African Archaeology Research Articles

Living on Edge: New Perspectives on Anxiety, Refuge and Colonialism in Southern Africa

Archaeologies of colonialism have have called for exploring the culturally dynamic entanglements of people and objects while acknowledging the violence that accompanied these entanglements. Heeding these calls requires attention to how the state and state power were materialized, particularly in settler colonies where state apparatuses advanced unevenly, insidiously and clumsily. Here, I explore how the (mis)understandings and (mis)apprehensions of people and places that accompanied the halting expansion of colonial frontiers were materialized. Focusing on southern Africa's Highveld and Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains, I offer anxiety as a framework for conceiving of colonialisms as epistemic encounters: processes of ‘making sense’ of new people, things and places based on material practices, empirical experience and desire. Through a narrative of the nineteenth-century Maloti-Drakensberg told with archival, archaeological and ethnographic materials, I revisit a longstanding trope of southern African archaeology and historiography: refugia from social distress. I argue that refuge can be taken as a sense-making practice rather than as reaction to stress. I close with thoughts on what an anxiety framework can offer the still-developing field of African historical archaeology.

‘People will no longer be people but will have markings and be animals’: investigating connections between diet, myth, ritual and rock art in southern African archaeology

ABSTRACTThis paper was motivated by a mid-twentieth century collection of wooden carvings made by the G/wi Bushmen (San) living in the western Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, in which they represent themselves as part human, part zebra. A reading of relevant ethnographies confirms a close identification of mid-twentieth-century Kalahari G/wi with zebras and their potency. Significantly they are avoided as prey in hunting. It follows that they are not eaten. Previously rock art researchers have noted that certain antelope species dominate in the paintings of parts of southern Africa. It is well known that eland are the most frequently and carefully depicted antelope in the rock paintings of the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains. Whilst two twentieth-century accounts suggest that blood and fat might have been an ingredient in paintings, there has been little discussion of whether this was the norm or whether eland were part of the everyday diet of those who emphasised them in their paintings. If the close identification with a particular animal was coupled with its avoidance in diet — as suggested by the G/wi — then it might be possible to pinpoint when this occurred in the faunal assemblage and thus meet Mitchell’s (2016: 9) recent call that southern Africanist archaeologists should try to, ‘pinpoint when, where and how ethnographically recognizable behaviours first appeared, thereby identifying discontinuities in their practice’. As a test case this paper explores whether San identification with the eland in the Maloti–Drakensberg region can be framed within a specific time period and context by drawing on various sources of evidence, including the faunal assemblages from it.

Session « Pêcheurs » au 23ème colloque biennal de la Société des Archéologues Africanistes (SAfA). Quel passé pour l’Afrique ? Toulouse (France), 26 juin-2 juillet 2016

From the 26th of June to the 2nd of July 2016, the 23rd biennial meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA) took place at the Universite Jean-Jaures in Toulouse (France). With 41 sessions and c. 600 participants, this was undoubtedly one of the largest editions of this conference, which brings together archaeologists, researchers from associated disciplines and others who share an interest in African archaeology and African societies. The interaction between humans and their n...

Forming and Shaping Pottery Boundaries in Contemporary South-Eastern Botswana

In southern African archaeology, the equation of pottery styles with archaeological ‘cultures’ and their attribution to the antecedents of contemporary ethnic groups has been a common practice for a long time. Ethnoarchaeological studies from other parts of Africa and beyond have shown that the matter is complex and that stylistic and technological boundaries in ceramic distributions can reflect different kinds of social boundaries under different circumstances. To expand on these findings and make them locally relevant, a large-scale ethnoarchaeological study of 41 potters in south-eastern Botswana aims for a better understanding of ceramic technological style and boundary relations. Here, we present and explain only the results concerning the boundaries in the forming and shaping stage of ceramic vessel manufacture. We conclude that learning networks explain the visible boundaries in the technological style of forming and shaping pots in south-eastern Botswana today; language and ethnic affiliation do not. Boundaries in the other stages in the operational sequence of pottery manufacture, such as clay sourcing and preparation, vessel surface treatment and decoration, firing and finishing, will be presented in a series of further publications.

Mobility and African archaeology: an introduction

The papers in this special issue of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa derive from a Society of Africanist Archaeologists-sponsored session at the annual European Archaeological Association ...

