Strategy for Cultural Heritage Management (CHM) in Africa: A Case Study

Africa is both fortunate and unfortunate as far as Cultural Heritage Management (CHM) is concerned. Fortunate because the continent is a warehouse for the heritage resources, which document the origin and development of our humanity. In the meantime, it is very unfortunate that Africa is too poor to take care of such vast cultural treasures. In this paper, I use Tanzania as a case study to explore ways that Africa can generate revenue and public support for CHM. An effective means of accomplishing this goal is to make the products of the past attractive and accessible for cultural tourism. Only in this way does Africa's past heritage become economically sustainable for long-term survival, productivity, and contribution to global education, research, tourism, and pride in the past accomplishments of humanity.L'Afrique est à la fois heureuse et malheureuse en ce qui concerne la Gestion du Patrimoine Culturel (GPC). Heureuse parce que ce continent est un entrepôt de ressources de documentation sur l'origine et le développement de l'humanité. Mais en mème temps, il est trés malheureux que l'Afrique soit si pauvre pour prendre soin d'un si grand trésor culturel. Dans cet article, je me suis servi de la Tanzanie comme cas d'étude pour explorer les moyens par lesquels l'Afrique pourrait générer des recettes et un appui public à la GPC. Un moyen efficace pour accomplir ce but est de rendre les produits du passé attrayants et accessibles pour un tourisme culturel. C'est par ce moyen seul que l'héritage du passé africain deviendra économiquement soutenable pour réaliser une survie à longue portée, la productivité, et une contribution a l'éducation mondiale, à la recherche, au tourisme et à la fierté des réalisations du passé humain.     

Variation in Venues of Slavery and Freedom: Interpreting the Late Eighteenth-Century Cultural Landscape of St. John, Danish West Indies Using an Archaeological GIS

An archaeological GIS is used to examine the late eighteenth-century cultural landscape of St. John, US Virgin Islands. Land use patterns are reconstructed using a combination of historic maps, tax records, and survey reconnaissance. The study demonstrates significant, heretofore undocumented, transitions taking place that reflect dynamic cultural and economic change within Danish West Indian plantation society that includes a significant trend towards land ownership by free-colored St. Johnians more than a half a century before emancipation. These venues of freedom are discussed in relation to broader patterns of estate consolidation and economic shifts.     

A new genus and species of Steninae from the late Eocene of France (Coleoptera,Staphylinidae)

Cai, C., Clarke, D.J., Huang, D. & Nel, A., 2014. A new genus and species of Steninae from the late Eocene of France (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). Alcheringa 38, 557–562. ISSN 0311-5518.

A remarkable new genus and species of rove beetle, Eocenostenus fossilis gen. et sp. nov., is described and figured based on one well-preserved specimen from the late Eocene of Monteils (near Alès, Gard, France). Eocenostenus is definitively placed in the extant subfamily Steninae, based on the combination of dense and coarse body punctation, globular and protruding eyes, exposed and closely spaced antennal insertions on the vertex, and six visible abdominal terga. Eocenostenus differs from the two extant stenine genera Stenus and Dianous most notably in the structure of the prothorax, which is strongly transverse and with unusual anterolateral projections, and in the anteriorly placed antennal insertions. This new discovery highlights the palaeodiversity of a genus-poor subfamily and suggests that the early diversification of Steninae is probably complicated.

Chenyang Cai [caichenyang1988@163.com] and Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Rd., Nanjing 210008, PR China; Dave J Clarke [dclarke@fieldmuseum.org], Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA; and André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB, UMR 7205 CNRS UPMC EPHE, CP50, 45 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France. Received 23.1.2014; revised 2.5.2014; accepted 12.5.2014.     

Restructuring of the European chocolate industry and its impact on cocoa production in West Africa

During the 1990s, both the European chocolate industry and thecocoa butter industry have become increasingly centralised.Today only a handful of companies in each segment control theproduction of intermediate goods and massmarketed brands. Thecocoa sectors of the major producing countries in West Africahave at the same time been liberalised and privatised due tothe dismantling of state marketing boards. This paper examinesthe relationship between the new raw material requirements (bothin qualitative and quantitative terms) of the processing industryin Europe and restructuring processes in the cocoa sectors ofmajor African producer countries.     

The Transition to the Acheulean in East Africa: an Assessment of Paradigms and Evidence from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

The origin of the Acheulean constitutes a key aspect of current research in the archaeology of human evolution. Olduvai Gorge is one of the main sites in Africa in the study of the transition from the Oldowan to the Acheulean, due to both the uniqueness of its archaeological record, and the influence of early investigations at Olduvai on the development of Early Stone Age research. This paper reviews the impact of work at Olduvai in shaping a modern view of cultural evolution from the Oldowan to the Acheulean. It also evaluates the lithic assemblages excavated by Mary Leakey in Olduvai Middle and Upper Bed II, based on a first-hand review of the collections. We conclude that previous paradigms used to explain inter-assemblage variability are not superseded as much as generally assumed, and that a modern view of the origins of the Acheulean requires a reassessment of the cultural, biological, and paleoecological evidence at Olduvai and elsewhere in Africa.     

