African Archaeology Research Articles

PROFESSIONALISATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY: AN IMPORTANT LEAP TO THE FUTURE

Archaeology as a discipline has developed following generally similar trends around the world. In its infancy days, archaeology was largely dominated by collectors who were not providing much interpretation of the materials they were gathering. As amateurs, their analyses of the last was severely limited. In the case of South Africa, it was only in 1923 that a first South African was trained as an archaeologists. Training of more archaeologists was a slow phenomenon for many reasons, and thus it was not until a growing number of universities introduced archaeological programs in the country that there were concerted efforts to train more scholars in the discipline. While all these developments were taking place, however, the professional was not regulated. Instead, archaeological associations were informally constituted by like-minded people who shared the same passion for the past. It was not until March 2018 that the Association for Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA), administratively and historically based in South Africa, was recognised as a non-statutory body. The discipline has taken a long trajectory to reach this level. In my opinion, the preferred recognition would have been registration as a statutory body established by the law of South African Parliament. That aside, I share the journey South African archaeology has traversed over the period encompassing four centuries, as well as evaluate the impact made by the 2018 recognition by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

African psychology: from acquiescence to dissent

Over the past 5 or 6 years, it has consistently been argued that African psychology should be recognised as an emerging tradition and a counter-canonical and insurgent postcolonial discipline fitting to be classified in the same category as other postcolonial disciplines in African humanities such as African literature, African philosophy, African religion, African anthropology, African history, African archaeology, African music, and African art. This article is an attempt to expatiate on this thesis. It aims to demonstrate that continental African psychology is a legitimate, autonomous, and self-determinative postcolonial discipline endowed with its own definable epistemological, philosophical, and methodological traditions to psychological scholarship. The basic idea of the article is consistent with the view credited to Guba and Lincoln that social science scholarship ‘needs emancipation from hearing only the voices of Western Europe, emancipation from generations of silence, and emancipation from seeing the world in one color’ (p. 212), and in the context of this article, in one psychology.

Issues Emerging: Thoughts on the Reflective Articles on Coronavirus (COVID-19) and African Archaeology.

Issues Emerging: Thoughts on the Reflective Articles on Coronavirus (COVID-19) and African Archaeology.

A southern African archaeological database of organic containers and materials, 800 cal BC to cal AD 1500: Possible implications for the transition from foraging to livestock-keeping.

Although evidence of organic materials has consistently been reported in the archaeology of southern Africa little attention has been given to how this evidence, so slight in comparison to pottery and lithics, might be used to understand the transition from foraging to livestock-keeping in southern African Archaeology. We have compiled a geo-referenced, radiocarbon database of these organic, material culture remains, with particular reference to containers made of ostrich eggshell, wood, gourd, tortoise shell, twine, and leather over a 2300-year period to capture the periods before and after the appearance of livestock. We have mapped the organic materials for the period 800 cal BC to cal AD 1500 and explored the subsistence base of those who used them. This distribution is compared to that of pottery and livestock remains–conventionally the two archaeological markers of pastoralists. The paper interrogates what this might add to the vexed question of how the practice of livestock-keeping and pottery-making spread into and through the region (the hunter-herder debate). Our analysis suggests that ostrich eggshell containers can be used as a proxy for hunter-gatherers. By comparing areas of bead manufacture with those that have evidence only of bead use, we show the areas to which items may have travelled, along already established hunter-gatherer exchange networks. Our results suggest that hunter-gatherers widely and quickly adopted pottery across southern Africa in a process of cultural diffusion and local innovation, and that this was possibly the main mechanism for the dispersal of livestock at 2100 years ago.

A Conversation with Peter Ridgway Schmidt, the Ṣango of African Archaeology

Peter R. Schmidt has had a multidimensional career whose five decades of engagement with the archaeology of Africa has left enduring legacies. In this conversation, the reader is invited into the world of Peter Schmidt, from his humble family background to his formative years as a young adult finding his way to Africa and archaeology. His path to the field of African archaeology was unconventional, but it led to his groundbreaking research into iron technology that set a new standard for the ethnoarchaeology of social and technological life. Likewise, his unalloyed commitment to marrying oral traditions with archaeology has expanded intellectual horizons in African archaeology. He has also been a staunch advocate for postcolonial perspectives, decolonization of archaeological practice, and community engagements that privilege local knowledge and African ontologies. His capacity-building efforts in the USA and Africa, especially at Brown University, University of Florida, University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Asmara, and Makerere University, speak to his vision to improve the human condition. This conversation explores what can be learned from Schmidt’s experience and labor as an Africa-centered scholar, archaeologist, and institution builder.

