The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History

311 Pages·1982·14.78 MB·English

by  Christopher Ehret, Merrick Posnansky

The Archaeological and Linguistic
Reconstruction of African History

The Archaeological
and Linguistic
Reconstruction of
African History
Edited by
Christopher Ehret and
Merrick Posnansky
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
Theology Library
MO MT
SCHOOL OF | HEOLOG Y
CA
Claremont,
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, LTD.
London, England
CopyRIGHT © 1982 By THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Archaeological and linguistic reconstruction of
African History.
Includes revised papers presented at a conference at
the University of California, Los Angeles, held
in June 1979.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Linguistic paleontology—A frica—Congresses.
2. Man, Prehistoric—Africa—Congresses. 3. Africa—
Antiquities—Congresses. 4. African languages—History—
Congresses. I. Ehret, Christopher. II. Posnansky, Merrick.
P35.5.A35A7 1983 417'.7'096 82-8431
ISBN 0-520-04593-9 AACR2
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Le 2 3 V4 Oe Ome Onno
Contents
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Xl
Introduction
PART I. Northeastern Africa
The Coming of Nubian Speakers to the Nile Valley
WILLIAM Y. ADAMS 11
Linguistic Aspects of Greater Nubian History
ROBIN THELWALL 39
PART II. Equatorial Africa
Linguistic Inferences about Early Bantu History
CHRISTOPHER EHRET Dy
Linguistic Evidence for the Eastward Spread of
Ubangian Peoples
DOUGLAS E. SAXON 66
Prehistory and Historical Linguistics in
Central Africa: Points of Contact
NICHOLAS DAVID 78
PART III: Eastern and Southern Africa
Archaeology and Linguistic Reconstructions
of History in East Africa
STANLEY H. AMBROSE 104
CONTENTS
The First Spread of Food Production to
Southern Africa
CHRISTOPHER EHRET
Models of the Spread of the Early Iron Age
D. P. COLLETT 182
10 Bantu Expansion into East Africa: Linguistic Evidence
DEREK NURSE 199
11 Bantu Expansion into Eastern Africa:
Archaeological Evidence
ROBERT SOPER
non oo )
PART IV: West Africa
The Peopling of Southern Ghana: A Linguistic
Viewpoint
M. E. KROPP DAKUBU
13 Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction in Ghana
MERRICK POSNANSKY
References
Index
MAPS
. Place-names and geographical subdivisions of the middle
Nile Valley 14
. Hypothesized distribution of language groups in the second
no
century B.c. in northern Sudan 29
. Hypothesized distribution of language groups in the second
o9
century A.D. in northern Sudan 30
. Hypothesized distribution of language groups in the fourth
century A.D. after the breakup of the Meroitic empire 33
. Hypothesized sequence of Nubian migrations in the
Nile Valley
. The medieval Nubian kingdoms 36
CONTENTS vil
. Distribution of Nile Nubian languages in the twentieth
century od
. Distribution of selected East Sudanic languages 45
. Language distribution in the southern Kordofan region 46
. Equatorial Africa, 3000—500 B.c.: Proposed linguistic
expansions and key archaeological sites 65
Ll. Modern East African language groups 118
12; The distribution of Later Stone Age and Iron Age sites in
East Africa 131
13. Proposed directions of Khoikhoi and Kwadi expansions 169
14. The Bantu languages of East Africa 208
15. The spread of the “eastern stream” of the Early Iron Age 230
16. Languages and dialects of Ghana 246
ee Archaeological sites in Ghana 258

Acknowledgments
WE wIsH TO ExpREss our deep thanks to the African
Studies Center of the University of California, Los Angeles, and to its
director, Professor Michael Lofchie, whose support made this volume
possible. The funding for an initial conference on the archaeological and
linguistic reconstruction of African history, held at UCLA in June 1979,
was provided by the center, and center personnel handled the arrange-
ments and took care of the clerical needs of the conference. We are
especially grateful to Maxine Driggers, presently the graduate adviser of
the center, who was a flawless overseer of these activities. The papers
presented at the conference constitute in their revised forms the core
portions of this book. We also want to thank all the contributors for their
responsiveness to the requirements of the editorial process; they helped
to make the task a rewarding one.
CrE.
M. P.
Los Angeles, December 1981
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