African archaeology: looking forward

The future of African archaeology has recently been a major focus of attention by African archaeologists. This article looks at anticipated major advances, and at the expectations and desires of young African archaeologists in the advancement of the discipline. The major constraints to research are identified and solutions to these problems are suggested.

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Résumé Le futur de l'archéologie africaine est devenu récemment un sujet de préoccupation majeur pour les archéologues africains. Cet article passe en revue les progrès principaux que l'on peut en attendre ainsi que les espoirs et les souhaits des jeunes archéologues africains en ce qui concerne le développement de la discipline. Les principales contraintes affectant la recherche sont identifiées et des solutions sont proposées à ces problèmes.

     

Gender in the African Diaspora: Electronic Research Materials

Electronic resources, especially the World Wide Web, present important advantages for gendered analysis of the African Diaspora. For topics ranging from patterns of enslavement to current educational issues, this review emphasises the possibilities for crossing regional and linguistic boundaries in gender studies through use of the Internet. With citation of numerous websites and other resources, the essay identifies research issues, discusses research techniques, notes various forms of electronic publication and provides examples of searching electronically for different kinds of information.     

Low-Fired Earthenwares in the African Diaspora: Problems and Prospects

Local earthenware associated with enslaved African populations in the Americas, variously called Colono-Ware, Afro-Caribbean Ware. Yabbas, and Criollo ware, has received considerable attention from researchers. What unifies this disparate group of ceramics is not method of manufacture, design and decoration, or even form and function but the association or potential association with African diaspora populations. The ceramics incorporate some skills and techniques possibly brought by African potters to the Americas, as well as skills reflecting European and Native American traditions, and local adaptations in form, function, and manufacture. Analogies linking African ceramic traditions to American industries have at times been employed uncritically and have relied on generalized characteristics to infer overly specific meanings. With particular reference to low-fired earthenwares from Jamaica, this paper examines the historical and cultural context of these ceramics and the methodological and theoretical problems faced in their interpretation.     

African archaeology: looking back and looking forward

Archaeological interpretations are related to the social, political and intellectual climate prevailing at the time: the record of African archaeology is traced with the attitudes characteristic of different periods, from the nineteenth century to the last decade. The future is seen as belonging to the present generation of archaeologists active in Africa, but a number of questions are asked.

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Résumé Les interprétations archéologiques sont liées au climat social, politique et intellectuel qui domine au moment donné. L'histoire de l'archéologie africaine est retracée compte tenu des perspectives caractéristiques des périodes successives, dès le dix-neuvième siècle jusqu'à la dernière décennie. Le futur est considéré comme l'affaire de cette génération d'archéologues qui travaillent actuellement en Afrique, mais plusieurs questions se posent.

     

The stone circle sites of Komaland,northern Ghana,in West African archaeology

An Iron Age complex which flourished around the fifteenth to the seventeenth century AD is currently under investigation in Komaland, northern Ghana. The complex is known chiefly from its numerous burial sites characterized by stone circles and earth mound superstructures, and containing human and animal burials, domestic pottery, milling stones, metal implements and cast figures, together with ubiquitous and distinctive terracotta sculptures. This paper discusses the findings from the first season's excavation and their significance in West African archaeology.

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Résumé Des recherches actuellement en cours portent sur un complexe de l'Age du Fer, qui a prospéré entre le 15e et le 17e siècle après J.C., en Komaland, au nord du Ghana. Le complexe est connu surtout par ses nombreux sépultures caractérisées par des cercles de pierres, avec comme superstructures des tumulus de terre où se trouvent des inhumations de humains et d'animaux, de la céramique domestique, des molettes, des outils en métal, et des figures coulées, avec des sculptures en terre cuite ubiquistes et distinctives. Cet article présente des résultats de la première saison de fouilles, et discute de leur signification dans l'archéologie de l'Afrique Occidentale.

     

Recent carbon isotope research and its implications for African archaeology

A number of new developments in the carbon isotope field are reviewed, some of these having immediate and others potential application to African archaeology. Mass spectrometric analysis of¹³C/¹²C ratios in human and animal bone collagen makes it possible to reconstruct prehistoric foodwebs and to draw conclusions about dietary adaptations. Alternatively, where dietary behaviour is known, analysis of the bone of certain animal species allows for reconstruction of past environments. Ratio mass spectrometers are widely available in research institutions, and provided that the proper techniques for sample preparation are followed, this method of analysis should be of immediate use to most Africanists. It is already making an impact on African archaeology. The development of accelerator-based or high energy mass spectrometry (HEMS) radiocarbon dating provides the potential for extending the method back to 100,000 years, particularly in the case of bone samples. Practical applications, however, are still a few years off. In the immediate future HEMS dating is likely to be applied to small samples of ages less than 50,000 years. In competition with HEMS is the use of mini-counters for conventional radiocarbon dating of small samples. This procedure is available in a few laboratories with more under development. Dating of small samples has potential applications in many areas, specifically in the direct age measurement of critical specimens as opposed to the dating of associated materials.     

