Search

Until recently the Grassfields (Western Cameroon), cradle of the Bantu languages, were an unknown zone from an archaeological point of view. The excavations of Shum Laka rock shelter offer the first chrono-cultural sequence for the area. After 20 millenniums of microlithic (Late Stone Age) traditions of hunter-gatherers, a new culture with macrolithic tools, pottery and arboriculture (Stone to Metal Age) slowly developed from 6000 BC onwards. Correlation with palaeo-climatic and historical linguistic data suggests that proto-Benue-Congo and, later, proto-Bantu speakers could have been involved in these industries.

Rock shelters, often containing thick accumulations of cultural debris from repeated occupation, are the most informative archaeological sites in the forest zone of west Africa. They are, however, frequently disturbed by human and natural processes. Extensive excavations at Shum Laka rock shelter yielded a long cultural sequence for the Grassfields in NW Cameroon. The topmost, Late Holocene deposits, are analyzed for natural and cultural spatial patterning through a combination of geomorphic analysis, exhaustive 14C dating, and analysis of spatial distribution of lithic artifacts and pottery refits. we identified post-depositional disturbances and reconstructed for the first time a reliable cultural sequence for the Grassfields during the Late Holocene. Finally, we discuss the transition from the Late Stone Age to the Iron Age in the area along the Gulf of Guinea.