Tracing the Histories of Bantu Civilization through Material Culture : A Museological Approach

本项目通过实地考察和博物馆藏品的详细研究相结合，对物质文化进行比较研究，追溯班图扩张的历史过程。该项目的要点之一是以数字化数据库或网络博物馆的形式分享成果。由于目标和方法的原因，与有关国家的博物馆联合开展该项目是必不可少的，中部和南部非洲的许多博物馆获得了大量关于班图人的考古和人种学标本，但这些物品的信息很少在国际上共享。首先，对班图语的基本词汇进行了研究，并对班图语之间的声门年代关系进行了概述。在研究结果的基础上，我们继续进行了物质文化的比较研究， ...更多信息 本报告介绍了班图人的传统文化，特别是铁制造、建筑、编织、传统医药和相关的仪式活动。至于被认为是班图文明的重要标志、但在几十年前已经消失的传统制铁业，我们在日本和喀麦隆进行了实验，找到了一些有实际经验的老人，通过这些各种活动，我们现在可以更清楚地在具体的基础上追溯班图扩张的历史。此外，通过这个为期4年的项目，我们建立了“非洲文明网络博物馆”，这是一个由8个国家的13个博物馆拥有的民族志和考古资料数据库。虽然“网络博物馆”还不是世界上与班图有关的收藏品的全面数据库，但它必须是一个良好的开端，以整合有关班图文明的现有信息。我们还认为，这些项目有助于在中部和南部非洲各国人民之间建立共同的身份。少

This project was to trace historical process of Bantu expansion through comparative study of material culture by combining fieldwork and detailed research on museum collections. One of the main points of the project was to share the results in the form of digitized database, or cyber-museum. Because of the aim and the method, it was indispensable to carry out the project jointly with museums in relevant countries.Many museums in central and southern Africa have got a lot of archaeological and ethnographic specimens with regard to Bantu peoples, but information of these objects has scarcely been shared internationally. By networking the pieces of information, we envisaged to get clearer views concerning Bantu expansion.First of all, research on the basic vocabularies of Bantu languages was carried out, and we got an overview of glottochronological relationship among Bantu languages. Being based on the result of the research, we went on to conduct comparative study of material culture am … More ong Bantu peoples with special reference to iron manufacturing, architecture, weaving, traditional medicine and related ritual activities. As for traditional iron manufacturing, which has been considered to be the crucial index of Bantu civilization but disappeared some decades ago, we made experiments both in Japan and in Cameroon where we could find some elders who had actual experience.Through these various activities, we are now able to trace more clearly the history of Bantu expansion on a concrete basis. In addition, through this 4 years project, we constructed "Cyber-musum of African Civilization", that is a database of ethnographic and archaeological materials owned by 13 museums of 8 countries. Although the "Cyber-musum" is not yet a comprehensive database of Bantu related collections in the world, it must be a good start to integrate existing information concerning Bantu civilization. We also believe that this projects is useful to establish a common identity among peoples inc Central and Southern Africa. Less