Helene Jousse

People and Animals in Holocene Africa Helene Jousse

Archaeological research in Africa is particularly wide-ranging due to the richness of its cultural and natural resources. Because of drastic climatic changes during the recent Quaternary, the development of human cultures and techniques on the continent is strongly linked with the ecological background. Especially zooarchaeological studies have to deal with a highly diverse fauna that occupied many ecological niches from the very dry desert to the tropical forest, and with greatly complex regional patterning that to some extent includes endemism. Following the "Archaeozoology of Holocene Africa" session held at the 2010 meeting of the International Council of Archaeozoology (ICAZ) in Paris, this volume presents the results of recent research conducted in this field across the continent. Nine contributions grouped into two main thematic sections are assembled here. Papers from the first tackle themes such as domesticates morphology, symbolic use, migration routes, and herding practices. Those from the second section essentially discuss how past subsistence strategies of human populations were connected with the deep changes in the environment through time and with strong seasonal regimes, without losing sight of their relations to tradition and socio-cultural aspects.