These items have been culled from various studies
to illustrate various ways in which recent or contemporary practices can
assist in a more complete understanding of the archaeological record.
In many cases, these examples have fallen between disciplines: ethnographers
have tended to concentrate on rituals and beliefs and ignore features and
everyday practices, whilst archaeologists are left to work with only a
fraction of the material data.
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| These tobacco-pipes used a long hollow stick in one side whilst the pipe rested on the ground and the smoker squatted. Many of these pipes are worn along the bottom and have spittle drainage holes. These pipes were found in a midden heap outside the town wall, not in a local domestic borrow-pit - an important distinction between town and village contexts. | ||
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| SHRINE POTS under
an oil-palm which reverted to a wild version with 16 heads when Old Owu
was deserted between about 1826 and the 1930's. If ever found in archaeological
contexts, such pots would be inexplicable, as the biological rationale
for a shrine here would have disappeared. The local gin bottle on the left
is used in libations - alcohol here as elsewhere provides a short-cut to
the spirit world (hence 'spirits' to describe strong alcohol).
See Orile Owu for more details
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GOATS, supposedly the harbingers of environmental destruction, provide the key to environmental enhancement in the Kano close-settled zone - an extensive, densely populated area in the semi-arid zone of northern Nigeria. Tethered (above) during the rainy season when crops are growing, their dung is gathered to make taki (manure), which is then placed on the fields under permanent cultivation. Over the centuries, more people has resulted in more goats, more taki, better soils, higher crop yields and more trees - the last being mainly gawo (Faidherbia albida), as this provides browse for the goats when it leafs during the dry season. This is just one of many examples, which qualify many of the negative arguments about the population/environment interface. See Kano
walls for more details of this area
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