ABSTRACT

Off the coast of Cameroon, Bioko Island was populated by the Bubi at an early stage of the Bantu expansion, although surprisingly they did not use iron until the arrival of the Europeans much later. Unfortunately, despite some research having been undertaken, mostly during the Spanish colonial period, the local archaeological sequence remains poorly known. On the basis of some short excavations carried out on Bioko, this paper evaluates the state of knowledge of the island’s archaeology. There is a pressing need for more research on the island, in contrast to the continent, where archaeological knowledge has made significant progress in recent decades. So far there are no clear archaeological connections between the two. However, some clues suggest that the Bubi’s ancestors may have inhabited the mainland in southwestern Cameroon before emigrating to the islands, perhaps 2000 years ago. In view of the rapid development of infrastructure on Bioko, as well as on the mainland of Equatorial Guinea, a major multidisciplinary research programme centred on archaeology should be launched without further delay.

摘要

在喀麦隆沿海，班图人扩张初期，布比人烟四处，有人居住在比奥科岛上，尽管令人惊讶的是，直到欧洲人晚些时候才开始使用铁。不幸的是，尽管已经进行了一些研究，大部分是在西班牙殖民时期，但当地的考古序列仍然鲜为人知。在对比奥科进行的一些简短发掘的基础上，本文评估了该岛考古学的知识状态。与近几十年来在考古知识上取得重大进展的大陆相反，目前迫切需要对该岛进行更多的研究。到目前为止，两者之间没有明确的考古联系。然而，一些线索表明，布比的祖先可能是在喀麦隆西南部大陆上居住的，然后才移居到群岛上，大概是2000年前。鉴于Bioko以及赤道几内亚大陆的基础设施迅速发展，应立即着手开展一项主要的以考古学为重点的多学科研究计划。