Scholarlink

<p>The history of pottery-producing communities in Central Africa has long been seen as a study of its spread. While this process started about two-and-a-half millennia ago, it is often linked with the so-called ‘Bantu Expansion’. Linguistic studies claimed substantial migratory events through the so-called ‘Sangha River Interval’, which mostly coincides with the Sangha river valley and the western part of the Congo Basin. This region is viewed as a ‘gateway’ communities followed to cross the equatorial rainforest during their spread south. This paper presents novel data on the oldest widespread pottery from that region, the Pikunda-Munda style. Its emergence in the last century BCE is equally shrouded in secret as its disappearance in the fifth to sixth century CE. The latter coincides with a distinct period of low human activity (600–1000 CE) observed throughout Central Africa. New research into the technological decisions or <i>chaînes opératoires</i> of the potters’ communities that produced Pikunda-Munda pottery revealed that they followed a distinct path, different from that in adjacent regions such as the Inner Congo Basin. Only regarding clay procurement and processing similar preferences for fluvial clay sources rich in sponge spicules can be seen. Drawing of a ring is the primary shaping or roughing-out technique and differences in how the bottoms were attached or closed indicate differences in trans-generational training networks among potters’ communities of practice. The disappearances of the Pikunda-Munda pottery mark an apparent abandonment of pottery production along the middle and lower Sangha river, with knowledge networks established earlier falling apart. There is little evidence for the persistence of the specific knowledge of Pikunda-Munda potters’ communities. All groups encountered after the setback show evidence of them originating from groups found in the Inner Congo Basin or northwards. Potters’ communities responsible for the Pikunda-Munda pottery were among those whose knowledge transfer was interrupted by the widespread setback in human activity observed throughout the wider region.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Pikunda-Munda: Disappearance of Pottery Production in the Western Congo Basin at the End of the Early Iron Age

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年1月13日

查看全文
  • Dirk Seidensticker

摘要

The history of pottery-producing communities in Central Africa has long been seen as a study of its spread. While this process started about two-and-a-half millennia ago, it is often linked with the so-called ‘Bantu Expansion’. Linguistic studies claimed substantial migratory events through the so-called ‘Sangha River Interval’, which mostly coincides with the Sangha river valley and the western part of the Congo Basin. This region is viewed as a ‘gateway’ communities followed to cross the equatorial rainforest during their spread south. This paper presents novel data on the oldest widespread pottery from that region, the Pikunda-Munda style. Its emergence in the last century BCE is equally shrouded in secret as its disappearance in the fifth to sixth century CE. The latter coincides with a distinct period of low human activity (600–1000 CE) observed throughout Central Africa. New research into the technological decisions or chaînes opératoires of the potters’ communities that produced Pikunda-Munda pottery revealed that they followed a distinct path, different from that in adjacent regions such as the Inner Congo Basin. Only regarding clay procurement and processing similar preferences for fluvial clay sources rich in sponge spicules can be seen. Drawing of a ring is the primary shaping or roughing-out technique and differences in how the bottoms were attached or closed indicate differences in trans-generational training networks among potters’ communities of practice. The disappearances of the Pikunda-Munda pottery mark an apparent abandonment of pottery production along the middle and lower Sangha river, with knowledge networks established earlier falling apart. There is little evidence for the persistence of the specific knowledge of Pikunda-Munda potters’ communities. All groups encountered after the setback show evidence of them originating from groups found in the Inner Congo Basin or northwards. Potters’ communities responsible for the Pikunda-Munda pottery were among those whose knowledge transfer was interrupted by the widespread setback in human activity observed throughout the wider region.