AFRICA (Geographic Keyword)
326-350 (535 Records)
This paper looks at how ideas of cosmopolitanism can be applied to the African context using Aksum (50-700 AD) in northern Ethiopia as case study. While there is much interest in issues of cosmopolitanism, or the making of a "world citizen" or a "world community" as drawn from 18th-19th century conceptualizations, such issues become difficult to study on the African continent given the strong emphasis on personhoods configured around local, corporate contexts. Burial practices from ancient Aksum...
New Data from Old Stones: A Technological Pilot Study of Lithics from Kokiselei 6 (1.8 mya) in West Turkana, Kenya (2015)
Behavioral variability is a cornerstone characteristic of Homo sapiens that evolved among earlier hominins. Archaeological lithic evidence records changes in hominin behavior and knowledge systems over time. Major changes are evident among lithic assemblages ~1.76 mya in Africa, with the emergence of large, bifacial, core tools (e.g., handaxes). This technology shows marked change from earlier assemblages, conforming to different reduction strategies. The behavioral and cognitive implications of...
A New Semi-quantitative Method for Identifying Carnivore-Specific Chewing Damage Patterns (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Celebrating 20 Years of Support: Current Work by Recipients of the Dienje Kenyon Memorial Fellowship for Zooarchaeologists" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Hypotheses of hominin scavenging from different felid species have been proposed, but the ability to distinguish between the taphonomic patterns inflicted by different felid species in the fossil record is currently underdeveloped. Previous efforts to identify...
The Nile vs. the Rift: Exploring contrasts in the spread of food production in Africa ~4200 bp (2015)
Characterizing the patterns and processes of early food production across Africa is difficult because the continent’s large landmass, diverse physiography, and regionally specific environments and crops hinder generalization. Due to these challenges, accounts of early food production in Africa tend to be narrative syntheses: they either present a detailed sequence of developments in one specific region, or ‘follow’ the spread of food production from the earliest herding in the eastern Sahara...
Not All Who Wander Are Lost (or, the Awkward Adolescence of a Retiring Giant . . .) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It is hard to hold a candle to the career of David Killick and catch a reflection that adequately reflects the scope and breadth of his contributions to the discipline of archaeology. Those of us who know him well undoubtedly have seen his commitment to separate fact from fiction in the human past,...
Not Always Shiny and Pretty: The Darker Side of Obsidian in Symbolizing Power, Ethnicity and Inequality in Contemporary Ethiopia (2015)
This paper builds upon previous research among craftspeople of Southwestern Ethiopia who still procure obsidian on a regular basis to manufacture scrapers for the production of leather products. Previous ethnoarchaeological studies of these male and female hide workers of multiple ethnicities have provided a wealth of information on the role of lithics in past and present societies, and have been especially important in helping to debunk the idea that men were largely, if not exclusively...
Notes Concerning New Collections (1910)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
(Nut) Cracking the Code of Primate Cognition (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Old Technology, New Methodology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The use of percussive actions to access encased foods—e.g., nuts—has been proposed as a viable hypothesis to explain the emergence of stone tool technology in the hominin lineage. Observations of extant nonhuman primates such as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) or black-striped capuchins (Sapajus libidinosus) nut-cracking have been used to support the...
Nutrient hotspots and pastoral legacies in East African savannas (2015)
Negative impacts of pastoralists on African savannas have been debated but creation of nutrient hotspots may have significant positive effects. African savanna productivity is largely nutrient limited, however, ecologists show corrals in abandoned Maasai pastoral settlements have high nitrogen and phosphate levels, and distinctive vegetation and grazing successions. Such hotspots may drive ecosystem structure and function, but little is known about how long-term or how widespread they may be....
Nyoro. in East African Chiefs: a Study of Political Development In Some Uganda and Tanganyika Trides (1959)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
Objects past, objects present: materials, resistance and memory from the Le Morne Old Cemetery, Mauritius. (2015)
This presentation centres on two distinct material assemblages, both representing resistance, but in markedly different ways and at different times. It also introduces a new regional comparative of African religious syncretism, longanis, a belief system that developed within slave communities, and offers both insightful similarities to Atlantic counterparts, as well a unique features in its own right. The article, undertaking a first such appraisal for the Indian Ocean, applies an archaeological...
Obsessively Opacifying Obsidian: Adapting Three Dimensional Laser Scanning Techniques (2015)
Three dimensional (3D) imaging technologies are being increasingly utilized by archaeologists to improve the accuracy of material analysis. To facilitate the development of these technologies, it is crucial to determine the limits of different devices and materials. This project focused on the challenge of scanning obsidian blades with the Next Engine HD 3D Laser Scanner, a popular and inexpensive choice among researchers. The Next Engine device was used to scan six small obsidian blades from...
Obsidian value and exchange in the southern Red Sea region and its role in the establishment of prehistoric complex societies: new data from South Arabia and the African Horn (2015)
The Red Sea is renowned as a locus of maritime activity during the early historic periods. As a result of systematic obsidian analyses of sources and artifacts, maritime interaction can now be traced back to the beginnings of the Neolithic in South Arabia. Its increased intensity is echoed in the cultural sphere that eventually formed on opposing shores of the two continents by at least the third millennium BC. New geochemical, archaeological and technological data from South Arabia, Ethiopia...
