Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Archaeobotany of the Later Stone Age (LSA) in Nigeria: A Review

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Plants and People in the African Past

Abstract

A review of the evidence for plant use during the Later Stone Age (LSA), a period which spanned c. 10,000-0 BC (12,000–2000 yr BP), in Nigeria is presented. Available data indicate that although there was contemporaneity in the use of artefacts (pottery, trapezoids and ground-stone axes) associated with plant use at LSA sites, there were marked regional differences in the plant species exploited. Linguistic evidence indicates the exploitation of Elaeis guineensis Jacq., Cola acuminata (P.Beauv.) Schott & Endl., Dioscorea spp. and Raphia hookeri G.Mann & H.Wendl. in the Proto Atlantic-Congo period in southern Nigeria , and subsequent exploitation of E. guineensis at c. 1000 BC (3000 yr BP). In the northeast, wild grasses, rice and fruits were exploited from c. 2000 BC (4000 yr BP), and domesticated Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br. by c. 1200–1000 BC (3200–3000 yr BP). In the north-central areas, from c. 800–450 BC P. glaucum, Eleusine cf. coracana L. Gaertn., Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp., Canarium schweinfurthii Engl., Vitex spp. and Isoberlinia were exploited in the Nok area of north-central Nigeria . At Kariya Wuro, Bridelia scleroneura Müll.Arg., Pavetta sp., E. guineensis and Sarcocephalus latifolius Sm. were gathered prior to c. AD 800. Incontrovertible evidence of the utilisation of culturally significant crops such as Dioscorea spp. is lacking due partly to the paucity of archaeobotanical research and to ineffective recovery methods. The combination of ethnographic and palaeoethnobotanical data is necessary to refine the understanding of human-plant interactions in the LSA, the archaeobotanical picture of which is still unfolding.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abdulsalaam S, Shenge KC (2011) Seed borne pathogens on farmer-saved Sorghum. J Stored Prod Postharvest Res 2(2):24–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Akpobasa JJ (2009) Stone age studies in Southwest Nigeria with particular emphasis on the assessment of material from Atamora Rock Shelter. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Alabi RA (1999) Human-environment relationship: a synthesis of ethnoarchalogical evidence of human impact on the Badagry coastal area of South Western Nigeria. J Sci Res 5(1):25–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Alabi RA (2000) Apa: a later stone age occupation layer in the Southwestern coast of Nigeria. Nyame Akuma 53:29–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Alabi RA (2002) Environment and subsistence of the early inhabitants of coastal southwestern Nigeria. Afr Archaeol Rev 19(4):183–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alabi RA, Abraham R (2013) Sedimentological analysis of late stone age environment of Itaogbolu rock shelter, Ondo State, Nigeria. J Environ Culture 10(1,2):1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Alabi RA, Aleru JO, Opadeji AO et al (2009) A hunter-gatherer community in the rain forest belt of southwestern Nigeria. Nyame Akuma 72:74–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen J, Newman ME, Riford M et al (1995) Blood and plant residues on Hawaiian stone tools from two archaeological sites in upland Kāne’ohe, Ko’olau Poko District. O’ahu Island. Asian Perspect 3(2):283–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Allsworth-Jones P, Harvati K, Stringer C (2010) The archaeological context of the Iwo Eleru cranium from Nigeria and preliminary results of new morphometric studies. In: Allsworth-Jones P (ed) West African archaeology, new developments, new perspectives BAR S2124. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp 29–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Allsworth-Jones P, Oyelaran PA, Stringer C et al (2012) Itaakpa, a Late stone age site in southwestern Nigeria. J Field Archaeol 37(3):163–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andah BW (1983) The Bantu “Homeland” Project: ethnoarchaeological investigations in parts of the Benue valley region. W Afr J Archaeol 13:23–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Andah BW (1993) Identifying early farming traditions in West Africa. In: Shaw T, Sinclair P, Andah B, Okpoko A (eds) The archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. Routledge, London, pp 240–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Andah BW, Anozie F (1980) Preliminary report on the prehistoric site of Afikpo (Nigeria). W Afr J Archaeol 10:83–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballouche A, Neumann K (1995) A new contribution to the Holocene vegetation history of the West African Sahel: pollen from Oursi, Burkina Faso and charcoal from three sites in northeast Nigeria. Veg Hist Archaeobot 4:31–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker G (2006) The agricultural revolution in prehistory: why did foragers become farmers?. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton H (1998) Clues to stone tool function re-examined: comparing starch grain frequencies on used and unused obsidian artefacts. J Archaeol Sci 25:1231–1238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blench R (2015) Linguistic and cultural background to the North Bauchi region and the Wiihə people. In: Allsworth-Jones P (ed) Kariya Wuro: a late stone age site in northern Nigeria. Reports in African Archaeology 7. Africa Magna Verlag, Frankfurt

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogaard A, Hodgson J, Nitsch E et al (2016) Combining functional weed ecology and crop stable isotope ratios to identify cultivation intensity: a comparison of cereal production regimes in Haute Provence, France and Asturias, Spain. Veg Hist Archaeobot 25:57–73

