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Editorial

Editorial Book Review Five papers, spanning from the early Oldowan to modern times, are provided in the current issue of the Journal of African Archaeology. Thanks to the submissions of a number of colleagues, particularly those working in the northern part of the African continent, we were indeed able to keep our promise from earlier this year and accordingly offer an overall regionally well-balanced ninth volume of the Journal to our readers. The present issue starts with a rather unusual kind of experimental study in the African archaeological research landscape. Written by Riaan F. Rifkin, a PhD student about to conclude his thesis at the University of the Witwatersrand, the paper examines the efficacy of various ochre-based `recipes' that might have been once employed in prehistoric hide tanning. As learnt from some colleagues involved in the process of reviewing the paper's earlier drafts, including a worldwide leading leather chemist, the conclusions drawn by the author will be of great interest for those working on traditional leather manufacture both inside and outside the continent. The second paper of this number was penned by Savino di Lernia and Marina Gallinaro. It is all about the challenges of working and preserving UNESCO World Heritage sites; in this case a series of rock art locations in one of the most remote areas on earth: the northern Sahara. As is widely known, archaeological fieldwork in Libya came to a complete stop in view of the profound political changes following an ample civil upsurge and armed conflicts triggered by the Libyan people in their fight for democracy and self-determination. It is to hope that with the end of the hostilities the security situation in the region will again improve and the authors might pursue the excellent job detailed in the following pages. The third paper of this issue, authored by Piotr Osypiski and two colleagues, presents the results of analysis carried out on archaeological remains excavated in another crisis-ridden country, the Sudan. Investigated by a Polish team several years ago, novel aspects of the archaeology of Affad 23 are introduced along with an essay on the archaeozoological remains discovered there. The fourth paper by Tom Huffman and Justin du Piesanie provides a historical archaeological account around another UNESCO World Heritage area: the Mapungubwe National Park in southern Africa. The authors report on the late material evidence extant in the park and present the historical context within which the archaeology of the Khami phase and its transition to the Venda period can be better understood. In the fifth and last paper, Deborah Barsky and several co-authors draw our attention to the early Oldowan stone-tool assemblage from the site of Fejej in the Omo-Turkana Basin of Ethiopia by featuring a thorough analysis of the diverse stone reduction techniques then in use. In the Book Reviews section, Tim Insoll brought together eight scholarly reviews of volumes that appeared recently, and wrote down an overview of other fresh publications in his Books Noted section. With this, Tim brings to a close his job as Book Review editor for the Journal. We sincerely thank Tim for his excellent work throughout the last years. Last but not least, we wish to express our gratitude for all those anonymous referees who were so proficient by timely providing the reviews of the papers appearing in the two issues of this year's volume of the Journal of African Archaeology. Sonja Magnavita Frankfurt a. M., December 2011 Peter Breunig Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 8 (2), 2010 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of African Archaeology Brill

Editorial

Magnavita, Sonja; Breunig, Peter
Journal of African Archaeology , Volume 9 (2): 129 – Oct 25, 2011
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1612-1651
eISSN
2191-5784
DOI
10.1163/21915784-90000006
Publisher site
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Abstract

Book Review Five papers, spanning from the early Oldowan to modern times, are provided in the current issue of the Journal of African Archaeology. Thanks to the submissions of a number of colleagues, particularly those working in the northern part of the African continent, we were indeed able to keep our promise from earlier this year and accordingly offer an overall regionally well-balanced ninth volume of the Journal to our readers. The present issue starts with a rather unusual kind of experimental study in the African archaeological research landscape. Written by Riaan F. Rifkin, a PhD student about to conclude his thesis at the University of the Witwatersrand, the paper examines the efficacy of various ochre-based `recipes' that might have been once employed in prehistoric hide tanning. As learnt from some colleagues involved in the process of reviewing the paper's earlier drafts, including a worldwide leading leather chemist, the conclusions drawn by the author will be of great interest for those working on traditional leather manufacture both inside and outside the continent. The second paper of this number was penned by Savino di Lernia and Marina Gallinaro. It is all about the challenges of working and preserving UNESCO World Heritage sites; in this case a series of rock art locations in one of the most remote areas on earth: the northern Sahara. As is widely known, archaeological fieldwork in Libya came to a complete stop in view of the profound political changes following an ample civil upsurge and armed conflicts triggered by the Libyan people in their fight for democracy and self-determination. It is to hope that with the end of the hostilities the security situation in the region will again improve and the authors might pursue the excellent job detailed in the following pages. The third paper of this issue, authored by Piotr Osypiski and two colleagues, presents the results of analysis carried out on archaeological remains excavated in another crisis-ridden country, the Sudan. Investigated by a Polish team several years ago, novel aspects of the archaeology of Affad 23 are introduced along with an essay on the archaeozoological remains discovered there. The fourth paper by Tom Huffman and Justin du Piesanie provides a historical archaeological account around another UNESCO World Heritage area: the Mapungubwe National Park in southern Africa. The authors report on the late material evidence extant in the park and present the historical context within which the archaeology of the Khami phase and its transition to the Venda period can be better understood. In the fifth and last paper, Deborah Barsky and several co-authors draw our attention to the early Oldowan stone-tool assemblage from the site of Fejej in the Omo-Turkana Basin of Ethiopia by featuring a thorough analysis of the diverse stone reduction techniques then in use. In the Book Reviews section, Tim Insoll brought together eight scholarly reviews of volumes that appeared recently, and wrote down an overview of other fresh publications in his Books Noted section. With this, Tim brings to a close his job as Book Review editor for the Journal. We sincerely thank Tim for his excellent work throughout the last years. Last but not least, we wish to express our gratitude for all those anonymous referees who were so proficient by timely providing the reviews of the papers appearing in the two issues of this year's volume of the Journal of African Archaeology. Sonja Magnavita Frankfurt a. M., December 2011 Peter Breunig Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 8 (2), 2010

Journal

Journal of African Archaeology – Brill

Published: Oct 25, 2011

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