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Rediscovering Katoto (Upemba depression, DRC) through Jean Hiernaux archives

par Nikis, Nicolas ;Ouzeroual, Anissa ;Arazi, Noémie ;Kaumba Mazanga, Mandela ;Mulumbwa Luna, Olivier;Livingstone Smith, Alexandre
Référence 27th Biennial Meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists (21-26 juillet 2025: Faro, Portugal)
Publication Non publié, 2025-07-24

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

The archaeological research of Jean Hiernaux, Emma de Longrée Maquet and their teams was among the first carried out in Rwanda and S-E DRC. Mainly conducted in the 1950s in connection with Jean Hiernaux's research in biological anthropology, they aimed, among others, to understand the origins of the populations of the areas studied. Surveys and excavations have led to the discovery of many sites or remains of great archaeological importance today, such as the Urewe ceramics or the sites of the Upemba depression. Recently, archives and archaeological collections related to Jean Hiernaux’s research have been rediscovered, supplementing those already stored at Musée National de Lubumbashi in DRC and the Royal Museum for Central Africa. All these archives and collections, which have been poorly published, offer a great potential to deepen our understanding of the sites in question. After a critical review of the works of Hiernaux and Maquet, including their impact on racial narratives in the area, the presentation will focus on the site of Katoto, mostly unpublished to this day. Situated at the southern end of the Upemba depression, it displays a material culture that is very different from contemporary Kisalian sites (ca. 8th-13th c.) in the north of the depression. We will show with that example how ‘old’ collections and archives, on the one hand, and current research, on the other hand, can be mutually nurtured to expand our knowledge of the history of Central Africa.