Archaeology, Language, and the African Past

By (author) Roger Blench

Not available to order

Publication date:

22 June 2006

Length of book:

388 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759114210

Archaeology, Language, and the African Past is an overview of theories and methods, a fusion of African linguistics and archaeology. Roger Blench provides a comprehensive look at the history of all African language families, incorporating the latest linguistic classifications, current evidence from archaeology, genetic research, and recorded history. This original and definitive volume examines the economic culture of the continent_from major crops and plant life to animals and livestock_from a multi-dimensional perspective. It provides students of linguistics, archaeology, and anthropology with a critical discussion on the history of African languages and the cultures they articulate.

Chapter 1 Foreword
Chapter 2 Preface
Chapter 3
Chapter I: Developing General Models of the African Past
Chapter 4 Introduction: Language, History, and Archaeology in Africa
Chapter 5
Chapter 1: Contested Methodologies
Chapter 6
Chapter II: African Language Phyla
Chapter 7
Chapter 2: Nilo-Saharan
Chapter 8
Chapter 3: Niger-Congo
Chapter 9
Chapter 4: Afroasiatic
Chapter 10
Chapter 5: Khoesan
Chapter 11
Chapter 6: Other Language Groups
Chapter 12
Chapter 7: Synthesis
Chapter 13
Chapter III: Reconstructing Economic Prehistory
Chapter 14
Chapter 8: Plants
Chapter 15
Chapter 9: Animals
Chapter 16
Chapter 10: Summing Up
Chapter 17 References

Roger Blench's new book is an impressive demonstration of the ways in which evidence from different disciplines?including archaeology, historical linguistics, comparative ethnography, ethnobiology, and genetics?can be combined to generate compelling reconstructions of African prehistory. The result is both entertaining and scholarly, a magisterial synthesis of current methods and knowledge that is enriched by a wealth of data and insights from the author's own researches in the field. This is a book thatno student of the African past can afford to be without...