The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns

by Bassey W. Andah (editor), Thurstan Shaw (editor), Paul Sinclair (editor)

Many of the authors herein are either Africans or live there. All do fieldwork there. The many essays allow not only a wide overview of development from c. 8000 BC to the present, but also some review chapters & in-depth studies. Contrary to common perception, it's intended that Africa's past should emerge as anything but a vast barren area, open to all extraneous influence, eager to welcome innovations & colonizers in order to be developed. Instead, the book aims to show that the continent emerges as the possessor of a complex interweaving of cultures, practising a diversity of economic & social strategies in a number of environments. In some areas, hunting & gathering was a successful adaptation. In some, pastoralism. In others, small agricultural communities. In still others, urbanism. Archeology has revealed enough of Africa's past to confound preconceptions.
Africa's climate in the Holocene/ A.T. Grove
The climatic & vegetational history of the equatorial regions of Africa during the upper Quaternary/ J. Maley
The tropical African cereals/ Jack R. Harlan
The spread of domestic animals in Africa/ Juliet Clutton-Brock
Ethnographic & linguistic evidence for the prehistory of African ruminant livestock, horses & ponies/ Roger Blench
Nilo-Saharans & the Saharo-Sudanese Neolithic/ Christopher Ehret
Recent developments in African language classification & their implications for prehistory/ Roger Blench
Linguistic evidence for the use of some tree & tuber food plants in Southern Nigeria/ Kay Williamson
Examination of botanical remains from early neolithic houses at Nabta Playa, Western Desert, Egypt/ K. Wasylikowa et al.
Foraging & farming in Egypt/ Wilma Wetterstrom
The emergence of a food-producing economy in the Sahara/ A. Muzzolini
Identifying early farming traditions of west Africa/ B. Andah
The Kintampo complex/ James Anquandah
Intensification in the west African Late Stone Age/ Ann B. Stahl
Agriculture & settlement among the Tiv of Nigeria/ C.A. Folorunso & S.O. Ogundele
Central Africa & the archeology of the equatorial rainforest/ Manfred K.H. Eggert
Transition from Late Stone Age to Iron Age in the Sudano-Sahelian zone/ Augustin Holl
The antiquity of cultivation & herding in Ethiopia/ David W. Phillipson
The beginnings of food production in sw Kenya/ Peter Robertshaw
The rise & fall of nomadic pastorialism in the central Namib desert/ John Kinahan
The iron age peoples of east-central Botswana/ D. Kiyaga-Mulindwa
Iron age settlement & subsistence patterns in southern Malawi/ Yusuf M. Juwayeyi
A question of identities: an anthropological enquiry & a historical narrative/ Joseph O. Vogel
A perspective on archeological research in Mozambique/ P.J.J. Sinclair et al.
New evidence on early iron-smelting from se Nigeria/ Edwin Okafor
Changing perspectives on traditional iron production in W Africa/ François J. Kense & John Ako Okoro
Iron technology in the middle Sahel/Savanna/ I. Musa Muhammed
Iron-making techniques in the Kivu region of Zaire/ N'Sanda Buleli
Ancient iron-working in Madagascar/ C. Radimilahy
The iron-using communities in Kenya/ H.O. Kiriama
Metaphors & representations associated with precolonial iron-smelting in eastern & southern Africa/ D.P. Collett
The magical production of iron in the Cameroon Grassfields/ M. Rowlands & J.-P. Warnier
Town & village in ancient Egypt/ F.A. Hassan
Urbanism in Bronze Age Egypt & northeast Africa/ D. O'Connor
The land of Punt/ K.A. Kitchen
State development & urbanism in northern Ethiopia/ S. Munro-Hay
Cities without citadels/ S.K. McIntosh & R.J. McIntosh
Urbanization & state formation in Ghana during the Iron Age/ J. Anquandah
The salt industries of west Africa/ J. Alexander
Trade & politics on the eastern littoral of Africa, 800-1300/ H.T. Wright
Exploitation of marine resources/ M. Horton & N. Mudida
Coast-interior settlements & social relations in the Kenya coastal hinterland/ G.H.O. Abungu & H.W. Mutoro
Urban trajectories on the Zimbabwean plateau/ P.J.J. Sinclair et al.
Settlement area & communication in African towns & cities/ R. Fletcher

Genres: Archaeology, History, Africa

895 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 1993

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'ld like to read it.
Trust it'll be quite educational