Genesis of Central Chadic Polities

ASPECTS OF AHRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY Papers from the lOth Congress of the PanAfrican Association for Prehistory and Related Studies edited by Gilbert Pwiti and Robert-Soper

(1996) UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE PUBLICATIONS Harare

/upects of African Archaeology

Genesis of central Chadic polities AUGUSTIN F. G. HOLL

Introduction From the 1920s archaeological research conducted in the Chadian plain by several researchers clearly shows that this extensive flat land mass was progressivcly colonized by Late Stone Age huntinggathering and food-producing societies from the middle of the Early Holocene period. In the présent State of research, this process of colonization seems to have started from the southem and western parts of the Chadian plain where the earliest sites have been recorded. However, sites from this early stage of human settlement are still poorly documented. The process of colonization seems to have involved small seasonal and nucleated Late Stone Age settlements. Later on, during the last four millennia, some of the early settlements and new ones emerged as sedentary food-producers villages. From the second half of the first millennium to the first half of the second millennium AD, some of thèse villages were fortified with impressive carthen walls, thus achieving the status of socio-political centers. Such developmental trajectories have been documented in two main parts of ihe Chadian plain; in Nigeria in the Hausaland in the west and in northem Cameroon and western Chad in the cenu-e. Hausa languages belong to the Western Branch of the Chadic linguistic family (Barreteau and Jungraithmayr 1993) while those from the nonhern Cameroon-western Chad belong to the Northem Central sub-branch of the same linguistic family. Evidence from the foraner area will not be discussed here. We will focus on the formation of centralised polities in the area inhabited today by speakers of Northem Central Chadic languages, here termed Central Chadic Polities. The issues to be addressed concem aspects of the process of colonization and the formation of a socio-political landscape in the Cameroonian part of the Chadian Plain. The southem pan of the Chad basin, in the west of the Chad Republic, northeastem Nigeria and northern Cameroon, here termed Chadian plain, is dotted with hundreds of mounds sites of varying size. So far, 822 mounds have been recorded and mapped; 449 are deserted settlements, 272 are still inhabited and sufficient information is available for the remaining 101 (Lebeuf 1981: 14). The present-day inhabitants of the Chadian plain belong to several ethnie groups, the most important l>eing the Kotoko, Babalia, Bulala, Kanuri, Mouloui and Shuwa-Arabs. The Kotoko, speakers of northern Central Chadic languages are considered to be the original settlers of the area, while the others, mainly Kanuri, speakers of a Saharan language, and the Shuwa-Arabs, speakers of a Semitic language, are later settlers. In gênerai however, cthno historical and some written historical records suggest that most. if not ail the mound-sites, have been settled by a rcmote people called the Sao. According to Lebeuf (1981: 15), this term "is uscd to refer lo black people, from diverse origins up-to the end of ihe XVI

