Jack of Two Trades,Master of Both: Smelting and Healing in Ufipa,Southwestern Tanzania

Pre-colonial African ironworking was much more than just a technology; it encompassed economic, social, political, symbolic, and even healing components. It is only unfortunate that archaeometallurgical research has not availed equal weight to each aspect, hence the apparent obscurity of some of them. Revealing the multiple facets of healing as manifested in ironworking technology, this paper attempts to rectify this imbalance. Essentially, the paper examines pros and cons of combining ironworking with healing of humans, a phenomenon common among ironworking communities in pre-colonial Africa. It is revealed that by combining the two, iron smelters ensured themselves of gains beyond technology and economy; they also became socially and politically influential. In addition, the paper notes that there existed a very close connection between healing and ritualism not only among smelter–healers but also conventional healers. After a thorough examination, it is found that the connection between the two was also pragmatic and deliberately instituted by the practitioners in order to enhance monopoly of their trade and protect their inventions against interlopers.     

Genetics and African Cattle Domestication

Whether cattle domestication occurred independently on the African continent is among the most controversial questions in the Holocene archaeology of northern Africa. One long-established scenario, based upon early archaeological evidence, suggested that Africa’s earliest cattle derived from several introductions from Southwest Asia through the Nile Valley, or via the Horn of Africa. Based upon archaeofaunal remains retrieved in the late twentieth century, other archaeologists argued that an independent domestication of the African aurochs gave rise to Africa’s earliest domestic cattle. Up to now, the genetic data have also been controversial. This paper reviews the archaeological evidence and the scope of debate, and then focuses on the recent contributions of genetic research to clarifying these issues.     

Italy and Africa: how to forget colonialism

Abstract

The debate on colonialism places great emphasis on the composite set of transformations put in motion by colonialism fully to give birth to what became the post-colonial state in independent Africa. Many authors suggest that Italian colonialism in the Horn of Africa was too weak to perform this task. The present article intends to review the influence and effects of the Italian colonial experience for state making in the Horn of Africa. This also brings about one of the main anomalies of the Horn of Africa, where colonialism ended without a process of true decolonization, in the sense of a confrontation between colonized and colonizers in the transfer of power from metropolitan rule to African representatives. The present Italian foreign policy in Africa is similarly conditioned by its colonial history: besides its focus on the Horn of Africa, which was the centre of Italy's colonial expansion as well as the only post-Second WorldWar administration (Italian Trust Administration of Somalia – AFIS), the relations between Italy and Africa reflect the many inconsistencies and uncertainties of the colonial experience.     

Hydrology and Empire: The Nile,Water Imperialism and the Partition of Africa

Why did the British march up the Nile in the 1890s? The answers to this crucial question of imperial historiography have direct relevance for narratives and theories about imperialism, in general, and the partition of Africa in the nineteenth century, in particular. They will also influence our understanding of some of the main issues in the modern history of the whole region, including state developments and resource utilisation. This article presents an alternative to dominant interpretations of the partition of Africa and the role of British Nile policies in this context. It differs from mainstream diplomatic history, which dominates this research field, in its emphasis on how geographical factors and the hydrological characteristics of the Nile influenced and framed British thinking and actions in the region. Realising the importance of such factors and the specific character of the regional water system does not imply less attention to traditional diplomatic correspondence or to the role of individual imperial entrepreneurs. The strength of this analytical approach theoretically is that it makes it possible to locate the intentions and acts of historical subjects within specific geographical contexts. Empirically, it opens up a whole new set of source material, embedding the reconstruction of the British Nile discourse in a world of Nile plans, water works and hydrological discourses.     

Hydrology and empire: the Nile, water imperialism and the partition of Africa

Why did the British march up the Nile in the 1890s? The answers to this crucial question of imperial historiography have direct relevance for narratives and theories about imperialism, in general, and the partition of Africa in the nineteenth century, in particular. They will also influence our understanding of some of the main issues in the modern history of the whole region, including state developments and resource utilisation. This article presents an alternative to dominant interpretations of the partition of Africa and the role of British Nile policies in this context. It differs from mainstream diplomatic history, which dominates this research field, in its emphasis on how geographical factors and the hydrological characteristics of the Nile influenced and framed British thinking and actions in the region. Realising the importance of such factors and the specific character of the regional water system does not imply less attention to traditional diplomatic correspondence or to the role of individual imperial entrepreneurs. The strength of this analytical approach theoretically is that it makes it possible to locate the intentions and acts of historical subjects within specific geographical contexts. Empirically, it opens up a whole new set of source material, embedding the reconstruction of the British Nile discourse in a world of Nile plans, water works and hydrological discourses.     

