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Central African Archaeology Bibliography

Ann Brower Stahl, ed. African Archaeology: A Critical Introduction. Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology Series. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. (online access)

Andah, Bassey, et al. The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. Routledge, 2014. (in library)

Mattingly, David B., and Kevin MacDonald. "Africa." (1997). (having trouble finding)

Van Noten, Francis L., and Daniel Cahen. The archaeology of central Africa. Akad. Dr.-u. Verlag-Anst., 1982. (Maybe in library)

Eggert, Manfred KH. "Central Africa and the archaeology of the equatorial rainforest: reflections on some major topics." The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns (1993): 289-329. (in library)

Stahl, A. B. (2005). African archaeology: A critical introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Cornelissen, E. ,Human Responses to Changing Environments in Central Africa Between 40,000 and 12,000 B.P.. Journal of World Prehistory (2002) 16: 197.

Intro

Though humans developed in and have occupied Africa longer than any other place in the world, there has been an underwhelming amount of archaeology done on the continent. Of the archaeology that has been done, most of it has been focused on early human evolution along the lines of work done by Mary and Louis Leakey. Even less studied than modern humans in general in Africa, is the prehistory of Central Africa. Central Africa is generally considered to encompass ten countries (Cameroon, south-Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Angola ) which amounts to more than 6 million square kilometers or roughly the size of the United States west of the Mississippi Rive r (Maret).

Why Have Few Researched Here

Despite covering vast amounts of land, very little research has been done in Central Africa. This is due to several reasons. Joseph Conrad’s description of “green hell” is reminiscent of the attitude held by many concerning this part of Africa. Half of Central Africa is covered by rainforest that is only smaller than the Amazonian Rainforest. Because of this, many did not think that archaeology, because of a lack of preservation and/or lack of occupation, was possible. The area was thus avoided. Central Africa is also considered the poorest part of Africa, not surprisingly this area has “non-existent or dilapidated infrastructure”, making travel by car difficult. Also a consequence of poverty, Central Africa has had high outbreaks of deadly diseases like AIDS and Ebola fever. Since independence, the region has also seen its fair share of “coups d’etat, prolonged civil wars, and even genocide”. All of these factors combined have made the area seem unwelcoming if not impossible to conduct archaeology. However, in the last 30 years a few archaeologists have ventured to do the impossible and have found that this is an incredible area of the world with an astounding archaeological record.

Early

Very little is known about the first humans living in Central Africa. Of the archaeologists who study the region, a debate has emerged; could humans survive only on forest resources before the emergence of agriculture? Research done by Els Cornelissen et al suggests that occupation was possible before agriculture and may have actually been very hospitable. Because of the ecodiversity of the area, the people inhabiting the area would have had access to a variety of resources, making it a more stable environment to live in.

Nice job so far - I will need to see some text next week! You might want to check out Denbow's relatively new book on the archaeology and ethnography of central Africa. It might be helpful to break the article into sections by time period - or, you could do it by theme (hominin evolution, studies of ceramic production, evidence for agriculture, and so forth). Either way would work, and I think either way you'd cover most of the big topics. Let me know how I can help! Ninafundisha (talk) 20:35, 28 October 2016 (UTC)