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th C. AD." From this perspective, the term Sao cannot be considered as a précise and non-ambiguous ethnie label; it is more probably a generic term coined by neighbouring groups aiming to designate within the same category ail the pre-sixteenth century AD. mound-dwellers, probably ail of them speakers of Central Chadic languages. The research problem As a starting point, a discussion of some of the patterns which may be discovered at the gênera! level of the overall distribution of mounds in the Chadian plain may be useful in clarifying the research problem which will be addressed in this paper (Lebeuf 1969, 1981; Connah 1981, 1984; Holl 1993a, 1994; Holl et al. 1991). According to available gênerai archaeological maps (Lebeuf 1969, 1981; Connah 1981), the overall distribution of sites is uneven; some patterns can however be suggested. The study area can be panitioned into three main transects (Fig. 1 ). Transect 1 situated in the north, starts from the southem shore of lake Chad to the parallel of the Logone-Chari confluence. It measures 110 kilometers long on the east-west axis and 65 kilometers wide on the northsouth one, with 310 mounds according to Lebeuf (1969, 1981) or 293 mounds according to Connah (1981: 46). Transect 2 in the middle section of the plain, measures 110 km long and 50 km wide and comprises an unoccupied area of about 50 km in diameter which corresponds to the heavily flooded dépression of Waza National Park. The number of recorded mound sites, ail of them situated on the western and eastem periphery of the dépression, amounts to 58 according to Lebeuf (1981) census or 50 following that of Connah (1984 ). Transect 3, the southernmost one, measures 100 km long and 75 km wide; it contains 125 sites according to Connah (1984) or 132 following Lebeuf (1981). It is clear that the spatial patterns of site distribution presented above resuit from long term and cumulative settlement histor>', with probably various séquences of expansion, re-organisation and contraction; it is however striking thaï the present-day distribution of inhabited settlements présents similar patterns. Dynamics of the ecosystem: a sketch The process of colonization, with its presumably différent séquences of settlement, may have been dépendent upon the gênera! dynam.ics of the Chad basin ecosystems. characterized by a long-term trend toward decreasing lake size from the Early Holocene to the présent; receding from its Early Holocene Maïduguri-Bama-Limani-Bongor 320 m asl shoreline to its present-day 282 as! level. It can be hypothesized that shon (seasonal), mean (decadal, centennial), and long-term (millennial) variations in the depth as well as extension of the receding lake, may have generaied diverse location stratégies. Depending on the topographie characteristics of the inhabited areas, some shortterm occupations may have been wiped out by natural forces, while other localities were preserved for diverse reasons; it is this last category which is relevant to our discussion. The question to be asked may be framed as follows: what are the major characteristics of the ecosystem which have diciated the imperatives for optimal site-location? Let us consider that the receding of lake Chad from its 320 m asl to its present-day 282 m asl level was not a straight-forward and single épisode. The location of the lake shoreline was fluctuating, with épisodes of retreat followed by those of expansion even though the gênerai Late Holocene trend was that of gênera! recession. In such a context, depending on the concaténation of climatic parameters and slope gradients, new lands may have been available to human settlement at some periods, while at others, the same area may have been under water Site-location stratégies and movements of colonization may thus be conceptualized as non-linear, comprising séquences of expansion and dispersai, contraction and clustering, consolidation and re-organization.

