Decisive Evidence for Multidirectional Evolution of Sociopolitical Complexity in Southern Africa

• Published in: The African archaeological review 2016-03, Vol.33 (1), p.75-95
• Main Authors: Chirikure, Shadreck, Bandama, Foreman, House, Michelle, Moffett, Abigail, Mukwende, Tawanda, Pollard, Mark
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African culture; African history; Anthropology; Archaeological sites; Archaeology; Bronze Age; Excavations; Iron age; Material culture; Middens; Original Article; Pottery; Prehistoric era; Regional and Cultural Studies; Social evolution; Social history; Social research; Social Sciences; Society
• ISSN: 0263-0338; 1572-9842
• DOI: 10.1007/s10437-016-9215-1

While pioneers of archaeology in any given region have established the foundations of the discipline, their views have not remained unchanged in places such as Europe, North America and Australasia. In these regions, successive generations of researchers changed the direction of their work based not just on new observations but also in light of new methods and theories. For example, the idea of a Bronze Age revolution popularised by V.G. Childe in Europe was superseded by multiple alternatives over the years. In southern African Iron Age studies, John Schofield, Gertrude Caton-Thompson, Roger Summers, Keith Robinson and Peter Garlake created an impressive platform upon which successors could build. Confronting firm disapproval from more experienced researchers in the early 1980s, Huffman speculated that the evolution of sociopolitical complexity in our region was a linear relay from Mapungubwe to Khami via Great Zimbabwe. This position was sustained as the conventional wisdom largely, we argue, because ho new research was being carried out in key areas of the region, and too few students, in particular African ones, were being trained to expand the focus of investigation. Here, we present new data to support our argument, that the pathway to sociopolitical complexity in southern Africa was multilinear. We propose looking forward rather than back, and to continue to seek the exposure of scales of interaction between multiple but chronologically overlapping entities associated with the rise of sociopolitical complexity in southern Africa. Tandis que les pionniers de l'archéologie à travers le monde posèrent les bases de la discipline, leurs positions furent révisées dans de nombreux lieux tels que l'Europe, l'Amérique du Nord ou l'Australie. Dans ces régions, les différentes générations de méthodes et l'émergence de théories novatrices. Par exemple, l'idée d'une révolution à l'Âge de Bronze popularisée par V.G. Childe en Europe fut remplacée par diverses alternatives au cours du temps. Dans les études sur l'Âge de Fer en Afrique Australe, John Schofield, Gertrude Caton-Thompson, Roger Summers, Keith Robinson et Peter Garlake offrirent une importante contribution sur laquelle leurs successeurs purent s'appuyer. Provenant d'un champ théorique différent, Thomas Huffman revisita et réinterpréta une grande partie des approches développées tant par ses prédécesseurs que par ses contemporains. En particulier, et malgré la réprobation de chercheurs plus expérimentés