Kintampo culture

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Coordinates: 8 ° 3 ′  N , 1 ° 43 ′  W

Location of the excavation sites of the Kintampo culture in West Africa

The Kintampo culture is a Neolithic culture that is predominantly occupied in Ghana (two sites are in Ivory Coast ). This culture dates from around 2200 to 700 BC. The culture is named after the excavation site Kintampo .

The Kintampo culture is known from about 30 places so far, of which about half have been excavated. Typical of the culture are small, made of soft stone objects of unknown function that vague in form of cigars remember ( eng. 'Rasp'), polished axes made of green stone, microliths from quartz , polished or beaten arrowheads, grinding stones, polished Steinarmringe and ceramics with a heavily rolled edge and comb pattern. This is often decorated with clay animals. House remains are rare. It is assumed that the huts will be lightweight. In Mumute , granite stones were used as foundations.

Reconstruction of a wall element as a mesh made of straw or brushwood. Clay and manure were used for reinforcement.

The people of the Kintampo culture lived from fishing , hunting, collecting fruits and pastoral keeping of domestic animals (sheep, goats and cattle). Pearl millet , cowpeas and oil palms were grown and used as food sources and domesticated for about 3000 years.

See also

literature

  • James Anquandah: The Kintampo complex: a case study of early sedentism and food production in sub-Sahelian west Africa . In: T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah, A. Okpoko (Eds.): The Archeology of Africa . London / New York 1993, pp. 255-260, ISBN 041511585X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ G. Mokhtar, Muhammad Jamal al-Din Mukhtār (ed.): Ancient Civilizations of Africa. University of California Press, 1990, p. 330.
  2. ^ A. Catherine D'Andrea, Marlies Klee, Joanna Casey: Archaeobotanical evidence for pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) in sub-Saharan West Africa. In: Antiquity , Volume 75, No. 288, 2001, pp. 341-348.
  3. ↑ AC D'Andrea, S. Kahlhub, AL Logan, DJ Watson: Early domesticated cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) from Central Ghana. In: Antiquity , Volume 81, No. 313, 2007, pp. 686-698.
  4. ↑ M. Adebisi Sowunmi: The significance of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) In the late Holocene environments of west and west central Africa: A Further consideration. In: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany , Volume 8, No. 3, September 1999, pp. 199-210, doi : 10.1007 / BF02342720 .