African Archaeologists Honored at the Fourth Shanghai Archaeology Forum, December 2019

African Archaeologists Honored at the Fourth Shanghai Archaeology Forum, December 2019

Geospatial Analysis in African Archaeology: Current Theories, Topics, and Methods

Geospatial Analysis in African Archaeology: Current Theories, Topics, and Methods

Aerial and Spaceborne Remote Sensing in African Archaeology: A Review of Current Research and Potential Future Avenues

Africa represents a vast region where remote sensing technologies have been largely uneven in their archaeological applications. With impending climate-related risks such as increased coastal erosion and rising sea levels, coupled with rapid urban development, gaps in our knowledge of the human history of this continent are in jeopardy of becoming permanent. Spaceborne and aerial remote sensing instruments are powerful tools for producing relatively complete records of archaeological settlement patterns and human behavior at landscape scales. These sensors allow for massive amounts of information to be recorded and analyzed in short spans of time and offer an effective means to increase survey areas and the discovery of new cultural deposits. In this paper, we review various case studies throughout Africa dealing with aerial and satellite remote sensing applications to landscape archaeology in order to highlight recent developments and future research avenues. Specifically, we argue that (semi)automated remote sensing methods stemming from machine learning developments will prove vital to expanding our knowledge base of Africa’s archaeological record. This is especially important for coastal and island regions of the continent where climate change threatens the survival of much of the archaeological record.

English

Much as the first collections of stone tools in East Africa were made by geologist J.W. Gregory, beginning in 1893, E.J. Wayland’s joined the government service in Uganda in 1919 to set East African Archaeology on the course that it was to follow for the next 40 years or more. However, over 90 years from its inception, a larger percentage of archaeological research in Uganda seems regionally imbalanced, dominated by foreign researchers and periodically generalized. In order to understand these anomalies, this study undertook a critical literature review of archaeological research data from 1920 to 2018. The main objectives were to; document the regional distribution of archaeological research in Uganda; analyze the interplay between local and foreign researchers, and examine the period of archaeological research, that is Stone Age or Iron Age. Results show that, there is a wide gap in regional distribution of archaeological research in Uganda, dominated by foreign researchers with a focus on Iron Age period. The study concludes that, the limited research interest in other parts of Uganda is not because of lack of archaeology but a long set ideology of foreign researchers to dominate local research space. This calls for active involvement of local researchers in archaeological research, in order to neutralise the long set colonial research ideology and take charge of archaeological research directions. This will aid in narrowing the regional research gaps as well as presenting the true picture of Uganda’s past. Key words: Archaeology, archaeological potential, stone age, iron age, ideology.

Contemporary Gold Mining in Eastern Zimbabwe: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Characteristics

This paper is based on the dataset that I collected during my doctoral research in Eastern Zimbabwe between 2015 and 2018. The dataset represents an investigation of pre-colonial and contemporary gold mining practices in this area and covers the period from AD 1300–2018 from an anthropological and archaeological perspective. The fieldwork conducted consists of archaeological excavations and surface collections that I carried out at three selected sites. Recovered material culture was then analysed using ethnographic analogies based on interviewing contemporary gold miners who were working near these sites. The dataset will be potentially useful to southern African archaeologists by offering them new direction on pre-colonial gold mining practices in a region where these have only been partially studied as appendages of iron production processes. The use of archaeological ethnography in this research also adds a multi- dimensional perspective in the interpretation of archaeological objects associated with pre-colonial gold mining practices in Eastern Zimbabwe. Funding statement: Financial support for this research project was received from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research through the Wadsworth Foundation African Doctoral Fellowship Programme (2015–2018).

