ABSTRACT

This paper presents the first review of biases impacting Pleistocene and Holocene radiocarbon dates from Central Africa. Based on the pooling of the research expertise of the co-authors, twenty-four biases are listed, explained and documented and their impact on any radiocarbon date corpus demonstrated. To achieve this, a new corpus has been created of 1764 radiocarbon and TL assays from 601 archaeological sites published in the literature. Each date has been checked for its context. The irregular dynamics of research in space and time seriously impact the end result of previous analyses aiming to achieve a regional understanding of past demographic fluctuations. While peaks in the number of dates from the late Holocene seem to correspond to a positive demographic trend, it is suggested that the declines identified cannot be of any such use for the time being and that today’s picture does not presently support claims of a population “crash” at a regional or local level for any time period. The numbers are obscured by overall research deficits identifiable throughout the region. The maps of the dated sites presented offer good evidence of this and illustrate the vast expanses where no archaeological research has yet been carried out. The number of radiocarbon dates in Central Africa is more an indicator of the effort archaeologists have put into understanding a settlement than it is of ancient demographics. Successive waves of incoming people since c. 3500–3000 cal. BP, the two most important ones known since the 1990s, have created a cultural mosaic of coexisting technological groups. The last 40 years of research have revealed the inner complexity of these waves, some of which avoided parts of the region for centuries, thereby creating an irregular cultural mosaic of land use that is outlined by patterning in the radiocarbon dates.

摘要

本文首次回顾了影响中非更新世和全新世放射性碳测年的偏差。根据共同作者的研究专业知识的汇集，列出、解释和记录了二十四种偏见，并证明了它们对任何放射性碳日期语料库的影响。为了实现这一目标，我们创建了一个新的语料库，其中包含文献中发表的 601 个考古遗址的 1764 项放射性碳和 TL 测定结果。每个日期都经过了背景检查。研究在空间和时间上的不规则动态严重影响了之前旨在实现对过去人口波动的区域性理解的分析的最终结果。虽然全新世晚期日期数量的峰值似乎与积极的人口趋势相对应，有人建议，所确定的下降暂时不能有任何此类用途，而且目前的情况目前并不支持任何时期区域或地方一级人口“崩溃”的说法。这些数字被整个地区明显的总体研究缺陷所掩盖。所提供的注明日期的地点地图提供了很好的证据，并说明了尚未进行考古研究的广阔区域。中非放射性碳年代测定的数量更多地反映了考古学家为了解定居点所做的努力，而不是古代人口统计数据。此后一波又一波的涌入人群 这些数字被整个地区明显的总体研究缺陷所掩盖。所提供的注明日期的地点地图提供了很好的证据，并说明了尚未进行考古研究的广阔区域。中非放射性碳年代测定的数量更多地反映了考古学家为了解定居点所做的努力，而不是古代人口统计数据。此后一波又一波的涌入人群 这些数字被整个地区明显的总体研究缺陷所掩盖。所提供的注明日期的地点地图提供了很好的证据，并说明了尚未进行考古研究的广阔区域。中非放射性碳年代测定的数量更多地反映了考古学家为了解定居点所做的努力，而不是古代人口统计数据。此后一波又一波的涌入人群 中非放射性碳年代测定的数量更多地反映了考古学家为了解定居点所做的努力，而不是古代人口统计数据。此后一波又一波的涌入人群 中非放射性碳年代测定的数量更多地反映了考古学家为了解定居点所做的努力，而不是古代人口统计数据。此后一波又一波的涌入人群C。3500–3000 卡路里 BP 是 20 世纪 90 年代以来最重要的两家公司，它们创造了一个由共存的技术集团组成的文化马赛克。过去 40 年的研究揭示了这些波浪的内在复杂性，其中一些波浪几个世纪以来一直避开该地区的部分地区，从而形成了土地利用的不规则文化马赛克，并通过放射性碳测年法中的图案勾画出轮廓。