Series Editors’ Preface vii
Figures viii
Tables x
Notes on Contributors xi
1 Introduction: Changing Perspectives on Africa’s Pasts 1
Ann Brower Stahl
2 Barbarous Tribes and Unrewarding Gyrations? The Changing Role
of Ethnographic Imagination in African Archaeology 24
Paul J. Lane
3 Discord after Discard: Reconstructing Aspects of Oldowan
Hominin Behavior 55
Thomas Plummer
4 The Middle and Upper Pleistocene African Record for the
Biological and Behavioral Origins of Modern Humans 93
Curtis W. Marean and Zelalem Assefa Copyrighted Material
5 A Late Pleistocene Archive of Life at the Coast, Klasies River
130
H. J. Deacon and Sarah Wurz
6 Modeling Later Stone Age Societies in Southern Africa 150
Peter Mitchell
7 Holocene “Aquatic” Adaptations in North Tropical Africa
174
Augustin F. C. Holl
8 Pastoralism and its Consequences 187
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez
9 Holocene Occupations of the Forest and Savanna 225
Joanna Casey
10 The Romance of Farming: Plant Cultivation and Domestication
in Africa 249
Katharina Neumann
11 Metallurgy and its Consequences 276
S.Terry Childs and Eugenia W. Herbert
12 The Bantu Problem and African Archaeology 301
Manfred K. H. Eggert
13 The Archaeology of Sub-Saharan Urbanism: Cities and their
Countrysides 327
Adria LaViolette and Jeffrey Fleisher
14 Interaction, Marginalization, and the Archaeology of the
Kalahari 353
Andrew Reid
15 Southern Africa and the East African Coast 378
Gilbert Pwiti
16 Mosaics and Interactions: East Africa, 2000 b.p. to the
Present 392
Chapurukha M. Kusimba and Sibel B. Kusimba
17 From Pottery Groups to Ethnic Groups in Central Africa
420
Pierre de Maret
18 Two Thousand Years of West African History 441
Scott MacEachern Index 467
Ann Brower Stahl is Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton University, SUNY
"Ann Stahl has brought together a set of researchers at the height
of their powers and incited them to write chapters that bring home
to readers the challenge of the archaeological enterprise. This is
the book I would give as a text to seniors and to which I would
constantly refer if teaching the archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa
to students of any and all levels."
—Nicholas David, University of Calgary "This book moves beyond the
usual seamless syntheses and looks critically at the quality of the
evidence, the questions asked and unasked, and how these have been
fashioned into narratives about the African past. It is a unique
and indispensable resource for Africanist archaeologists,
historians, and students of these disciplines."
—Susan McIntosh, Rice University "I have long desired a text for
African archaeology that presents a summary of African prehistory
while highlighting the research questions and debates that make the
study of the African past exciting; that book is now available. The
book's coverage of sub-Saharan Africa is exemplary."
—Peter Robertshaw, California State University, San Bernardino
"This book is a showcase for African Archaeology and deserves a
place on the bookshelves of all who teach world archaeology, as
well as those who study biodiversity of wild and domestic
resources, or care about the linguistics or history of Africa. I
recommend 'African Archaeology' to you enthusiastically."
—Journal of African Archaeology "This book achieves its main goals
admirably. The twenty-three contributing authors (African,
European, and North American) are all specialists in their
respected fields... The individual chapters are remarkably
consistent in tone, which I suspect shows a strong editorial hand,
and really do summarize not only vast amounts of information, but
also the current debates around significance and interpretation of
the archaeological record. It is difficult to imagine a more
comprehensive introduction without resorting to an encyclopedia
format. The references are copious and up-to-date, which will make
this a valuable resource for both lecturers and students."
—African Studies Review "The great strength of the volume is its
critical stance. Evidence is presented within its context, warts
and all, not as 'the final truth'... The geographic coverage is
remarkable...In summary, African Archaeology: A Critical
Introduction is a success. It does exactly what its name suggests:
leading students by example in evaluating evidence, and dismissing
long-held misconceptions about the African past."
—African History "A most welcome addition to the few available
text-books on archaeologies of the African continent."
—HOMO "The first ... stated objective ... [is] to give some account
of the breadth of history .... The book does so admirably
well."
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