DR Congo - Dimba and Ngovo caves

DIMBA The cave of Dimba has delivered the longest archaeological sequence of Bas-Congo (ex-Zaire). The deposits at the entrance were dated 18,000 years before our era: 18,050 ~ 650 bc (Hv 6255). Wildlife remains and stone tools from the Late Stone Age are associated with this radiocarbon dating. The survey that delivered these results has been interrupted to a depth of -3.2 m, but there is the possibility of even older archaeological levels beyond. The upper levels of the entrance and a large embankment located more than one kilometer from the entrance have yielded an abundant so-called Group Vl or Ngovo Group ceramics, characteristic of the transition period which, at the end of the Age of the Stone, sees the beginnings of the production of food appear. Polished tools have also been discovered associated with this ceramic which is dated to Dimba from the last century before our era (85 - 130 bc - Hv 6257). In the entrance, on the surface and on the first 15 cm, are found many fragments of pottery from the Iron Age, dating mainly to the 16th - 17th centuries. NGOVO An archaeological deposit of 2 to 15 cm located some 210 m from the entrance has delivered in abundance of pottery known as Group VI or Ngovo Group, as well as polished tools. Dated from the last two centuries before our era (Hv 5258: 195: t 45 bc, Hv 6258: 85 ~ 65 bc), this archaeological site is the typical site of the industry of transition between the Stone Age and the Iron Age which extended over a good part of Bas-Congo