Following the last meeting in Accra, Ghana, this year’s TANA meeting took place in Gotha for the first time in cooperation with the Research College for Transcultural Studies at the University of Erfurt. We would like to thank Iris Schröder and Dominic Keyßner for their hospitality and introduction to their research topics. During our stay from November 21 to 24 in 2023, members reported on the current status of all projects networked in TANA. These are projects running in 15 African countries which focus on very different fields of archaeology.
Due to Gotha’s extensive links to Ethiopia, the entire second day was dedicated to this topic. DAI projects and the work of the Research College were presented. Wolbert Smidt and his Gotha doctoral students from the Ethiopia scholarship program of the Gerda Henkel Foundation provided insights into their research, which among other things deal with the topic of Ethiopian historiography.
The program was framed by a visit to the research library, where originals of Martin Luther’s Bible copies are kept alongside many African writings. We were lucky to be guided by Monika Müller, who gave us exciting tour behind the scenes as well as an introduction into some Ethiopian manuscripts. Thanks to Petra Weigel and Sven Ballenthin, we also gained an interesting insight into the cartography and research literature of the 19th century in the Justus Perthes Collection in the Perthesforum. Finally, we would like to express our special thanks for the invitation from Mayor Knut Kreuch, who warmly welcomed us to the Gotha Research Centre of the University of Erfurt.
