Thomas N. Huffman – författare

Paradigms in Conflict presents an anthropologically grounded alternative to Culture History and Culture Ecology. By using principles derived from the ethnography of descendant (or closely related) peoples, the book explains three contemporaneous archaeological cultures in the High Plains and the Southwest of North America: High Plains Upper Republican, Apishipa, and Sopris. Rather than hunter/gatherers, High Plains Upper Republican people at the Wallace site were maize farmers as well as bison hunters. In contrast, Apishapa people were hunter/gatherers but were probably Numic speakers from the Great Basin, while Sopris people were not related to Apishapa but to the Tanoan group of Pueblo people. In keeping with their worldview, the rock art at the Wallace site reflected supernatural protection of shield-bearing warriors on the one hand and the cosmic origins of humanity on the other. Pilgrimages led by shamans provided the social context of rock art in the Apishapa valley, while Sopris rock art varied according to the concentric zones around the core of Pueblo-like villages: maize agriculture in zone 2, hunting shrines in zone 3 and rain control in zone 4. Our ethnographically informed approach helps to unite rock art with traditional dirt archaeology.

The ‘Cradle of Humankind’ (COH), bordering Gauteng and the North-West Province, was declared a World Heritage Site for the wealth of the human and animal fossils found there. Research based on fossils found in the area as well as signs of early human habitation have shed new light on the evolution of humankind and on the significant role that southern Africa played in the development of modern humans. A Search for Origins aims to provide an overview of the history of the COH, and of the important discoveries that have been made there, for a non-specialist audience. A number of general accounts have been written which have concentrated on the palaeontological discoveries made there. No systematic account written by specialists in their disciplines has, however, been published about the wider history of the COH and surrounding areas. In particular, no overview spanning the evolution of early plant and animal life, human development and recent and colonial history as reflected in discoveries linked to the COH, has been attempted. This edited volume frames the scientific advances that have been made in the COH against the intellectual and political background out of which they emerged. The multi-disciplinary approach – from a wide range of specialists – is innovative and ground-breaking.