Africa (Archaeology)

Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa

by J. Cameron Monroe

With Akin Ogundiran. In Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives, edited by J. Cameron Monroe and Akin Ogundiran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 1-46.

The ‘Ella’ stone platforms in Mursiland, Lower Omo Valley, Southwestern Ethiopia

by Marcus Brittain

2010. Antiquity 84 (with T. Clack)

Brief introduction to first season's survey and excavation in the Lower Omo Valley. Includes the winning photograph of... more Brief introduction to first season's survey and excavation in the Lower Omo Valley. Includes the winning photograph of the Antiquity 2010 photographic competition.

Excavations and surveys in Mursiland, S.W. Ethiopia, May-July 2009: A preliminary fieldwork report.

by Marcus Brittain

2010. Nyame Akuma 73: 65-76 (with T. Clack)

Place-making, participative archaeologies and Mursi megaliths: some implications for aspects of pre- and proto- history in the Horn of Africa

by Marcus Brittain

2011. Journal of Eastern African Studies 5(1): 85-107 (with T. Clack)

Here we present the context and nature of findings from the first season of archaeological survey and trial excavation... more Here we present the context and nature of findings from the first season of archaeological survey and trial excavation in an area of Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley. With the exception of well-documented early hominin discoveries, the region has previously been overlooked as a wilderness absent of human inhabitation. Such an outlook has fostered various consequences for strategies of legal, research and conservation policy within the regional boundaries of Mursiland in particular. In this paper recent discoveries of megalithic circular platforms and other archaeological remains are introduced against their dynamic local and regional placement within present-day understandings of place. Furthermore, the value of a participative archaeology research framework in which accountability is directed towards common ground between multiple ‘stake-holders’ is foregrounded within the design and dissemination of research agendas . We take the position that this demonstrates important possibilities for intricate understandings of wilderness and landscape linked to heritage, conservation, development and tourism.

When climate changes: Megaliths, migrations and medicines in Mursiland

by Marcus Brittain

2011. Current World Archaeology 46: 32-39 (with T. Clack)

Over the past two summers Timothy Clack and Marcus Brittain have directed the first archaeological teams in the Lower... more Over the past two summers Timothy Clack and Marcus Brittain have directed the first archaeological teams in the Lower Omo Valley, a remote part of south-western Ethiopia, to research long-term human responses to environmental change. What did they find there?

Pristine wilderness, participatory archaeology, and the custodianship of heritage in Mursiland

by Marcus Brittain

2012 (co-authored with T. Clack)

In Mol, L. & T. Sternberg (eds.), Changing Deserts: Integrating People and Their Environment, 192-212. Strond: The White Horse Press

This chapter explores the the notion of a pristine wilderness in conservation policy making and the value of... more This chapter explores the the notion of a pristine wilderness in conservation policy making and the value of archaeology for an understanding of cultural heritage in these processes.

Mission de prospection en archéologie préhistorique (LSA) dans la région des Lacs d'Ethiopie

by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar

Co-authored with François Bon, Asamerew Dessie, Romain Mensan.
Published in "Annales d'Ethiopie", 22, 2006 [released in 2007]: 85-129.

Four middle Holocene pillar sites in West Turkana, Kenya

by Katherine Grillo

Hildebrand, Elisabeth A., John J. Shea, and Katherine M. Grillo. 2011. Journal of Field Archaeology 36(3):181-200.

Megalithic architecture is associated with spread of food production in many parts of the world, but archaeological... more Megalithic architecture is associated with spread of food production in many parts of the world, but archaeological investigations have focused mainly on megalithic sites among early agrarian societies. Africa offers the opportunity to examine megalithic construction - and related social phenomena - among mobile herders and hunter-gatherers with no access to domestic plants. In northwest Kenya, several megalithic "pillar sites" are known near Lake Turkana, but few have seen systematic research. This paper presents the results of archaeological survey and test excavations at four pillar sites in West Turkana 2007-2009, and describes the sites' spatial arrangements, depositional sequences, and material culture. Radiocarbon dates suggest that pillar sites near Lothagam were used ca. 4300 B.P. (uncalibrated), just as early herding began near Lake Turkana, while pillar sites near Kalokol may be slightly later (ca. 3800 B.P.). Comparisons of material culture point to possible differences in use of contemporaneous pillar sites, and suggest monumental architecture had multiple forms and purposes in middle Holocene Turkana.

