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 |
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:
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.
One 2-hr lecture each week
Two 2250-2750 word essays (each 50%) There will be one formative presentation, on which the second essay is based.
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.