| 1. |
- Baumanova, Monika, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Structural dynamics of spatial complexity at the 'Palace of Gede', Kenya
- 2017
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Ingår i: Azania. - : ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 52:1, s. 71-99
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using a set of structural and network analysis approaches, this paper focuses on the monumental structure known as 'the Palace' at the Swahili stone town site of Gede, located near the Kenya coast. Gede is one of many stone towns that flourished on the East African littoral from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries AD. The 'Palace complex' is the largest building on site and developed in at least three stages within the last 100-150 years of the site's occupation. Its palatial function has so far been considered mainly in light of its monumentality and relative size, hence on the basis of its formal properties. This article utilises approaches that examine the spatial structure of the complex, offering an analysis of its spatial organisation by studying its inherent potential in terms of movement and visibility. The interpretation of the social logic of its development presented here is based on access and visibility analyses and on network analysis and thus connects methodologies developed in the 1980s with those that have started to be more widely discussed only within the last decade. The results reveal how the configuration and use of rooms, their place in the communication network within the building and their social potential changed through time.
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| 2. |
- Boles, Oliver J. C., et al.
(författare)
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The Green, Green Grass of Home : an archaeo-ecological approach to pastoralist settlement in central Kenya
- 2016
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Ingår i: Azania. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 51:4, s. 507-530
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper considers the ecological residues of pastoralist occupation at the site of Maili Sita in Laikipia, central Kenya, drawing links with the archaeological record so as to contribute a fresh approach to the ephemeral settlement sites of mobile herding communities, a methodological aspect of African archaeology that remains problematic. Variations in the geochemical and micromorphological composition of soils along transects across the site are compared with vegetation distributions and satellite imagery to propose an occupation pattern not dissimilar to contemporary Cushitic-speaking groups further north. We argue that Maili Sita exemplifies the broad migratory and cultural exchange networks in place during the mid- to late second millennium AD, with pastoralist occupants who were both physically and culturally mobile.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Giblin, John, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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The social and symbolic context of the royal potters of Buganda
- 2012
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Ingår i: Azania. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 47:1, s. 64-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper describes the technical activities of the contemporary makers of the royal pots of Buganda and the social context of this technology and its products, alongside the symbolic world of which these are a part. The ethnoarchaeological research presented here suggests that Ganda pottery was not only a technical and functional product, but was also socially and symbolically constructed, reflecting the moral values of society. This paper identifies pottery in Buganda as a symbolic source of health, which has resulted in the establishment of royal potters who make ritually clean royal pots by following strict taboos in order to protect the health of the kabaka (king) and the kingdom. The unfortunate archaeological implications of this work are that it may be the intangible and archaeologically elusive activities of the royal potters that make their pots royal are not necessarily the tangible ones. © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
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| 5. |
- Högberg, Anders, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Was there a shift from Levallois to Still Bay point knapping at Hollow Rock Shelter, South Africa?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Azania. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 57:1, s. 5-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With this contribution we revisit the lithic point assemblage from Hollow Rock Shelter, South Africa. Our objective is to test whether, in addition to its finely retouched Still Bay points, an earlier Levallois-type Mossel Bay point-making tradition may also be represented at the site and, if so, how the two traditions relate to each other. We conducted a fine-grained temporal attribute study that includes point-production strategies, material use and morphometric analyses. We show that, contrary to previous interpretation, Mossel Bay-type points are represented at Hollow Rock Shelter before about 80,000 years ago. Subsequently, the knappers started to make Still Bay points during the later phase, but Levallois-type Mossel Bay points continued to be used throughout the sequence. Variation between the phases lay in the frequencies of point types and material use through time, as well as in subtle changes in morphometric attributes. As a result, we suggest that Levallois point production was part of the inventory of the Still Bay at Hollow Rock Shelter, but has not previously been reported as such. This study adds to an increasing body of work that demonstrates that Still Bay point production in southern Africa was not the abrupt technological phenomenon previously claimed, but our outcomes nevertheless require further testing at sites with better stratigraphic context than that available at Hollow Rock Shelter.
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| 6. |
- Iles, Louise, et al.
