Haches polies de la Côte d’Ivoire conservées à l’Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN)–Dakar : contextes, zones de production et typologie

Abstract

Introduction

A research work on an overview of polished axes has not been undertaken yet in Ivory Coast. The present study is the very first one, which while intending to correct this shortcoming, analyses 418 polished axes collected in different contexts during the colonial period from 1941 to 1958 and kept at ‘Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire’ (IFAN)-Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar.

Objective

The idea among other things is first to understand the context of the immergence of these axes all over the country, to measure the importance of their distribution according to the current regions of the country, to soak up the different opinions about their origin and to propose a typology test allowing to have an approach of this lithic industry.

Methods

From there, a historical but also archaeological approach is necessary in the sense it is based on counting and analyzing letters and monographs of circles produced at the time the axes were collected and their typological study accounted for in the IFAN collection.

Results

It stems from this study that axes production in Ivory Coast has been governed by two phases, one relating to the preparation of the blanks which is characterized by the size and the other relating to the finishing of the axes which corresponds to polishing parts. The result of these techniques is the massive production of polished axes with mostly converging edges. At the same time, the results of surveys carried out among local populations showed that the polished axes are unknown to local populations.

Conclusion

This ignorance of the archaeological artefacts by the local populations is subject to interpretations of a mysterious and often supernatural order linked to their beliefs.