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Report on SAfA Session „Entangled Africa“

On August 24, 2021, the time had finally come: During the 25th conference of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, the virtual session „Entangled Africa: Interactions, relations and networks within Africa“ organized by Alexa Höhn and Friederike Jesse took place. There was a lively discussion and exchange about prehistoric depictions of herdsmen up to the copper trade of the 19th century.

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Making archaeological charcoal visible

The remains of firewood, which was used at a daily basis in archaeological settlements, are indicators of the environment of a site and its changes due to climate and human impact. The first batch of SEM images of charcoal from Mege, Nigeria, was recently published in the webservice iDAI.objects. The open access images and data serve as a reference for colleagues and provide an introduction to charcoal research for young international scientists.

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‘Entangled Africa’ engages in scientific exchange about the precolonial history of Africa

We have all lacked the opportunity to exchange with colleagues from around the globe in the past year due to home office work and the cancellation of conferences. But now new formats have been found. Three projects of the ‚Entangled Africa‘ program were able to present their research and engage in discussion with colleagues and friends on the topic of precolonial African history in the scope of the multi-platform conference “Extracting the past from the present” organized by Birgit Ricquier and her colleagues. […]

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The young scientists of the SPP ‚Entangled Africa‘

They are entrusted with routine work or are working on their academic degrees; you can find them in laboratories, on excavations and in the library: the young scientists of the SPP “Entangled Africa” are an essential part of the projects. The program offers them the opportunity to gain insight into methods of the diverse scientific disciplines, to exchange ideas across continents, educational backgrounds and educational levels. […]

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Entangled Africa and climate change in the past

Global climate change has been a central topic of worldwide politics and public opinion in recent years. The “Fridays for Future” movement brings the younger generation onto the streets to underline the issue. The current pandemic is hopefully used as an opportunity to overcome the economic crisis that has arisen by providing targeted support for climate-neutral projects. And even the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to United Nations World Food Programme is linked to this event. […]

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One (two) suitcase(s) with charcoal in Berlin

Charcoal is a common find on archaeological sites. But the full range of information it contains is very often insufficiently used. Pieces of charcoal not only reveal their age (based on radiocarbon dating) but also which tree or group of tree species they once belonged to. This enables the reconstruction of vegetation types, landscapes and climate, and can even provide information about trade relations. […]

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Wavy Line and Herringbone

Ceramic processing must be flexible, able to adapt to the conditions of excavation and object. At the same time, the records of those working on this find genre from different regions should be comparable. Done to speed up and standardize the ceramic recording on site, the elaboration of the catalogue was successfully completed. […]

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SPP ‚Entangled Africa‘ and iDAI.world – A digital connection of time and space

The project on research data management (RDM) and the coordination of the priority program “Entangled Africa” (SPP2143) pursue a virtual exchange with specialists from the Department of Scientific Information Technology (Scientific IT) of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), to create new tools for the scientific discourse of all of the program’s projects on the temporal and spatial networking of the inhabitants of North Africa. […]