Revisiting Bosumpra: Examining 10,000 years of plant use at the Bosumpra rockshelter, Ghana (original) (raw)
In recent years there has been a growing interest in understanding the nature of prehistoric occupations and subsistence practices in the tropical forest regions of sub-Sahelian West Africa. These regions have long been considered as promising areas for investigating the antiquity and origins of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) use and cultivation, a resource of immense economic importance today. This thesis examines Later Stone Age (LSA) subsistence practices and explores the interrelationships between LSA populations and plant resources in the tropical forests of Ghana during the Holocene. Using archaeobotanical evidence, I provide a long-term view of plant use at the Bosumpra rockshelter in southern Ghana over the course of the 10,000 years occupation, and I present the first detailed archaeobotanical analysis for pre-Kintampo LSA populations in Ghana. This research documents the use and perhaps early management relationships with the oleaginous , incense tree (Canarium schweinfurthii L.) and oil palm, which are the most abundant food remains for all phases of occupation at Bosumpra. The collection and processing of these taxa, especially incense tree, were important activities performed at the shelter, and likely influenced the timing of the use of the shelter. The results of this study show the gradual displacement of incense tree by oil palm as the dominant tree-fruit resource at Bosumpra, and demonstrate the longstanding importance of both tree-fruit resources at the shelter well past the advent of food-production in Ghana. Remains of pearl millet and cowpea at Bosumpra document the appearance of plant domesticates in these forested habitats. Although this analysis of plant materials from Bosumpra provides data from only a single site, the findings resonate with more widespread work on LSA subsistence practices, especially in regard to the importance of incense tree and oil palm to forest inhabitants. It also provides archaeobotanical evidence supporting previous models of the introduction and spread of West African plant domesticates. Altogether, archaeobotanical data from Bosumpra provide insights into changing practices of plant use and management during the LSA, and a subtle indication of what may be the earliest evidence of interaction and exchange between hunter-gatherers and food producers in this forest region.
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10,000 year history of plant use at Bosumpra Cave, Ghana
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Investigations of hunter-gatherer subsistence, early food production, and the development of agroforestry systems during the Later Stone Age (LSA) of West Africa have proven challenging because of limited recovery and analysis of archaeological evidence relating directly to subsistence. This paper examines changes in the use of plant resources over a 10,000 year period at Bosumpra Cave, southern Ghana. Large quantities of recovered Canarium schweinfurthii (incense tree) and Elaeis guineensis (oil palm) endocarp preserved at the site allow for the assessment of previous observations about changes in the relative importance of tree fruit resources over time. Results point to the possibility that C. schweinfurthii was a managed resource and may be useful as a marker of forager subsistence in tropical forest regions. The exploitation of C. schweinfurthii persisted in the early and middle Holocene, but was eventually overshadowed in the late Holocene by Kintampo food-producing economies based on Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet), Vigna unguiculata (cowpea) and E. guineensis. The Bosumpra deposits also yielded domesticated pearl millet and cowpea, allowing for the comparison of LSA huntergatherer and early food producer subsistence practices and cultural interactions in southern Ghana.
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