Connections, Contributions and Complexity: Africa’s later Holocene archaeology in Global perspective

A conference at the McDonald institute for Archaeological research, September 21st-23rd 2012.

Cambridge African Archaeology Group

(Matthew Davies, Jamie Hampson, Sela Motshwane, Jacke Phillips SOAS, Ronika Power, Laurence Smith, Kate Spence, Shadia Taha)

From the 21st to the 23rd of September 2012 a number of leading Africanist archaeologists from around the world converged on the McDonald Institute to discuss the ways in which Africa’s later Holocene archaeology can contribute to global archaeological themes. The conference was centred around three points of engagement; theoretical contributions, physical connections (including transfers of ideas, domesticates and goods between Africa and the rest of the World) and issues of social complexity. The papers presented were of high quality and stimulated considerable productive debate. Keynote presentations were given by Professor David Phillipson (University of Cambridge, retired), Professor Chap Kusimba (University of Chicago, Illinois), Professor Tim Insoll (University of Manchester), Professor Kodzo Gavua (University of Accra, Ghana), and Professor Brian Fagan. The conference was dedicated to the memory and work of Dr John Alexander and we hope that the conference re-centres Cambridge to the heart of Africanist Archaeology. We expect the conference proceedings to be published so please watch this space!

Conference program (.pdf)

Cambridge and visiting scholars with pioneer of West African Archaeology, Professor Thurstan Shaw (photograph by Patricia Duff).
Cambridge and visiting scholars with pioneer of West African Archaeology, Professor Thurstan Shaw (photograph by Patricia Duff).