Late hunter-gatherers & early farmers in southern Mozambique

Around 2,000 years ago, pottery, iron, agriculture and livestock farming appeared in southern Mozambique and spread from there to the rest of southern Africa. But are all these innovations linked to the so-called Bantu expansion and did they appear together, or is there temporal and spatial variability?

© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter

DAI Standort  Kommission für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen

Projektart  Einzelprojekt

Laufzeit  2020 - 2024

Disziplinen  Afrikanische Archäologie, Archäometrie, Grabungstechnik

Projektverantwortlicher  PD Dr. Jörg Linstädter

Adresse  Dürenstr. 35-37 Bonn , 53173 Bonn

Email  Joerg.Linstaedter@dainst.de

Laufzeit  2020 - 2024

Projektart  Einzelprojekt

Fokus  Feldforschung, Objektforschung

Disziplin  Afrikanische Archäologie, Archäometrie, Grabungstechnik

Methoden  Datierungsmethoden, Feldforschung, Grabungsmethoden, Altersbestimmungen, Dünnschliffuntersuchungen, Geomagnetik, Räumliche Auswertungen

Partner  Universität Hamburg

Förderer  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Schlagworte  Chronologien, Materialien, Objekte

Projekt-ID  5653

Überblick

The simultaneous introduction of pottery, iron metallurgy, agriculture and livestock farming in southern Africa is associated with the migration of the Bantu peoples. Current research challenges this simplified model of the arrival of these ‘early farming communities’ (EFC), as pottery and bones from domesticated animals have also been found in hunter-gatherer and hunter-herder contexts.

The research collaboration between Eduardo Mondlane University and the DAI began in 2016. Since then, various surveys have been carried out as part of this cooperation and a comprehensive research project has been developed in collaboration with the University of Hamburg. In May 2020, the DFG project “Bantu Arrival in Southern Africa” began, focusing on archaeometric pottery investigations and geophysical prospecting of potential open-air EFC sites.

Geomagnetics can help locate potential pit houses, accumulations of pottery and ovens in the context of the EFC. The results can be used to plan targeted excavations. The excavation results evaluate geophysical measurements and generate knowledge about early settlements in the region for the first time.

The archaeometric investigations of EFC pottery are used to examine the beginnings of pottery production in southern Africa in terms of dating and process, as well as differences in raw materials, production techniques and use.

Projekt News & Blogbeiträge

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ZEITSCHRIFTEN

New publication in the Journal of Global Archaeology (JoGA 2023/10)

11.12.2023 | Kommission für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen

N. Babucic – S. Stempfle – D. Muianga – B. Forrester – M. Seifert – J. Linstädter, Finding Early Farming Communities in southern Mozambique: Using Geophysical Surveys to examine potential new open-air sites

© DAI-KAAK // Julian Welte
© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter
© DAI-KAAK // Decio Muianga
© DAI-KAAK // Nikola Babucic
© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter
© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter
© DAI-KAAK // Sabrina Stempfle
© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter
© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter
© DAI-KAAK // Jörg Linstädter