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Ethnoarchaeology of Shuwa-Arab Settlements demonstrates the imperative need for ethnoarchaeology to include a deep sense of the history of the specific social group under analysis for its findings to truly impact archaeological thinking. Based on research from a long-term archaeological and ethnoarchaeological project conducted in the northernmost part of Cameroon, Augustin Holl's new work probes the ethnic survival of the Shuwa-Arab descendants of generations of pastoralists who migrated from Arabia to the Chad basin. The book robustly engages macro issues connected to processes of sedentarization, ethnic interaction in a multi-ethnic setting, and relations of power and dominion. On the micro level the work deciphers clues for the cultural survival and later prosperity of the Shuwa-Arab hidden in the material record of their daily settlement life. This book will be of great interest to students of African history, African studies, archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and ethnic and cultural studies seeking to understand how to successfully integrate history into the interpretation of the archaeological record.
The Neolithic rock images of Iheren, Algeria are the starting point for Augustin Holl's careful analysis of the iconography of Saharan rock art. Created in the third millennium B.C., the Iheren murals are over 3 meters wide and contain multiple compositions that present an allegorical depiction of the lifeways of Tassilian pastoralists in the Sahara. Holl approaches his task as an archaeologist, examining the various strands of evidence—icons, ideas, motifs, colors, and sizes-and weaving them together into a story that offers a window on the pastoralist worldview through the semiotics of their art. His deconstruction and synthesis of this corpus of material should be of interest to African archaeologists, rock art specialists, art historians, and cultural anthropologists alike.
An integrated narrative on the African Burial Ground that illuminates the early history of the African presence in New Amsterdam-New York City.
Using language to date the origin and spread of food production, Archaeology and Language II represents groundbreaking work in synthesizing two disciplines that are now seen as interlinked: linguistics and archaeology. This volume is the second part of a three-part survey of innovative results emerging from their combination. Archaeology and historical linguistics have largely pursued separate tracks until recently, although their goals can be very similar. While there is a new awareness that these disciplines can be used to complement one another, both rigorous methodological awareness and detailed case-studies are still lacking in the literature. This three-part survey is the first study t...
For centuries, racist, colonial, and Eurocentric bias has blocked or distorted knowledge of Africans, their histories and cultures, resulting in a counter mythology claiming the innate superiority of African-descended peoples. In this provocative study, historian Stephen Howe challenges this Afrocentric rewriting of African history. 16 photos. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Archaeologists have been excavating in Africa for over 200 years. Contributors place the subject within the broader political, social and economic context. Not only have the attitudes and aspirations of both colonialism and nationalism been important influences on the development of African archaeology, but certain discoveries have also had considerable political impact. Contributors include J.D.Clark, Thurstan Shaw and Peter Shinnie, who have been at the forefront of African archaeology for 50 years.
West African Awdaghost (Tegdaoust) emerged as a vital medieval trade center before its decline in the sixteenth century AD. Extensively excavated and accompanied by a large body of published material, Awdaghost provides a unique opportunity for the application of household archaeology to a West African settlement. By examining the building sequences of the habitation complexes, with their evolving space allocations, this monograph demonstrates how the household units in Awdaghost reflect fluctuating social organization and economic conditions.
Africa has a vibrant past. It emerges from this book as the proud possessor of a vast and highly complicated interweaving of peoples and cultures, practising an enormous diversity of economic and social strategies in an 2xtraordinary range of environmental situations. At long last the archaeology of Africa has revealed enough of Africa's unwritten past to confound preconceptions about this continent and to upset the picture inferred from historic written records. Without an understanding of its past complexities, it is impossible to grasp Africa's present, let alone its future.