The Giant Stelae of Aksum
in the Light of the 1999 Excavations
Bertrand POISSONNIER
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Abstract
Excavations were carried out in 1999 on the location of Stela 2 at the ancient site of Aksum in northern Ethiopia. These excavations have permitted the documentation of the foundation of this stela, which was transported to Rome in 1937. Preparations were also made for the stela’s return to the site in 2005 and its re-erection in 2008 at the exact location where it stood in the 3rd or 4th century AD. The excavations also made it possible to re-examine our perception of the three giant stelae on the site, from their conception and erection to their destruction.
To cite this article
Poissonnier B., 2012 – The Giant Stelae of Aksum in the Light of the 1999 Excavations, in F.-X. Fauvelle-Aymar, Palethnology of Africa, P@lethnology, 4, 49-86.
The Beli Valley (Markoye, Burkina Faso):
an Important Siderurgical District
in the Time of the Great Empires
Jean-Marc FABRE
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Abstract
The surveys carried out in the valley of the Beli in the north of Burkina Faso enabled to identify numerous metallurgical sites. The uniqueness and specialisation of the area, together with the intensity and standardisation of the production, seem to characterise a siderurgical district from the late 1st and the early 2nd millennium AD. With the exception of the excavations carried out on the neighbouring sites of Kissi and Oursi, the chronocultural regional contexts are little known and do not yet enable the identification of the actors or sponsors of the metallurgical activity. We identify here the various avenues of investigation provided by the comparison of the different written and oral sources.
To cite this article
Fabre J.-M., 2012 – The Beli Valley (Markoye, Burkina Faso): an Important Siderurgical District in the Time of the Great Empires, in F.-X. Fauvelle-Aymar, Palethnology of Africa, P@lethnology, 4, 193-207.
The Role of Ethnohistoric Data in Reconstructing
Ancient Siderurgy in Dogon Country (Mali)
Caroline ROBION-BRUNNER
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Abstract
Since 2002, research on paleometallurgy in Dogon Country has revealed an exceptional history of siderurgical activity. More than one hundred smelting sites have been recorded, mapped and studied for the first time. Based on technological, cultural and economic criteria, we have attributed these sites to seven different siderurgical traditions. The existence and cohabitation of such diverse metallurgical remains within a limited geographic area (15000 km2) are very surprising. In this paper, we attempt to interpret this archaeological observation with the aid of ethnohistoric data. Based on this comparison of several sources, we propose a new historic scenario retracing the evolution of the traditional production of iron in Dogon Country.
To cite this article
Robion-Brunner C., 2012 – The Role of Ethnohistoric Data in Reconstructing Ancient Siderurgy in Dogon Country (Mali), in F.-X. Fauvelle-Aymar, Palethnology of Africa, P@lethnology, 4, 209-234.
Niani Redux
A Final Rejection of the Identification of the Site of Niani
(Republic of Guinea) with the Capital of the Kingdom of Mali
François-Xavier FAUVELLE-AYMAR
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Abstract
Over the last century, a considerable body of literature has asserted that the site of Niani, in the Republic of Guinea, conceals the ruins of the capital of the medieval kingdom of Mali at the height of its splendour, in the 14th century AD. This hypothesis was constructed under the influence of a number of factors, but always independently of the archaeological data. This article provides an examination of the archaeological data available for Niani, and concludes that there are no arguments in favour of this hypothesis.
To cite this article
Fauvelle-Aymar F.-X. 2012 – Niani redux. Niani Redux. A Final Rejection of the Identification of the Site of Niani (Republic of Guinea) with the Capital of the Kingdom of Mali, in F.-X. Fauvelle-Aymar, Palethnology of Africa, P@lethnology, 4, 235-252.
The Halte de Chasse in the Prehistory
of Eastern Canada:
Variability, Representativeness and Significance
Adrian L. BURKE
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Abstract
Archaeologists working in Eastern Canada regularly excavate small sites that appear to be the product of short term occupations by hunter-gatherers. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric data on hunter-gatherer groups that occupied these northern latitudes indicate that there are many types of short term sites and that they should contain evidence of a variety of activities and related features and artefacts. This article explores the variability, representativeness and significance of these small, short term, hunting related sites by presenting a few archaeological cases from Quebec.