From the Sands of the Ogaden to Black Hawk Down: The End of the Cold War in the Horn of Africa

From the Ogaden War to the Black Hawk Down incident, the Horn of Africa was a theatre of events with far-reaching international consequences. This paper argues that the distinctive process leading to the end of the bipolar conflict in the Horn is crucial to understanding the role of this region both during and after the Cold War. Through an extensive analysis of the period 1985–1991, this article explains why only a few years after the ‘burial’ of SALT II in the sands of the Ogaden, the superpowers withdrew from the region which had been the symbol of the failure of détente. Similarly, an analysis of the end of the Cold War is paramount to understanding why, after the break-up of the USSR, the Horn of Africa hosted one of the most tragic episodes of post-Cold War US foreign policy.     

Reconnaissance of Prehistoric Sites in the Red Sea Coastal Region of the Sudan,NE Africa

This paper reports results of a recent Stone Age-focused archaeological survey in the Red Sea coastal region of the Republic of Sudan, northeast Africa. Bifaces (handaxes) are the most conspicuous artifact class encountered during the survey and are characteristic of the Acheulean technocomplex. Other recorded artifact types include points, scrapers, and prepared core products referable to the Nubian and recurrent Levallois methods. Most of the artifact-bearing localities lie landward—outside of the coastal margin—thus, the evidence does not signify direct coastal adaptation per se. Our preliminary findings suggest that multiple Pleistocene-age hominin settlements tied to a terrestrial niche existed in the region. The western margin of the Red Sea occupies a pivotal location, linking the Horn of Africa and the Levant, two vital regions in human evolutionary research. Thus, the Stone Age data from the Sudan region has direct relevance for assessing hominin dispersal routes out of Africa.     

The Development of Ancient States in the Northern Horn of Africa,c. 3000 BC–AD 1000: An Archaeological Outline

Beginning in the 3rd millennium BC, complex societies and states arose in the northern Horn of Africa. This process culminated with the development of the Kingdom of Aksum in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea in the 1st millennium AD. The development of these polities can be outlined in principle on the basis of the archaeological evidence. The process consisted of at least two distinct trajectories to social complexity, indirectly related to each other in the Eritrean–Sudanese lowlands and the Eritrean–Ethiopian highlands, respectively, with a shift in the location of complex societies from the lowlands to the highlands in the early 1st millennium BC. This shift was due to changes in the general pattern of interregional contacts between the regions facing the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean along the Nile Valley, Red Sea and western Arabia from the 4th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD.     

The Bab al Mandab vs the Nile-Levant: An Appraisal of the Two Dispersal Routes for Early Modern Humans Out of Africa

There is a growing convergence of paleontological, archaeological and genetic evidence for the African origin of modern humans and their successive dispersals. However, there is disagreement about the route or routes taken by early humans during their migration out of Africa. This article examines the Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age archaeological evidence from the Horn of Africa, the Nile Valley/eastern Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, and assesses their relevance to this question. Specific reduction techniques and typological variables are used to compare industries across these regions. This study shows that there are more evident technological and typological similarities among assemblages from the Horn, the Nile Valley and Arabia than between any of these regions and the Levant. Il y a plusieurs preuves paléontologiques, archéologiques et génétiques qui supportes une origine Africaine pour l’Homme moderne, et qui indiques les migrations de l’Homme hors de ce continent. Cependant, les parcours précis suivis par ces anciennes populations en route pour l’Europe et l’Asie ne sont pas évidents. Cette étude a comme but d’examiner les preuves archéologiques du Paléolithique moyen et de l’Âge de la Pierre moyen (MSA) de la corne de l’Afrique, la vallée du Nile, le desert Sahara de l’est, la péninsule Arabe, et du Moyen Orient pour déterminer les contributions de ces régions à la migration de l’Homme modern hors de l’Afrique. Les techniques de réduction de pierre et quelques données typologiques sont utilisées pour comparer les ensembles lithiques des régions traversés par la Route du Nord et la Route du Sud. Si les résultats de ces comparaisons démontrent que les données typologiques et les techniques de réduction sont semblables entre les régions d’un des parcours, nous pourrons inférer qu’il existait dans le passé soit un lien culturel entre ces régions, ou des parallèles dans le comportement de ces peuples anciens. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent qu’il y a plus de resemblances avec les techniques de réduction et les données typologiques dans les ensembles lithiques de la corne de l’Afrique, la vallée du Nile, et la pénisule Arabe comparés aux ensembles du Moyen Orient, ce qui soutien l’hypothèse d’une migration par la Route du Sud.     

BorderCrossings

Using the notion of a "geopolitics of mobility" this paper argues that international borders are more porous to capital than to displaced bodies. Juxtaposing these two levels of mobility generates two distinct but related geographies. Mobility is also theorized by seeing how colonial, Cold War, and ethno-nationalist struggles have shaped people's histories of migration, and by examining displaced groups in a context cognizant of both cultural and political difference as well as material relations of power. Focusing on the relationship between Europe and the Horn of Africa, especially movement of Somali peoples, the paper shows that a colonialism of derision has been transformed into a colonialism of compassion.     

