AbstractsGeography &GIS

Past hypotheses have suggested three areas as the source of the process of bark cloth making in Africa: southern or southeastern Asia with entrance through East Africa; Egypt or Southwestern Asia with entrance through Egypt; and indigenous origin in sub-Saharan Africa. None of these ideas has been adequately supported by the presentation of sufficient evidence. An examination of the distribution of the process and the archaeological finds, the techniques used, the source plants, and the tools, leads to a conclusion that the basic process is too simple and too old to determine its source region. However, since refinements in the process appear to have followed distinctly different directions in sub-Saharan Africa from those outside of Africa, it seems probable that the process was indigenous in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, it was discovered that previous maps showing bark cloth distribution in Africa were concerned with the distribution of the use of bark cloth for clothing and not with purposes other than clothing such as blankets, sacking, curtains, mats, and were generally quite incomplete. Therefore, a new map showing distribution of the use of bark cloth for all purposes is presented.