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Urbanizing Forest: Archaeological Evidence from Southern Bénin
Journal of African Archaeology Pub Date : 2019-12-02 , DOI: 10.1163/21915784-20190012
Inga Merkyte 1 , Søren Albek 2 , Klavs Randsborg 3
Affiliation  

Until recently archaeological evidence predating the historically known Kingdom of Dahomey in southern Bénin has been next to non-existent. The situation changed when deep and long drainage channels were dug into the fertile soils at the modern town of Bohicon. In the sides of these channels, rich cultural remains appeared, confirming the assumption that high rates of soil accumulation have caused low archaeological visibility in the forest/former forest belt of West Africa. Geophysical mapping and extensive excavations have revealed two large settlements of 500-600 hectares each, partly overlapping but separated by 2000 years. This paper presents both sites – Sodohomé 1, the earliest site encountered so far in southern Bénin, and Sodohomé 2 (or Sodohomé-Bohicon) which dates to AD 900-1150/1220. Although the first has produced some remarkable results, for instance, an iron spearhead that is the oldest securely dated non-meteoritic iron object in Africa known so far, the focus is on the latter site where evidence demonstrates the existence of a true town with craft specialisation, industrial-scale iron production, long-distance trade and wide communication networks.



中文翻译:

森林的城市化:贝宁南部的考古证据

直到最近,在贝宁南部历史悠久的达荷美王国之前的考古证据还几乎不存在。当在现代化的波希肯小镇上开挖长而深的排水渠时,情况发生了变化。在这些渠道的两侧,出现了丰富的文化遗迹,证实了这样的假设,即高土壤累积率导致西非森林/前森林带的考古学可视性较低。地球物理测绘和广泛的发掘揭示了两个大的定居点,每个定居点为500-600公顷,部分重叠,但相隔2000年。本文介绍了这两个地点-Sodohomé1,是迄今为止在贝宁南部遇到的最早地点,以及Sodohomé2(或Sodohomé-Bohicon),其历史可追溯到公元900-1150 / 1220。尽管第一个取得了显著成果,例如,铁矛头是迄今为止已知的非洲最古老的有日期安全的非陨石铁制物体,但重点是后者,那里的证据表明存在着一个真正的有手工艺品的城镇专业化,工业规模的钢铁生产,远距离贸易和广泛的通讯网络。

更新日期:2019-12-02
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