Publications – BantuFirst: The first Bantu speakers south of the rainforest

See the Academic Bibliography of Ghent University for additional information.

Edited books

2025

COUTROS (P.R.), MATONDA SAKALA (I.), DOMAN (J.H.), & BOSTOEN (K.). 2025. An Archaeology of the Bantu Expansion Early Settlers South of the Congo Rainforest. Oxford: Routledge.

Journal Articles

2024

BOSTOEN (K.) & PACCHIAROTTI (S.) . 2024. Noncausal/Causal Alternations and the Rise of Lability in Ngwi (West-Coastal Bantu, B861). Swahili and African Studies 35: 11-31.
BOSTOEN (K.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & HUBAU (W.). À paraître. À la recherche des sentiers perdus du passé en forêt. Réflexions sur l’effondrement de la population en Afrique centrale il y a 1500 ans. Proceedings of the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences.
COUTROS (P.R.), MATONDA SAKALA (I.), DOMAN (J.H.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2024, The Beginning of the Iron Age South of the Congo Rainforest: The First Archaeological Investigations around Idiofa (DRC), 146 BC – AD 1648. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa: 10.1080/0067270X.2024.2296802
FORTES-LIMA (C.A.), BURGARELLA (C.), HAMMARÉN (R.), ERIKSSON (A.), VICENTE (M.), JOLLY (C.), SEMO (A.), GUNNINK (H.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.), MUNDEKE (L.), MATONDA (I.), KONI MULUWA (J.), COUTROS (P. ), NYAMBE (T.S.), CIKOMOLA (C.), COETZEE (V.), DE CASTRO (M.), EBBESEN (P.), DELANGHE (J.), STONEKING (M.), BARHAM (L.), LOMBARD (M.), MEYER (A.), STEYN (M.), MALMSTRÖM (H.), ROCHA (J.), SOODYALL (H.), PAKENDORF (B.), BOSTOEN (K.) & SCHLEBUSCH (C.M.), 2024, The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa. Nature 625: 540-547. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-41023-06770-41586.
JUNGNICKEL (K.V.M.), SEIDENSTICKER (D.), HUBAU (W.), MEES (F.), CORNELISSEN (E.) & BOSTOEN (K.). 2024. The Late Pleistocene and Holocene chronocultural and anthracological open-air sequence from Mukila (DRC). Quaternary Science Reviews: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108752.
MASELLI, L., 2024, Phonetic and Phonological Research in Mai-Ndombe: A Few Preliminary Notes on Rhotics and Double-Articulations. Languages 9 (3): 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030114.
MATONDA SAKALA (I.), NKANU TSATSU (I.), ILO ONDEL (H.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2024, Le projet BantuFirst : rapport sur les recherches de terrain archéologiques 2023 dans la province de Kinshasa, Nyame Akuma 102, pp. 45-52.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2024 (in press), Grammatical tone in the Tense-Aspect-Mood-Polarity system of Ngwi (West-Coastal Bantu B861, DRC). Africana Linguistica 30.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.), KOUARATA, (G.N.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2024, Sound change versus lexical change for subgrouping. Word-final lenition of Proto-Bantu *ŋg in West-Coastal Bantu. Language Dynamics and Change 14: 1-73. https://doi.org/10.1163/22105832-bja10033.
VAN ACKER (S.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2024, The Introduction of Sugarcane in West-Central Africa: Insights from Comparative Bantu Word Histories. Nordic Journal of African Studies 33 (1): 17-46.

2023

CLIST (B.), BÉAREZ (P.), MOUGNE (C.), LESUR (J.), HUBAU (W.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2023, First Archaeological Excavations Along the Atlantic Ocean Coastline of the Democratic Republic of Congo: The Iron Age Sites at Muanda. African Archaeological Review 40: 711-739.
COUTROS (P.), MATONDA SAKALA (I.), MABUAKA DUKI (A.), NKANU TSATSU (I.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2023, The BantuFirst project: 2022 fieldwork report on the Kwilu-Kasai River reconnaissance and Mashita Mbanza excavations (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Nyame Akuma 99, pp. 29-34.
KOUARATA, (G.N.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2023, Nouvelle contribution à l’inventaire et la description des parlers teke (bantou, B70) en République Démocratique du Congo. Linguistique et Langues Africaines 9 (2): 1-33. https://doi.org/10.4000/lla.12921
MASELLI (L.), DELVAUX (V.), DONZO (J.-P.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2023, Labial-velar stops in Sakata (Bantu C34): Preliminary phonetic and phonological observations, Studies in African Linguistics 52 (1-2), pp. 125-147.

