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African Historical Archaeologies: An Introductory Consideration of Scope and Potential

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African Historical Archaeologies

Part of the book series: Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology ((CGHA))

Abstract

The past does not exist. This may seem a strange way to start a book on archaeology and history, but this is a view now widely accepted. What does exist are interpretations of the past constructed in the present. Academics, in their wisdom, create theories and methodologies which allow them to evaluate, select and exclude different pasts. Nevertheless, this inherent relativism gives rise to differing and often opposing constructions of the past. And it is important to remember that these constructs not only lay emphasis on particular issues and themes but also create silences, issues which histories avoid. Nowhere is this sense of construction more starkly evident than on the African continent. It is well known that history and its various interpretations across Africa has been the subject of considerable contestation and conflict. Slavery, Ancient Egypt, Afrocentrism and Great Zimbabwe are but the best known of numerous examples of contested issues in the African past. Outsiders have sought to discuss the continent in terms which were culturally appropriate to their own societies. Africans themselves have equally demonstrated a vast sense of history, expressed in traditions, beliefs and practices: rulers and ruling elites have encouraged histories which rationalise their dominance; communities have intertwined stories of their foundation with features in the physical landscape to strengthen their association with particular lands; men and women have created their own exclusive spatial boundaries behind which they construct their distinct versions of the past in order to mediate disputes in the present. Throughout Africa - the oldest of human landscapes - myriad histories have been, and continue to be, played out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK

    Andrew Reid

  2. British Institute in Eastern Africa, Kenya

    Paul Lane

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  1. Andrew Reid
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK

    Andrew M. Reid

  2. The British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

    Paul J. Lane

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Reid, A., Lane, P. (2004). African Historical Archaeologies: An Introductory Consideration of Scope and Potential. 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_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8863-8_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-47996-0

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