Archaeology, Bantu Phenomena And African Identity:A Challenge To Science

Archaeology is deeply integrated in the history of communities as far as origins and ethnicity are concerned.The Bantu people in historical perspective generated controversies that revolve around their origin, iron metallurgy, pottery study and chronological delineation.In the past, interdisciplinary studies were adopted to resolve issues that bordered on the history and cultural characterization of the Bantu.What has archaeology contributed to the study of the Bantu as a racial phenomenon?In a similar vein what do the archaeolgists consider as the identity of the Bantu and what characterizes such identity as being African in nature?

The paper is concerned with the contributions made by Nigerian archaeologists to the Bantu Homeland Project conducted by the University of Ibadan and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria, in the 1980s.A special attention is given to the relationship between the available archaeological evidence and African identity in a broad spectrum.The writer perceives a confrontation between African identity and the available chronological and cultural evidence. A call is made for an overall reassessment of the Bantu-dilema vis-a-vis presumed African identity and a recourse
to scientific focus.