Abstract
This work examines the archaeological evidence for settlements in Northeast Yorubaland, using data obtained during fieldwork undertaken between 1985 and 1988. A reconnaissance survey was carried out in the vicinity of Iffe-Ijumu providing a comprehensive inventory of important archaeological features in the area. Excavations indicate that human settlement certainly extended into the ceramic phase of the West African Late Stone Age and that by at least 300 BC the rockshelters had been occupied. Evidence from the principal sites of Itaakpa, Oluwaju, and Addo indicates continuous occupation in the area during at least the last 2000 years.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES CITED
Agorsah, E. K. (1988). The settlement history of the Northern Volta Basin of Ghana. National Geographic Research 4(3): 371–385
Allsworth-Jones, P., and Oyelaran, P. A. (1991). Itaakpa rockshelter, Kwara State, Nigeria—recent results. West African Journal of Archaeology 21: 208–213.
Connah, G. (1981). Three Thousand Years in Africa: Man and His Environment in the Lake Chad Regions of Nigeria, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Flight, C. (1980). The Kintampo Culture and its place in Economic Prehistory of West Africa. In Swartz, B. K. Jr. (ed.), West African Culture Dynamics, Mouton, The Hague, pp. 91–99.
Hedges, R., Housley, R., Bronk, C., and van Klinken, G. (1990). Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archeometry datelist 11. Archaeometry, 32(2): 211–237.
Ijagbemi, A. (1987). Change and incorporation in the Niger-Benue Confluence Area: The case of the Northeast Yoruba. In Proceedings of the Conference on Confluence Nigerians. Lokoja, Nigeria, 27 Sept.–2 Oct.
MacDonald, K. C. (1997). Korounkale revisited: The Pays Mande and the peopling of West Africa. African Archaeological Review 14(3): 161–200.
McIntosh, S. K., and McIntosh R. J. (1983). Current directions in West Africa prehistory. Annual Review of Anthropology 12: 215–258.
McIntosh, S. K., and McIntosh R. J. (1986). Recent archaeological research and dates from West Africa. Journal of African History 27: 413–442.
Obayemi, A. M. (1979). Ancient Ile-Ife: Another cultural reinterpretation. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 9(4): 151–185.
Obayemi, A. M. (1985). The Yoruba and Edo-speaking peoples and their neighbours before 1600. In Ajayi, J. F. A., and Crowder, M., (eds.), History of West Africa, 3rd ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 255–322.
Obayemi A. M. (n.d.). The Northeast Yoruba: A Cultural History, Unpublished.
Oyelaran, P. A. (1991). Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Investigations in Iffe-Ijumu Area of Kwara State, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Oyelaran, P. A., Allsworth-Jones, P., and Stringer, C. B. (1986). Excavations at Itaakpa Rockshelter, Kwara State, Nigeria, 1985. In The Pleistocene Perspective, Vol. 2. Section 6D(i), World Archaeological Congress, Southampton and London, pp. 1–7.
Shaw, T. S., and Daniels, S. G. H. (1984). Excavations at Iwo Eleru, Ondo State, Nigeria. West African Journal of Archaeology 14: 1–269.
Stahl, A. (1986). Early food production in West Africa: Rethinking the role of Kintampo culture. Current Anthropology 27(5): 532–536.
Stahl, A. (1993). Intensification in the West African Late Stone Age: A view from central Ghana. In Shaw, T., Sinclair, P. J. J., Andah, B., and Okpoko, A. (eds.), The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metal and Towns, Routledge, London, pp. 261–73.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oyelaran, P.A. Early Settlement and Archaeological Sequence of Northeast Yorubaland. African Archaeological Review 15, 65–79 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022222325095
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022222325095