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Type of bind: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 960 EAN num: 9780521334600 ISBN number: 0521334608 Label: Cambridge University Press Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press Quantity: 1 Printing Date: December 01, 1986 Publishing house: Cambridge University Press Sale Popularity Level: 3542405 Studio: Cambridge University Press
Product Description: Volume 1 of The Cambrigde History of Africa provides the very first relatively complete and authoritative survey of African prehistory from the time of the very first hominids in the Plio-Pleistone up to the spread of iron technology after c.500 B.C. The volume therefore sets the stage for the history of the continent contained in the subsequent volumes. The material remains of past human life recovered by excavation are described and interpreted in the light of palaeo-ecological evidence, primate studies and ethnographic observation, to provide a record of the evolving skills and adaptive behaviour of the prehistoric populations. The unique discoveries in East and South Africa of early hominid fossils, stone tools and other surviving evidence are discussed with full documentation, leading on to the coming of Modern Man (with new evidence showing the much greater antiquity of the 'Middle Stone Age' in the continent than had previously been thought) and the beginning of regional patterning. The volume provides a survey of the now considerable material showing the different ways of life in the forests, savannas and arid zones during the 'Later Stone Age', from its beginnings some 20,000 years ago. The divergence in cultural patternings between northern Africa and those parts of the continent south of the Sahara now becomes more apparent. Following an account of the evidence for the origins and spread of domesticates and the beginnings of village farming, the volume concludes with three chapters that trace the development of urban centres and of the political state in the Nile Valley and the changing administrative, socio-economic and religious aspects of Egyptian civilization from the Pre-Dynastic up to the Late Period.
Customer Reviews
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Rated by buyers - An incredibly valuable resource!
This is an eight-volume history of Africa that I can't recommend highly enough. Patiently working my way through it over the course of several months did more to reduce my ignorance of human history than anything else I have ever done. I found several discussions particularly helpful:
- the physical evidence for human origins in Africa south of the Sahara
- The colonization of Madagascar by voyagers from Malaysia, which introduced the banana and several other valuable food crops into Africa in classical times
- How the conquest of valley-dwelling, agricultural Hutu by hilltop-dwelling, cattle-herding Tutsi serendipitously benefited both cultures, since manure from Tutsi cattle enabled greater Hutu cultivation of the banana
- How the Iron Age came to Africa south of the Sahara (this was what led me to this work in the very first place)
- The breadth and depth of Arab learning and philosophy at the height of the Muslim empires during Europe's Middle Ages
I did find the discussions of late-Christian Egypt and Arab civilization more difficult to follow than the rest, because these discussions make heavy use of italicized Egyptian and Arabic words without bothering to explain them to the non-expert reader. This forced me to keep going back and re-reading earlier passages as I figured out these terms' likely meanings from their context in later passages.
Overall, however, this is a work I would love to have on my own bookshelf, if it weren't so very costly to purchase. The copy I read belongs to the King County Library system. (Seattle and Redmond, Washington, are the best-known cities in King County.)
