African Section Research
Staff
Kathleen Ryan, Ph.D. Associate Curator
Sandra T. Barnes, Ph.D. Consulting Curator
Igor Kopytoff, Ph.D. Consulting Curator
Dwaune Latimer Friendly Keeper of Collections
The Laikipia Plateau of Kenya, East Africa, was home to some of our earliest ancestors. Overlooking the Great Rift Valley, often referred to as the "cradle of mankind," it has evidence of hominid occupation from the Early Stone Age to the present. The focus of the present study is on the period of transition from Later Stone Age to the Pastoral Neolithic, approximately 4000 years ago when the first groups of cattle-herding peoples entered the area.
Where
The Laikipia Plateau, East Africa is located on the eastern edge of the Rift Valley in North Central Kenya.
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Who are the Swahili? Many avenues of research indicate that the cultural, technological, and biological ties of the famous trading peoples of the East African coast are more complex than previously imagined.
Where
Coastal Kenya
When
1000 CE to recent
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The Elmina Bioarchaeological Project: One of the most important archaeological sites in Africa, spans the period of European contact, trade, and colonization.
Where
Elmina is located in coastal southern Ghana.
When
The Elmina Bioarchaeological Project examines skeletal material from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
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Smugglers' Cave is one of the key sites of the Aterian stone tool industry with modern human fossils, shell beads, and stemmed stone tools.
Where
Smugglers’ Cave is located in Temara Plage on the Atlantic coast of Morocco – 20 km southwest of Rabat.
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