Matthieu, a local worker, next to a spiritual figure along a rural track east of Lac Ndembo, Republic of the Congo, in 1987. Photograph by James Denbow
Between 1987 and 1993, the Loango Archaeology Project (LAP)—a multi-season archaeological project in the region of the historic kingdoms of Kongo and Loango—located over two hundred prehistoric sites on the coastal plain of the Republic of the Congo. Test excavations and radiocarbon dates from fifteen of these sites provided one of the first cultural chronologies for the western coast of Equatorial Africa and resulted in the discovery of a number of Kongo artifacts, several of which are on view in Kongo: Power and Majesty.
Map of dated archaeological sites on the coastal plain of the Republic of the Congo
Deep pits containing broken pottery, crude stone tools, occasional polished stone axes or hoes, and carbonized oil palm nuts typify the earliest coastal Neolithic sites. Stone tools are no longer found at most sites dating after AD 100, suggesting that iron had now replaced stone for tools.
Romain Mougani, a local worker, measuring a prehistoric refuse pit at the site of Fignou 4 in the RC in 1991. It dates between A.D. 100 and 400. Photograph by James Denbow
Scenes from our seaside camp at Tchissanga on the Cote Sauvage, 10 kilometers north of Loango Bay, where the artifacts from the reconnaissance and excavations were processed. Video by James Denbow
By the middle of the first millennium a.d., larger settlements such as Kayes on the north bank of the Kouilou River dotted the region. Pottery from this period is usually decorated with distinctive herringbone designs.
A herringbone decorated jar dated to between 50 B.C. and A.D. 200. Photograph by James Denbow
Rare finds of iron were recovered from the remains of a refuse or kitchen midden at Kayes, along with large quantities of carbonized oil palm nuts, decorated pottery, and fragments of aromatic tree resin. The acidic soils of the Congo do not preserve bones or plant remains.
The Kayes midden excavation. The site was situated close to the village of Madingo-Kayes in the Republic of the Congo. School children often volunteered to "help out" in the afternoon. Video by James Denbow
Around a.d. 700, elaborately decorated ceramics appear at several sites. Known as the Madingo-Kayes Tradition, the design elements suggest an origin south of the Congo River. These may represent the first appearance of a proto-Loango/Kongo identity on the Loango coast. Almost a hundred decorated potsherds from this tradition were found at the site of Lac Ndembo; one is included in the exhibition. Iron leg bangles and a barbed iron arrow point from the related site of Madingo-Kayes also date to this period.
Madingo-Kayes Tradition pottery, A.D. 700–850. Photograph by James Denbow
Scenes showing the discovery of the Lac Ndembo site and later excavation. Video by James Denbow
By the twelfth century a.d., ceramics found at the site of Condé are decorated with the interlocking squares or lozenges that presage the decorations of later Kongo motifs found on raffia cloth, carved ivory oliphants, and even body modification. The twelfth-century date for ceramics from Condé is the earliest so far known for such designs. A fragment from one of these vessels is included in the exhibition.
Test excavations at Condé. Photograph by James Denbow
More of these distinctive Kongo-style ceramics were recovered at the site of Loubanzi, where they are dated to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Few such potsherds were recovered during the project, suggesting these designs were used only in high-status locales.
Lozenge and woven-motif ceramics from the fifteenth- through sixteenth-century site at Loubanzi. One of these (second row, left) is included in the exhibition. Patterns on these and other ceramic fragments found by the LAP appear on Kongo sculptures and textiles on view in the exhibition. Photograph by James Denbow
After 1550, the earlier, tall-necked Loango vessels transformed into pots whose shapes are more reminiscent of the glazed ceramics brought by European traders. The Kongo motifs evocative of woven or interlocking squares shifted from the neck to the body of the pot, perhaps in emulation of the decoration placement on imported wares.
Historic period pot with woven or lozenge designs on the body. Photograph by James Denbow
One of the LAP's initial challenges was coping with the rapid expansion of eucalyptus planting across the region by multinational corporations. This took place without concern for the archaeological resources of the country, which were unknown at that time. Between 1987 and 1993, the plantations expanded to cover over 168,000 acres—destroying many important prehistoric sites in the process.
Widespread eucalyptus planting had a devastating impact on the archaeological heritage of the Loango coast, including the important Neolithic site of Tchissanga dated to the early first millennium B.C. Video by James Denbow
While much of the site of Loubanzi was plowed under before its discovery, later cooperative efforts between the corporations and the LAP allowed us to identify and preserve what remained of this and other important sites.
The preservation signboard erected at Loubanzi in 1990. It is flanked by the archaeological crew, which included students from Marien Ngouabi University in the Congo, the University of Texas at Austin, and local workers. Photograph by James Denbow
Many cultural objects the LAP encountered are modern counterparts of the nkisi figurines of old. For example, Bernard, a local fisherman, built the creation below in 1987 in order to deter vandals from pillaging a signal tower that overlooked our camp at Tchissanga. It draws inspiration and materials from practices documented as early as the seventeenth century, as it blends traditional spiritual metaphors (white, water-rounded stones; red cloth) with contemporary materials (a mirror, a picture of a Mercedes-Benz torn from a magazine, and a white paint can lid).
Local fisherman Bernard's device on the hill overlooking our camp at Tchissanga. Photograph by James Denbow
Other spiritual figures, such as this two-meter-tall cement angel with the staring shell eyes of an nkisi figure—palm wine dripping from its lips—blend elements of Kongolese cosmography with Christian iconography to address the needs of a modern population.
Cement angel photographed along a rural track east of Lac Ndembo in 1990. Photograph by James Denbow
The Future of Archaeology in the Loango Region
The Loango Archaeology Project ended in 1993 as political unrest during the transition from a Marxist state to a multiparty democracy made work in the countryside unsafe; full-scale civil war erupted in 1997. Little sustained archaeological work has been carried out in the region since that conflict ended in 1999. That said, in 2012 a small archaeological survey directed by the Laboratoire d'Archéologie (Dakar, Senegal) found that several of the sites marked for preservation by the LAP—including Lac Ndembo—had indeed been preserved.
The archaeological team from the Laboratoire d'Archéologie examining the site of Lac Ndembo in 2012. Photograph by Ibrahima Thiaw
Further Reading
Clist, Bernard, Els Cranshof, Mandela Kaumba, and Igor Matonda. "The KongoKing Research Project: First Results of the 2012 Archaeological Field Season in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)." KONGOKING : An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Origins of the Kongo Kingdom. October 29, 2015. Accessed November 24, 2015. http://www.kongoking.org/documents/GAPSYM2012-Clist-Cranshof-Kaumba-Matonda.pdf.
Denbow, James. The Archaeology and Ethnography of Central Africa, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Denbow, James. "Congo to Kalahari: Data and Hypotheses about the Political Economy of the Western Stream of the Early Iron Age." The African Archaeological Review 9 (1990): 139–75.
Denbow, James. "Heart and Soul: Glimpses of Ideology and Cosmology in the Iconography of Tombstones from the Loango Coast of Central Africa." The Journal of American Folklore 112, no. 445 (1999): 404–23.
Denbow, James. "Pride, Prejudice, Plunder and Preservation: Archaeology and the Re-envisioning of Ethnogenesis on the Loango Coast of the Republic of Congo." Antiquity 86, no. 332 (2012): 383–408.