Archeological Findings Reveal Central African History [...humans settled Cameroon 5000 years ago]

Voice of America ^ | Wednesday, July 6, 2011 | Ntaryike Divine Jr

[SunkenCiv]

Artifacts from hundreds of archeological sites from southern Chad to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Cameroon... research was conducted between 1999 and 2004 as construction was underway on the underground petroleum pipeline... which is more than 1000 kilometers long.... 472 archeological sites along the area in both Cameroon and Chad were found .some dating back to as long ago as 100,000 years. He says, "we found sites where people had lived, where people had stored food, where people had made tools of iron. Before people in this area used iron, they made a whole variety of different kinds of tools including axes, arrow points, knives and fire scrapers from stone. These are artifacts from a site in southern Cameroon. It's a small rock shelter. It has a history of about 5,000 years." Other artifacts excavated by the researchers include pottery and iron-smelting furnaces... "We're starting to see what was going on about 3,000 years ago around Yaounde," Maree explains.

[SunkenCiv]

Hanno, fl. 5th century BC
Britannica

Carthaginian who conducted a voyage of exploration and colonization to the west coast of Africa sometime during the 5th century. Setting sail with 60 vessels holding 30,000 men and women, Hanno founded Thymiaterion (now Kenitra, Mor.) and built a temple at Soloeis (Cape Cantin, now Cape Meddouza). He then founded five additional cities in and around present Morocco, including Carian Fortress (Greek: Karikon Teichos) and Acra (Agadir). The Carian Fortress is perhaps to be identified with Essaouira on the Moroccan coast, where archaeological remains of Punic settlers have been found. Farther south he founded Cerne, possibly on the Río de Oro, as a trading post. He evidently reached the coast of present Gambia or of Sierra Leone and may have ventured as far as Cameroon. An account of his voyage was written in the temple of Baal at Carthage and survives in a 10th-century-ad Greek manuscript known as Periplus of Hannon, probably an ancient Greek translation from the Punic.

The Voyage of Hanno
Livio Catullo Stecchini

Sailing rapidly, we passed by a fiery region filled with vapors, from which great torrents of fire flowed down to the sea. The land could not be approached because of the heat.

We sailed away from there quickly, being struck with fear. Then, having sailed for four days, we sighted at night a land full of flames. And in the midst of it there was a fire higher than the rest which seemed to touch the stars. By day we discerned it to be a mountain of great height named Theon Ochema.

In describing a volcanic eruption from a high mountain towering over the sea Hanno mentions such details as sulphuric fumes and streams of lava. The only volcanic area in West Africa is represented by Mount Cameroon, which is still active today. It is located at the deepest point of the Gulf of Guinea, where it rises suddenly from the seashore, reaching a height of over 4000 meters. The peak of Mount Cameroon is at 4°13'N, 9°10'E. almost exactly 6° (equal to four days' sailing) east of the Great Island of Lagos. Those who have seen it from the sea consider it one of the most impressive sights in the world. The natives call it Mongana-Loba, "Mountain of the Gods," which well agrees with the Greek Theon Ochema, "Chariot of the Gods," of our text. Hanno could hardly have been more specific and effective in the description of what he saw, but it is the universal agreement among scholars that it is impossible that he may have seen Mount Cameroon: the ancients were too primitive to be able to navigate as far as the Gulf of Guinea. What Hanno described as a volcano would be the Sierra Leone. The interpretation of the text is simple if one rejects the premises that Hanno was a "primitive" and "primitives" could never have navigated beyond Cape Palmas. Those who, not being committed to the rigid dogmas of the academy, as the noted explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, have recognized Mount Cameroon in the mountain mentioned by Hanno, have been greeted with cacchinations.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Cheetahcat]

They find any food stamps Yet?

[slowhandluke]

cachinnations?

Wow, they must be very sophisticated to give up a good old belly laugh for cachinnations.

[colorado tanker]

The article is a bit confusing, but seems to be saying that the present day ethnic groups and a more sophisticated culture arrived around 5,000 years ago. They found sites as hold as 100,000 years, however.

[Tucker39]

The 5K figure sounds about right. According to Genesis and other Scriptures, and the calculations of some technically inclined Believers, Adam & Eve left the Garden of Eden 6K to 10K years ago. Every once in a while the evolution kooks blurt out something that they mean to sound scholarly and totally contrary to Scripture, but merely wind up corroborating what the Scriptures say. My humble opinion, of course.

[Sawdring]

The small rock shelter has a history of 5,000 years the article states, not Cameroon itself.

[SunkenCiv]