Robert C. Power

Robert C. Power is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. His research examines floral micro-remains to help understand Middle and Upper Palaeolithic hominin behaviour by unravelling how plants contributed to past diets.

D. Craig Young

D. Craig Young is a geoarchaeologist and Principal Investigator with the Far Western Anthropological Group in Carson City, Nevada. His research examines environmental influences and geomorphological processes affecting site formation and human interactions with changing late Quaternary landscapes in western North America and Central Africa.

Frank Npo

Frank Npo is an archaeological research assistant at the Royal Museum for Central Africa Heritage Studies, Tervuren, Belgium. His research interests include Central African history and analyses of ceramic raw material use, production techniques and chronology.