par Nikis, Nicolas 
Référence 14th Congress of the PanAfrican Archaeological Association of Prehistory and Related Studies (14-18 juillet 2014: Johannesburg, South Africa)
Publication Non publié, 2014
Référence 14th Congress of the PanAfrican Archaeological Association of Prehistory and Related Studies (14-18 juillet 2014: Johannesburg, South Africa)
Publication Non publié, 2014
Communication à un colloque
| Résumé : | Although copper was very valuable in traditional society in Central Africa, it has never been systematically studied. In the Copperbelt, it has been worked since the 4th c. AD. and was exchanged, among others, as cross ingots also called croisettes. Mentioned by Portuguese as from the 16th c., archaeological evidence shows that they were used at least since the 9th c. AD. They are found over a large area from the Upemba depression in Katanga in the North to Great Zimbabwe in the South, and their shape and size have varied according to time and place. Despite their socioeconomic and symbolic significance emphasized by various scholars, little is known of their origin, their role in trade in wide area in Africa and in polities formation. Thanks to LA-ICP-MS analyses, it’s seems possible to determine the location of the copper ore used to smelt them originally. In addition, the distribution of different kinds of croisettes, provide us information about the diffusion of copper in relation to historical, ethnographic and archaeological data about political entities and commercial networks. For example, the distribution of particular types of croisettes seems coincides with the political spheres of influence of the Luba and Kazembe kingdoms. |