Changing Crafts in the Spaces Between States: Formal,Functional, and Decorative Transformations in Fifteenth-Century CE Ceramics at Kirikongo,Burkina Faso (West Africa)

The fifteenth century CE in central West Africa saw the rise and/or expansion of states and empires, major shifts in settlement patterns, and growth of new trading connections between the forest and Sahel. However, very little is known about how these events affected areas not incorporated into states, such as western Burkina Faso, which was likely home to diverse noncentralized societies. Previous archaeological work at the site of Kirikongo, in the Mouhoun Bend, Burkina Faso, examined the histories of these communities from ca. 100 to 1400 CE. This paper introduces the fifteenth-century (Red IV) ceramics from Kirikongo, exploring their form, function, and decoration and assessing their presence at other sites in the region. Based on these distributions, many communities in the Mouhoun Bend decreased in size or were abandoned during Red IV. During Red IV, potters also adopted new ceramic forms and decorations. These may be associated with new economic activities and with increasing entanglements with Mande and/or Dogon communities.     

A Presence in the West: Religious Contributions to the Secular Ideology of an Australian University

Between 1972 and 1984, the rise of social justice and religious vocational movements in an increasingly self‐conscious Western Sydney intersected with the rise of an increasingly influential cadre of politicians, public servants, and educationalists. Mobilising a broader sense of grievance, and organising in community, political, and social groups, these people contributed to a widespread campaign for a university in Western Sydney which extended from the streets of Mount Druitt to the Prime Minister's Office. This article traces the contribution of these religious motivations to the secular legitimisation, mission, and implementation of the University of Western Sydney.     

非洲与现代人的起源

德国慕尼黑和美国宾夕法尼亚两个实验室的科学研究小组,在没有研究一根尼安德特人骨头的情况下,可能一劳永逸地解决了尼人问题。这两个实验室的专家称,他们在1856年发现的尼人骨架上提取了尼人的...     

Beyond the description of spatial pattern: the process of proletarianization as a factor in population migration in West Africa

This study is concerned with the factors affecting migration in Western Africa. The author suggests that the underlying factors influencing current migration patterns can be traced back to the experience of the region during the colonial era. The penetration of peripheral capitalism and the imposition of colonial administration are identified as the primary forces that led to the manipulation of migration by colonial authorities trying to induce or coerce people to move to areas where they could be useful to the peripheral capitalist system. The author suggests that this framework dominated migration patterns and overrode individual migration preferences.     

Earliest Herders of the Central Sahara (Tadrart Acacus Mountains,Libya): A Punctuated Model for the Emergence of Pastoralism in Africa

Journal of World Prehistory - This paper focuses on a reassessment of the emergence of herding in Africa seen from the Tadrart Acacus and neighbouring regions in the Libyan central Sahara. The...     

西部交通的历史考察

交通是制约西部大开发的一个重要因素。本文根据大量资料 ,研究了西部交通发展的历程 ,考察了历史时期西部地区的交通干线 ,分析了影响西部交通的主要因素 ,论证了西部交通与西部开发的关系 ,认为适当发展西部交通有利于西部大开发的伟大事业     

西南疆域史研究综述（1989——1998）

西南地区疆域史的内涵极为丰富,它既有西南地区疆域形成变化及历代王朝设治等方面的内容,也包括历代对边疆地区的治理开发以及边疆地区的民族关系。此外,与疆域形成有关边疆地区发生的重大事件,以及西南边疆与境外地区的联系等方面的内容,也属于西南疆域史的范畴。对近10年来西南地区疆域史研究的情况,分别进行综述。     

Property,Authority and Citizenship: Land Claims,Politics and the Dynamics of Social Division in West Africa

In the contemporary African context of rising competition and anxiety over access to land, neoliberal policy interventions designed to clarify property rights, broaden political participation and increase official accountability have frequently provoked rather than alleviated social and political conflict. Comparing case histories of local struggles over land and authority in selected rural areas in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Bénin, this paper argues that in situations where access to land has been linked historically to claims on authority and social belonging, pressures to privatize or clarify ownership have intensified debates over citizenship and governance as well as over land claims per se. Ensuing struggles over land and entitlement have intersected with national as well as local economic and political dynamics, reinforcing ‘traditional’ hierarchies, contributing to the proliferation of formal and informal governing agents and institutions, and frequently disrupting or subverting open governance and sustainable resource use, rather than helping to create conditions for sustainable development and democratization.     

Fruits of Lithospermum officinale L. (Boraginaceae) used as an early plant decoration (2500 years BP) in Xinjiang,China

Fruits glued on two wooden tubs were discovered in the Yanghai Tombs of Xinjiang, China. The tombs were built about 2500 years ago. Morphological and anatomical features of fruits show them to be Lithospermum officinale L. The fruits were assembled into obtriangular shapes along the tub mouth. This is a report of people using plant fruits for decorative purposes 2500 years before present.     

The first Chinese representative of the Jurassic damsel-dragonfly genus Hypsothemis (Odonata: Isophlebioidea: Campterophlebiidae)

HUANG, D., FU, Y. & NEL, A. 4 October 2019. The first Chinese representative of the Jurassic damseldragonfly genus Hypsothemis (Odonata: Isophlebioidea: Campterophlebiidae). Alcheringa 44, 99–103. ISSN 0311–5518

A new campterophlebiid damsel-dragonfly, Hypsothemis sinensis sp. nov., is described from the lowermost Upper Jurassic Haifanggou Formation at the Daohugou locality in the Ningcheng Basin, China. This is the first Chinese representative of this genus, previously known only from the coeval upper Karabastau Formation in Kazakhstan, reflecting strong palaeobiogeographic links between these two entomofaunas.

Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn] and Yanzhe Fu [yzfu@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB, UMR 7205, CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Université des Antilles, 57, rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie 75005 Paris, France.