: Africa, the Cradle of Human Diversity: Cultural and Biological Approaches to Uncover African Diversity

Abstract

"This book explores important chapters of past and recent African history from a multidisciplinary perspective. It covers an extensive time range from the evolution of early humans to the complex cultural and genetic diversity of modern-day populations in Africa. Through a comprehensive list of chapters, the book focuses on different time-periods, geographic regions and cultural and biological aspects of human diversity across the continent. Each chapter summarises current knowledge with perspectives from a varied set of international researchers from diverse areas of expertise. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars interested in evolutionary history and human diversity in Africa. Contributors are Shaun Aron, Ananyo Choudhury, Bernard Clist, Cesar Fortes-Lima, Rosa Fregel, Jackson S. Kimambo, Faye Lander , Marlize Lombard, Fidelis T. Masao, Ezekia Mtetwa, Gilbert Pwiti, Michèle Ramsay, Thembi Russell, Carina Schlebusch, Dhriti Sengupta, Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi, Mário Vicente"-- Introduction : Engagement Cross-Disciplinary Research in Africa / Cesar Fortes-Lima, Ezekia Mtetwa, and Carina Schlebusch -- Part 1. Early Humans in Africa. A Southern African Perspective on Human Origins Research between 500,000 and 50,000 Years Ago : Current Dilemmas and Questions for the Future / Marlize Lombard ; Further Notes on the Ngaloba Industry, a Middle Stone Age Assemblage Directly Associated with Early Homo in the Greater Laetoli, Northern Tanzania / Fidelis T. Masao and Jackson S. Kimambo -- Part 2. Cultural Transitions in Africa. West-Central African Diversity from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, Continuities and Transitions during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene / Bernard Clist ; Ancient Urban Assemblages and Complex Spatial and Socio-Political Organization in Iron Age Archaeological Sites from Southern Africa / Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi and Gilbert Pwiti ; Diversity and Variability in the Preindustrial Iron-Smelting Technologies of Great Zimbabwe, Southern Africa / Ezekia Mtetwa ; Grappling with Diversity in Livestock-Related, Non-Agriculturist Archaeology in the Light of Genetic Research into the Lactase Persistence Allele, -14010*C, in Southern Africa / Thembi Russell and Faye Lander -- Part 3. Genomic Research of Ancient and Modern Populations in Africa. Paleogenomics of the Neolithic Transition in North Africa / Rosa Fregel ; Ancient DNA Studies and African Population History / Mário Vicente and Carina Schlebusch ; The H3Africa Consortium: Publication Outputs of a Pan-African Genomics Collaboration (2013 to 2020) / Ananyo Choudhury, Dhriti Sengupta, Shaun Aron and Michèle Ramsay ; Disentangling the Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in African Diaspora Populations from a Genomic Perspective / Cesar Fortes-Lima.