ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the initial survey conducted within the framework of the BantuFirst project between Mbankana and Bandundu in 2018. Foot surveys were conducted at 72 areas, mostly in the vicinity and to the east of the city of Bandundu. The fieldwork described in this chapter offers an initial assessment on the probabilities of discovering new sites via regular foot surveys in the landscape of the eastern Bateke Plateau. The flat terrain, covered by low vegetation, offered little locations at which erosion made archaeological features or strata accessible. Thus, the surveys focused on two types of anthropogenic landscape features: modern agricultural fields and borrow pits. At two of the surveyed borrow pits, rich inventories of lithic artefacts were found, while the agricultural fields predominantly yielded ceramics. A reoccurring type within the pottery assemblage are bowls with an inverted rim and round bases. Without subsequent fieldwork being permitted, all inventories from this survey remain undated.
