Exploitation of Canarium versus African Oil Palm by Ancient Hunter-Gatherers in Tropical Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Numerous oleaginous (oil-producing) tree species exist across tropical Africa. Indigenous populations both past and present used many of these species in a variety of ways including for fuel, cooking, medicinal, and cosmetic purposes. Current emphasis in the literature is often placed on the importance of E. guineensis (African oil palm) likely due to it being a highly productive and economically important crop today. Here, however, we investigate the importance and exploitation of the lesser known C. schweinfurthii (canarium or African elemi) by hunter-gatherers as a resource in ancient contexts and compare oil exploitation between these two important sources. Indigenous use of African oil palm in this region became notably apparent the past 5000 years; however, evidence for the use of canarium dates to 11,000 years ago. While this disparity of use across time potentially resulted from differential distribution on the landscape, it may also result from possible technological constraints that existed for early hunter-gatherer populations. This paper provides a re-consideration of the importance of canarium and its role in ancient hunter-gatherer dietary and social practices in tropical Africa as well as provide a comparison between this often-overlooked source of oil and African oil palm.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33123