The Archaeology of Southern Africa

Southern Africa has one of the longest histories of occupation by modern humans and their ancestors anywhere in the world, over three million years. Research in Southern Africa is central to many key debates in contemporary archaeology, including hominid origins, the origins of anatomically modern humans and modern forms of behaviour, and the development of ethnographically informed perspectives for understanding rock art, of which the sub-continent boasts one of the richest heritages in the world. This is the first attempt at synthesis of the sub-continent's past for over forty years.