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The DFG Priority Programme “Entangled Africa: Inner African relations between the rainforest and the Mediterranean, around 6000 – 500 years ago” (SPP 2143) was established by the Senate of the German Research Foundation (DFG) in April 2017 for a period of 6 years.

The aim of the programme is to explore intra-African relations and networks of the last 6,000 years up to the beginning of the colonial period. The focus is on the transfer of objects and knowledge as well as the mobility of people and the mechanisms and motivations behind these processes. In close cooperation with our African partner institutions, we try to critically question national research traditions and European perspectives and to develop new perspectives for joint archaeological research in Africa.

In 2018, 12 projects including a coordination and a data management project were approved for an initial period of 3 years.

In 2021, a positive evaluation was carried out by the DFG and, as a result, the vast majority of projects were extended for a further 3 years until 2025; in addition, a new, 13th project was added.

The researchers of the SPP continuously publish their results in a number of academic publications. Furthermore, the results will be presented to the interested public in the “Planet Africa” exhibition starting in 2024.