Early metal smelting in Aksum, Ethiopia: copper or iron?

by Thilo Rehren

This is the essence of Thorsten Severin's Diplomarbeit some years ago that I helped to bring to completion - if you want to see the whole paper please email me (sorry for the inconvenience). There's more spinel chemistry here than Aksumite archaeology, but it's been a fun project even though it came out differently than expected.

A selection of archaeometallurgical remains from the 3rd/4th century A.D., found in Aksum, Ethiopia, were analysed in... more A selection of archaeometallurgical remains from the 3rd/4th century A.D., found in Aksum, Ethiopia, were analysed in order to determine the nature of the process by which they were produced, i.e. copper or iron smelting. Chemical and mineralogical analyses excluded a relationship to copper smelting; instead, all samples are consistent with a highly efficient iron smelting operation using the bloomery process and slag tapping furnaces. A lateritic iron ore containing at least 80 wt% FeO was smelted, resulting in an estimated one unit by weight of iron metal produced for every unit by weight of slag left behind, and little erosion of furnace wall material. The zoning of spinels, with chromium- and aluminium-rich inner parts and mixed hercynitic-ulvitic outer rims, reflects the evolution of the melt phase under strongly reducing conditions.

Prelude to the Atlantic Trade: New Perspectives on Southern Ghana's pre-Atlantic History (800–-1500)

by Gérard L. F. Chouin

Co-authored with Christopher DeCorse.
Published in Journal of African History, 51, 2, p. 123-145, dec. 2010.

The Ghanaian forest was well settled by agricultural communities prior to the opening of the Atlantic trade in the... more The Ghanaian forest was well settled by agricultural communities prior to the opening of the Atlantic trade in the late fifteenth century. The most prominent of these settlements were earthworks sites, construction of which began in the first millennium ce and continued until their abrupt abandonment prior to the mid-fifteenth century. In this article, previous archaeological data are evaluated in light of current research to provide a plausible alternative hypothesis for the history of the Akan, placing that history in a much broader and deeper context.

LAMPEA-Doc 2011 – numéro 40 / Vendredi 2 décembre 2011

by Bibliothèque du LAMPEA

La lettre d'infos de la Bibliothèque du Laboratoire méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique La lettre d'infos de la Bibliothèque du Laboratoire méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique

Review article: Recent research on trade in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean (1st c.-7th c.)

by Alexis D'Hautcourt

published in 西洋古代史研究 = Acta Academiae Antiquitatis Kiotoensis (The Kyoto Journal of Ancient History)  8 (2008), p. 79-86

Review of D. Peacock, L. Blue (eds), The Ancient Red Sea port of Adulis, Eritrea: results of the Eritro-British... more Review of D. Peacock, L. Blue (eds), The Ancient Red Sea port of Adulis, Eritrea: results of the Eritro-British expedition 2004-2005, D. Peacock, D. Williams (eds), Food for the gods. New light on the ancient incense trade, R. T. J. Cappers, Roman foodprints at Berenike. Archaeobotanical evidence of subsistence and trade in the eastern desert of Egypt

Bead grinders and early Swahili household economy: analysis of an assemblage from Tumbe, Pemba Island, Tanzania, 7th-10th centuries AD

by James Flexner

With Jeffrey Fleisher and Adria LaViolette, Journal of African Archaeology 6(2), 2008

Note:  Full paper available through the Journal of African Archaeology:

more Note:  Full paper available through the Journal of African Archaeology:

http://www.african-archaeology.de/work/vol6(2)2008-17.html

Abstract

This paper focuses on a specific class of locally made artifacts known in the archaeological literature of the eastern African coast as bead grinders. Bead grinders are discarded potsherds or stone cobbles distinguished by long grooves abraded into their surfaces. Although they are some of the most commonly located artifacts on late first-millennium AD coastal sites, few close analyses of them have been conducted. Here we examine a particularly large assemblage of bead grinders from the site of Tumbe on Pemba Island, Tanzania, the largest such assemblage recovered from any site in eastern Africa. This essay is not aimed at determining whether or not these artifacts were in fact used to grind shell beads, the subject of considerable local debate, although we operate from that assumption. Rather, we treat them as artifacts related to production, and focus on standardization as a way to provide insight into the organization of production at Tumbe. Based on our analysis we argue that despite the intensive production implied by the sheer quantity of grinders recovered at Tumbe, the high degree of variation within relevant variables suggests that production was unstandardized and decentralized, carried on in individual households. We hope that this case study encourages more comparative research between coastal regions on bead grinders and other classes of artifacts related to production.

