African Archaeology Without Frontiers

African Archaeology Without Frontiers
Author: Chapurukha M Kusimba
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2016-12-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1776140354

Confronting national, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries, contributors to African Archaeology Without Frontiers argue against artificial limits and divisions created through the study of ‘ages’ that in reality overlap and cannot and should not be understood in isolation. Papers are drawn from the proceedings of the landmark 14th PanAfrican Archaeological Association Congress, held in Johannesburg in 2014, nearly seven decades after the conference planned for 1951 was re-located to Algiers for ideological reasons following the National Party’s rise to power in South Africa. Contributions by keynote speakers Chapurukha Kusimba and Akin Ogundiran encourage African archaeologists to practise an archaeology that collaborates across many related fields of study to enrich our understanding of the past. The nine papers cover a broad geographical sweep by incorporating material on ongoing projects throughout the continent including South Africa, Botswana, Cameroon, Togo, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria. Thematically, the papers included in the volume address issues of identity and interaction, and the need to balance cultural heritage management and sustainable development derived from a continent racked by social inequalities and crippling poverty. Edited by three leading archaeologists, the collection covers many aspects of African archaeology, and a range of periods from the earliest hominins to the historical period. It will appeal to specialists and interested amateurs.

Archaeology in Africa. Potentials and perspectives on laboratory & fieldwork research

Archaeology in Africa. Potentials and perspectives on laboratory & fieldwork research
Author: Savino di Lernia
Publisher: All’Insegna del Giglio
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Art
ISBN: 8878149454

Africa encompasses a multitude of environments and biomes that require specific scientific strategies – from desktop studies to field research to laboratory analysis – to tackle research questions that may range from the emergence of early humans to the ethnoarchaeological investigation. In several areas, turmoil, social instability and security constraints hamper or limit field activities and long-term funded programs. The kidnapping of German colleagues and the tragic death of two local collaborators in Nigeria urge to rethink our agenda and challenge our view of current research practice. This 1st Workshop on “Archaeology in Africa”, organized by Sapienza University of Rome, convened several researches from Italy or Italy-based researchers. The aim was to present and discuss theoretical, methodological and financial problems for Africanist researchers today. In a global perspective, the synergy between research groups is crucial. The need to intensify the national and international cooperation is also an essential step. This book collects a selection of the different perspectives presented to the workshop, mostly focussing from North Africa and East Africa.

The Archaeology of Southern Africa

The Archaeology of Southern Africa
Author: Peter Mitchell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2024-06-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 100932473X

This revised and updated edition provides a comprehensive synthesis of Southern Africa's archaeology over more than 3 million years.

Foragers in the middle Limpopo Valley: Trade, Place-making, and Social Complexity

Foragers in the middle Limpopo Valley: Trade, Place-making, and Social Complexity
Author: Tim Forssman
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2020-09-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789696860

Foragers were present in the Limpopo Valley (South Africa) before the arrival of farmers and not only witnessed but also participated in local systems leading to the appearance of a complex society. Despite numerous studies in the valley, forager involvement in socio-political developments has been, until now, largely ignored.

Rock Art and Memory in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge

Rock Art and Memory in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge
Author: Leslie F. Zubieta
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2022-07-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030969428

This book shares timely and thought-provoking methodological and theoretical approaches from perspectives concerning landscape, gender, cognition, neural networks, material culture and ontology in order to comprehend rock art’s role in memorisation processes, collective memory, and the intergenerational circulation of knowledge. The case studies offered here stem from human experiences from around the globe—Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America—, which reflects the authors’ diverse interpretative stances. While some of the approaches deal with mnemonics, new digital technologies and statistical analysis, others examine performances, sensory engagement, language, and political disputes, giving the reader a comprehensive view of the myriad connections between memory studies and rock art. Indigenous interlocutors participate as collaborators and authors, creating space for Indigenous narratives of memory. These narratives merge with Western versions of past and recent memories in order to construct jointly novel inter-epistemic understandings of images made on rock. Each chapter demonstrates the commitment of rock art studies to strengthen and enrich the field by exploring how communities and cultures across time have perceived and entangled rock images with a broad range of material culture, nonhumans, people, emotions, performances, sounds and narratives. Such relations are pivotal to understanding the universe behind the intersections of memory and rock art and to generating future interdisciplinary collaborative studies.

Routledge Handbook of Critical African Heritage Studies

Routledge Handbook of Critical African Heritage Studies
Author: Ashton Sinamai
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 740
Release: 2024-09-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1040047467

This handbook is a foundational reference point for critical heritage research about Africa and its diaspora. Foregrounding the diversity of knowledge systems needed to examine heritage issues in such a diverse continent, the contributors to this volume: argue for an understanding heritage that is at once both natural and cultural, tangible and intangible, political and dissonant, going beyond the physical and objective to include subjective narratives, performances, rituals, memories and emotions examine the pre-coloniality, coloniality, post-coloniality, and decoloniality of current African heritage discourses and their consequences analyse how heritage legislation derived from colonial law is compatible or otherwise with how heritage is perceived, identified and remembered in African communities discuss questions of repatriation, restitution and reparations in relation to the return of artefacts from Western countries illuminate the importance of ‘difficult heritage’ within Africa and its diaspora consider the role of heritage for development in Africa Making a crucial contribution to our understanding of African conceptions and practices of heritage, this book is an important read for scholars of African Studies, heritage and museum studies, archaeology, anthropology and history.

Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity

Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2021-11-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004500227

This book explores important chapters of past and recent African history from a multidisciplinary perspective. It covers an extensive time range from the evolution of early humans to the complex cultural and genetic diversity of modern-day populations in Africa. Through a comprehensive list of chapters, the book focuses on different time-periods, geographic regions and cultural and biological aspects of human diversity across the continent. Each chapter summarises current knowledge with perspectives from a varied set of international researchers from diverse areas of expertise. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars interested in evolutionary history and human diversity in Africa. Contributors are Shaun Aron, Ananyo Choudhury, Bernard Clist, Cesar Fortes-Lima, Rosa Fregel, Jackson S. Kimambo, Faye Lander , Marlize Lombard, Fidelis T. Masao, Ezekia Mtetwa, Gilbert Pwiti, Michèle Ramsay, Thembi Russell, Carina Schlebusch, Dhriti Sengupta, Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi, Mário Vicente.

Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the Association of Ground Stone Tools Research

Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the Association of Ground Stone Tools Research
Author: Patrick Nørskov Pedersen
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2022-01-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789694795

The papers in this volume focus especially on the relationship between ground stone artefacts and foodways and include archaeological and ethnographic case studies ranging from the Palaeolithic to the current era, and geographically from Africa to Europe and Asia.