Windows on the African Past: Current Approaches to African Archaeobotany

by A Catherine D'Andrea (Editor), Ahmed G Fahmy (Editor), Stefanie Kahlheber (Editor)

Overview

Archaeobotany has significantly increased our knowledge of the relationships between humans and plants throughout the ages. As is amply illustrated in this volume, botanical remains preserved in archaeological contexts have great potential to inform us about past environments and the various methods used by ancient peoples to exploit and cultivate plants. This volume presents the proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on African Archaeobotany (IWAA) held at Helwan University in Cairo, Egypt, on 13-15 June 2009. Studies presented herein clearly illustrate that African archaeobotany is a dynamic field, with many advances in techniques and important case studies presented since the first meeting of IWAA held in 1994. Authors have employed classical and new archaeobotanical techniques, in addition to linguistics and ethnoarchaeology to increase our knowledge about the role of plants in ancient African societies. This book covers a wide range of African countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Canary Islands. It is of interest to archaeobotanists, archaeologists, historians, linguists, agronomists, and plant ecologists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783937248325
Publisher:	Africa Magna Verlag
Publication date:	12/15/2011
Series:	Reports in African Archaeology , #3
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

Table of Contents

Preface C. Sievers: Sedges from Sibudu, South Africa: Evidence for their Use G. Bigga & S. Kahlheber: From Gathering to Agricultural Intensification: Archaeobotanical Remains from Mege, Chad Basin, NE Nigeria J. Morales, J.F. Navarro-Mederos & A. Rodriguez-Rodriguez: Plant Offerings to the Gods: Seed Remains from a Pre-Hispanic Sacrificial Altar in La Gomera Island (Canary Islands, Spain) U. Thanheiser: Island of the Blessed: 8000 Years of Plant Exploitation in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt A.G. Fahmy, R. Friedman & M.A. Fadl: Economy and Ecology of Predynastic Hierakonpolis, Egypt: Archaeobotanical Evidence from a Trash Mound at HK11C E. Marinova, G.J.M. van Loon, M. De Meyer & H. Willems: Plant Economy and Land Use in Middle Egypt during the Late Antique/Early Islamic Period: Archaeobotanical Analysis of Mud Bricks and Mud Plasters from the Area of Dayr al-Barsha R. Hamdy & N.M.N. El Hadidi: Identification of Plant Materials used in the Coiled Basketry Collection at the Agricultural Museum (Giza, Egypt) K.U. Radomski & K. Neumann: Grasses and Grinding Stones: Inflorescence Phytoliths from Modern West African Poaceae and Archaeological Stone Artefacts H.R. Oliveira, D.L. Lister & M.K. Jones: Phylogeography of Cereal Landraces and the Spread of Agriculture in Northwest Africa: Review and Prospects L. Olmi, A.M. Mercuri, M.T.P. Gilbert, S. Biagetti, S. Fordyce, E. Cappellini, I. Massamba N'siala & S. di Lernia: Morphological and Genetic Analyses of Early and Mid Holocene Wild Cereals from the Takarkori Rockshelter (Central Sahara, Libya): First Results and Prospects C. Ehret: A Linguistic History of Cultivation and Herding in Northeastern Africa B. Ricquier & K. Bostoen: Stirring up the Porridge: How Early Bantu Speakers Prepared their Cereals A. Catherine D'Andrea & Pamela Wadge: T'ef (Eragrostis tef): A Legacy of Pastoralism?

Editorial Reviews

"This book is the newest addition to a series of volumes resulting from the International Workshop for African Archaeobotany meetings held every two years since 1994 [...] Windows on the African Past [...] is an important addition to the growing corpus of knowledge on ancient African plant use. This particular volume includes a diverse array of analytical techniques and data sources that open several 'windows' on past people and plant interactions and pave the way for their future study. [...] Windows on the African Past nicely captures the diversity of approaches used in this growing field and is a must-read for anyone seriously interested the role of plants in African history." —Amanda L. Logan, University of Michigan, USA, (Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47 (3) 2012. "In terms of the study of past human plant use and archaeological plant remains, Africa is the least studied continent. A new volume on African archaeobotany is therefore a welcome addition to a small but growing literature. This volume is timely and was published two years after the conference, ahead of the ill-fated publication of the previous London meeting. Edited volumes arising from conferences seem to be under increasing pressure as current academic demands push scholars to publish more in journals and publishers are increasingly worried about sales of such volumes. Nevertheless volumes such as this have an important place as markers of the progress in a discipline, in which it is essential for new researchers to get to grips with where the field has gotten to. This is certainly the case here where the 13 chapters published provide a reasonably representative cross-section of the state of play in archaeobotany of Africa. [...] This volume represents an eclectic vision of archaeobotany, including chapters on phylogeography based on modern landrace genetics, historical linguistics (two chapters), ethnoarchaeology, as well as studies of phytoliths, wood charcoal and the dominant study of archaeological seed remains. [...] Taken as a whole, this book has an important range of studies, and ought to be in any good achaeobotanical library." —Dorian Q. Fuller, University College London, UK, Journal of African Archaeology 11 (1), 2013

From the Publisher