Four thousand years of plant exploitation in the Chad Basin of northeast Nigeria I: The archaeobotany of Kursakata

This paper discusses archaeobotanical remains from the settlement mound of Kursakata, Nigeria, comprising both charred and uncharred seeds and fruits as well as charcoal. In addition, impressions of plant tempering material i n potsherds were analysed. The late Stone Age and Iron Age sequence at Kurs akata is dated from 1000 cal. B.C. to cal. A.D. 100. Domesticated Pennisetu m (pearl miller), wild Paniceae and wild rice are the most common taxa. Ker nels from tree fruits were regularly found including large numbers of Vitex simplicifolia - a tree which is absent from the area today. A distinct cha nge in plant spectra can be observed between the late Stone Age and the Iro n Age. Although domesticated pearl millet was already known at the beginnin g of the settlement sequence of Kursakata, it only gained greater economic importance during the Iron Age. Besides farming, pastoralism and fishing, g athering of wild plants always played a major role in the subsistence strat egy of the inhabitants of Kursakata. The charcoal results show that firewoo d was mainly collected from woodlands on the clay plains, which must have b een mole diverse than today. The end of the late Stone Age in the Chad Basi n was presumably accompanied by the onset of drier environmental conditions from ca. 800 cal. B.C. onwards.