The Green, Green Grass of Home: an archaeo-ecological approach to pastoralist settlement in central Kenya

ABSTRACTThis paper considers the ecological residues of pastoralist occupation at the site of Maili Sita in Laikipia, central Kenya, drawing links with the archaeological record so as to contribute a fresh approach to the ephemeral settlement sites of mobile herding communities, a methodological aspect of African archaeology that remains problematic. Variations in the geochemical and micromorphological composition of soils along transects across the site are compared with vegetation distributions and satellite imagery to propose an occupation pattern not dissimilar to contemporary Cushitic-speaking groups further north. We argue that Maili Sita exemplifies the broad migratory and cultural exchange networks in place during the mid- to late second millennium AD, with pastoralist occupants who were both physically and culturally mobile.

The role of mobility in Saharan archaeological research (1960-present)

ABSTRACTMobility is a key theme in Saharan archaeology. From early human dispersal to the spread of the ‘Neolithic’ up to trade in the historical period, the Saharan regions have been crossed throughout the ages by people, artefacts and ideas on a uniquely large scale. In this area, archaeological research has evolved over time, but climatic and environmental variability has played a major role in the interpretation of past Saharan mobility. This article offers a review of papers on the mobility issue in African archaeology, comparing data from the Sahara and the rest of Africa from 1960 to the present. The main aim is to analyse the development of research on mobility in the Sahara, highlighting its main characteristics and peculiarities and suggesting the adoption of more nuanced approaches to the study of past mobility that may pave the way for ‘alternative’— or simply more refined — reconstructions of cultural trajectories.

New Radiocarbon Dates and Bayesian Models for Nelson Bay Cave and Byneskranskop 1: Implications for the South African Later Stone Age Sequence

AbstractThe southern African Later Stone Age sequence is widely considered to be well dated based on radiocarbon dates from dozens of archaeological sites, and apparently shows more or less synchronous cultural shifts across an extensive area. Yet, closer examination reveals the inadequacy of many of the decades-old and uncalibrated individual site chronologies that underpin this regional chronology, making robust comparisons of the chronology of technological change across this region impossible. Here, we present 26 new AMS14C dates and Bayesian modeled chronologies for two important archaeological cave sites in southernmost Africa, Nelson Bay Cave and Byneskranskop 1. The results provide more robust age estimates for these cultural and paleoenvironmental sequences and revise interpretations of these sites in several instances. This project demonstrates the necessity of redating key sites, and the value of currently underutilized methods, including calibration and Bayesian modeling, for southern African archaeology.

An isotopic generation: four decades of stable isotope analysis in African archaeology

ABSTRACTThe application of stable isotope analysis in African archaeology has a long and distinguished pedigree. Many new developments were inspired by questions in the archaeology of the continent, helped considerably by the availability of African landscapes as natural laboratories for providing the essential underpinning of isotope ecology systematics. Stable isotopes are now regularly built into multi-disciplinary archaeological projects spanning the very long temporal and geographical span of human history on the African continent. On the fiftieth anniversary of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa we evaluate these endeavours — the achievements, problems, constraints and potential of stable isotopic research in African archaeology. We begin with a discussion of the continent's role in developing understandings of stable carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope systematics, as used to interpret change in the archaeological record. We discuss the application of these principles within several areas of archaeological research, drawing on case studies from among late Pleistocene/Holocene hunter-gatherers, early food producers, complex societies of the African Iron Age and the individual life histories of the African slave trade. There is clearly much potential for further application in African archaeology.

Past imperfect, present tense: the archaeology of Africa's past 200 years

ABSTRACTThe archaeology of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is a rapidly growing sub-field of African historical archaeology in tandem with a trend seen elsewhere in the world. Currently research on this time period in Africa is dominated by studies of slavery and emancipation, colonialism and capitalism and industrialisation. This research is described and research trends such as archaeologies of conflict, missionisation, Islamic expansion, colonial urbanism, identity and the contemporary world are identified as directions for the future.

