High Risk Research: Long Term Human Adaptation in a Tropical Environment

Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX

Investigators

Abstract

Researchers have long recognized that population migration is a pivotal process of cultural and technological and ecological change that often has wide-ranging and sometimes cataclysmic consequences for societies. To better understand how human migration influences cultural change and its consequences, researchers have increasingly turned to the archaeological record where known prehistoric migrations were important in forming contemporary societies. The main goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of the catalysts, timing, nature, and consequences of one of the largest human migration events in prehistory - the expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa some 5,000 to 2,000 years ago. To investigate this poorly understood event, this research will focus on excavating Nangara-Komba Rock Shelter in the Central African Republic which spans the critical time period before and after the Bantu expansion. Information generated from this project will speak to broader issues about why populations migrate and the impact incoming populations with new technologies have on indigenous peoples and environments. This collaborative research project brings together researchers from the Central African Republic, a country underrepresented in the sciences, and the United States. The inclusion of American and Central African students in the research supports scholarly and cultural exchange. The project will build intellectual capacity for Central African graduate students who will receive training in archaeological methods that is unavailable in their country. Public outreach activities such as radio interviews, public lectures, blogs and digital media in Central Africa and the US will disseminate the findings and implications of this project to different audiences. The expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa is widely recognized as having a significant and lasting impact on language, culture, demography and technology, as well as the trajectories of contemporary African peoples. Despite its importance, very little is known about the environmental catalysts, exact timing, nature and consequences of this event. Nangara-Komba Rock Shelter is one of the oldest rock shelters in this part of Central Africa with prehistoric occupations spanning from 5,600 years ago into the nineteenth century. Importantly, the site lies in the Sangha River Interval believed by many as an important natural corridor for Bantu migrations into Central African forests. Excavations in the shelter will yield organic materials that can be used to construct an exact chronology of the site and date when ceramic and iron artifacts associated with Bantu-speaking populations appear. Analysis of artifacts and organic materials will provide crucial information on the lifeways of pre-Bantu indigenous hunter-gatherers and early Bantu-speakers. Comparative analyses of these materials over time will provide information on changes in prehistoric lifeways associated with the expansion of Bantu peoples. Geochemical analyses of sediment from the site and adjacent areas will be used to reconstruct vegetation and climate changes spanning the period before and after the migration. Cumulatively, information from this project will significantly enhance current understanding of migration and Central African prehistory. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.