The archaeology of place

It is suggested that if archaeologists are to be successful in understanding the organization of past cultural systems they must understand the organizational relationships among places which were differentially used during the operation of past systems. This point is illustrated by observations made among the Nunamiut Eskimo. Against this background it is demonstrated that the two most common forms of archaeological systematics, “assemblage”- versus “type”-based systematics, are not appropriate for the study of places. In the latter case, it is not possible to analyze places as such, while one cannot see places with different “content” as part of a single system in the former. It is concluded that current archaeological systematics are totally inappropriate for studying past systems of adaptation and their evolutionary modification.     

谈谈考古学的科学性

前言几年以前,作为木同学科之间桥梁的《读书》杂志,曾组织了有关考古学研究现状的讨论,与会者兼有行内与行外的学者,会后发表的笔谈,读了以后使人产生一种共鸣。《读书》的编者按说得好,“中国考古学的成果斐然,但是一般知识界和社会对它的关注似乎减弱了。”[1]在一般人的印象里,考古学是一种象牙塔里的冷僻学问。文化史学者葛兆光对考古学的印象是觉得它与我们很隔膜。第一,它只凭考古发掘材料来说话,就像地质学采集的标本一样纯而又纯,“科学”得再不能“科学”;第二,它那冷冰冰的术语好似自我封闭,要么让人难懂,要么觉…     

Teaching revolutionary archaeology: African experiments in history making and heritage management

Este ensayo se enfoca en la experiencia de estudiantes africanos intentando estudiar y lograr administrar herencia en Tanzania y eritrea. El autor ilustra la necesidad de métodos prácticos que enfatizan hacer decisiones independientes y el crecimiento de la auto-confianza personal en los contextos del desarrollo rápido y disturbios políticos. Estas perspectivas de ense?anza ofrecen una respuesta positiva de los estudiantes que ven oportunidades para realizar la arqueología de su propia herencia desde su propio punto de vista.

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Résumé Ce papier se concentre sur l'expérience d'étudiants africains qui ont étudié et tenté de mettre en oeuvre la gestion du patrimoine en Tanzanie et en Erythrée. L'auteur illustre la nécessité d'avoir des approches pratiques qui favorisent la prise de décisions indépendante et l'augmentation de la confiance personnelle, dans le cadre professionnel, dans des contextes de développements rapides et de changements politiques brusques. Cette perspective pédagogique induit une réponse positive des étudiants qui voient des opportunités de faire l'archéologie de leur propre patrimoine selon leurs propres points de vue.

     

The archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers

Archaeologists' reconstructions of paths to complexity have all too often excluded complex hunter-gatherers. However, recent theoretical contributions and long-term field research programs in several regions of the world have now significantly advanced our understanding of complex hunter-gatherers. A discussion of definitions of complexity and a review of current models of the emergence of complexity provide a framework for analyses of complex hunter-gatherers and important cultural phenomena such as sedentism, political integration, prestige economies, feasting, and ideology.     

The archaeology of climate change in the Caribbean

This paper emerges from an attempt to more actively integrate archaeology with ongoing geographical and environmental discussions of human responses to the effects of climate change in the Caribbean. If archaeology is to contribute to the mitigation strategies currently being developed, then robust interpretations are necessary that can be practically integrated with inter-disciplinary action. This paper discusses the methods needed to provide the high-resolution data and interpretations required using archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research from a case study area in northern Cuba. Using data collected from an ongoing collaborative archaeological research project with the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, we evaluate whether it is possible to make useful interpretations of human response to past changes in sea-level, precipitation and hurricane activity. Specifically, the effects of these activities on the changing nature of settlement locations, food procurement strategies and household architecture among pre-Columbian communities are evaluated. Indigenous mitigation strategies are identified and used to inform modern day preparation for the impacts of climate change in the Caribbean.     

考古学应当“与时俱进”

中国改革开放已经走过了20余个年头。这项现代化的决策已对中国社会的各个层面产生了巨大的影响,从思维观念到行事方式,人们正逐渐融人世界的潮流。中国人的生活发生了翻天覆地的变化,我们可以从身边发生的一切,感受到信息技术时代日新月异的脉搏和各个领域“与时俱进”的沉重压力。     

The contemporary in post-medieval archaeology

SUMMARY: Contemporary archaeology is an emerging field of enquiry within the wider discipline associated with the questioning of temporal boundaries in what we study and why we engage with material remains of the recent past more generally. This article argues that contemporary archaeology should be broadly defined at this stage in its development and therefore can be located in Post-Medieval Archaeology through research that explicitly engages with what it is to conduct contemporary archaeology, but also through those implicitly considering how the past intrudes into the present. We believe that Post-Medieval Archaeology will continue to highlight archaeological studies of the contemporary into the future.     

The current state of American archaeology

Meltzer, David J., Don D. Fowler, and Jeremy A. Sabloff. American Archaeology Past and Future: A Celebration of the Society of American Archaeology 1935–1985. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986. 479 pp. including illustrations and chapter references. $35.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.

Schiffer, Michael B. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. Volume 9. Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, 1986. v + 468 pp. including illustrations, tables, chapter references, and index. $75.00.