Approaching African History, by Michael Brett

In his book, Michael Brett narrates the story of Africa, from the Mediterranean to the Cape, over the past 10,000 years, using archaeological, oral-historical, linguistic and written evidence. This in itself is a massive endeavour, but, to paraphrase the book’s back cover, the author sets out to trace the history of Africa not just on the ground, but also in the mind. Brett seeks to describe the development of the idea of Africa as a continent with a geography, a society and a history, and to examine how African history has been approached since it was established as an academic discipline about seventy years ago. This is, therefore, a story on two levels: the book concerns both the way in which Africa has been written about, and Africa itself. It is well known that most written records relating to Africa were penned by authors outside the continent, and that for most of Africa’s past there exist no written records at all. This is a situation shared, of course, by many other regions of the globe, but it is good to have a book that specifically considers how this lack of written history has affected the conceptualisation of Africa. Some such ramifications are dissected explicitly in Chapter Two, which outlines the gradual recognition that knowledge of the past could be obtained from non-written records, and Chapter Three, which gently chastises Africanist archaeologists for perpetuating a distinction between prehistory and history by concentrating on distant periods for which no written records exist.

Myth and meaning: San-Bushman folklore in global context

J.D. Lewis-Williams, one of the leading South African archaeologists and ethnographers, excavates meaning from the complex mythological stories of the San-Bushmen to create a larger theory of how myth is used in culture. He extracts their “nuggets,” the far-reaching but often unspoken words and concepts of language and understanding that are opaque to outsiders, to establish a more nuanced theory of the role of these myths in the thought-world and social circumstances of the San. The book -draws from the unique 19th century Bleek/Lloyd archives, more recent ethnographic work, and San rock art;-includes well-known San stories such as The Broken String, Mantis Dreams, and Creation of the Eland;-extrapolates from our understanding of San mythology into a larger model of how people create meaning from myth.

Scholarly Publishing as an Archaeological Practice

Scholarly Publishing as an Archaeological Practice

Standing the test of time: embankment investigations, their implications for African technology transfer and effect on African American archaeology in South Carolina

Thousands of Africans were taken from their homelands, enslaved in South Carolina, and put to work for the purpose of making their plantation owning masters large profits. Rice was the crop that was responsible for this massive importation of people. Research of the last 30 years has attempted to find direct links between African technology transfer, European involvement and the relic rice fields around Charleston. This article describes the author's 17 years of historical archaeology on the embankments, ditches and fields of eighteenth and nineteenth century inland rice plantations. Regardless of who was responsible for rice in South Carolina, African hands transformed the natural environment and local geography into a hydrological network of cultivated plantations.

Consuming the Past: Public Perceptions towards the Discipline of Archaeology in Zimbabwe

This paper discusses the public perceptions of archaeology and the information that archaeologists produce in Zimbabwe. There have been accusations that archaeologists in various parts of the world research for themselves. The products of archaeological research are often presented in academic jargon only accessible to those in the profession. Archaeological research in developing countries has been criticized for having limited involvement, if any, with the local communities in which it is conducted, and fails to address development issues that are important and much more relevant to the concerned societies. The paper discusses the extent to which these accusations are justified in Zimbabwe, focusing on the perceptions that local communities have on archaeology, archaeologists, archaeological remains, archaeological research, and institutions dealing with archaeological cultural heritage in that country. It also discusses why it seems difficult to put into practice some of the suggestions that have been made in the past on how to engage with the public. The paper argues that, although there have been efforts to change the situation, southern African archaeology in general and specifically its practice in Zimbabwe remains largely a preserve of the initiated. It concludes by recommending that writing on archaeological issues be accessible and that research issues should have social relevance. Awareness of local communities in research, outreach activities to schools, and the benefits of archaeological resources for local communities, are crucial means by which the value of the discipline can be appreciated by the public.

‘What is consumed is wasted’: from foraging to herding in the southern African Later Stone Age

This paper is a reaction to a long and at times stagnated debate about how non-indigenous sheep, cattle and goats spread amongst southern Africa's Later Stone Age communities. Geneticists and linguists increasingly see connections between eastern and southern African pastoralists. East African archaeology can no longer be seen as just an interesting, yet neglected and distant, comparative dataset, but is instead a real piece of southern African history. In this spirit pastoralist faunal assemblages from eastern and southern Africa are compared. An approach that considers the similarities between groups practising different subsistence strategies and the differences between groups practising the same subsistence strategies softens the often-assumed stark distinction between hunter-gatherer and ‘true’ pastoralist. The apparent lack of evidence for migrating pastoralists in southern Africa may be explained by the misleading stereotypes of forager and pastoralists employed in the analysis. A model for the adoption of stock that revolves around social networking is proposed.

