Unit information: Archaeology of Africa in 2014/15

Unit name	Archaeology of Africa
Unit code	ARCH20020
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Mark Horton
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	none
Co-requisites	none
School/department	Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

A history and anthropology seminar unit providing a review of the themes and issues in African Archaeology from the late Stone Age to late pre-colonial times.

Aims:

• Provide a broad understanding of the later prehistory and prehistoric archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa;

• Link the African past to broader themes, such as trade, urbanism and state formation, migration, the relationship between history and archaeology and the politics of archaeological interpretation;

• Provide exposure to current debates within African archaeology. These disciplinary arguments show how archaeologists actively engage in the construction of a nuanced and rich prehistory of the people that lived on the African continent;

• Explore the unique methodologies that African archaeology employs, bringing together data from ecological reconstructions, material culture, oral traditions, historical linguistics and historical documents;

• Challenge the popularly-received wisdom about the precolonial African past, an image born of the colonial period itself, and one used to legitimize and construct those hegemonies.

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the unit, a successful student will be able to:

1) Discuss the later prehistory and prehistoric archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa

2) Recognise how the colonial and post colonial history of Africa has influence archaeological activities and interpretations

3) Analyse the inter-relationship between archaeological evidence and other ways of accessing the African past (such as historical linguistics, oral history, colonial records, traveller accounts, historical ethnography and anthropology)

4)Link common themes, such as state formation, urbanism, the spread of Islam, trade, farming, metallurgy, across the continent with case studies

5) Explain how the archaeological record in Africa is significantly different to other regions of the Old World, and assess whether it is appropriate to apply common models.

Teaching Information

One 2-hr lecture each week

Assessment Information

Two 2250-2750 word essays (each 50%) There will be one formative presentation, on which the second essay is based.

Reading and References

Any of the introductory texts on the bibliography will provide a good basis for this class. In particular, though, you might want to look at:

Phillipson, D.W. 2005. Introduction, in D.W. Phillipson African Archaeology, pp. 1 – 14. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Third Edition).

Stahl, A.B. 2005. Introduction: Changing Perspectives on Africa’s Past, in A. Stahl (ed.) African Archaeology: a critical introduction, pp. 1 – 23. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Keim, C. 2009. The Origins of “Darkest Africa” (Chap. 3) and “Our Living Ancestors”: Twentieth Century Evolutionism (Chap. 4), in Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind, pp. 35-62. Boulder, CO: Westview Press*.

Robertshaw, P. 1990. A history of African archaeology: an introduction, in P. Robertshaw (ed.) A History of African Archaeology, pp. 3 – 12. Oxford: James Currey Publishing*.

Agorsah, E. K. “Ethnoarchaeology: the search for a self-corrective approach to the study of past human behaviour.” African Archaeological Review 8, no. 1 (1990): 189–208.

Atherton, J. H. “Ethnoarchaeology in Africa.” African Archaeological Review 1, no. 1 (1983): 75–104.

Cunningham, J. J. “Transcending the “Obnoxious Spectator”: a case for processual pluralism in ethnoarchaeology.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22, no. 4 (2003): 389–410.

MacEachern, S. “Foreign countries: the development of ethnoarchaeology in sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of World Prehistory 10, no. 3 (1996): 243–304.