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From ihe perspective outlined above, several models ca,i be built to understand the processes of settlement which have generated the present-day distribution of archaeological sites. In gênerai, people's décisions concerning site-location in the landscape are dépendent on the dominant aspect of the actual socio-economic System and relations with neighbouring social groups (Holl 1993b; Holl 1994). Theoretically, in a new land opened to human colonization without friction with other inhabitants, the new settlers are relatively free to take whatever décision concerning the location of their site. Such décisions may be based on the requirements of their socio-economic System, the avoidance of nuisance and an awareness of the dynamics cf the actual ecosystem. The Chadian plain situated in the Sahel is an open and low energy environment. It is a poorly drained and flat land mass comprising various kinds of savanna; the major pan of the landscape is flooded during the rainy season. Droughts and floods are the major natural ca'^astrophes which may have threatened human communiiies of this area. It can be expected that décisions concerning site-location may have resulted from an évaluation of risks of flood and crough:; long-term settlements are iherefore expected to be located on relatively safe topographie localities, not far from a water drainage, but above the annual flood level, in an area with fertile lands sui",îble for agriculture if the new settlers are agriculturalists, in grasslands if they are pastoralists, in ar. ecotone combining both if they are mixed farmers, or along major river courses if they are above ail fishing communities. Depending on the patterns of demography, a sustained increase in popula'jon may have generated a directional movement of settlement toward ail available land with simiia: optimal potentials. Chronology, site location and subsistence Systems Out of a total of more than 800 recorded mounds, less tha.'. 50 have been surveyed, excavated or tested in our study area (Connah 1981; Connah 1984; Griaule and Lebeuf 1948; Griaule and Lebeuf 1950; Griaule and Lebeuf 1951; Holl 1988a; Lebeuf er cl /9S0; Rapp 1984; Wulsin 1932). In gênerai however, a broad chronological framework pertainir.g to phases and settlement séquences has been achieved even if there are différences in the terminology used by individual authors; Sao I, Sao II and Sao III for Lebeuf (1969, 1981), Daïma I. Daim; Il'and Daïma III for Connah (1981), Pre-Sao, Early-Sao and Late Sao for Rapp (1984), and Late Sione Age or Late Neolithic, Early Iron Age, Laie Iron Age and Islamic (Holl 19S8b). More récent research shows that, even if this broad chronological framework does make sensé, it is still an extrcmely simplified view of a much more complex picture (David and Stemer 1989; Breunigfffl/. y992;Breunig et cl. 7993; Holl 1994). In the southernmost part of the Chadian plain. along the 320 m asl. Maïduguri-Bama-Limani-Bongor Early Holocene Megachad shoreline. two Late Stone Age localities have been discovered in Nigeria and Cameroon. In Nigeria, ai Konduga 90/l,"in asandpit on topof the ridge potsherds were found belowone mètre of Consolidated sands..". Associated charcoal gave a radiocarbon date of 6,340=250 BP. (KN-4300)" (Breunig e: al. 1992: 14). In Cameroon, at Blabli near Mora, radiocarbon dates run on ovicaprine bone fragments from the main occupation horizon indicate épisodes of settlement ranging from 6,960±200 BP. (TO1128) to 4,390±220 B P (TO-1127) (David and Sterner 1989: 7). The présence of ovicaprine bones in association with pottery suggest that the recorded Late Stone Age settlements were inhabited by food-producing societies. More recently, an impressive dugout, more than eight metcrs long and radiocarbon dated to 8000 years BP., has been found at D-jfuna, in the upper Yobe basin in the western pan of the Chadian plain (Breunig this volume). Tnis spectacular fmd is additional évidence of an Eady Holocene human présence along the shores of Mega-Chad. Due to the dynamics of lacustrine environments during that period of high lake level. it is highly probable that most of the sites have been destroyed or buried under thick layers of sédiments, as shown by the Dufuna dugout which has been found under five meters of sédiment. Another séries of Late Stone Age settlements, dating from ca. 4000 BP to 2500 BP, have been recorded. With the exception of Bornu 38 or "Bama road site a" which is situated on ihe ridge, most of them, Bomu 70

