African Archaeology: A Critical Introduction

506 Pages·2004·6.729 MB·English

by  Ann Brower Stahl (editor)

TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:34 PM Page i
African Archaeology
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:34 PM Page ii
BLACKWELL STUDIES IN GLOBAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editors: Lynn Meskell and Rosemary A. Joyce
Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology is a series of contemporary texts,each care-
fully designed to meet the needs of archaeology instructors and students seeking
volumes that treat key regional and thematic areas of archaeological study. Each
volume in the series, compiled by its own editor, includes 12–15 newly commis-
sioned articles by top scholars within the volume’s thematic,regional,or temporal
area of focus.
What sets the Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeologyapart from other available texts
is that their approach is accessible,yet does not sacrifice theoretical sophistication.
The series editors are committed to the idea that usable teaching texts need not
lack ambition.To the contrary, the Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology aim to
immerse readers in fundamental archaeological ideas and concepts,but also to illu-
minate more advanced concepts, thereby exposing readers to some of the most
exciting contemporary developments in the field. Inasmuch, these volumes are
designed not only as classic texts, but as guides to the vital and exciting nature of
archaeology as a discipline.
1. Mesoamerican Archaeology:Theory and Practice
Edited by Julia A.Hendon and Rosemary A.Joyce
2. Andean Archaeology
Edited by Helaine Silverman
3. African Archaeology:A Critical Introduction
Edited by Ann Brower Stahl
4. North American Archaeology
Edited by Timothy R.Pauketat and Diana DiPaolo Loren
5. Archaeologies of the Middle East:Rocking the Cradle
Edited by Susan Pollock and Reinhard Bernbeck
6. The Archaeology of Mediterranean Prehistory
Edited by Emma Blake and A.Bernard Knapp
Forthcoming:
Classical Archaeology
Edited by Susan E.Alcock and Robin G.Osborne
Archaeology of Oceania:Australia and the Pacific Islands
Edited by Ian Lilley
Historical Archaeology
Edited by Martin Hall and Stephen Silliman
An Archaeology of Asia
Edited by Miriam Stark
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:34 PM Page iii
African Archaeology
A Critical Introduction
Edited by
Ann Brower Stahl
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:34 PM Page iv
© 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
350 Main Street,Malden,MA 02148-5020,USA
108 Cowley Road,Oxford OX4 1JF,UK
550 Swanston Street,Carlton,Victoria 3053,Australia
The right of Ann Brower Stahl to be identified as the Author of the Editorial Material in this Work
has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright,Designs,and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or
transmitted,in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording or
otherwise,except as permitted by the UK Copyright,Designs,and Patents Act 1988,without the
prior permission of the publisher.
First published 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
African archaeology :a critical introduction / edited by Ann Brower Stahl.
p. cm.— (Blackwell studies in global archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-4051-0155-5 (alk.paper) — ISBN 1-4051-0156-3 (alk.paper)
1. Africa—Antiquities. 2. Antiquities,Prehistoric—Africa. 3. Archaeology—Africa. I. Stahl,
Ann Brower,1954– II. Series.
DT13.A354 2004
960¢.1¢072—dc22
2004003052
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
Set in 10 on 12.5 pt Plantin
by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd.,Hong Kong
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom
by MPG Books Ltd,Bodmin,Cornwall
The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy,
and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free
practices.Furthermore,the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met
acceptable environmental accreditation standards.
For further information on
Blackwell Publishing,visit our website:
www.blackwellpublishing.com
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:34 PM Page v
Contents
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
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
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:34 PM Page vi
vi CONTENTS
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
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:35 PM Page vii
Series Editors’ Preface
This series was conceived as a collection of books designed to cover central areas
of undergraduate archaeological teaching. Each volume in the series, edited by
experts in the area,includes newly commissioned articles written by archaeologists
actively engaged in research. By commissioning new articles, the series combines
one of the best features of readers, the presentation of multiple approaches to
archaeology, with the virtues of a text conceived from the beginning as intended
for a specific audience.While the model reader for the series is conceived of as an
upper-division undergraduate, the inclusion in the volumes of researchers actively
engaged in work today will also make these volumes valuable for more advanced
researchers who want a rapid introduction to contemporary issues in specific sub-
fields of global archaeology.
Each volume in the series will include an extensive introduction by the volume
editor that will set the scene in terms of thematic or geographic focus. Individual
volumes, and the series as a whole, exemplify a wide range of approaches in
contemporary archaeology. The volumes uniformly engage with issues of con-
temporary interest, interweaving social, political, and ethical themes.We contend
that it is no longer tenable to teach the archaeology of vast swaths of the globe
without acknowledging the political implications of working in foreign countries
and the responsibilities archaeologists incur by writing and presenting other
people’s pasts.The volumes in this series will not sacrifice theoretical sophistica-
tion for accessibility.We are committed to the idea that usable teaching texts need
not lack ambition.
Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology aims to immerse readers in fundamental
archaeological ideas and concepts,but also to illuminate more advanced concepts,
exposing readers to some of the most exciting contemporary developments in the
field.
Lynn Meskell and Rosemary A.Joyce
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:35 PM Page viii
Figures
2.1. Pokot ox-horn shapers 29
2.2. Schematic layout and cognitive correlates of Central Cattle Pattern
and Zimbabwe Pattern settlements 32
3.1. Location of sites mentioned in text and in table 3.1 56
3.2. The production of flakes through hard hammer percussion 67
4.1. The geological and paleoenvironmental framework 95
4.2. Map of Late Acheulean and MSA sites mentioned in the text 99
4.3. A selection of Acheulean stone tools 101
4.4. A selection of MSA tools from Africa 105
4.5. The utility ranking of the major skeletal elements and skeletal
element abundance of Die Kelders Cave 1 118
5.1. Location of Klasies River main site and other sites mentioned
in the text 131
5.2. Plan of Klasies River main site 132
5.3. Diagrammatic section through Klasies River main site 134
6.1. Map of southern Africa showing the location of Bushman groups,
research areas,and archaeological sites mentioned in the text 151
7.1. Map showing sites mentioned in the text 176
8.1. Map of North Africa showing physical features 201
8.2. Map of Africa showing sub-Saharan sites with domesticates
mentioned in the text 205
9.1. Map showing sites mentioned in the text 233
10.1. Archaeological sites and regions mentioned in the text 252
11.1. Location of sites mentioned in the text 279
12.1. The equatorial rainforest and the distribution of Bantu languages 304
12.2. Guthrie’s Bantu classification 306
12.3. Oliver’s four-stage model of Bantu expansion 308
12.4. Heine’s and Phillipson’s models of Bantu expansion 310
TAHPR 7/6/2004 4:35 PM Page ix
FIGURES ix
14.1. The Kalahari and its margins 356
15.1. Sites mentioned in the text 380
16.1. Location of East African mosaics 394
16.2. Iron Age sites on Kasigau Hill 406
17.1. Central African sites mentioned in the text 422
18.1. West African archaeological sites of the first millennium a.d. 444
18.2. Abandoned stone structures in the Mandara Mountains 452
18.3. West African archaeological sites of the second millennium a.d. 454