The ochre assemblage from Pinnacle Point 5-6 (2015)
In recent years, southern Africa has figured prominently in the modern human origins debate due to increasing evidence for precocious behaviors considered to be unique to our species. These significant findings have included bone tools, shell beads, engraved ostrich eggshell, and heavily ground and engraved ochre fragments. The presence of ochre in Middle Stone Age (MSA, ~250-40kya) archaeological sites in southern Africa is often proposed as indirect evidence for the emergence of symbolic or...
Ochre in the desert: Preliminary sourcing and colorimetric results from two Stone Age sites in the central Namib Desert (2016)
Ochre becomes ubiquitous across Southern African archaeological sites beginning in the Middle Stone Age and continuing throughout the Later Stone Age. For the last decade, ochre research has focused upon the utilization of ochre, cognitive implications of its use, and of the ochre assemblages themselves. Recently, a growing number of ochre studies have attempted to source ochre through a variety of analytic techniques. This study attempts to differentiate ochre raw material sources with a novel...
Of Ostrich and Ochre: The application of pXRF to detect experimentally pigmented ostrich eggshell (2017)
Ostrich eggshell (OES) is a somewhat common occurrence in Middle and Later Stone Age archaeological contexts. Ethnographically, OES are known to be used as containers, raw material for bead production, and the egg itself as a valuable food source. Archaeologically, it is difficult to determine which of these potential functions the OES fulfilled. The application of mineral pigment powder to OES may suggest a non-subsistence function for that particular piece. For this study we experimentally...
On 'Theoretical Framework and Tests' of Early Hominid Meat and Marrow Acquisition: a Reply To Shipman (1987)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
ON THE TRAIL OF IVORY: MAPPING TRADE IN IRON AGE SOUTHERN AFRICA (2015)
Our current knowledge of the pre-colonial ivory trade in southern Africa consists of evidence from a number of archaeological sites dating from the 7-11th centuries AD, such as Schroda, K2, Ndondonwane, and KwaGandaGanda. These sites have yielded large caches of ivory debris, suggesting that these places were centres for ivory carving/production. However, it is unknown whether raw ivory was obtained locally or brought from further afield, whether there was a standardised mode of production, and...
On why we still need ethnoarchaeology (2015)
Although ethnoarchaeology is viewed as an important tool of analogy for the archaeological record, it has been criticized as being too descriptive, context bound, and limited by the generation of cautionary tales. These and other criticisms have inadvertently led to a sharp decline in ethnoarchaeological research in recent times. In this paper I argue that ethnoarchaeology is an underutilized methodology that can be expanded with new technologies to test and shed light on the nature of...
One More for the Road: Beer, Sacrifice and Commemoration in Ancient Nubian Burials of the Classic Kerma Period (2017)
The funerary equipment of the Classic Kerma elite community included sets of ceramic vessels accompanying the primary deceased and sacrificed individuals. Stacks of beakers were placed in communal areas of graves, suggesting that the vessels were intended for group use in the afterlife. Graves with extraordinary organic preservation include woven giraffe-hair implements placed near the vessels. In comparison with ethnographic examples, these tools are beer strainers. Two graves also had vessels...
Ongoing Excavations at FxJj20Main-Extension-0, Koobi Fora, Kenya (2017)
Original excavation of FxJj20 sites in Koobi Fora, Kenya revealed nine oxidized patches described as combustion features associated with artifacts. Here we describe new excavations at a nearby new locality described as FxJj20Main-Ext-0. This excavation extends previous work in order to explore potential combustion features with newer techniques. Three squares adjacent to a reddened feature yielded 18 bones and 33 stone artifacts. All bone was fragmented. Most stone artifacts were basalt. Nearest...
Online Education on African Archaeology and Heritage: The ONLAAH Platform (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology in Mozambique: Current Issues and Topics in Archaeology and Heritage Management" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Onlaah platform is formed by a consortium of institutions and partners, from Africa and around the world, such as the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), the University of Namibia (UNAM), the University Eduardo Mondlane (Angola), the ICArEHB (Algarve University, Portugal), the Autonoma...
Opening the House: Transforming Identities at Kirikongo over the 1st and 2nd milleniums CE (Burkina Faso, West Africa) (2015)
Located at the intersection between Voltaic and Mande historical traditions, contemporary western Burkina Faso (West Africa) is a complex cultural mosaic in which local identities transcend linguistic boundaries and cultural practices, exemplifying the difficulties of employing bounded social categorizations in anthropological archaeology. The site of Kirikongo, located in this region and occupied continuously between 100 and 1700 CE provides an important case study to explore the changing...
The organisation of hornfels blade production during the Early Later Stone Age (ELSA) in the eastern Cederberg, Western Cape, South Africa (2017)
The Early Later Stone Age (ELSA) represents the onset of sustained microlithic technology in southern Africa. The ELSA is, however, poorly defined with respect to its technological characteristics and organisation. In this paper we identify key features of the ELSA at Putslaagte 8 (PL8) rockshelter in the south-west of southern Africa, dating ~25-22 ka. The assemblage features relatively expedient production of hornfels blades using natural ridges of cobbles from the nearby Doring River. A...
The origins of pastoralism in Eastern Africa: new human dental evidence from mid-Holocene Pillar Sites in the Turkana Basin (2017)
Herding spread into Eastern Africa ~5000 BP, but mechanisms of spread are still debated (migration, diffusion, or a mix). If herders migrated from desiccating areas of the Sahara, Sahel, or Ethiopian Rift, they would have passed through the Turkana Basin, where the earliest livestock coincides chronologically with the construction of megalithic "pillar sites." Recent excavations at 3 pillar sites revealed extensive human burials, plus caprine remains and zoomorphic artifacts suggesting these...