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Early domesticated cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) from Central Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

A.C. D'Andrea ,
S. Kahlheber ,
A.L. Logan  and
D.J. Watson
A.C. D'Andrea
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
S. Kahlheber
Affiliation:
J.W. Goethe-Universität, Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Grüneburgplatz 1, D-60323 Frankfurt, Germany
A.L. Logan
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48109
D.J. Watson
Affiliation:
183 Castlemilk Drive, Glasgow G45 9JT, UK
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Extract

From examining the remains of charred cowpeas from rock shelters in Central Ghana, the authors throw light on the subsistence strategies of the Kintampo people of the second millennium BCE. Perhaps driven southwards from the Sahel by aridification, the Kintampo operated as both foragers and farmers, cultivating selected plants of the West African tropics, notably cowpea, pearl millet and oil palm.

Keywords

GhanaKintampodomesticationcowpeapearl milletoil palmsubsistence

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Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 313 , 1 September 2007 , pp. 686 - 698
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

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