Book Review
BARBARA E. BARICH. Antica Africa: alle origine delle società (Studia Archaeologica 171). 432 pages, 126 illustrations, 17 colour plates, 5 tables. 2010. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider; 978-88-8265-547-1 hardback €95.
Review by Federica Sulas
The Charles McBurney Laboratory for Geoarchaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
(Email: sulas@cantab.net)
Recently published syntheses on African archaeology (e.g. Phillipson 2005; Barham & Mitchell 2008) illustrate the deepening of research and its increasing significance beyond geographical and cultural frontiers. Antica Africa sets out to engage a wide Italian-speaking readership from academics to the general public by showing the temporal depths and complexity of African environments and cultures — note the subtitle 'alle origini delle società' — to emphasise the relevance of archaeology in addressing contemporary issues (p. 16).
Unfolded over 432 pages, the book includes: foreword, introduction, 9 chapters, conclusions, 126 illustrations, 12 maps, 5 tables and 17 excellent colour plates. Inset-boxes (23) detail particular aspects, and endnotes add further technical and reference information. The rich corpus of data draws upon 49 pages of references, followed by two indexes.
The narrative is structured in three main parts: Chapters 1–3 deal with human evolution from Australopithecus to modern man and the development of important attributes (e.g. tool-making, bipedalism). Chapters 4–6 discuss diversification of lithic technologies and occupation, and the development of food production. Chapters 7–9 survey the origin of social complexity focusing on state formation, the development of art, and the relationship between archaeology and identity.
The Introduction and Chapter 1 outline the research context, the geological and physical settings, and the broad climatic sequences. Next, human evolution and the technological aspects of tool-making are discussed in great detail (Chapters 2 and 3).
The second part considers the development and spread of food production. Chapter 4 is devoted to 'the beginnings of change' in a variety of landscapes and settlement sites. Chapter 5 emphasises the primary role played by animal herding and its wide spread — research to which the author's own work in the Sahara has greatly contributed. The explanation of the mechanisms behind the shift 'from a condition where groups take from and destroy to a situation wherein the groups preserve and reproduce' (p. 202) is very powerful. This has implications for issues such as deforestation and overgrazing, and their impact on the availability of natural resources. As the author reminds us, the availability of water was a determining factor for the subsistence of the Saharan communities. An aspect perhaps slightly overlooked here is the long timing for the dispersal of livestock herding across Sudanic and Sahelian Africa. During this time, several distinct cultural traditions emerged and some of them continued to develop, ultimately to emerge as significant polities. Chapter 6 deals with the transition from utilisation to manipulation of plant resources, surfing through an impressive amount of multidisciplinary data. However, it is not clear what forms of plant exploitation can be described as 'agriculture' and indeed 'horticulture.' This is a critical issue, reflecting, alongside the use of the joint concept of herding/pastoralism, a common ambiguity (cf. Phillispon 2005: 169).
The third part begins with the origin of social complexity as illustrated by Predynastic Egypt. Aksum finds brief mention as an example of transition from chiefdom to state (pp. 282–3). An evaluation of recent research in the area (notably by Fattovich and Phillipson) would have enhanced the discussion. Chapter 8 elegantly explores the appearance and interpretation of art, particularly rock-art and the role of shamanism. The last chapter (9) on archaeology and African identity outlines the unresolved question of Bantu expansion, records of metalworking and their association with social complexity as illustrated by two well-known sites (Jenne-Jeno and Great Zimbabwe). Here, the author reinforces a point made earlier (pp. 24–5) about the limitation of research on city-formation and urbanisation in Africa. There is great scope for future research in this direction. Africa's ecological and cultural variety invites experimentation of new approaches and methodologies with implications for the study of urban phenomena elsewhere. This is also a particularly topical theme as over a third of Africa's inhabitants currently live in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to rise dramatically.
A few typographical mistakes punctuate the text and minor inaccuracies occur in the bibliography (e.g. Abbate et al. 1998 cited on p. 57, endnote 11, but not present in the bibliography; this should be: 'A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the Danakil (Afar) Depression of Eritrea' in Nature 393: 458–60). The illustrations are of very good quality and scale bars are usually present where needed. These trivial points notwithstanding, Antica Africa is an impressively rich synthesis of a very large body of work, presented in a readable way. It will become an essential reference for students, scholars and professionals engaged with African studies, filling an important vacuum in Italian scholarship.
By offering a global vision on African archaeology, the author takes a remarkable step forward 'to reconnect North Africa with the sub-Saharan world and to show that the links to Europe [...] cross the Sahara and reach deeply into the whole continent' (p. 16). Without doubt, this outstanding book reaches out to an increasingly growing African archaeology and the author is to be congratulated for producing an authoritative, up-to-date and passionate narrative, which deserves the attention of a wide readership.
References
- BARHAM, L. & P. MITCHELL 2008. The first Africans: African archaeology from the earliest toolmakers to most recent foragers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- PHILLIPSON, D.W. 2005. African archaeology (third edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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