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Breunig P, Neumann K (2002) From hunters and gatherers to food producers: new archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence from the West African Sahel. In: Hassan FA (ed) Droughts, food and culture ecological change and food security in Africa’s later prehistory. Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, pp 123–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks AS, Diane EG, Yellen JE (1984) Food production and culture change among the !Kung San: implications for prehistoric research. In: Clark JD, Brandt SA (eds) From hunters to farmers. University of California Press, Berkley, pp 293–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant VM (1995) Eating right is an ancient rite. The World & I. January 216–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Connah G (1981) Three thousand years in Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook EJ, van Geel B, van der Kaars S et al (2011) A review of the use of non-pollen palynomorphs in palaeoecology with examples from Australia. Palynology 35(2):155–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez-Rodrigo M, Serrallonga J, Juan-Tresserras J et al. (2001) Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania). J Hum Evol 40:289–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupont LM, Jahns S, Marret, F et al. (2000). Vegetation change in equatorial West Africa; time-slices for the last 150ka. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 155:95–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fatunsin FK (1996) Ifetedo: a late stone age site in the forest region of southwestern Nigeria. W Afr J Archaeol 26(1):71–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Folorunso CA (1998) The compound of the Tiv in Benue State Nigeria: the reality of ethnoarchaeology In: Andah BW, Sowunmi M.A, Okpoko AI, Folorunso CA (eds) Africa: the challenge of archaeology. Heinemann Educational Books, Nigeria, pp 235–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaherty G (1968) The human skeleton from Rop Rock Shelter, Nigeria. West Afr Archaeological Newsl 9:18–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelorini V, Verbeken A, van Geel B et al (2011) Modern non-pollen palynomorphs from East African lake sediments. Rev Palaeobot Palyno 164:143–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González HHL, Martinez EJ, Resnik SL (1997) Fungi associated with Sorghum grain from Argentina. Mycopathologia 139(1):35–41

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harlan JR (1993) The tropical African cereals. In: Shaw T, Sinclair P, Andah B, Okpoko A (eds) The archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. Routledge, London, pp 53–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvati K, Stringer C, Grun R et al (2011) The later stone age calvaria from Iwo Eleru, Nigeria: morphology and chronology. PLoS ONE 6(9):1–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hather JG, Mason SLR (2002) Introduction: some issues in the archaeobotany of hunter-gatherers. In: Mason SLR, Hather JG (eds) Hunter-gatherer archaeobotany: perspectives from the northern temperate zone. University College London, Institute of Archaeology, pp 1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones G (2002) Weed ecology as a method for the archaeobotanical recognition of crop husbandry practices. Acta Palaeobot 42(2):185–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahlheber S, Höhn A, Rupp N (2009) Archaeobotanical studies at Nok sites: an interim report. Nyame Akuma 71:2–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Klee M, Zach B, Neumann K (2000) Four thousand years of plant exploitation in the Chad Basin of northeast Nigeria I: the archaeobotany of Kursakata. Veg Hist Archaeobot 9:223–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klee M, Zach B, Stika H (2004) Four thousand years of plant exploitation in the Lake Chad Basin (Nigeria), part III: plant impressions in potsherds from the final stone age Gajiganna culture. Veg Hist Archaeobot 13:131–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanfranco LP, Eggers S (2012) Caries through time: an anthropological overview. In: Ming-Yu Li (ed) Contemporary approach to dental caries. http://www.intechopen.com/books/contemporary-approach-to-dental-caries/caries-archaeological-andhistorical-record. In Tech

  • Lucarini G, Radini A, Barton H et al. (2015) The exploitation of wild plants in Neolithic North Africa: use-wear and residue analysis on non-knapped stone tools from the Haua Fteah cave, Cyrenaica, Libya. Quatern Int http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.109

  • MacDonald KC (1998) Archaeology, language and the peopling of West Africa: a consideration of the evidence. In: Blench R, Sriggs M (eds) Archaeology and language II archaeological data and linguistic hypotheses. Rouledge, London, pp 33–66

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Muzzolini A (1993) The emergence of a food-producing economy in the Sahara. In: Shaw T, Sinclair P, Andah B, Okpoko A (eds) The archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. Routledge, London, pp 227–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Neumann K (1999) Early plant food production in the West Africa Sahel: new evidence. In: van der Veen M (ed) The exploitation of plant resources in ancient Africa. Kluwer Academic Publishers, NewYork, pp 73–80

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Oas SE, D’Andrea AC, Watson DJ (2015) 10,000 year history of plant use at Bosumpra Cave, Ghana. Veg Hist Archaeobot 24:635–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orijemie EA, Sowunmi MA (2014) Humans and the mangrove in southern Nigeria. In: Stevens CJ, Nixon S, Murray MA, Fuller DQ (eds) The archaeology of African plant use. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California, pp 103–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Oyelaran PA (2002) Vegetation change in the pollen assemblage of Osaru Pond. Environmental Issues 24:32–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Pastouret L, Chamley H, Delibrias G et al. (1979) Late Quaternary climate changes in western tropical Africa deduced from Deep-sea sedimentation off Niger Delta. Oceanologica Acta 1(2):212–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelling R (2014) Patterns in the archaeobotany of Africa: developing database for North Africa, the Sahara and the Sahel. In: Stevens CJ, Nixon S, Murray MA, Fuller DQ (eds) Archaeology of African plant use. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California, pp 205–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Piperno DR, Holst I (1998) The presence of starch grains on prehistoric stone tools from the humid neotropics: indications of early tuber use and agriculture in Panama. J Archaeol Sci 25:765–776