Parting Ways Revisited: Archaeology at a Nineteenth-Century African-American Community in Plymouth, Massachusetts

This article revisits the archaeology conducted by James Deetz in the 1970s at an early-nineteenth-century, African-American community in Massachusetts called Parting Ways. This article examines the architecture and several large earthenware jars uncovered at Parting Ways to reconsider those finds in the context of topics currently relevant to African diaspora archaeology, including racialization and community formation. Reinterpretations of the architecture and earthenware jars present opportunities to more fully understand some of the strategies which the residents at Parting Ways employed to establish themselves as free members of the community following the end of slavery, as well as some of the struggles they faced in doing so.

The future of archaeology in Africa

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FUTURESIn February's edition ofAntiquityKoji Mizoguchi launched our new feature, ‘Archaeological Futures’, with his thoughts on the regional traditions of archaeology in a globalised world. In this issue, Innocent Pikirayi, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pretoria, continues the series with his reflections on archaeology in Africa. In particular, he focuses on the barriers that must be broken down in order to secure a relevant and meaningful future for the practice and dissemination of archaeology in this continent that was the cradle of humanity.

Dispute resolution – an archaeological perspective with case studies from the South African Stone Age and San ethnography

This paper presents an archaeological perspective on dispute resolution. Being a discipline based primarily on tangible material remains, archaeology may be hard put to draw firm conclusions on a phenomenon whose expression is usually intangible. It nevertheless takes up the challenge to consider whether there are traces suggesting the successful avoidance of conflict in the past. Drawing insights from South African Stone Age archaeology and San ethnography, the evidence of unperturbed continuance of a given cultural tradition is considered, as are indications of hxaro-like gift-giving mechanisms known to reduce tension in ethnographic instances of the recent past. Findings based on such indicators may be ambiguous. Evidence of negative outcomes in terms of conflict and homicide would be more obvious and pertinent to dispute resolution, specifically its failure. The role of “othering” in oral literature is referred to for situations where external social distance is emphasised or where regulation of inappropriate behaviour within a group is hinted at. The paper touches on the history of colonial encroachment and genocide in the Karoo, and finally, on the role of heritage itself as it becomes a locus of dispute in the present.

The Africanisation of African Archaeology: What are the Implications for a “World Archaeology” Department?

comments on under-representation in archaeology, and draw on some of her points regarding obstacles to career progression in light of my own experiences as an “Africanist”. I believe there are a number of issues beginning to arise not just in African archaeology but in “World Archaeology” more generally that the academic community will sooner or later need to address. African archaeology has a strong history within the Institute; many of the new generation of British Africanists – and a good number of the old – have been affiliated with the department at some stage, whether through undertaking study, research or teaching here, or through collaboration. Until a few years ago an MA course in African Archaeology was available, though this was cancelled due to lack of interest. I would argue that this may be symptomatic of wider issues. For the first time in as long as I have been affiliated with the Institute (since 2007), there are no sub-Saharan African research students here and, to my knowledge, only a single student at Masters-level. The postcolonial era has taken time to impact on the representation of Africans working in archaeology; it is only relatively recently, perhaps as late as the 1980s, that Africans have regularly begun to set research agendas and taken up key positions within the heritage sector (Reid, 2014). Today, however, African archaeology is being reclaimed. A number of universities in sub-Saharan Africa now offer quality undergraduate and graduate courses in archaeology, and these courses are generally taught by Africans. Further, the ethical obligations of foreign researchers towards the countries they work in have become a vital topic and one that today is omnipresent at Africanist meetings (Giblin, King & Smith, 2014). It is – rightly, of course – no longer possible in most African countries to conduct research without the consent of and engagement with, local communities and national heritage institutions. Though it could never be reasonably suggested that these developments are anything but a force for good, I would like to raise the question of where this leaves African archaeology as a subject taught at and practiced by Western universities. Though at present it appears that there are generally enough project-based research positions to accommodate the majority of recent PhDs, there are worryingly few permanent jobs available at the few UK institutions that maintain a focus on Africa. I do not believe that this situation is unique to African archaeology. Indeed, from my own experience working in Mexico prior to Forum