Cairo to Cape: The Spread of Metallurgy Through Eastern and Southern Africa

This article traces the beginnings of metallurgy in the eastern half of the African continent, focusing on three regions: (1) Egypt and Nubia; (2) the Great Lakes region of Central and East Africa; and (3) southern Africa. Metallurgy was not practiced much beyond the Nile valley until the first millennium BC, when copper, bronze and iron metallurgy began in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and iron metallurgy in the Great Lakes region. The expansion of agricultural societies carried iron metallurgy south, reaching its southern limit in South Africa by c. 300 cal AD. Copper was also smelted in southern Africa, but its use was restricted to pendants, bracelets, wire and other items of jewelry. In stark contrast to the metallurgical sequence in the Nile Valley, there was no production of tin, lead, gold or silver in central or southern Africa before these regions were linked to the Islamic world system after c. 800 AD.     

Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan)

The Mesolithic period represents a key stage in the human history of Sudan, but its complexity is not yet fully understood. Since the beginning of prehistoric research in this region, efforts were made to understand Mesolithic site formation processes and post-depositional disturbances. Responsibility for the destruction of most Mesolithic sites’ deposits rests mainly on later use of the ancient mound-like settlements as burial places by Meroitic and post-Meroitic people. Excavations at several sites in the El Salha and Al Khiday areas (White Nile, south of Omdurman) have provided recent progress in our knowledge of Mesolithic living structures in their palaeoenvironmental contexts. Detailed stratigraphic and geoarchaeological investigations enabled us to distinguish, within the sequences identified at excavated mounds, the existence of basal archaeological strata still in situ that had remained unaffected by subsequent anthropogenic disturbances and to understand the functional aspects of several archaeological features associated with Mesolithic living floors. This offers the opportunity to reassess the Mesolithic cultural sequence in the region and reconsider some statements on the economic and social aspects of Mesolithic life and landscape exploitation strategies.     

Vernacular names for African millets and other minor cereals and their significance for agricultural history

Apart from the well-known cereals such as sorghum and millet, Africa has a number of small millets, notably fonio, iburu, ?ef and Paspalum scrobiculatum which are poorly represented in the archaeobotanical record. The fragmented distribution of fonio suggests that it was formerly more widely cultivated. The paper uses the patterns discerned in vernacular names to explore their history. Fonio is the most widely distributed and its vernacular names fall into two significant subgroups, in the Mande/Atlantic area of West Africa and in Central Nigeria. Iburu names are only recorded for Nigeria, although there is another region of cultivation in the Atakora mountains in Benin. Names for ?ef are extremely similar throughout the Ethiopian region, suggesting that the crop has been dispersed by a dominant culture, probably the Ethiosemitic speakers, perhaps as part of the diffusion of seed/plough agriculture. The paper calls for further more detailed research on these important and neglected species.     

The Origin of African Sheep: Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives

Indigenous African sheep genetic resources have been classified into two main groups, fat-tailed and thin-tailed sheep. The fat-tailed sheep are the most widely distributed, being found in a large part of North Africa (from Egypt to Algeria) and in Eastern and Southern Africa (from Eritrea to South Africa). The thin-tailed sheep are present mainly in Morocco, Sudan and in West Africa. African sheep were domesticated outside Africa. They share a common ancestry with European and Asian sheep. Archaeological information supports separate introductions and dispersion histories for the African thin-tailed and fat-tailed sheep. The first sheep entered Africa via the Isthmus of Suez and/or the southern Sinai Peninsula, between 7500 and 7000 BP. They were likely of the thin-tailed type. Fat-tailed sheep entered Africa through its northeastern part and the Horn of Africa. Mitochondrial DNA analysis supports a common maternal ancestral origin for all African sheep, while autosomal and Y chromosome DNA analysis indicates a distinct genetic history for African thin-tailed and sub-Saharan fat-tailed sheep. The main ancestral population of southern African fat-tailed sheep likely originated in East Africa. Further work is needed to assess the possible dispersion of sheep from western Africa to the southern African regions.     

Imperial Nightmares: The British Image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa,c. 1840-74

In the first half of the ninteenth century West Africa became associated with the term 'white man's grave'. This was mostly due to the extremely high European mortality rates resulting from endemic disease, especially malaria. The second half of the nineteenth century is usually described as the birth of tropical medicine, which indicates a development in scientific medicine partially attributed to the empirical experiences of the mid-century. The treatment and prevention of the above-mentioned disease changed substantially in the period. This article discusses the public perception of West Africa in the years between the Niger Expedition in 1841 and the Ashanti campaign in 1874. The two events, which mark the chronological framework of the paper, both played a significant part in the history of malaria as much as in the history of British imperial expansion in the region. Using mostly contemporary printed works, it is argued that despite the development that occurred in the field of medicine and subsequent decline in European mortality, the associated image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa prevailed between the two events for a variety of political, economic and cultural causes.     

