DIBAC: Radiocarbon dates catalogs for Central Africa
DIBAC stands for "Datations absolues, Inventaires archéologiques et Bibliographies en Afrique Centrale", a project accepted by the French Institut de Recherches pour le Développement (IRD), 2006: DIBAC.
> General information (list of laboratories, calibration method, list of the material dated, notion of tiers).
> 1. Radiocarbon dates from southern Cameroon
> 2. Radiocarbon dates from the Central African Republic (CAR)
> 3. Radiocarbon dates from Gabon
> 4. Radiocarbon dates from Equatorial Guinea
> 5. Radiocarbon dates from Congo
> 6. Radiocarbon dates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
> 7. Radiocarbon dates from Angola
History of the database:
The early days consist in the 14C dates published in several papers by the Journal of African History (JAH) (de Maret et al. 1977; de Maret 1982, 1985) and listed in 1982 (Van Noten 1982). A more critical attitude towards the interpretation of radiocarbon dates was advocated, especially a need for more careful study of the context from which the samples were collected (de Maret 1982: 11).
In 1983-1984, a study of the Urewe Tradition radiocarbon dates was conducted from Brussels and later published (Clist 1987). The focus was on their context and degree of association (DCA) between the organic material dated and the artefacts, checking the relevant publications available from the library of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium) (Clist 1987). Some call this today carrying out "chronometric hygiene".
Meanwhile, alongside the JAH papers, several reports were published (e.g. Lanfranchi and Manima Moubouha 1984), one the exhaustive catalog of 14C dates on Congo (Kouyoumontzakis et al. 1985).
From 1985 to 1992, B. Clist and R. Lanfranchi worked on a new database, entitled "Cibadates" (Sarrazin 1987), part of the developing CICIBA's documentation data bank (Béville 1987), and a first listing of the recorded dates extracted from the consulted bibliography during their summer holydays in Europe (Paris, France for Lanfranchi; Tervuren, Belgium for Clist) was made available (Clist and Lanfranchi 1990).
Making use of the regional network they had set up, colleagues were asked to contribute by sending back information about their new radiocarbon dates filling in a paper form inserted in the new Nsi regional bulletin (no Internet back then) (see the 1987 form here).
"Cibadates" rapidly developed into a 35 data fields register. Because of its initial contacts with the United States-based "International Radiocarbon Data Base" set up at Arizona University in Tucson (Kra 1988), we chose for compatibility reasons the Ashton-Tate dBaseIII+ program.
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References:
- Béville (G.), 1987, La banque de données bibliographiques du CICIBA, Nsi, 1, pp. 37-38.br> - Clist (B.), 1987, A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of Urewe Early Iron Age Industry, Muntu, 6, pp.35-62.
- Clist (B.) & Lanfranchi (R.), 1990, Datations absolues archéologiques des Etats-Membres du Centre International des Civilisations Bantu (CICIBA) et du sud-Cameroun: datations radiocarbones et thermoluminescences, série Documents du Département d'Archéologie, 1, CICIBA, Libreville.
- de Maret (P.), 1982, New survey of archaeological research and dates from West-Central and North-Central Africa, Journal of African History, 23, pp.1-15.
- de Maret (P.), 1985, Recent archaeological research and dates from Central Africa, Journal of African History, 26, 2-3, pp.129-148.
- de Maret (P.), Van Noten (F.) & Cahen (D.), 1977, Radiocarbon dates from West Central Africa : a synthesis, Journal of African History, 18, 4, pp.481-505.
- Kouyoumontzakis (G.), Lanfranchi (R.) and Giresse (P.), 1985. Les datations radiométriques de la République Populaire du Congo, Cahiers Congolais d'Anthropologie et d'Histoire 10, pp. 11-31.
- Kra (R.), 1988, The first American Workshop on the International Radiocarbon Data Base, Radiocarbon, 30(2), pp. 259-260.
- Lanfranchi (R.) and Manima Moubouha (A.), 1984, Première datation 14C d'un bas fourneau de fonte de cuivre en R.P. du Congo, Cahiers Congolais d'Anthropologie et d'Histoire 9, pp. 7-12.
- Sarrazin, O. 1987, Cibadate: fichier des datations absolues, Nsi 1, pp. 39-41.
- Van Noten (F.), 1982, The archaeology of Central Africa, Akademische Drück- und Verlagsantstalt, Graz, pp. 145-149.
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