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson DW (2005) African archaeology, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Salzmann U (2000) Are modern savanna degraded forests? – a Holocene pollen record from the Sudanian vegetation zone of NE Nigeria. Veg Hist Archaeobot 9:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salzmann U, Hoelzmann P, Morczinek I (2002) Late quaternary climate and vegetation of the Sudanian zone of northeast Nigeria. Quat Res 58:73–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schollmeyer KG, Turner CG (2004) Dental caries, prehistoric diet, and the pithouse-to pueblo transition in southwestern Colorado. Am Antiquity 69(3):569–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw T (1984) Archaeological evidence and effects of food-producing in Nigeria. In: Clark JD, Brandt SA (eds) From hunters to farmers. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 152–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw T, Daniels SGH (1984) Excavations at Iwo-Eleru. W Afr J Archaeol 14:1–269

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiner JL (1973) Wear patterns on stone tools. Nyame Akuma 3:32

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper RC (1965) The Stone Age in northern Nigeria. J Historical Soc Nigeria 3:175–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Sowunmi MA (1981a) Aspects of late Quaternary vegetational changes in West Africa. J Biogeogr 8:457–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sowunmi MA (1981b) The late Quaternary environmental changes in Nigeria. Pollen Spores 23(1):125–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Sowunmi MA (1985) The beginnings of agriculture in West Africa: botanical evidence. Curr Anthropol 26(1):127–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sowunmi MA (2002) Environmental and human responses to climatic events in west and west central Africa during the late Holocene. In: Hassan FA (ed) Droughts, food and culture: ecological change and food security in Africa’s later prehistory. Kluwer Academic, New York, pp 95–104

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sowunmi MA (2004) Aspects of Nigerian coastal vegetation in the Holocene: some recent insights. In: Battarbee RW, Gasse F, Sticklay CF (eds) Past climate variability through Europe and Africa. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 199–218

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sowunmi MA, Awosina EO (1991) Pollen analyses of Kariya Wuro Rock Shelter, Bauchi State. Nigerian Field 56:163–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Switsur R, Otto T, Allsworth-Jones P (1994) New dating evidence and wood identification of wood charcoal from Kariya Wuro Rock shelter, Bauchi State. The Nigerian Field 59:135–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Tubosun BJ (1995) Geo-archaeological investigations in Adikpo area of Katsina-Ala River basin, Benue State, Nigeria. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Ibadan

    Google Scholar 

  • Umeji OP, Ibeanu AM, Agwu COC (2012) Holocene human occupation of the eastern Nigerian scarp lands: an impact assessment study. Quatern Int 4:2–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Geel B, Gelorini V, Lyaruu A et al (2011) Diversity and ecology of tropical African fungal spores from a 25,000-year palaeoenvironmental record in southeastern Kenya. Rev Palaeobot and Palyno 164:174–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetterstrom W (1993) Foraging and farming in Egypt: the transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture in the Nile valley. In: Shaw T, Sinclair P, Andah B, Okpoko A (eds) The archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. Routledge, London, pp 165–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Willett F (1962) The microlithic industry from Old Oyo, western Nigeria. Actes du Ive Congrès Panafrician de Préhistoire et de l’étude du Quaternaire 3:261–271

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson K (1993) Linguistic evidence for the use of some tree and tuber food plants in southern Nigeria. In: Shaw T, Sinclai P, Anda B, Okpoko A (eds) The archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. Routledge, London, pp 139–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Yates A, Smith AM, Parr J et al (2014) AMS dating of ancient plant residues from experimental stone tools: a pilot study. J Archaeol Sci 49:595–602

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eyo EO (1972) Rop rock shelter excavations 1964. W Afr J Archaeol 2:13–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Zida PE, Sereme P, Leth V, Sankara P, Somda I, Neya A (2008) Importance of seed-borne fungi of Sorghum and pearl millet in Burkina Faso and their control using plants extracts. Pak J Biol Sci 11:321–331

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Emuobosa A. Orijemie

  2. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Emuobosa A. Orijemie

Authors
  1. Emuobosa A. Orijemie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emuobosa A. Orijemie .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Anna Maria Mercuri

  2. Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    A. Catherine D'Andrea

  3. Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Rita Fornaciari

  4. Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany

    Alexa Höhn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Orijemie, E.A. (2018). The Archaeobotany of the Later Stone Age (LSA) in Nigeria: A Review. In: Mercuri, A., D'Andrea, A., Fornaciari, R., Höhn, A. (eds) Plants and People in the African Past. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_17

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation