Archaeological charcoals as archives for firewood preferences and vegetation composition during the late Holocene in the southern Mayumbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Published Date
September 2014, Volume 23, Issue 5, pp 591–606

Original Article

First Online: 

09 October 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s00334-013-0415-1

Cite this article as: 

Hubau, W., Van den Bulcke, J., Bostoen, K. et al. Veget Hist Archaeobot (2014) 23: 591. doi:10.1007/s00334-013-0415-1

Author

Wannes Hubau, 

Jan Van den Bulcke, 

Koen Bostoen, 

Bernard Olivier Clist, 

Alexandre Livingstone Smith, 

Nele Defoirdt, 

Florias Mees, 

Laurent Nsenga, 

Joris Van Acker, 

Hans Beeckman

Abstract

Analysis of charcoal from an archaeological assemblage near the Lukula community located at the southernmost boundary of the Mayombe forest (Bas-Congo, DRC) yielded 30 taxa used as firewood between 1,200 and 700 cal. b.p. Local people mentioned 71 taxa preferred for use nowadays. The identified taxa belong either to mature rainforest, pioneer forest, regenerating forest or woodland savanna, indicating that ancient and current local populations gathered firewood in several different forest types. Modern firewood preferences do not seem to agree with the archaeobotanical composition. Also, linguistic evidence does not indicate a long exploitation history for all of the recorded taxa. Furthermore, no particular wood qualities such as wood density, calorific value or magical or medicinal properties seem to determine the Lukula assemblage, which was probably composed of waste material from various activities which required different specific firewood characteristics. As such, taxa composition is not biased by human selection, suggesting that it reflects the surrounding environment, which was characterised by mature rainforest with patches of regenerating forest and open vegetation types. Unlike the origin of present-day forest-savanna mosaics from human activity, fragmentation around 1,000 cal. b.p. may have been provoked by a well-known climatic event coinciding with the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which undoubtedly had a significant impact on Central African forest composition.