Exploring attitudes towards the archaeological past: Two case studies from majority Muslim communities in the Nile valley

There is a dearth of studies on intercultural dynamics in Southwest Asian and North African archaeology, not least since conventional narratives assert that present-day majority Muslim communities in these regions are not interested in the pre-Islamic past. In this paper I argue that, despite seemingly overcoming such positions, collaborative projects may actually exacerbate them through perceiving local communities as deficient, in need of being taught and re-united with “their” heritage. Using data from two current projects in Sudan, I explore actual motivations of local publics to engage with the archaeologically approachable past and the interests they voice vis-à-vis archaeological heritage. I suggest that emphasizing these dimensions effects a shift in how nonarchaeological partners in collaborative projects are conceptualized. This opens new ground for engagement, as changing perceptions impact on interactions and, in consequence, power relations between protagonists.

Public Archaeology's Mammoth in the Room: Engaging Wikipedia as a Tool for Teaching and Outreach

AbstractAlthough archaeology has become increasingly concerned with engaging diverse publics, and has embraced the internet as a means of facilitating such engagement, attitudes towards Wikipedia have—understandably—been more ambivalent. Nevertheless, we argue here, Wikipedia's popularity and reach mean that archaeologists should actively engage with the website by adding and improving archaeological content. One way to do this is in the classroom: this paper provides a detailed how-to for instructors interested in having students create new Wikipedia content. We provide a case study in Wikipedia engagement from an advanced undergraduate course on African Archaeology, assess a program (Wiki Education) designed to help, and suggest further avenues for future outreach. We conclude that Wikipedia's utopian mission aligns with many of the goals of public archaeology, and argue that archaeology has much to gain by engaging with—rather than ignoring or even shunning—Wikipedia.

Towards an Understanding of Spatiotemporal Dynamics at Great Zimbabwe

In 1987 archaeologists from nine African countries and colleagues from Sweden began a co-operation programme to study urbanism in eastern and southern Africa under the auspices of The Urban Origins programme. The programme involved 22 parallel field projects throughout the West Indian Ocean region and the southern Africa interior. The article presents a compilation of diverse material on Great Zimbabwe that has been scattered in different fora. The research was directed by an overall approach that investigations in urban archaeology in Africa must be at the same scale that people lived in the past. The results briefly presented here show the potential of multivariate assessments of the spatial distributions of large-scale urban sites in Africa.

Towards an Understanding of Spatiotemporal Dynamics at Great Zimbabwe

In 1987 archaeologists from nine African countries and colleagues from Sweden began a co-operation programme to study urbanism in eastern and southern Africa under the auspices of The Urban Origins programme. The programme involved 22 parallel field projects throughout the West Indian Ocean region and the southern Africa interior. The article presents a compilation of diverse material on Great Zimbabwe that has been scattered in different fora. The research was directed by an overall approach that investigations in urban archaeology in Africa must be at the same scale that people lived in the past. The results briefly presented here show the potential of multivariate assessments of the spatial distributions of large-scale urban sites in Africa.

Learning through connecting: data management as a basis for meaningful use of legacy data -The African Archaeology Archive Cologne

For more than 50 years the African Archaeology at the University of Cologne has conducted field research in various parts of Africa, particularly in the Eastern Sahara and in Namibia. The focus was on environmental history and on rock art, with internationally renowned research schemes like ACACIA (Arid Climate Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa) and ‘Rock Paintings of the Upper Brandberg'. Much of it was published in close co-operation with the Heinrich-Barth-Institut, including six voluminous catalogues of rock art and 26 monographs on African archaeology. Most of the materials accumulated in the research projects are not digital in origin and are now digitized and made accessible in the digital online archive AAArC (African Archaeology Archive Cologne). Besides being a repository for tens of thousands of pictures, also whole documentations of excavation are made accessible here. Digitising the repositories of Cologne's African Archaeology within the AAArC project started in 2012, using the DAI (German Archaeological Institute) data-interfaces Arachne, DAI-Gazetteer and DAI-Zenon. Today AAArC opens web access to thousands of fieldwork documentations, pictures and tracings of rock art. Open access interoperability of metadata integrated to picture formats is achieved. Exploiting database management systems of highly varied structure in a digital repository is achieved through collaboration with IANUS (Research Data Centre Archaeology & Ancient Studies), a national long-term preservation digital archive for archaeological data. AAArC offers participation in digital heritage content management, thus perpetuating the long lasting cooperation of Cologne's African Archaeology with a number of African countries. The AAArC online archive aspires to make the full range of archaeological documentations accessible online and not just pictures. Thus AAArC ultimately enables a digital homecoming of complex research data to their countries of origin.

