Landscape Transformations and the Archaeology of Impact - Social Disruption and State Formation in Southern Africa

An attempt to use archaeological materials to investigate the colonization of southeastern Africa during the period 1500 to 1900. Perry demonstrates the usefulness of archaeology in bypassing the biases of the ethnohistorical and documentary record and generating a more comprehensive understanding of history. Special attention is paid to the period of state formation in Swaziland and a critique of the `Settler Model', which the author finds to be invalid.

List of contents

Southern Africa and the Archaeology of Impact.- The Mfecane/Difaqane Problem from the Documentary Record.- Archaeological Correlates of the Settler Model.- Previous Archaeological Research.- Using Archaeology to Study the Processes of the Mfecane/Difaqane.- Toward an Archaeology of Impact.

Summary

An attempt to use archaeological materials to investigate the colonization of southeastern Africa during the period 1500 to 1900. Perry demonstrates the usefulness of archaeology in bypassing the biases of the ethnohistorical and documentary record and generating a more comprehensive understanding of history. Special attention is paid to the period of state formation in Swaziland and a critique of the `Settler Model', which the author finds to be invalid.

Product details

• Authors: E. Kofi Agorsah, Warren R Perry, Warren R. Perry
• Assisted by: E. Kofi Agorsah (Foreword)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.06.2009
• EAN: 9780306459559
• ISBN: 978-0-306-45955-9
• No. of pages: 180
• Weight: 467 g
• Illustrations: XV, 180 p.
• Series: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology; Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Non-fiction book > History > Pre and early history, antiquity