A Survey of recent results in the radiocarbon chronology of Northern and Western Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID8976789
AuthorsColin Flight (University of Birmingham, corresponding author)
Year1973
Volume14
Issue4
Pages531-554
Publication date1973-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853700013037
OpenAlexW2137657860
LanguageEN
Citations received30
References cited25

The number of radiocarbon dates relating to Africa has increased rapidly during the last twelve years, as a glance through the back numbers of this Journal will show; and the increase reflects quite accurately the growth in our knowledge of later African prehistory. Almost 200 dates are given in this article which have not been quoted before, but even so the list is incomplete. It seems clear that a more and more selective approach will have to be adopted, and perhaps that is a desirable policy in any case. A paper of this kind does not reach a conslusion: it just comes to an end. However, there are some points which deserve particular attention. The thermoluminescence measureents from sites in Cameroun are of interest from a technical point of view, though they seem to be without historical calue. The Dynastic Egyptian dates are important historically as well as technically, and so are the dates from shell middens in Ivory Coast. Indication of contact across the western Sahara during the first millennium b.c. are reinforced by additional dates for copper mine in Mauritania. One final points is worth repeating. There is evidence, by now amounting almost to proof, that pottery was present in the central Saharan highlands at an earlier date than in the Nile valley or North Africa; and this should affect out ideas about the whole configuration of later African prehistory

Ancient history · Archaeology · Chronology · Geography · Pottery · Prehistory · Radiocarbon dating · African Studies and Geopolitics · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

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