HFAA03251U F. ARK Archaeological Topic C - African Archaeology

We are all sons and daughters of African DNA. The emphasis of the course is on the great archaeology of « Black Africa », from the earliest times until 1900. But the northern parts of the continent are also touched upon, including the Roman Empire and the expansion of Islam, in particular its southern reaches and the integration of Africa into World Systems.

Archaeological cultures and finds from the expanses of the continent are presented and discussed; a particular emphasis is on West Africa as the result of 15 years of Danish archaeological engagement that has introduced Oldowan culture – the oldest in the World – to West Africa, established the rise of towns of up to 800 hectares already in the second millennium BC, the rise of independent iron production and the important production of palm oil in the same BC millennium; the rise of industrial iron production (in part for export) in the first millennium AD and the collapse of the iron production due to destruction of the forest and trees for charcoal in the production by 1500 AD. The first millennium also saw the first voodoo temples (the oldest in the world), likely royal, some even destroyed as pagan by Islam. After 1500, with the advent of Europeans, slaves became the “cash crop”, only substituted by palm oil in the century before colonialism. The militarism of these centuries is evident, but also the very great skills in state formation and organization.