Der Nashornspur folgen, wo es kein Nashorn mehr gibt

Manifold spoors of human presence can be found in the Central Sahara - from prehistoric remains to contemporary tracks of men or animals. These objects constitute timescapes where locals - the Teda - are “tracking in time.” The article describes how such timescapes are constituted and how tracking takes places here. Following the Liebenberg-Carruthers-debate, the author asks whether or not “tracking in time” can be considered as science and links the results to a wider discussion about new (local) approaches to African anthropology, history, and archaeology.

The ‘Lost Caravan’ of Ma’den Ijafen Revisited: Re-appraising Its Cargo of Cowries, a Medieval Global Commodity

AbstractThe lost caravan of Ma’den Ijafen, Mauritania, with its cargo of cowries and brass, is widely discussed in African archaeology, providing significant insight into the nature of long-distance trade in the medieval period. While the brass bars recovered by Théodore Monod during his expedition to the site in 1962 have received considerable attention, the cowrie shells described in his comprehensive publication of the assemblage in 1969 have received much less coverage. This issue was addressed during a recent visit to the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN) in Dakar, Senegal in May 2017, when the authors re-examined the shells as part of a wider project which also involved archaeological and environmental surveys in the Maldives, the oft-assumed source of these shells. Examinations of natural history collections of cowries, ethnographic interviews in the Maldives, and environmental surveys in East Africa were also carried out. Drawing on insights from these surveys, we systematically compared the Ma’den Ijafen cowrie assemblage to three others from the Maldives, focussing on four criteria: species composition and diversity, shell size and evidence of modifications. This analysis enabled us to shed new light on the nature of the Ma’den Ijafen cowries and their wider significance to understanding the role of the shells in West African trade networks.

Rivals No More: Jan Vansina, Precolonial African Historiography, and Archaeology

Abstract:This tribute to Jan Vansina explores the role of archaeology in the investigation of early African history, arguing for more work on the relationship between politics and the practice of ritual. The well-trodden topic of migrations of Bantu-speakers is revisited to examine the potential of genetics and archaeology to contribute to their investigation. Vansina often claimed to be a positivist and empiricist but there are contradictions in his writings that are tied to his changing vision of the purpose of precolonial African historiography. His view that African history must be meaningful to Africans resonates with recent developments in African archaeology.

Digital Management of Rock Art: the African Archaeology Archive Cologne (AAArC)

Archaeology is a costly and object-affine practice requiring sophisticated technical equipment, and therefore is largely initiated and run from industrialised countries. Accordingly, also data and objects are largely lodged in these countries. In rock art, this leads to the paradoxical situation that many motifs and sites with outstanding prehistoric art are better known and more often shown in northern hemisphere urban centres than in the global south rural areas where the art in fact is found. This paper will focus on the possibilities and benefits of a digital archive in making pictures, data and other archaeological source material accessible anytime from everywhere. An open online archive will in the long run flatten the hierarchical order of access to the results of archaeological research and heritage archiving. Today, this is still concentrated in the western metropoles and rarest in African hinterlands. The open access to thousands of pictures will facilitate dissemination of motifs in particular since the distribution of smartphones and network coverage are ever growing particularly in Africa’s rural areas. The African Archaeology Archive Cologne (AAArC), being licenced under Creative Commons, provides open access to tens of thousands of rock art photos and to the enormous Brandberg-Daureb Data Base that contains 39,000+ rock art figures. Additionally AAArC stores all kinds of digital archaeological products from across Africa (mainly Sudan, Algeria, Chad and Namibia), including audio and film documentary.

The Metaphor of Cultural Entanglement in Northeast African Archaeology

The Metaphor of Cultural Entanglement in Northeast African Archaeology