Talk:Diy-Gid-Biy

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Diy-Gid-Biy New Bibliography:

1. Monroe, J Cameron and Ogundiran, Akinwumi. Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa : Archaeological Perspectives. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

2. David, Nicholas and Muller-Kosack, Gerhard and Sterner, Judith. Strongholds and Chiefly Residences in the Mandara Mountains of N. Cameroon. http://people.ucalgary.ca/~ndavid/Homepage/Resrep02.pdf, 2002

3. Magnavita, Sonja. Crossroads / Carrefour Sahel: Cultural and technological developments in First Millenium BC/AD West Africa. Journal of African Archaeology Monograph Series, Germany, 2009

4. MacEachern, Scott and David, Nicholas. Monumental architecture in mountain landscapes: the diy-geδ-bay sites of northern Cameroon. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, Volume 48, 2013 - Issue 2

5. S. MacEachern, D.A. Scott, M. O'Guinness Carlson & J.-M. Datouang Djoussou. Iron Artefacts from the DGB-1 Site, Northern Cameroon: Conservation, Metallurgical Analysis and Ethnoarchaeological Analogies . Journal of African Archaeology, Volume 11 (1), 2013, pages 39-54 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gliderrider401 (talk • contribs) 18:53, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Article Summary

The Diy-Gid-Biy (DBG) sites are sites located around the Mandara Mountains of Northern Cameroon and Nigeria. These sites get their name DIy-Gid-Biy from the Mafa language, which can be translated as "place of chiefly residence." There are 16 of these DGB sites which date back to around the 15th Century AD , although radiocarbon dating puts the site of DGB-1 back to 1250 AD.

Although knowledge of the sites has existed for many years, true archaeological research only began in 2001 with the excavations of DGB-2 and 8 by Nicholas David. Excavation of the sites has lead to the discovery of a system of platforms and terraces of different sizes, as well as a number of walls and towers. A number of artifacts have been found at the site, with items such as various ceramics originating from the Mandara Mountain region, while other copper and glass artifacts that have been found don't come from that area. During Excavations it was also discovered that the DGB sites were built in layers, meaning that as time progressed peoples altered the sites, expanding them, and thus making it more difficult to date the areas by artifacts themselves.

My plan for this page is to create an in-depth description of Diy-Gid-Biy for others to use. To do this I plan to divide the article up into a few different sections, beginning with a brief description of the Sites themselves, giving them context. Next I plan to add a section that goes into the archaeology of the sites, describing their construction and the artifacts that have been found during their excavations. I also will likely add an area talking of the different hypothesis tht have been reached in regards to what the sites were when they were founded. And finally I will add a section discussing the DGB sites cultural importance, especially since it was up for consideration as a UNESCO world heritage site.Gliderrider401 (talk) 15:21, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

@Gliderrider401: Nice job Gliderrider401, you're making good progress! Your plan makes sense to me, and I think you'll have plenty of info in those refs to fill out the article. You'll also want to read some of Scott MacEachern's other work (e.g., http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0067270X.2012.707480). I'd also think about making some sort of map at some point - let's talk about how to do this in class, remind me! Ninafundisha (talk) 19:40, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

References

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gliderrider401.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:44, 18 January 2022 (UTC)