or Shilma. Kursakata, Dai'ma and Gajiganna in Nigeria, Sou Blamé-Radjil, Deguesse and Krenak in Cameroon, are located further nonh in ihe ecological and sedimentary context of the Chad Lagoonal Complex. This Chad Lagoonal Complex is probable évidence of the Late Holocene lake Chad shoreline, which may have fluctuated between 287 and 285 m asl. With a certain amount of variability from one site to another, évidence of animal husbandry of cattle, sheep and goats is attested in ail the tested localities. The carliest évidence for agriculture, dated to 3000 BR, is recorded at Kursakata (Neumann this volume); it consists of remains of cultivated pennisetum sp., wild plants, oryza sp., celtis integrifolia, ziziphus sp. and vitex sp. were also cxtensively collccted.

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At Gajiganna site complex composed of two distinct low mounds dated from 2700 to 3100 BP., "the economy of the prehistoric settlements was dominaied by domestic animais: goat, sheep and cattle. Domesticated dogs were probably raised as well. Sheep were rare in comparison to goats. Cattle played the most important rôle among livestock. More than 607c of the bones of ail mammals represented in the archaeological record are of cattle. Small clay figurines indicate a southern breed" (Breunig et al. 1993: 31). As far as the dynamics of the settlement System are concerned, the Chadian plain being devoid of stone geological formations, it is worth emphasizing the fact that an important part of the stone raw material used for the manufacture of ground axes, hammer stones and grinding siones, was brought from the Mandara-Mora mountain range situated in the south (Breunig et al. 1993: Connah 1981; Connah and Freeth 1989; Holl 1988a). From the end of the Late Stone Age, with the advent of the Early Iron .A.ge (ca. 2500-2000 BP), settlements seem to have expanded in various directions; toward the receding lake shores and toward drying former marshlands. Due to the limitations of our data base, this settlement séquence has been documented using a very small number of sites; at Mdaga and Amkoundjo in Chad Republic, Sou Blamé-Radjil, Deguessé and Krénak in Cameroon, and Daima in Nigeria (Lebeuf 1969, 1981; Connah 1981; Holl 1988b). With the advent of iron metallurgy, settlemenis seem to have been inhabited for longer periods of time with habitations built with bulkier material, that is wattle and daub. Earlier dwelling features, as shown by archaeological évidence from Daïma I, w'ere built with lighter material of wood and grass. A shift in site-location stratégies can therefore be hypothesized, with a move from predominantly mobile Late Stone Age hunier-gaiherers and food-producers to predominantly settled communities. This shift fmally resulted during the later periods ranging from 2000 BP. to the présent, in the formation of mound sites ai some of the selected localities settled more or less permanently. A doser examination of Fig. 1 shows that there is an almost linear string-like pattern of concentration of mound sites along the courses of major permanent and intermittent rivers and streams and fossil channels. In the Cameroonian part of the Chad plain, it appears that almost ail mound sites are situated along fossil or still active channels (Fig. 2): along the Yobe, Yedseram, Kalia, El Beid rivers in the west, the Serbewel and Abani rivers oriented S E - N W in the center, and the Chari and Logone in the east. Excavations at Mdaga, Amkoundjo, Sou Blamé-Radjil, Sou, Kursakata, Gajiganna, Houlouf and other tested sites, have shown that natural sand levées, situated above flood level, were selected for settlement near a water course. Such a location provides opportunities for the exploitation of a broad range of resources, fish and water fowl, animal husbandry, agriculture, wild plant gathering and hunting. Three major types of soils have been recorded in the Chadian plain: thick black clayey soils with varying content of limestone nodules, also called f/>/:/'clay, which are often flooded eachyear; lighter brown and shallower clayey soils; and finally, récent silty-sands and silty-clay, well drained but very sensitive to drought and susceptible to rapid dégradation (Brabant and Gas'aud 1985). The majority of the recorded mound-sites are located on the last category of soils (Fig. 2). As far as subsistence Systems are concerned, the characteristics of silty-sandy and silty-clayey soils, which are susceptible to rapid dégradation, may have generated a peculiar settlement dynamic. General distribution of végétation also provides additional dues for the modeling of site-location stratégies as shown by the fact that ail the main walled central settlements are situated in the Sudano-Sahelian savanna with Acacia seyal and Bclanites aegyptiaca. and the area with temporar) Sudano-Sahelian ponds with Acacia nilotica and Mitragina inerntis (Letouzey 1985). Combined with the possibility of fréquent droughts, an almost erratic site-location strategy can be expected comprising relatively short épisodes of settlement and exploitation of some spécifie parts of the landscape, followed by relatively longer épisodes of abandonment coinciding with fallow. Depending on the density of population, a séries of neighbouring mounds may therefore have been settled by the same community following the cycle of soil exhaustion/renewed feriility. The resolution of standard archaeological dating techniques does not yet allow us to demonstrate

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Figure 2

Distribution of soil catégories with location of main wailed central settlements.

L. Chad

li "I

Récent alluvium

•• -"l Sandy s i l t and s i l t y sand

m

Moderatelly t h i c k brown c l a y

fini

Thick black c l a y with limestone nodules

Kusseri

Cenesis of centra! Chadic polities Fisure 3 Poiygons.

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Central Chadic polities (AD 1600 ): Theorctical temtorial range based on Thiessen

