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Editorial

Editorial Editorial The present volume of the Journal of African Archaeology includes a variety of topics, geographically placed between the Sahara and the Sahel as well as eastern and southern Africa, and thematically focused on rock art, pottery, urban sites, fish exploitation, domestic animals, anthracology, and methods of recording occupational organization. Concerning rock art Manuel Gutierrez guides us to Angola, where prehistoric paintings and engravings have been studied much less in the past than in neighbouring Namibia. Different from the more common mere consideration of the rock art itself, the author assigns paintings as a component of landscape archaeology by studying the relation between the rock art motifs and their topographic position. Anne Haour is concerned with the urban complex of Garumele in Niger, supposed to be a former capital of the Kanem-Borno empire, preceding the Nigerian Birnin Gazargamo. She presents a ceramic chronology, possibly a starting point for new investigations of urban structures in West Africa. Ceramic is also central in a study by Karim Sadr. He has plotted the distribution of first millennium AD ceramics in southern Africa to decipher interactions and population movements beyond the traditional concept of `ages'. The analysis of faunal remains from sites in the Lesotho Highlands constitutes the basis of a study by Ina Plug and Peter Mitchell. They have established an impressive sequence of fish exploitation over the past 26,000 years, questioning the importance of these food resources for late Holocene periods. Faunal remains are also the topic of the article by Lawrence H. Robbins and his team. They have dated sites with domesticated animals in the Lake Ngami basin of Botswana by a combination of OSL and AMS dating to around 2000 years ago and discuss the relation between human occupation and lake level fluctuation. The team around Claire Newton has carried out anthracological studies on materials from an early second millennium BC site in Djibouti resulting in a new interpretation of the significance of two taxa (Suaeda and Salvadora persica). Investigations on Garamantian sites of the Libyan Sahara are presented by Stefano Biagetti and Savino di Lernia. They combine conventional field surveys and modern digital methods to explore the organization of the Garamantian system. Finally, one book review is presented. As usual, the editors would like to thank all contributors of the present volume and the reviewers for their perfect cooperation. Frankfurt a. M., June 2008 Sonja Magnavita Peter Breunig Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 6 (1), 2008 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of African Archaeology Brill

Editorial

Breunig, Peter; Magnavita, Sonja
Journal of African Archaeology , Volume 6 (1): 1 – Oct 25, 2008
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1612-1651
eISSN
2191-5784
DOI
10.1163/21915784-90000001
Publisher site
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Abstract

Editorial The present volume of the Journal of African Archaeology includes a variety of topics, geographically placed between the Sahara and the Sahel as well as eastern and southern Africa, and thematically focused on rock art, pottery, urban sites, fish exploitation, domestic animals, anthracology, and methods of recording occupational organization. Concerning rock art Manuel Gutierrez guides us to Angola, where prehistoric paintings and engravings have been studied much less in the past than in neighbouring Namibia. Different from the more common mere consideration of the rock art itself, the author assigns paintings as a component of landscape archaeology by studying the relation between the rock art motifs and their topographic position. Anne Haour is concerned with the urban complex of Garumele in Niger, supposed to be a former capital of the Kanem-Borno empire, preceding the Nigerian Birnin Gazargamo. She presents a ceramic chronology, possibly a starting point for new investigations of urban structures in West Africa. Ceramic is also central in a study by Karim Sadr. He has plotted the distribution of first millennium AD ceramics in southern Africa to decipher interactions and population movements beyond the traditional concept of `ages'. The analysis of faunal remains from sites in the Lesotho Highlands constitutes the basis of a study by Ina Plug and Peter Mitchell. They have established an impressive sequence of fish exploitation over the past 26,000 years, questioning the importance of these food resources for late Holocene periods. Faunal remains are also the topic of the article by Lawrence H. Robbins and his team. They have dated sites with domesticated animals in the Lake Ngami basin of Botswana by a combination of OSL and AMS dating to around 2000 years ago and discuss the relation between human occupation and lake level fluctuation. The team around Claire Newton has carried out anthracological studies on materials from an early second millennium BC site in Djibouti resulting in a new interpretation of the significance of two taxa (Suaeda and Salvadora persica). Investigations on Garamantian sites of the Libyan Sahara are presented by Stefano Biagetti and Savino di Lernia. They combine conventional field surveys and modern digital methods to explore the organization of the Garamantian system. Finally, one book review is presented. As usual, the editors would like to thank all contributors of the present volume and the reviewers for their perfect cooperation. Frankfurt a. M., June 2008 Sonja Magnavita Peter Breunig Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 6 (1), 2008

Journal

Journal of African Archaeology – Brill

Published: Oct 25, 2008

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