To cite this article
Burke A. L., 2011 – The Halte de Chasse in the Prehistory of Eastern Canada: Variability, Representativeness and Significance, in Bon F., Costamagno S., Valdeyron N. (eds.), Hunting Camps in Prehistory. Current Archaeological Approaches, Proceedings of the International Symposium, May 13-15 2009, University Toulouse II – Le Mirail, P@lethnology, 3, 9-19.
Guanaco Hunting among the Selk’nam
of Tierra del Fuego:
Poor Traceability of Temporary Halt
and Versatility of the Kill Site
Dominique LEGOUPIL
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Abstract
At the extremity of the south-American continent, Tierra del Fuego was occupied during the whole of the Holocene by hunter-gatherers whose survival was based on the exploitation of a camelid that was never domesticated: the guanaco. The way of life of these foragers is known through travellers and ethnologists who observed them towards the end of the 19th century and during the first decades of the 20th century, shortly before their extinction. Guanaco hunting was the main and practically daily activity of this population, and it is frequently mentioned in these writings. Several tactics seem to have been used. But whether the hunt was individual or collective, the main concern of the hunter was generally to return each evening to the hut; in this way halts were reduced to a strict minimum. Only the halt at the end of the hunt seems to have had a real significance, but it could take on a number of profiles – kill site, butchery site (of several types), bivouac, etc. – when it did not transform into a new residential camp. In addition, the absence of means of storage made mass killing unnecessary, and these sites are therefore more difficult to identify than those of the collector groups.
To cite this article
Legoupil D., 2011 – Guanaco Hunting among the Selk’nam of Tierra del Fuego: Poor Traceability of Temporary Halt and Versatility of the Kill Site, in Bon F., Costamagno S., Valdeyron N. (eds.), Hunting Camps in Prehistory. Current Archaeological Approaches, Proceedings of the International Symposium, May 13-15 2009, University Toulouse II – Le Mirail, P@lethnology, 3, 21-40.
Conclusion
Nicolas VALDEYRON, François BON, Sandrine COSTAMAGNO
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Was the ambition of this meeting really a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Would we be capable of defining the criteria necessary to identify a “hunting camp” based on the different elements of the prehistoric and ethno-archaeological record – for the former, extending from the Middle Paleolithic to the Mesolithic and throughout most of western Europe and secondarily the Near East, and for the latter, reaching into Africa and the two extremities of the Americas? Judging by the difficulties experienced by the participants and authors when trying to respond to this question, this would be a logical first conclusion. But in fact, one of the most important, and probably (at least we hope) most productive, aspects of this meeting was the intellectual discomfort we all felt when attempting to determine the function of sites that we should, in principle, be able to consider as the most simple and banal for hunter-gatherers…
To cite this article
Costamagno S., Bon F., Valdeyron N., 2011 – Conclusion, in Bon F., Costamagno S., Valdeyron N. (eds.), Hunting Camps in Prehistory. Current Archaeological Approaches, Proceedings of the International Symposium, May 13-15 2009, University Toulouse II – Le Mirail, P@lethnology, 3, 347-354.
Taphonomic implications of the use
of bone as fuel
Eugène MORIN
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Abstract
This paper explores the effects of the use of bone as fuel on archaeological skeletal part representation. Faunal data from the Paleolithic site of Saint-Césaire show that this activity may present an archaeological signature similar to that of differential preservation. The bones most frequently burned at Saint-Césaire are also those that are the least dense and that contain the most grease. The analysis of faunal remains from Saint-Césaire also suggests that spongy bone fragments from small-bodied and large-bodied taxa are subject to differential identification.
To cite this article
Morin E., 2010 – Taphonomic Implications of the Use of Bone as Fuel, in Théry-Parisot I., Chabal L., Costamagno S., The taphonomy of Burned Organic Residues and Combustion Features in Archaeological Contexts, Proceedings of the round table, May 27-29 2008, CEPAM, P@lethnology, 2, 209-217.
Archéologie et Sciences humaines
