Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268
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08, 321
Two sites situated in the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of NE-Nigeria were chosen for pollen analysis. A sediment core from an interdunal depression in the eastern Manga Grassland provides information on the Holocene vegetation history of the Sahel between c. 9600-3400 B.P. The 3 m pollen record indicates an open savanna during the mid-Holocene. The presence of Sudano-Guinean taxa, which were mainly restricted to the interdunal depressions, points to more humid conditions. Already before c. 4000 B.P., a slow change towards drier conditions and the establishment of the modern Sahelian vegetation is visible in the diagram. This development was accompanied by high fire frequencies. A 16 m core from a crater lake (Lake Tilla) in the Sudanian zone of NE-Nigeria provides a pollen record which can be dated back to approximately 11-12000 B.P. Preliminary pollen spectra show a relatively constant pattern with a dominance of grass pollen even during the middle Holocene.
08, 215
The Yobe valley is one of the many refugia that dotted the Chad basin after the commencement of the desiccation of the Sahara. It hypothetically must have been attractive to the population that had to move away from the aridized zone in search of favourable ecotones. As the Mega Chad receded from its Bama ridge shores, new lands were progressively made available for human occupation along the valley. It is one of the principal goals of the Yobe Valley Archaeological project to investigate how and when this new valley was occupied. This paper has been divided into three principal sections. The first section deals with the search for the earliest settlements of the Yobe valley. The excavations conducted at Garingada and Damakarwa were aimed at tackling this problem. The second section deals with the development of complexity. The excavation at Gambaru was directed towards this problem. The third section seeks to discuss on the bases of the excavations at the three sites, manenvironment relationship. The concluding part of the paper focuses attention on the problems and prospects of the Yobe Valley Archaeological Project.
08, 101
The paper presents a short introduction to the environmental factors, e.g. climate, geology, relief forms and soils of the study area in the southern parts of the Gongola Basin. The study area covers the high mountain range of the Tangale-Waja Uplands and the adjacent pediplain, following in the north. It is asked if the natural factors enforced former inhabitants of the area to develop special land use techniques like field terracing to ensure the essential crop production under insufficient geoecological conditions.
08, 125
In the culture of the Pero, Longuda and Tula People in the south-eastern part of Bauchi State, north-eastern Nigeria, terraces are found as traditional means to improve the environmental condition and to secure the survival of the people. To classify those terraces according to their form and function, the techniques and customs of their building and the traditional structures of their development they have to be compared in the context of their own culture. The paper gives a few examples showing that the importance of terraces for the historic and religious concepts of the Pero, Longuda and Tula People is expressed through a tight network of oral traditions, social and religious customs and structures of belief and explanation, which, once they were woven together, eventually build what a malam from Tula called a glue of inheritance, identity, integrity, continuity and security.
08, 077
Our dichotomy of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ is expressed in the Kanuri language with the terms al@ga for ‘creation’ and ‘creature’ which embraces trees, mammals, birds, insects, humans, in short the whole of the natural environment, and ada for ‘custom, habit, way of behaviour, family tradition’ for culture as a whole. There is no genre of oral literature, which would describe al@ga as such, but aspects of it can always be expressed in proverbs, riddles, toponymic praise phrases and songs, of which those performed by the hunters figure most prominently in reflecting upon al@ga. Yet, in these songs (and partly in other genres) ideas about al@ga are not purely descriptive in naturalists’ terms. They are much rather expressions, which centrally combine notions of the social and natural environment.
08, 093
The vast distribution of terraces in the geographical Sudan zone of West Africa leads to the question why and under which conditions an agrarian society might apply this particular form of farming. From an anthropologist's point of view it is essential to understand why farmers practise this form of farming and therefore try to explain the reason for it. The best way to gain insight is the description of terrace farming and when taking a closer look, we realize that farming is nowhere only an isolated agricultural activity.
