Tracing Early Farming Communities in Southern Mozambique by Geophysical Prospection: Current State of Activities, Part 1

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology in Mozambique: Current Issues and Topics in Archaeology and Heritage Management" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In southern Africa, the appearance of pottery was first recognized in the context of Early Farming Communities (EFC) about 2000 BP. Increasingly, pottery can be linked to hunter-gatherers; therefore, southern Africa stands out as a place to investigate the contact between these two communities. In 2016, Eduardo Mondlane University Maputo and the German Archaeological Institute started a joint research project. Various surveys in Changalane, Maputo Province, documented new sites. In 2018, an initial geomagnetic prospection was performed at an open-air site near the famous Daimane shelter. The survey detected 18 magnetic anomalies that revealed two round anomalies interpreted as possible huts or kilns. The general lack of comparative studies necessitated verification by other geophysical methods and archaeological excavation. Therefore, in cooperation with Hamburg University, geophysical surveys were conducted. The recording of magnetic variations and electromagnetic signal responses may help to indicate further pithouses, pottery fields, and kilns in the context of EFC. The results will reveal additional excavation sites, which in return will allow confirmation of the geophysical results. Subsequently the project will be expanded to include archaeometric pottery analysis. The paper provides an introduction to the project and focuses on the work done so far.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Archaeology in Mozambique: Current Issues and Topics in Archaeology and Heritage Management

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32536