The necessary indeterminacy of self‐determination: Politics,law and conflict in the Horn of Africa

This article frames a themed collection on Nationalism and Self‐determination in the Horn of Africa. It demonstrates how the praxis of self‐determination in the Horn of Africa has contributed to normative developments. On the basis of case studies of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan/South Sudan this article argues that nationalism and self‐determination have had different meanings in the political cultures across the different countries and have changed over time. We contend that such indeterminacy is unavoidable and should be welcomed. Nationalism is driven by historical circumstances that are contingent and often transitory. Self‐determination claims based on such nationalism are equally contingent and transitory. When the principle of self‐determination gets translated into concrete legal entitlements (for instance, a referendum on independence), it tends to solve one problem only by creating others. Instead, the pursuit and realization of self‐determination require constant political processes.     

The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland

Dhambalin, a sandstone rock shelter, was discovered in autumn 2007. The unique site holds polychrome paintings including the first sheep paintings in Somali archaeology. There is an extraordinary originality in the paintings, particularly those of the sheep and goats. There are unusual quality images and styles of humpless cows of which some are headless. The fauna depicted include antelopes, dogs, giraffes, snakes and a turtle, some of which are associated with human figures wearing what appear to be headgears and holding bow and arrows in hunting scenes. Relative dating is possible perhaps through the superimposition of various styles of paintings. Also the site shares some similarities with the Neolithic or protohistoric Arabian–Ethiopian Style in the Horn of Africa. Hence, there is a need for a multidisciplinary approach to the ritual landscapes, religion and identity in the Horn of Africa. With its richness of fauna, including unambiguous depictions of sheep and various styles of depiction of bovine, the new site of Dhambalin will no doubt play a major role in shedding light on pastoral cultures and pre-historic symbolism in the rock art of the Horn of Africa.     

非洲民族主义史学流派及其贡献

非洲民族主义史学既是民族独立运动的产物,也是一种历史现象。民族独立运动将非洲历史的重构提到了日程,国际学术界开始承认非洲历史学科的存在。《剑桥非洲史》和联合国教科文组织《非洲通史》的编写及有关非洲历史的杂志和研究中心的出现对非洲民族主义史学的兴起起到了重要作用。伊巴丹学派、达累斯萨拉姆学派和达喀尔学派等非洲民族主义史学流派在非洲史观的确立、方法论的突破和史学人才的培养方面做出了贡献,但这些学派也有一定的缺陷。非洲民族主义史学的兴起在树立非洲人民的自信和非洲国家建构等方面起到了重要作用。     

The Upper Palaeolithic Lithic Industry of Nazlet Khater 4 (Egypt): Implications for the Stone Age/Palaeolithic of Northeastern Africa

Between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and 2, Northeast Africa witnessed migrations of Homo sapiens into Eurasia. Within the context of the aridification of the Sahara, the Nile Valley probably offered a very attractive corridor into Eurasia. This region and this period are therefore central for the (pre)history of the out-of-Africa peopling of modern humans. However, there are very few sites from the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic that document these migration events. In Egypt, the site of Nazlet Khater 4 (NK4), which is related to ancient H. sapiens quarrying activities, is one of them. Its lithic assemblage shows an important laminar component, and this, associated with its chronological position (ca. 33 ka), means that the site is the most ancient Upper Palaeolithic sites of this region. The detailed study of the Nazlet Khater 4 lithic material shows that blade production (volumetric reduction) is also associated with flake production (surface reduction). This technological duality addresses the issue of direct attribution of NK4 to the Upper Palaeolithic.     

The Hammers of Mawu: Ironworking Traditions in the Togo Hills,Ghana

This paper examines ironworking practices and traditions among the Mawu (Akpafu) and Lolobi communities of the northern Volta Region of Ghana. It compares them with other accounts gathered from published sources and observations made during fieldwork conducted in the 1970s. It describes the processes of mining, smelting, and tool manufacturing from reconstructions and oral histories and delineates the transformations that have been worked on the content of the tradition in the past 100 years. The narratives of the migrations of the Mawu, gleaned from their own elders, from ground surface evidence, and from written reports are considered in the context of archaeological and historical evidence from other parts of southern Ghana. The conventional picture of the movement of the Mawu/Lolobi communities is one of displacement by incoming groups, but the conclusion that they have been pushed within the past 150 years into the very district containing the greatest concentration of iron-rich deposits in this whole mountain area is given critical examination. It is likely that the Togo hills have been the site of ironworking for several centuries. It is, therefore, suggested that these communities may represent the distillation of a formerly more widespread set of such communities which existed wherever iron ore was to be found in southeast Ghana.