(författare)
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Iron production in second millennium AD pastoralist contexts on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya
- 2015
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Ingår i: Azania. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 50:3, s. 372-401
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Iron has played an important role within East African pastoralist societies for many hundreds of years, yet the means by which iron was produced or obtained by these communities has not been thoroughly documented. The bulk of our understanding is presently based on a limited number of ethnographic and artefact studies, which have tended to focus on the functional and symbolic nature of iron objects themselves. We argue that the research presented here provides the first opportunity to add to this narrow knowledge base by reconstructing the iron production technologies of pastoralist communities in Laikipia, Kenya, using an archaeometallurgical approach. Seven furnaces and one iron-production refuse area were excavated at two discrete workshop sites in Laikipia, central Kenya, that date to the second half of the second millennium AD. The recovered archaeometallurgical materials were analysed using optical microscopy, SEM-EDS and ED-XRF. These techniques revealed that the smelting technologies in question were complex and sophisticated and that they utilised titania-rich black sands and lime-rich charcoal. Whereas the technical approach and raw materials were found to be similar at both sites studied, there was striking stylistic variation in furnace design for no apparent functional reason, which might suggest nuanced differences in the socio-cultural affiliations of the smelters who worked at these sites. This paper explores some of the possible reasons for these differences. In particular, by integrating archaeological data with existing ethnographic and ethnohistoric research from the region, we discuss the technological choices of the smelters and what this might tell us about their identities, as well as considering how future research should best be targeted in order to develop a greater understanding of the organisation of production within pastoralist central Kenya.
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| 7. |
- Kohtamaki, Marjaana, 1986-
(författare)
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An ethnoarchaeological study of Twa potters in southern Rwanda
- 2010
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Ingår i: Azania. - Nairobi : British Institute in Eastern Africa. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 45:3, s. 298-320
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents an ethnoarchaeological study of Twa potter communities in southern Rwanda. The study was conducted in summer 2007 and explored pottery production within four Twa communities. Field research consisted of recording production sequences within the communities and conducting individual interviews with 18 potters. Drawing from the field data, this article critically considers the archaeological implications of this ethnoarchaeological research, and more specifically how the results of the study support and contradict previous archaeological assumptions concerning Twa pottery.
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| 8. |
- Lane, Paul, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Editorial: : Azania at Fifty
- 2015
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Ingår i: Azania. - London : Taylor & Francis. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 50:4, s. 425-436
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 9. |
- Lane, Paul J.
(författare)
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Commentary : the only way is ethics
- 2014
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Ingår i: Azania. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 49:2, s. 245-250
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This commentary explores the intersection of the different ethical concerns raised by the contributors. In particular it discusses the need to move beyond simple rule following and regulation in order to incorporate the dual notions of 'care of the self' and the 'constitution of persons through their relationships to other persons' as fundamental to the creation of ethical subjects within the field of African archaeology.
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| 10. |
- Lombard, Marlize, et al.
(författare)
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Temporal perspectives on Still Bay point production at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, in the context of southern Africa
- 2019
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Ingår i: Azania. - London : Taylor & Francis. - 0067-270X .- 1945-5534. ; 54:2, s. 141-176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on optically stimulated luminescence age estimates it has been argued that the Still Bay represents a sudden, short-lived technological innovation dating to about 72–71 kya. Yet, few sites have the stratigraphic integrity and Still Bay point assemblage size to test this assumption. The Wadley deep sounding of Sibudu Cave provides such an opportunity. Here we use fine-grained analyses consisting of technological attributes and morphometric data to explore the retouched point assemblages of Sibudu over a period of more than ten thousand years spanning the Still Bay. Although we found subtle changes through time, we found no evidence of a technological break in retouched point-production strategies since the Wadley early pre-Still Bay at more than 77 kya through to the final Still Bay/early Howiesons Poort dating to 64.7 ± 2.3 kya. We did, however, uncover a potential point-production hiatus at the site and we present testable hypotheses for this phenomenon. We further contextualise the Sibudu assemblages within southern Africa by directly comparing them with those of Hollow Rock Shelter, Umhlatuzana and Apollo 11. Although our results demonstrate both variation and similarities between the different Still Bay assemblages, we could not replicate a previous suggestion regarding technical disconnection between a north-east/south-west axis on the greater landscape.
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