Kintampo Culture Complex
The Kintampo Culture Complex is one of the most significant phases of food production and human settlement in West Africa. At some point between 2500-1400 BCE, people in the Bono East Region of Ghana and sections of eastern Côte d’Ivoire, transitioned from nomadic lifestyles of moving from place to place to settling permanently at one place (sedentism). The complex provides evidence of a dramatic shift in food production practices from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to sedentary settlements in West Africa’s Forest areas. Sedentism is a characteristic of societies that have or are establishing agricultural systems.
Another significant feature of the Kintampo complex is the production of art and personal accessories. In the Kintampo villages, ceramic figurines of humans and animals show that the inhabitants were both farmers and horticulturists. Archaeologists have unearthed traditional stone tools and structures like hand axes and house foundations as well as polished stone beads and bracelets from several sites in the region. A significant implication of these excavations is that the people of Kintampo had a sophisticated civilization as well as extensive knowledge of Later Stone Age technology.
The totality of material culture in the archaeological record of Kintampo is notably referred to as a complex rather than the generic term “culture”. Archaeologists use the term “culture” to describe the same ideas, practices, and technologies utilized to make the same kinds of tools, products, foods, and other items in all of the archaeological sites in a given region. People in this region had a lot in common, but they also differed enough from one town to another to render their collective ways of life essentially distinct from “culture”. The term “complex” or “tradition,” on the other hand, refers to a group that shares many features but still recognizes their uniqueness. The complex is named Kintampo, after the Kintampo area in Ghana’s Bono East Region, where the early key sites are located.
The origins of the Kintampo complex have been a subject of much speculation among scholars. According to one theory, the complex developed as a result of mass migration from the Sahel. Due to technological advances in the Middle Stone Age, East African dwellers were able to settle the majority of Africa after migrating across the continent. Another factor in the mass exodus from East Africa due to rapid population growth. It is during this time period that humans are believed to have first migrated out of Africa, across the Sinai Peninsula and land bridges across the Red Sea, and crossing into Western Europe at Gibraltar. By the 10th millennium BC, there was a significant population in the upper section of Africa, including considerable populations in the Sahara, which was then a zone of lush vegetation at that time.
Climate began to radically shift after the end of the last ice age in the Saharan terrain due to the Earth’s tilting axis. The northern section of the planet became a desert because it was able to absorb more solar energy. Some people settled in the desert fringes now known as the Sahel, while others continued south and ended up in West Africa’s steamy rainforests. This is where the Kintampo way of life is said to have begun.
Another theory holds that the Kintampo complex was created by indigenous Punpun foragers through contact with peoples to the north, rather than by a mass migration from the Sahel. The Punpun, who had lived in the area for a long time, began to adjust to a more sedentary and agricultural lifestyle as a result of the new features. Many Africanists wonder if the Kintampo tradition evolved from Punpun, although it appears that the two coexisted for a while together. At least thirty-two sites associated with the Kintampo complex have been examined by archaeologists in Ghana’s Northern savanna, Central woodland savanna and Southern Forest.
Traditional wattle and daub construction methods were used in Kintampo’s open-air communities, where people lived in rectangular shelters. Many of the houses were supported by wooden poles, while others had foundations made of granite and laterite, while others were built with mud or clay. In the south, near the Atlantic shore, rock shelters were also used as houses. Archaeologists who want to learn more about how people transitioned from hunting and gathering to horticulture and agriculture frequently conduct research at the Kintampo site. Kintampo is viewed as an example of a hybrid lifestyle that falls somewhere between foraging and farming. Although they did not practice farming in essence, they had a significant impact on plant evolution by taking advantage of local plants. As a result, they were among the first Africans to successfully domesticate plants.
Pearl millet is believed to have been the first crop to be domesticated in the region. The people of Kintampo may have purposefully altered the plant to mature faster so that it could be harvested more quickly. People in West Africa valued its burned remains, which were discovered at Kintampo. They could keep it after harvest and use it at a later time.
Kintampo’s residents also relied on oil palm as a source of food. At least 4000 years ago, the oil palm was used in Kintampo. It may have been used as food, drink and a building material, which makes it a very useful plant. It thrived in the region because of its preference for a warm, rainy climate. From the mesocarp and kernel, oil can be extracted for use in cooking or eating as a supplement. Because of its high vitamin A content, it was a valuable resource for a rapidly expanding population. Oil palm nuts could be further roasted thanks to improvements in ceramic processes.
Additionally, cowpeas and incense trees are reported to have been grown in the region, together with hackberries, yams and sorghum. Because of the climate, it is unlikely that grasses were harvested as frequently. Goats, sheep, and cattle were also kept as livestock by the people of Kintampo. Monitor lizards, snails, guineafowls, vervet monkeys, baboons, tortoises and turtles are some of the wild species that were hunted as game.
Excavators at Kintampo found numerous types and sizes of grinding stones, small quartz microlith projectile points in diverse shapes and patterns, as well as stone celts that were used as weapons. A few harpoons were discovered, but they are quite rare. Experts in the field of lithics are familiar with the knapping method they employed. Using a large rock, wood, or stump as a hard surface, the stone core was struck from the top; causing flakes to separate from the material below. Bipolar percussion often makes use of improvised anvils like these.
The purpose of a number of little cigar-shaped and rasp-like ceramic and stone artifacts is unknown. Pottery tools, like bowls and jars, are regarded to be the most typically used artifacts. The diameter of the jars ranged from 12 to 44 cm. The bowls ranged in size from 10 to 30 cm, which was slightly smaller than the norm. A rake or comb pattern was frequently used to decorate these pots. Food and water could have been stored in these containers, as well as sauces. A pit-fired ceramic technique is typical of early pottery making. While Kintampo ceramics are frequently examined, they may be the most widely studied later stone age ceramics in West Africa. With respect to the stone artifacts, a substance known as daga was discovered. A daga is a piece of pottery that has been marked with a stick or other pole-like object. These are abundant at Kintampo sites and are thought to symbolize the presence of occupants in their homes.
One of West Africa’s first examples of figurative art and personal ornamentation can be traced back to the Kintampo peoples. At various Kintampo sites, stone arm bands that would have been worn as ornamentation have been discovered. Clay figurines representing animals like dogs, lizards, and cows have been discovered at Boyase hill and Ntereso, but their significance is unclear. Art historians and archaeologists both find this fascinating, as the development of art and the depiction of life in art is of considerable interest to both. These figurines have been collected by archaeologists, and a showcase is displayed in the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Ghana, Legon.
It appears that the rock shelters at Kintampo was abandoned by the second century BCE, and iron metallurgy became the dominating technology in this region in the early 1st millennium CE. The Bono people, who established the Bono State in the 11th century, lived in the area. It was a huge kingdom that relied on European-supplied weaponry to wrest control from its neighbors. As part of the transatlantic slave trade, they sold their captured enemies to middle merchants to be taken to coastal markets. In addition to the slave trade, the Bono state achieved a lot of growth through the gold trade. Today, the region is one of the most prominent in Ghana, as it continues to contribute its rich cultural and natural heritage to the Ghanaian economy.
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