Historians, Archaeologists and the Legacy of the Discredited Short Iron-Age Chronology

摘要

Investigation of the history of states and societies in South Africa prior to the seventeenth century has been impeded by the different pathways of research pursued by historians and archaeologists since the late 1970s. While precolonial historical research remained unconsciously in thrall to a short chronology for the establishment of Iron-Age societies south of the Limpopo and concentrated on developments in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, archaeologists employed radiocarbon dating to push the chronology of Iron-Age settlement back to the early centuries of the present era. These implications of the longer chronology for precolonial history have yet to be fully explored. By abandoning the hypothesis that the notable kingdoms, which rose to prominence at the turn of the nineteenth century, embodied novel constitutional principles and statecraft, historians may assist in the interpretation of archaeological sites dating from earlier centuries.View full textDownload full textKeywordsArchaeology, history, precolonial, Zulu, Swazi, Ndebele, Mpondo, historiographyRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2010.499206