References

1. Abbot P, Lowore J, Khofi C, Werren M (1997) Defining firewood quality: a comparison of quantitative and rapid appraisal techniques to evaluate firewood species from a southern African savanna. Biomass Bioenergy 12:429–437CrossRef
2. African Plants Database (2012) African Plants Database Version 3.3.3. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève and South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/. Accessed 1 February 2011–10 August 2012
3. Assoko Ndong A (2001) Archéologie du peuplement Holocène de la réserve de faune de la Lopé, Gabon. Dissertation, Université Libre de Bruxelles
4. Baert G (1995) Properties and chemical management aspects of soils on different parent rocks in the Lower Zaire. Dissertation, Ghent University
5. Bayon G, Dennielou B, Etoubleau J, Ponzevera E, Toucanne S, Bermell S (2012) Intensifying weathering and land use in Iron Age Central Africa. Science 335:1,219–1,222CrossRef
6. Bennett K (1996) Determination of the number of zones in a biostratigraphic sequence. New Phytol 132:155–170CrossRef
7. Birks HJB, Gordon AD (1985) Numerical methods in quaternary pollen analysis. Academic Press, London
8. Bostoen K (2005) A diachronic onomasiological approach to early Bantu oil palm vocabulary. Stud Afr Linguist 34:143–188
9. Bostoen K (2013) Wild trees in the subsistence economy of early Bantu speech communities: a historical-linguistic approach. In: Fuller DQ, Murray MA (eds) African flora, past cultures and archaeobotany. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp 129–140
10. Bostoen K, Grollemund R, Koni Muluwa J (2013) Climate-induced vegetation dynamics and the Bantu expansion: evidence from Bantu names for pioneer trees (Elaeis guineensisCanarium schweinfurthii and Musanga cecropioides). C R Geosci (in press)
11. Braadbaart F, Poole I (2008) Morphological, chemical and physical changes during charcoalification of wood and its relevance to archaeological contexts. J Archaeol Sci 35:2,434–2,445CrossRef
12. Brncic TM, Willis KJ, Harris DJ, Washington R (2007) Culture or climate? The relative influences of past processes on the composition of the lowland Congo rainforest. Philos Trans R Soc 362:229–242CrossRef
13. Brncic TM, Willis KJ, Harris DJ, Washington R (2009) Fire and climate change impacts on lowland forest composition in northern Congo during the last 2580 years from palaeoecological analyses of a seasonally flooded swamp. Holocene 19:79–89CrossRef
14. Burkill HM (1985) The useful plants of West Tropical Africa, 1st edn. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
15. Carcaillet C, Thinon M (1996) Pedoanthracological contribution to the study of the evolution of the upper treeline in the Maurienne Valley (North French Alps): methodology and preliminary data. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 91:399–416CrossRef
16. Clist B (1982) Etude archéologique du matériel de la mission Maurits Bequeart de 1950–1952 au Bas-Zaïre. Mémoire de Licence, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels
17. Clist B (2005) Des premiers villages aux premiers européens autour de l’estuaire du Gabon: quatre millénaires d’interactions entre l’homme et son milieu. Dissertation, Université Libre de Bruxelles
18. Clist B (2012) Pour une archéologie du royaume Kongo: la tradition de Mbafu. Azania: Archaeol Res Afr 47:175–209
19. Clist B, Schwartz D, Vrydaghs L, Powers A, Doutrelepont H, Louis A (in press) Le site de la Rivière Denis au Gabon dans le contexte général de la néolithisation de l’Afrique Centrale: ses données chronologiques culturelles et paléo-environnementales. Afr Archaeol Rev
20. Dahms K-G (1999) Afrikanische Exporthölzer, 3rd edn. DRW-Verlag, Stuttgart
21. Davis M, Eberhard A (1991) Combustion characteristics of fuelwoods. S Afr For J 158:17–22
22. De Foresta H (1990) Origine et évolution des savanes intramayombiennes (RP du Congo). II Apports de la botanique forestière. In: Lanfranchi R, Schwartz D (eds) Paysages quaternaires de l’Afrique Centrale Atlantique. ORSTOM collection didactiques, Paris, pp 326–335
23. De Grauwe J (2009) Lexique yoómbe-français, avec index français-yoómbe (bantu H16c). Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren
24. De Maret P (1972) Etude d’une collection de céramiques protohistoriques du Bas-Zaïre. Mémoire de Licence, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels
25. Dechamps R, Senut B, Pickford M (1992) Fruits fossiles pliocènes et pléistocènes du Rift occidentale ougandais. Signification paléoenvironnementale. C R Acad Sci série 2, 314:325–331
26. Denbow J (1990) Congo to Kalahari: data and hypotheses about the political economy of the western stream of the Early Iron Age. Afr Archaeol Rev 8:139–176CrossRef
27. Denbow J (2012) Pride, prejudice, plunder and preservation: archaeology and the re-envisioning of ethnogenesis on the Loango coast of the Republic of Congo. Antiquity 86:383–408
28. Doat J (1977) Le pouvoir calorifique des bois tropicaux. Bois et Forêts des Tropiques 172:33–55
29. Dupre MC, Pinçon B (1997) Métallurgie et politique en Afrique Centrale, deux mille ans de vestiges sur les plateaux bateke (Gabon Congo Zaïre). Khartala, Paris
30. Eberhard AA (1990) Fuelwood calorific values in South Africa. Suid-Afrikaanse Bosboutydskrif 152:17–22
31. Eggert MKH (2005) The Bantu problem and African archaeology, Chap. 12. In: Stahl AB (ed) African archaeology: a critical introduction. Blackwell, London
32. Eggert MKH, Höhn A, Kahlheber S, Meister C, Neumann K, Schweizer A (2006) Pits, graves and grains: archaeological and archaeobotanical research in southern Cameroun. J Afr Archaeol 4:273–298CrossRef
33. Elouga M (2001) Archéologie du Cameroun méridional: étude de la céramique des sites du sud de la boucle de la Sanaga. Dissertation, Université de Yaoundé
34. Gosselain O (1988) Sakusi: fouille d’un premier village du néolithique et de l’Age des Métaux au Zaïre. Analise de la céramique. Mémoire de Licence, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels
35. Gouem Gouem B (2011) Des premières communautés villageoises au sociétés complexes sur le littoral méridional du Cameroun. Dissertation, Universite Libre de Bruxelles
36. Hart TB, Hart JA, Dechamps R, Fournier M, Ataholo M (1996) Changes in forest composition over the last 4000 years in the Ituri basin, Zaire. In: Van der Maesen LJG, Van der Burgt XM, Van Medenbach de Rooy JM (eds) The Biodiversity of African plants. Kluwer, Dordrecht
37. Hubau W (2013) Exploring charcoal as a natural archive for palaeofire and vegetation history of the Mayumbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dissertation, Universiteit Gent
38. Hubau W, Van den Bulcke J, Mees F, Van Acker J, Beeckman H (2012) Charcoal identification in species-rich biomes: a protocol for Central Africa optimised for the Mayumbe forest. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 171:164–178CrossRef
39. Hubau W, Van den Bulcke J, Kitin P, Mees F, Baert G, Nsenga L, Van Acker J, Beeckman H (2013) Ancient charcoal as a natural archive for palaeofire regime and vegetation change in the Mayumbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Quat Res 80:326–340
40. IAWA Committee (1989) IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. IAWA J 10:219–332CrossRef
41. InsideWood (2011) The InsideWood Working Group (IWG), 2004-onwards. http://insidewood.lib.ncsu.edu/search. Accessed 11 Jul 2011
42. Juggins S (2012) Package ‘Rioja’. R package for analysis of Quaternary science data. http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/staff/stephen.juggins/index.htm. Accessed 2 Oct 2011
43. Kanimba Misago C (1991) L’Age du Fer Ancien: Zaïre. In: Lanfranchi R, Clist B (eds) Aux origines de l’Afrique centrale. Centres Culturels Français de l’Afrique Centrale/Sépia, Paris, pp 212–217
44. Kataki R, Konwer D (2001) Fuelwood characteristics of some indigenous woody species of north-east India. Biomass Bioenergy 20:17–23CrossRef
45. Koni Muluwa J (2010) Plantes, animaux et champignons en langues bantu. Etude comparée de phytonymes, zoonymes et myconymes en nsong, ngong, mpiin, mbuun et hungan (Bandundu RD Congo). Dissertation, Université libre de Bruxelles
46. Koni Muluwa J, Bostoen K (2010) Les plantes et l’invisible chez les Mbuun Mpiin et Nsong (Bandundu RD Congo): une approche ethnolinguistique. Sprache Gesch Afr 21:95–122
47. Lanfranchi R, Clist B (eds) (1991) Aux origines de l’Afrique centrale. Centres Culturels Français de l’Afrique Centrale/Sépia, Paris
48. Latham P (2004) Useful plants of Bas-Congo province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. DFID, London
49. Lavachery P (2001) The Holocene archaeological sequence of Shum Laka rock shelter (Grassfields, Western Cameroon). Afr Archaeol Rev 18:213–248CrossRef
50. Leal ME (2004) The African rain forest during the Last Glacial Maximum. An archipelago of forests in a sea of grass. Dissertation, Wageningen University
51. Lebrun J, Gilbert G (1954) Une classification écologique des forêts du Congo. Publications de l’Institut National pour l’Etude Agronomique du Congo Belge (INEAC), Série scientifique 63. INEAC, Bruxelles
52. Livingstone-Smith A (2001) Bonfire II: the return of pottery firing temperatures. J Archaeol Sci 28:991–1,003CrossRef
53. Maley J (1996) Le cadre paléoenvironnemental des refuges forestiers africains: quelques données et hypothèses. In: Van der Maesen LJG, Van der Burgt XM, Van Medenbach de Rooy JM (eds) The biodiversity of African plants. Kluwer, Dordrecht
54. Maley J, Brenac P (1998) Vegetation dynamics, palaeoenvironments and climatic changes in the forests of western Cameroon during the last 28000 years B.P. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 99:157–187CrossRef
55. Maley J, Chepstow-Lusty A (2001) Elaeis guineensis Jacq (oil palm) fluctuations in central Africa during the late Holocene: climate or human driving forces for this pioneering species? Veget Hist Archaeobot 10:117–120CrossRef
56. Maley J, Giresse P, Doumenge C, Favier C (2012) Comment on “Intensifying weathering and land use in Iron Age Central Africa”. Science 337:1,040-dCrossRef
57. Maniatis D, Saint André L, Temmerman M, Malhi Y, Beeckman H (2011) The potential of using xylarium wood samples for wood density calculations: a comparison of approaches for volume measurement. iForest: Biogeosci For 4:150–159
58. Matoumba M (2008) Les sites paléolithiques de la province de la Nyanga (extrême sud-ouest du Gabon). Dissertation, Université de Paris
59. McBrearty S (1990) Consider the humble termite: termites as agents of post-depositional disturbance at African archaeolgical sites. J Archaeol Sci 17:111–143CrossRef
60. McCormac FG, Hogg AG, Blackwell PG, Buck CE, Higham TFG, Reimer PJ (2004) SHCal04 Southern Hemisphere calibration 0–110 cal kyr B.P. Radiocarbon 46:1,087–1,092
61. Mercader J, Martí R, González IJ, Sánchez A, Garciá P (2003) Archaeological site formation in rain forests: insights from the Ituri rock shelters, Congo. J Archaeol Sci 30:45–65CrossRef
62. Munalula F, Meincken M (2008) An evaluation of South African fuelwood with regards to calorific value and environmental impact. Biomass Bioenergy 33:415–420CrossRef
63. Murphy CP (1986) Thin section preparation of soils and sediments. AB Academic Publishers, Berkhamsted
64. Neumann K, Bostoen K, Höhn A, Kahlheber S, Ngomanda A, Tchiengué B (2012a) First farmers in the Central African rainforest: a view from southern Cameroon. Quat Int 249:53–62CrossRef
65. Neumann K, Eggert MKH, Oslisly R, Clist B, Denham T, De Maret P, Ozainne S, Hildebrand E, Bostoen K, Salzmann U, Schwartz D, Eichhorn B, Tchiengué B, Höhn A (2012b) Comment on “Intensifying weathering and land use in Iron Age Central Africa”. Science 337:1,040-cCrossRef
66. Ngomanda A, Jolly D, Bentaleb I, Chepstow-Lusty A, Makaya M, Maley J, Fontugne M, Oslisly R, Rabenkogo N (2007) Lowland rainforest response to hydrological changes during the last 1500 years in Gabon, Western Equatorial Africa. Quat Res 67:411–425CrossRef
67. Ngomanda A, Chepstow-Lusty A, Makaya M, Favier C, Schevin P, Maley J, Fontugne M, Oslisly R, Jolly D (2009a) Western equatorial African forest-savanna mosaics: a legacy of late Holocene climatic change? Clim Past 5:647–659CrossRef
68. Ngomanda A, Neumann K, Schweizer A, Maley J (2009b) Seasonality change and the third millennium BP rainforest crisis in southern Cameroon (Central Africa). Quat Res 71:307–318CrossRef
69. Oslisly R (1992) Préhistoire de la moyenne vallée de l’Ogooué (Gabon). Dissertation, Université de Paris
70. Picornell-Gelabert L, Asouti E, Allué Martí E (2011) The ethnoarchaeology of firewood management in the Fang villages of Equatorial Guinea, central Africa: implications for the interpretation of wood fuel remains from archaeological sites. J Anthropol Archaeol 30:375–384CrossRef
71. Pierot (1987) Etude ethnoarchéologique du site de Mashita Mbanza (Zaïre). Mémoire de Licence, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels
72. Pinçon B (1990) La métallurgie du fer sur les plateaux Teke (Congo). Quelles influences sur l’évolution des paysages au cours des deux derniers millénaires? In: Lanfranchi R, Schwartz D (eds) Paysages quaternaires de l’Afrique Centrale Atlantique. ORSTOM collection didactiques, Paris, pp 479–492
73. Protabase (2012) Plant resources of tropical Africa. http://database.prota.org/search.htm. Accessed 1 Feb 2011–10 Aug 2012
74. Ramos MA, De Medeiros PM, De Almeida ALS, Feliciano AP, De Albuquerque UP (2008a) Use and knowledge of fuelwood in an area of Caatinga vegetation in NE Brazil. Biomass Bioenergy 32:510–517CrossRef
75. Ramos MA, De Medeiros PM, De Almeida ALS, Feliciano AP, De Albuquerque UP (2008b) Can wood quality justify local preferences for firewood in an area of caatinga (dryland) vegetation? Biomass Bioenergy 32:503–509CrossRef
76. Raponda-Walker A, Sillans R (1995) Les plantes utiles du Gabon. Le Chevalier, Paris
77. Russell JM, Johnson TC (2007) Little Ice Age drought in equatorial Africa: intertropical Convergence Zone, migrations and El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability. Geol 35:21–24CrossRef
78. Schwartz D, Gebhardt A (2011) L’enfouissement de vestiges archéologiques par la bioturbation : la colline du Hexenberg (Leutenheim 67)—Un cas d’école. Etude et gestion des sols 18:287–300
79. Schwartz D, De Foresta H, Dechamps R, Lanfranchi R (1990) Découverte d’un premier site de l’âge du fer ancien (2110 BP) dans le Mayombe congolais. Implications paléobotaniques et pédologiques. C R Acad Sci Paris série 2, 310:1,293–1,298
80. Shackleton CM, Prins F (1992) Charcoal analysis and the “Principle of Least Effort”—a conceptual Model. J Archaeol Sci 19:631–637CrossRef
81. Sosef MSM (1996) Begonias and African rain forest refuges: general aspects and recent progress. In: Van der Maesen LJG, Van der Burgt XM, Van Medenbach de Rooy JM (eds) The biodiversity of African plants. Kluwer, Dordrecht
82. SPIAF (1988) Liste des essences forestières du Zaïre. Département des Affaires Foncières, Environnement et Conservation de la Nature, Kinshasa
83. Stoops G (2003) Guidelines for analysis and description of soil and regolith thin sections. Soil Science Society of America, Madison
84. Stuiver M, Reimer PJ (1993) Extended 14C database and revised CALIB 30 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230
85. Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Reimer RW (2005) CALIB 50. http://www.science.new-2006.com/website.17140.CALIB_14C_Calibration_Program.html. Accessed 22 Nov 2012
86. Tervuren Xylarium Wood Database (2012) Tervuren Wood Collection database of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. http://www.africamuseum.be/collections/browsecollections/naturalsciences/earth. Accessed 1 Feb 2011–10 Aug 2012
87. Théry-Parisot I, Chabal L, Chrzavzez J (2010) Anthracology and taphonomy, from wood gathering to charcoal analysis. A review of the taphonomic processes modifying charcoal assemblages in archaeological contexts. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 291:142–153CrossRef
88. Van Noten FL (1982) The archaeology of Central Africa. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz
89. Van Ranst E, Baert G, Ngongo M, Mafuka P (2010) Carte pédologique de la province du Bas-Congo et ville de Kinshasa, échelle 1:500000. UGent Hogent/UNILU/UNIKIN, Ghent/Lubumbashi/Kinshasa
90. Verschuren D, Charman DJ (2008) Latitudinal linkages in late Holocene moisture-balance variation. In: Battarbee RW, Binney HA (eds) Natural climate variability and global warming: a Holocene perspective. Wiley, Chichester
91. Vincens A, Schwartz D, Bertaux J, Elenga H, De Namur C (1998) Late Holocene climatic changes in western equatorial Africa inferred from pollen from Lake Sinnda, southern Congo. Quat Res 50:34–45CrossRef
92. Wheeler EA (2011) InsideWood—a web resource for hardwood anatomy. IAWA J 32:199–211
93. Worbes M, Junk WJ (1999) How old are tropical trees? The persistence of a myth. IAWA J 20:255–260CrossRef
94. Wotzka HP (1990) Studien zur Besiedlungsgeschichte des Äquatorialen Regenwaldes Zaïres, die archäologische Keramik des inneren Zaïre-Beckens und ihre Stellung im Kontext der Bantu-Expansion. Dissertation, Universität Hamburg

For further details log on website :
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00334-013-0415-1