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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Barbed Bone Points: Tradition and Continuity in Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa
Author:Yellen, John E.ISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:African Archaeological Review
Volume:15
Issue:3
Pages:173-198
Language:English
Geographic terms:Subsaharan Africa
Sahara
Subjects:archaeology
prehistory
Anthropology and Archaeology
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021659928822
Abstract:Examination of African barbed bone points recovered from Holocene sites provides a context to interpret three Late Pleistocene occurrences from Ishango (at the junction of Lake Rutingaze, ex-Lake Edward, and its Semliki River outlet in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire), Katanda (7 km downstream from Ishango), and White Paintings Shelter (Tsodilo Hills of northern Botswana). In sites dated to c. 10,000 BP and younger, such artifacts are found widely distributed across the Sahara desert, the Sahel, the Nile, and the East African lakes. They are present in both ceramic and aceramic contexts, sometimes associated with domesticates. The almost universal presence of fish remains indicates a subsistence adaptation which incorporates a riverine/lacustrine component. Typologically these points exhibit sufficient similarity in form and method of manufacture to be subsumed within a single African 'tradition'. They are absent at Fayum (Egypt), where a distinct Natufian form occurs. Specimens dating to c. 20,000 BP at Ishango, possibly a similar age at White Paintings Shelter, and up to 90,000 BP at Katanda clearly fall within this same African tradition and thus indicate a very long-term continuity which crosses traditionally conceived sub-Saharan cultural boundaries. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French.
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