Abstract
Assembled in this volume, African Historical Archaeologies , are an exciting set of papers that encompas s a remarkably wide range of topics , methods, periods and regions of the African past. From the symbolism of decorated monoliths in Nigeria (Ray, Chapter 7) to indigenous recollections of war with a colonial government in South Africa (van Schalkwyk and Smith , Chapter 12), from the origins of the African diaspora (Kelly , Chapter 8) to Swahili history on Pemba Island (Laviolette, Chapter 5), from faunal analysis in Botswana (Reid, Chapter 11) to landscape archaeology in Kenya (Helm, Chapter 3), and from the second millennium BC in Nubia (Edwards, Chapter 2) to the moment of colonial encounter in Tanzania (Fleisher, Chapter 4), Zimbabwe (Pikirayi, Chapter 9) and southern Africa (Lane, Chapter 10), and from the city of Gao in Mali (Insoll, Chapter 6) to the South African industrial revolution at the close of the nineteenth century (Behrens, Chapter 13), there is something in this volume for all tastes . While the reader can pick and choose favourites, all the while revelling in the marvellous diversity of cultural and historical expression that exists in sub-Saharan Africa, it seems reasonable to ponder the nature of the beast that is African historical archaeology, albeit transformed by a plural ending.
While the time may be ripe for a powerful new synthesis between anthropology, history and archaeology, working in interdisciplinary spaces…is fraught with tensions… (Stahl, 2001: 15)
historical archaeology is the most expensive way in the world to learn something we already know (Deetz 1991: 1)
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Robertshaw, P. (2004). African Historical Archaeology(ies): Past, Present and A Possible Future. In: Reid, A.M., Lane, P.J. (eds) African Historical Archaeologies. Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8863-8_14
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