Report on the African Research Committee Conference on the African Iron Age

Abstract

This conference was held at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, December 8 to 10, 1966, under the cochairmanship of Professor Frank Willett (Northwestern University) and Dr. Brian M. Fagan (University of Illinois). Thirteen persons in some way associated with Iron Age archaeology were official participants, and there were six observers who also contributed to the discussions. The names of these participants are listed at the end of this article. Their primary concern was with the archaeology of Africa since the origins of food production, with special reference to the Iron Age. As a guideline the participants were given brief reports on four recent conferences which had touched on the problems of African Iron Age archaeology. Terminology and research needs, primarily for the Stone Age, were topics at the Wenner Gren Symposium on the African Quaternary held at Burg Wartenstein, Austria, in July, 1965. The results of this symposium were reviewed at the meeting of West African archaeologists in Sierra Leone during June, 1966. This meeting also expressed concern at the shortage of manpower and resources in West African archaeology, especially in the French-speaking territories, and training facilities and other terminological problems were also discussed. The difficulties of communication and training, especially in related disciplines, were discussed by a group attending an ARC meeting on the African Arts in March, 1966.