08, 193
The architecture and chemistry of a dug-out: the Dufuna Canoe in ethno-archaeological perspective
(1996)
It is the intention of this paper to highlight the processes involved in the production of a dug-out. Two disciplines appear strikingly clear in the title of this paper; architecture and chemistry. It is deliberate, exhibiting the multifaceted approach to issues in archaeology. The Dufuna canoe, the main subject of the discussion, is entirely an organic material, long used by prehistoric populations, abandoned and covered in a huge deposit of earth, unearthed by the spade in two streams of excavations for the purpose of dating, measurements, documentation, which yielded a date of 8500 years as the oldest canoe in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. Who could have produced such an "artefact"? These and other related questions are fundamental towards the understanding of the history and society that lived in that environment in prehistory. Since we are dealing with a single "artefact" produced by prehistoric populations, long gone and extinct, we would not be in a position to reconstruct the processes of manufacture of the dug-out by any source other than by ethno-archaeological and ethnographic investigation and experiment of the contemporary society which manipulates similar environment with a view to stimulating the past mode of production. The method used in the data collection was by oral interviews and field observation.
07, 017
Notre communication porte sur le thème suivant: "Anthropisation du couvert végétal dans la province de Namentenga et ses conséquences socioéconomiques: cas de la région de Tougouri, en zone subsahélienne" (centre-nord du Burkina Faso). A travers cette étude de cas, nous voulons attirer l'attention sur les problèmes environnementaux du Burkina Faso. En effet, les déficits pluviométriques cumulés, depuis quelques décennies, sont à l'origine de la dégradation des écosystèmes. La surexploitation des terres entraîne également l'épuisement des sols et la diminution des ressources végétales. Un telle situation n'est pas sans conséquence sur les activités socioéconomiques des populations. Le plan de notre communication sera donc comme suit: 1. Présentation du degré-carré de Tougouri, sur le plan physique 2. Dynamique du couvert végétal sous l'action anthropique, et les conséquences socioéconomiques 3. Perspectives d'avenir
08, 129
Changes in settlement pattern and culture - the process of down-hill migration in Tula, Bauchi State
(1996)
The process of down-hill migration of the Tula people started during the 1920s and has not yet finished. The resulting present situation might give information how far terraces play any role in the economy, ecology and ideology of the Tula. Approaching this question from a socio-agricultural point of view some facts which indicate the pertaining or overcoming of traditional structures will be presented. In the following the land tenure system, the adoption of innovations and the role of women in agriculture will be discussed comparatively for Tula Wange and Tula Baule on the plateau, Fantami, which is generated by down-hill dwellers of Tula Wange, with its more or less bad farming conditions on shallow sandy soils and Kaltin, where the down migrants of Tula Baule settle in a more fertile area. Tula Wange numbers around 2000 households, Baule 1000, Fantami about 200 and Kaltin 350 of which the sample survey includes 15% in the plateau sites and 25% in the plain settlements.
08, 013
In a previous study which originally tackled the apparent contradiction between oral tradition and linguistic evidence in the Babur-Bura case, we approached the issue through a contrastive analysis of Bura and Kanuri. Since the originstory tends to push the Babur towards the Kanuri, leaving the Bura to stand all alone, it was felt that any linguistic closeness between Kanuri and Babur would confirm the originstory. Unfortunately, the paper did not come up with such evidence. The paper in question summarizes COHEN's (1983) account and interpretation of both the Babur and the Bura versions of their origin. It then presents the loopholes in the various accounts, based not only on the current linguistic classification of the area, but also on the results of an investigation carried out within the framework of the "Borno Surname Project". At both the phonological and syntactic levels, BADEJO (1989) observes that in view of certain fundamental differences between Kanuri on the one hand and Babur-Bura on the other, Babur affiliation with Kanuri is doubtful. Such differences include: the lack of voice distinction between the labiodental fricatives in Kanuri (i.e. /f/ and /v/; the /p/ - /f/ alternation), especially in wordinitial position in Kanuri, and finally, the SOV structure of the Kanuri sentence. The paper, drawing on support from an opinion survey, therefore concludes that "general linguistic and the social linguistic considerations presented ... seem to point to the fact that the Babur and the Bura are, by and large, the same people". The paper, however, recognizes the need for a Babur-Bura contrastive study. The current paper is the first step in that direction.