Architectural remains

Archaeology in NE Nigeria - Architecture Architectural remains are rare in the Chad Basin, as buildings up to recent times were constructed out of organic materials and clay. These materials usually decay completely.

Yet at Kursakata, erosion of the surface has revealed a number of potsherd pavements. At the time of Connah's excavation in 1965 the surface was completely covered with vegetation and only little material was visible. Almost thirty years later erosion has destroyed the surface layer at two mayor locations. Here the pavements came to light.

Since also in the top layer, sherds are abundant and many have abraded edges, it seems possible that at one time at least a good part of the mound was covered with potsherd-pavement buildings. All of the buildings had a round floor plan and a diameter of roughly three meters. After drawing and measuring, the we left the features untouched and covered them.

Potsherd pavements occur in several locations in the Chad Basin and southern Nigeria. Apart from Daima, Connah mentions some from the Chad Republic. It seems likely that at a certain point in time, potsherd pavements were widespread in the southern Lake Chad Basin. Other pavements of this kind have been recorded form Ife, Benin, Yelwa and Lagos. The earliest evidence for potsherd pavements in West Africa so far seems to be at Daima, which is dated to AD 650 (uncalibrated). According to the stratigraphy of Kursakata, the surface layer might as well date to the same time, since the date of layer 1.30 m - 1.40 m suggests an age between 0 and 420 calAD . The pavements at Ife date to the 12th century calAD.

The lower layers from Ndufu show a feature, which can interpreted as the remains of an eroded house. This shows, that even in Neolithic/Later Stone Age times people lived in permanent structures.

Unfortunately parts of the feature have been disturbed by burial pits from the layers above, nevertheless such characteristic features as fireplaces can be easily determined.

The house remains have a date of roughly 800 cal BC, which makes it one of the earliest permanent habitation structures in subsaharan Africa.




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