• WuUi KAMDAGUE Guifey

Afadé

Midigue , Sou

Mdaga MSER Kusseri

JildeDjilbéX

Kala/ / KaVa Houlouf -where; at Houlouf, jars were used as "lombstones". without contact with the body and always placed at 0.30 to 0.50 m above the heads. In this cemetery. the dead w'ere buried in a sitting position, ail of them oriented toward the southweslern direction, with their feet in a pot. At Sao, Mdaga and Midigue, jars were used as coffins. In ail the cases, the number of jars per tomb varies from one to three. The surface extent of observed graveyards varies from 38.50 (HoulouO to 180 m2 (Midigue Intra-muros), and the number of burials in each from 11 (Sao) to 30 (Midigue Intramuros). Two of the studied cemeteries (Mdaga and Midigue Extra-muros) are located outside the settlement. According to informants (Lebeuf et al. 1980: 96). graveyards located outside the city ramparts were those of blacksmiths; it is therefore not surprising that almost ail of the excavated burials from thèse cemeteries were devoid of grave-goods. In terms of spatial patterning. the density of burials varies from 0.15/m- (Sao) to 0.67/m- (HoulouO and the average space per tomb from 1.48 m- (Houlouf) to 6.27 m- (Sao) (Table 1). In cemeteries located inside settlements, burials are distributed in différent clusters which suggest the existence of différent social fractions among those who were buried in thèse spécifie formai disposai areas (Holl 1994). The différences in the distribution of grave goods will not be detailed here (Table 1); they are however composed of diverse sets of items which can be divided into two broad catégories: local and foreign. Locally made items, such as clay beads, smoking pipes, pottery, zoomorphic and an-

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thropomorphic figurines, are récurrent but in very small amounts. Exotic goods, such as carnelian and glass beads (long cylindrical and opaque blue), and artefacts in alloyed copper connected to warfare and horsemanship, are relatively abundant but their distribution between settlemenis and burials is highly skewed. At Houlouf for example, the frequency per tomb of carnelian beads varies from 1 10 174, and that of artefacts in alloyed copper, from 1 to 12 (r/. Holl 1994). Exotic items were obtained from long distance trade and used as symbols of prestige and power. In the Chadian basin, in AD 1100-1600, such trade networks linked areas of procurement of slaves to market places in North Africa and the Nile Valley. Further, such links extended to the Sahara Bornu kingdom and Hausa polities in the North and West, and via Baguirmi kingdom and the Dar Fur in the East. The émergence of cemeteries occurred during the 15-16th century AD, at a period of re-settlement which took place after the abandonment of the area in ce. AD. 1350—1450 due to adverse climatic conditions (Maley 1981). Hiatus in the occupation séquence has been recorded in stratigraphie séquences of ail the tested mounds. At the end of the 14th century (.AD 1380), groups of Arab pastoralists started to move in to the Chad basin and may have been présent in the plain in ca. AD 1500-1550, while the neighboring Kanuri siate had started to initiale a program of expansion and conquest (Zeltner 1980; HoU 1993, 1994; Holl and Levy 1993). The combination of ail thèse events may have been crucial for the development and roulinisaiion of ranked societies in the Chadian plain. In this perspective, the development of formai disposai areas for the dead of some spécifie segments of the societies was an ideological and symbolic device to achieve an exclusive control of the land, while the building and the maintenance of earthen ramparts may have mobilized and strengthened the unity of the communities in iheir attempts to face border encroachmenis. Récent research conducted in the Houlouf région shows that 12 mound sites out of a total of 14 tested in an areà measuring 400 km- were abandoned during this period. Habitation was therefore concentrated at the walled village of Houlouf and the nearby site of Hamei, situated two kilometers to the Northeast (Holl 1988a). During the same time séquence, with the rise to paramountcy of Logone-Birni, ail the walled cities situated on ils borders with Bornu and Baguirmi kingdoms were integrated within a larger political system, the Logone kingdom—ihrough matrimonial alliance, clieniship and in some cases (mostly in the south), conquest (Lebeuf 1969; Sultan Maruf of LogoneBirni: pers. comm.). With a tighi network of fortified settlements along its borders, the Logone kingdom succeeded, in varving degrees, in remaining relatively independent up to the colonial conquest. Makary and Kusseri have followed différent paihways; the former, an early ally of Kanuri rulers, was a part of the Bomu kingdom; while the ruler of the latter, was captured by Bornu troops, by King Idris Alawma between 1564 and 1592, and his domain became a dépendent lerritory with the appointment of a Kanuri consul Khalifa. A few years before the end of the 19ih century, the whole area was devastated by Rabeh troops, and the beginning of the colonial domination started with the defeat of Rabeh troops ai Kusseri in 1900, in a baille against French troops (Zeltner 1980). Références Anania, G.L. d' 1582. L'Universale Fabrica del Mundo. Venice. Brabant, P. and Gavaud, M. 1985. Les Sols et les Ressources en Terre du Nord-Cameroun. Editions de l'ORSTOM, Paris. Breunig, P. this volume. The Dufuna dugout—Africa's eariiest boat. Breunig, P., Garba, A., and Waziri, I. 1992. Récent archaeological surveys in Borno, Northeastem Nigeria. A/yame/A/ci/ma 37: 10-16. Breunig, P., Garba, A., Gronenborn, D.. Van Nerr, W. and Wendl, P 1993. Report on excavations at Gajiganna, Borno siaie, Northeastem Nigeria. Nyame Akunw 40: 30-41