2022

BOSTOEN (K.), 2022, Archeologen zoeken in Congo naar de wieg van het Kongo en haar zustertalen, Stemmen van Afrika, online post.
BOSTOEN (K.), DE SCHRYVER (G-M.), GUEROIS (R.) & PACCHIAROTTI (S.) (eds.). 2022. On Reconstructing Proto-Bantu Grammar. Berlin: Language Science Press.
COUTROS (P.), MATONDA SAKALA (I.), MABUAKA DUKI (A.), NKANU TSATSU (I.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2022, The BantuFirst project: 2021 Fieldwork report on the Kwilu-Kasaï-Kamtsha-Loange River reconnaissance mission, Nyame Akuma 97, pp. 14-21.
MATONDA SAKALA (I.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2022, Le projet BantuFirst : rapport sur les recherches de terrain archéologiques 2021 dans la province de Kinshasa, République démocratique du Congo, Nyame Akuma 97, pp. 22-27.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2022, Erratic Velars in West-Coastal Bantu: Explaining Irregular Sound Change in Central Africa. Journal of Historical Linguistics 12 (3), pp. 381-445.
TSOUPRA (A.), CLIST (B.), DA CONCEIÇÃO LOPES (M.), MOITA (P.), BARRULAS (P. ), DA PIEDADE DE JESUS (M.), DA SILVA DOMINGOS (S.), BOSTOEN (K.) & MIRAO (J.). 2022, A multi-analytical characterization of fourteenth to eighteenth century pottery from the Kongo kingdom, Central Africa. Scientific Reports 12: 9943.

2021

BOLLAERT (F.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, The Noun Class System of Bwala, an Undocumented Teke Language from the DRC (Bantu, B70z), Nordic Journal of African Studies 30(1), pp. 1-40.
GOES (H.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, Typology and Evolution of Diminutives in the Kikongo Language Cluster, Africana Linguistica 27, pp. 59-102.
MASELLI (L.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, Labial‑velar stops outside the Macro-Sudan Belt: New evidence from Lwel (West‑Coastal Bantu, B862), Africana Linguistica 27, pp. 141-164.
MATONDA SAKALA (I.), BIGOHE MUGISHA (S.), MAMBU (C.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, Le projet BantuFirst : rapport sur les recherches de terrain archéologiques le long du bas-Kasaï dans les provinces du Kwilu et du Mai-Ndombe (RDC), Nyame Akuma 95, pp. 25-30.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, The evolution of the noun class system of Ngwi (West-Coastal Bantu, B861, DRC), Language in Africa 2(3), pp. 11-67.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, Final Vowel Loss in Lower Kasai Bantu (DRC) as a Contact-Induced Change, Journal of Language Contact 14, pp. 437-474.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.), MASELLI (L.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, The emergence of interior vowels and heterosyllabic vowel sequences in Ngwi (Bantu B861, DRC), Papers in Historical Phonology 6, pp. 107-146.
SEIDENSTICKER (D.), HUBAU (W.), VERSCHUREN (D.), FORTES-LIMA (C.), DE MARET (P.), SCHLEBUSCH (C.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, Population collapse in Congo rainforest from 400 CE urges reassessment of the Bantu Expansion, Science Advances 7 (7): eabd8352.
VAN ACKER (S.), PACCHIAROTTI (S.), DE LANGHE (E.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2021, Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa, Studies in African Linguistics 50 (2): 285-325.

2020

BOSTOEN (K.), 2020, Language and Archaeology, In VOSSEN (R.) & DIMMENDAAL (G. J.) (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of African Languages, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 972–982.
BOSTOEN (K.), 2020, The Bantu expansion: some facts and fiction, In CREVELS (M.) & MUYSKEN (P.) (Eds.), Language dispersal, diversification, and contact, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 227 – 239.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2020, The Proto-West-Coastal Bantu Velar Merger, Africana Linguistica 26: 139-195.
VAN ACKER (S.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2020, Inheritance and Contact in the Genesis of Gisamba (Bantu, L12a, DRC): A Diachronic Phonological Approach, Linguistique et Langues Africaines 6: 73-130.
WANG (K.), GOLDSTEIN (S.), BLEASDALE (M.), CLIST (B.), BOSTOEN (K.),BAKWA -LUFU (P.), BUCK (L.T.), CROWTHER (A.), DÈME (A.), MCINTOSH (R.J.), MERCADER (J.), OGOLA (C.), POWER (R.C.), SAWCHUK (E.), ROBERTSHAW (P.), WILMSEN (E.N.), PETRAGLIA (M.), NDIEMA (E.), MANTHI (F.K.), KRAUSE (J.), ROBERTS (P.), BOIVIN (N.), and SCHIFFELS (S.). 2020. Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa. Science Advances 6: eaaz0183.

