Race and Iron age human skeletal remains from Southern Africa: An assessment

Abstract

This paper reviews the concept of race as applied in southern Africa, and with particular reference to the idea of the “Negro”. After examining earlier work in the field of physical anthropology, more recent theoretical concepts are applied in a critique of modern practice. It is concluded that the revolution in physical anthropological theory has been largely “silent”, with the consequence that new ideas have not been systematically applied in archaeology. It would seem that there is little firm, and still acceptable, evidence for the identity of early farming communities in southern Africa.