Résumé

Le travail que nous présentons ici porte sur un type particulier d'objets locaux connus sous le nom de polissoir à perles (bead grinder) — un outil abrasif pour fabriquer des perles — dans les textes archéologiques traitant de la côte orientale de l'Afrique. Ces instruments sont fabriqués à partir de tessons de poterie abandonnés ou de pierres et se caractérisent par de longues rainures abrasées à leur surface. Bien que ce soit l'un des objets les plus communément rencontrés sur les sites côtiers vers la fin du premier millénaire, cet outil n'a fait l'objet que de peu d'analyses approfondies. Nous en examinons ici un nombre particulièrement important provenant du site de Tumbe sur l'île de Pemba, en Tanzanie ; cet ensemble est d'ailleurs le plus large qui ait été retrouvé sur un site d'Afrique de l'est. Notre étude ne cherche pas à déterminer si ces outils étaient ou non utilisés pour fabriquer des perles en coquillage, bien que cette question soit au centre d'intenses débats locaux ; nous partons cependant de cette hypothèse. Nous considérons ici les polissoirs à perles en tant qu'objets liés à la production et nous nous concentrons sur la question de standardisation dans le but de mieux comprendre l'organisation de la production de ces outils à Tumbe. Nous affirmons dans notre analyse que, malgré la production intensive que suppose la quantité abondante de ces objets retrouvés à Tumbe, la production n'était ni standardisée, ni centralisée, mais provenait plutôt de foyers individuels. Nous espérons que cette étude de cas encourage de futures recherches comparatives entre les régions côtières sur la production de polissoirs à perles ou d'autres catégories d'objets locaux.

Rethinking Ancestors in Africa

by John C. McCall

1995. "Rethinking Ancestors in Africa." Africa. (Journal of the International African Institute.) 65(2): 256-270.

Prehistoric Pastoralists and Social Responses to Climatic Risk in East Africa

by Katherine Grillo

Marshall, Fiona; Katherine Grillo; and Lee Arco. In Sustainable Lifeways: Cultural Persistence in an Ever-changing Environment, eds. Naomi F. Miller, Katherine M. Moore, and Kathleen Ryan. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia (2011).

BIAGETTI, S., MERIGHI F., and DI LERNIA, S. (2004) Decoding an Early Holocene Saharan stratified site: ceramic dispersion and site formation processes in the Takarkori rockshelter (Acacus Mountains, Libyan). Journal of African Archeology, 3: 3-21.

by Stefano Biagetti

BIAGETTI, S., and DI LERNIA, S. (2007): Reflections on the Takarkori rockshelter (Fezzan, Libyan Sahara). Proceedings of the XV World Congress UISPP (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006), (eds. M. Kornfeld, S. Vasil’ev and L. Miotti), BAR S1655, Archaeopress, Oxford: 125 – 132.

by Stefano Biagetti

BIAGETTI, S., and DI LERNIA, S. (2008): Combining Intensive Field Survey and Digital Technologies: New Data on the Garamantian Castles of Wadi Awiss, Acacus Mts., Libyan Sahara. Journal of African Archaeology, 6 (1): 57-85.

by Stefano Biagetti

BIAGETTI, S., DI LERNIA, S., and POGGI, G. (2009) Unearthing the hearths. Preliminary results on the Takarkori rockshelter fireplaces (Acacus Mts., Libya). In Proceedings of the XV UISPP Conference (Lisbon, 4–9 settembre 2006), (ed. F. Cavulli, Archaeometry ed by M.I. Prudêncio and M.I. Dias). BAR S2045, Archaeopress, Oxford: 23-29.

by Stefano Biagetti

Transfixions et labrets subsahariens néolithiques en quartz

by Jacob Durieux