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Connah, G. 1981. Three Thousand Years in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Connah, G. 1984. An archaeological exploration in southem Borno. The African Archaeological Rêviez-2: 153-171. Connah, G. and Freeth, S.J. 1989. A commodity problem in prehistoric Borno. Sahara 2: 7-20. David, N and Sterner, J. 1989. Mandara archaeological project, 1988-89. Nyame Akuma 32: 5-9. Holl. A. 1988a. Houlouf I: Archéologie des Sociétés Protohistoriques du Nord-Cameroun. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. Holl. A. 1988b. Transition du Néolithique à l'Age du Fer dans la plaine péritchadienne: le cas de Mdaga. In Le Milieu et les Hommes: recherches comparatives et historiques dans le bassin du Lac Tchad (eds. D. Barreteau and H. Toumeux): pp. 81-110. Paris: Editions de l'ORSTO.M. Holl. A. 1993a. Transition from Laie Stone Age to Iron Age in the Sudano-Sahelian zone: a case study from the perichadian plain. In The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns (eds. T. Shaw. P Sinclair, B. Andah and A. Okpoko): pp. 330-343. London and New York: Routledge. HoU, A. 1993b. Community interaction and settlement patterning in Nonhern Cameroon. In Spatial Boundaries and Social Dynamics: case studies from food-producing societies (eds. A. Holl and T E . Levy): pp. 39-61. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory. HoU. A. 1994. The cemetery of Houlouf in Nonhern Cameroon (.AD 1500-1600): fragments of a past social System. African Archaeological Review 12: 133-170. Holl. A., Levy. T.E., Lechevalier, Cl. and Bridault, A. 1991. Of mounds, caille and men: archaeology and eihnoarchaeology in the Houlouf Région (Nonhern Cameroon). West African Journal of Archaeology 29: 7-36. Lebeuf, A.M.D. 1969. Les Principautés Kotoko: essai sur le caractère sacré de l'autorité. Paris: Editions du C.N'RS. Lebeuf, J.P., 1969. Cane Archéologique des Abords du Lac Tchad. Paris: Editions du C.N.R.S. Lebeuf, J.P. 1981. Supplément à la Carte Archéologiques des Abords du Lac Tchad. Paris: Editions du CNRS. Lebeuf, J.P, Lebeuf, A.M.D.. Treinen-Claustre. Fr. and Counin, J. 1980 Le Gisement Sao de Mdaga. Paris: Société d'Ethnographie Letouzey, R. 1985. Notice de la Carte Phytogéographique du Cameroun au 1 : 500 000. Institut de la Carte Internationale de la 'Végétation; Toulouse. Maley, J. 1981. Etudes Palynologiques dans le Bassin du Tchad et Pcléoclimatologie dans l'Afrique Nord-Tropicale de 30 000 ans à l'Epoque Actuelle. Paris: Editions de l'ORSTOM. Neumann, K. this volume. Archaeoboiany and Late Holocene végétation history in Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Rapp, J. 1984. Quelques aspects des civilisations Néolithiques et Post-néolithiques à l'extrême nord du Cameroun: étude des décors céramiques et essai de chronologie. Doctorale thesis, University of Bordeaux I. Servant, M. and Servant-'Vildary, S. 1980. L'environnement quaternaire du bassin du Tchad. In The Sahara and the Nile.(tds. M.A.J. 'Williams, H. Faure and A.A. Balkema): pp. 133-162. Rotterdam. Zeltner, J. C. 1980. Pages d'Histoire du Kanem: Pays Tchadien. Paris: L'Harmattan.