عنوان

The Palaeovegetation of Janruwa (Nigeria) and its Implications for the Decline of the Nok Culture

شماره

LA113564

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

The Palaeovegetation of Janruwa (Nigeria) and its Implications for the Decline of the Nok Culture

نام عام مواد

[Article]

نام نخستين پديدآور

Alexa Höhn, Katharina Neumann, Alexa Höhn, et al.

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

Settlement activities of the Nok Culture considerably decreased around 400 BCE and ended around the beginning of the Common Era. For a better understanding of the decline of the Nok Culture, we studied the charcoal assemblage of the post-Nok site Janruwa C, dating to the first centuries CE. Janruwa C differs from Middle Nok sites in ceramic inventory and a wider set of crops. 20 charcoal types were identified. Most taxa are characteristic of humid habitats such as riverine forests, while those savanna woodland charcoal types that had been dominant in Middle Nok samples are only weakly represented. The differences between the Middle Nok and post-Nok assemblages do not indicate vegetation change, but rather different human exploitation behaviors. It seems that the Nok people avoided forest environments while in the first centuries CE, other, possibly new populations settled closer to the forest and were more familiar with its resources. The new exploiting strategies might be explained as adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Our results, together with data from other palaeo-archives in the wider region, point to climatic change as a potential factor for the decline of the Nok Culture. We argue that erosion on the hill slopes, maybe due to stronger seasonality, was responsible for land degradation after 400 BCE and that the Nok people were not flexible enough to cope with this challenge through innovations. Settlement activities of the Nok Culture considerably decreased around 400 BCE and ended around the beginning of the Common Era. For a better understanding of the decline of the Nok Culture, we studied the charcoal assemblage of the post-Nok site Janruwa C, dating to the first centuries CE. Janruwa C differs from Middle Nok sites in ceramic inventory and a wider set of crops. 20 charcoal types were identified. Most taxa are characteristic of humid habitats such as riverine forests, while those savanna woodland charcoal types that had been dominant in Middle Nok samples are only weakly represented. The differences between the Middle Nok and post-Nok assemblages do not indicate vegetation change, but rather different human exploitation behaviors. It seems that the Nok people avoided forest environments while in the first centuries CE, other, possibly new populations settled closer to the forest and were more familiar with its resources. The new exploiting strategies might be explained as adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Our results, together with data from other palaeo-archives in the wider region, point to climatic change as a potential factor for the decline of the Nok Culture. We argue that erosion on the hill slopes, maybe due to stronger seasonality, was responsible for land degradation after 400 BCE and that the Nok people were not flexible enough to cope with this challenge through innovations.

تاريخ نشر

2016

توصيف ظاهري

331-353

عنوان

Journal of African Archaeology

شماره جلد

14/3

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

2191-5784

اصطلاح موضوعی

archaeobotany

اصطلاح موضوعی

archaeological charcoal

اصطلاح موضوعی

climatic change

اصطلاح موضوعی

human impact

اصطلاح موضوعی

vegetation history

اصطلاح موضوعی

West Africa

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Alexa Höhn

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Katharina Neumann

شماره بازیابی

10.3213/2191-5784-10296

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y