Africa (Other Keyword)
51-63 (63 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation will focus on limestone quarrying activities in the Classic Maya (600-1000 CE) city of Ake, in present-day Yucatan, Mexico. Although often characterized as an unskilled activity, limestone quarrying required training, skill, and a specialized tool kit. The skills and specialized knowledge of ancient Maya quarry...
Revisiting Bipolar Technology‘s African Distribution and Diversity (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Expedient Technological Behavior: Global Perspectives and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bipolar reduction is a central strategy in Pleistocene archaeology, recognized as an archetypal “expedient” technology. It entails hammer and anvil flake production, suitable for stabilizing smaller cores during miniaturized flake production. Despite its widespread occurrence and decades of study, debates...
Rough and Tumbled — The Prehistoric Geoheritage Significance of Ogallala Formation Quartzarenite Clasts in Northwestern Texas (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geoheritage is an emerging field that examines geodiversity's scientific, cultural, and educational values. Ogallala Formation quartzarenite clasts, known as Potter member quartzite in archaeological literature, are well-indurated quartzose sandstones found abundantly in the basal gravels of the Ogallala Formation, with gravel...
Slaves or Soldiers? Status Ambiguity in Masoud’s Followers at Kikole, Tanzania (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Global Archaeologies of the Long Emancipation", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In the 1890s, the slave and ivory trader Rashid bin Masoud established the settlement Kikole deep in what is now southwestern Tanzania. Kikole was strategically located near Lake Nyasa, a major slaving region. Masoud’s followers residing at Kikole were typically referred to as his slaves by German colonists and missionaries. Local...
Sourcing Galena from a Multicomponent Site in Maryland using Lead Isotope Analysis (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Galena has been recovered from pre-contact archaeological sites throughout the Eastern Woodlands, principally in mortuary contexts. The presence of galena in these contexts, the general lack of cultural modification to galena specimens recovered from archaeological sites, and the often-long distances between galena deposits and...
Sourcing Silver Objects from the “Royal” Burials of Durbi Takusheyi, North-Central Nigeria (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeological site of Durbi Takusheyi, located in the Katsina region of northern Nigeria, was a presumed “royal” burial site which produced evidence of materials and finished goods, including silver objects, with cultures from North Africa, the Middle East, and Mediterranean through Trans-Saharan trade networks. This research aims to examine the...
Telling the African story through ‘western eyes’? (2013)
Prior to the art of writing, memory and oral presentation were amongst the tactics by which history was preserved in people’s minds, whether of the same generation or those who were still younger. This never nor was it intended to reflect the truthful and objective version, as truth does not exist. However, history was always told from the platform of power and dominance within the society. Following modernisation, the integral part of the African way of life has taken a backseat. Rather than...
Toolstone Raw Material Conveyance and Use in Central Oregon (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> Archaeologists excavated the Dudley House Pit Site (nos. 06070100100, 671NA222) on the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland in 1989 and 1990. At least 40 surface depressions were documented. Researchers identified organic materials yielding a radiocarbon date from a hearth in Depression #1...
The use of cryptotephra to address big questions through improved age models and inter-regional comparisons (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Early human adaptation on the African coasts: Comparing northwest Morocco and the Cape of South Africa" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Using far-travelled volcanic ash in tephrochronological studies has transformed this technique. Traditionally, tephrochronology used visible tephra layers. However, methodological advances extended its capabilities to detect non-visible horizons (cryptotephra) which can be traced...
Wayman’s Hypothesis for the Function of Acheulean Lithics Offers a Better Explanation than Does the Current Thinking (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In Foot Cutters: A New Hypothesis for the Function of Acheulean Bifaces and Related Lithics, Joseph Wayman, Lithic Technology 2010, v35-2, I propose that the predominate toolkit of the Early/Middle Pleistocene were not used as hand tools, but instead were devices used to arm traps intended to damage the feet and lower legs of prey animals so that the...
Zooarchaeological analyses of Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort fauna at Klasies River, southern Cape, South Africa: Environmental change and subsistence behaviour in MIS 4 and 3 (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Early human adaptation on the African coasts: Comparing northwest Morocco and the Cape of South Africa" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transition from MIS 4 to 3 encompassed significant behavioural change in southern Africa. In this region, the Howiesons Poort (HP) techno-complex, generally dated to MIS 4, is associated with more evidence of innovative behaviours, technologies and tools. In the post-HP, during...
The Zooarchaeology of Horses and Donkeys in the Old Oyo Empire, West Africa (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Oyo Empire dominated the mainland of the Bight of Benin between the 17th and 18th centuries, with animals, especially horses, playing pivotal roles in its sociopolitical power, economy, ecology, and culture. Ede-Ile, located in the rainforest of southwestern Nigeria, was a crucial colony and military frontier of the Oyo Empire. However, the roles of...
Zooarchaeology of the vertebrate faunal remains from the Middle and Later Stone Age deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Temara, Morocco (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Early human adaptation on the African coasts: Comparing northwest Morocco and the Cape of South Africa" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Contrebandiers Cave is located on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco and is approximately 250 meters from the current shoreline. Harold Dibble and Mohamed El Hajraoui led excavations at Contrebandiers Cave from 2007 to 2011 and plotted finds with total stations. Middle Stone Age (MSA) and...