2019

BOSTOEN (K.) & GOES (H.), 2019, Was Proto-Kikongo a 5 or 7-Vowel Language? Bantu Spirantization and Vowel Merger in the Kikongo Language Cluster, Linguistique et Langues Africaines, 5, pp. 25-68.
CLIST (B.), KAUMBA (M.), MATONDA (I.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2019, Kitala Ware: A New Early Iron Age Pottery Group from the Lower Congo Region in Central Africa, African Archaeological Review, 36(4), pp.455-477.
CLIST (B.), HUBAU (W.), TSHIBAMBA MUKENDI (J.), BEECKMAN (H.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2019, The earliest iron-producing communities in the Lower Congo region of Central Africa: New insights from the Bu, Kindu and Mantsetsi sites, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa.
GOES (H.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2019, Progressive vowel height harmony in Proto-Kikongo and Proto-Bantu, Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 40(1), pp. 23-73.
KONI MULUWA (J.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2019, Nsong (B85d), In VAN DE VELDE (M.), BOSTOEN (K.), NURSE (D.) & PHILIPPSON (G.) (Eds.), The Bantu Languages (Second Edition), Routledge, Oxford, pp. 414 – 448.
MATONDA SAKALA (I.), BIGOHE MUGISHA (S.), & BOSTOEN (K.), 2019, Le projet BantuFirst : rapport sur les recherches de terrain archéologiques 2019 dans les provinces du Kwilu et de Kinshasa, République démocratique du Congo, Nyame Akuma 92. pp.19-24.
PACCHIAROTTI (S.), CHOUSOU-POLYDOURI (N.) & BOSTOEN (K.). 2019. Untangling the West-Coastal Bantu Mess: Identification, Geography and Phylogeny of the Bantu B50-80 Languages, Africana Linguistica 25: 155-229.

2018

CLIST (B.), BIGOHE (S.), MAMBU (C.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2018, The BantuFirst Project: 2018 Fieldwork Report from the Kongo Central Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nyame Akuma 90. pp.14-22.
SEIDENSTICKER (D.), JUNGNICKEL (K.), MAMBU (C.), YOGOLELO (J.), KIDEBUA (R.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2018, The BantuFirst Project: 2018 Fieldwork Report from the Kinshasa, Kwango, Kwilu and Mai-Ndombe Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nyame Akuma 90, pp.23-29.
CLIST (B.), BOSTOEN (B.), de MARET (P.), EGGERT (M. K. H.), HÖHN (A.), MBIDA MINDZIÉ (C.), NEUMANN (K.) & SEIDENSTICKER (D.), 2018, Did human activity really trigger the late Holocene rainforest crisis in Central Africa? Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (published ahead of print May 8, 2018). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805247115

Book Chapters

2023

BOSTOEN (K.), 2023, Bantu Expansion. In D. Potts, E. Harkness, J. Neelis and R. McIntosh (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00611.

2022

BOSTOEN (K.) & Gunnink (H.), 2022, The Impact of Autochthonous Languages on Bantu Language Variation: A Comparative View on Southern and Central Africa, In ESCOBAR (A.M.) & MUFWENE (S.) (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact: Volume 1: Population Movement and Language Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 152-186.

2020

BOSTOEN (K.), 2020, Language and Archaeology, in VOSSEN (R.) & Dimmendaal (G.J.), The Oxford Handbook of African Languages, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.972-982.

2018

BOSTOEN (K.), 2018, The Bantu Expansion, In SPEAR (T.) (ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Oxford Research Encyclopedias Online.
CLIST (B.), 2018, Dates radiocarbones et leur contexte [from the Kongo-Central and Kinshasa provinces], In CLIST (B.), de MARET (P.) & BOSTOEN (K.) (eds.), Une archéologie des provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp.231-241.
CLIST (B.), de MARET (P.) & BOSTOEN (K.), 2018, Les débuts de la céramique, de la sédentarisation et de la métallurgie du fer [from the Kongo-Central and Kinshasa provinces], In CLIST (B.), de MARET (P.) & BOSTOEN (K.) (eds.), Une archéologie des provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp.45-50.
CLIST (B.), NIKIS (N.) & de MARET (P.), 2018, Séquence chrono-culturelle de la poterie Kongo (13e-19e siècles), In CLIST (B.), de MARET (P.) & BOSTOEN (K.) (eds.), Une archéologie des provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp.243-279.
CORNELISSEN (E.), 2018, L’industrie en quartz de l’Holocène ancien au Bas-Congo, In CLIST (B.), de MARET (P.) & BOSTOEN (K.) (eds.), Une archéologie des provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp.31-44.
HUBAU (W.), TSHIBAMBA MUKENDI (J.), CLIST (B.), BOSTOEN (K.) & BEECKMAN (H.), 2018, L’évolution de la composition de la forêt dans la région du Bas-Congo (1800 bp-présent), In CLIST (B.), de MARET (P.) & BOSTOEN (K.) (eds.), Une archéologie des provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, Archaeopress, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp.19-30.
KONI MULUWA (J.) & Bostoen (K.), 2018, Nsong B85d, In VAN DE VELDE (M.), BOSTOEN (K.), NURSE (D.) & PHILIPPSON (G.), The Bantu Languages (Second Edition), Routledge, Oxford, pp.414–448.
BOSTOEN (K.) & KONI MULUWA (J.), 2017, Were the First Bantu Speakers South of the Rainforest Farmers? A First Assessment of the Linguistic Evidence, In ROBBEETS (M.) & SAVELYEV (S.), Dispersal Beyond Farming, John Benjamins, Amsterdam; Philadelphia, pp.235-258.

Theses