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Welcome to the Society of Africanist Archaeologists

OUr Mission

The Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA) is an organization of archaeologists, researchers from associated disciplines and others who share an interest in African archaeology and African societies. Our membership is international, with participation from Africa, the Americas, Europe,  Asia, and Oceania, and is actively involved in research in many African countries.

News & Information

SAfA STATEMENT ON SUDAN

The Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA) condemns the current armed conflict and its devastating effects on the people and cultural heritage of Sudan. The destruction of lives and futures by the warring parties cannot be justified and has to stop.

Armed conflict and its effects also endanger the irreplaceable archaeological and built heritage of the country, which constitutes an important part of the unique cultural legacy of Sudan and the identity of its people and their contributions to global history.

We stand with our Sudanese colleagues and with local communities in their efforts to protect and promote the manifold cultural heritage of Sudan. We urge both parties to ensure the protection of heritage institutions and sites in line with international conventions.

We support local, national and international efforts towards saving lives and the preservation of Sudan’s heritage, which forms an important facet of global heritage and cultural knowledge.

Click on the following link from MAEASaM Project for mapping heritage at risk during the current conflict in Sudan:

https://maeasam.org/mapping_heritage_risk_during_conflict_sudan/



SAfA BOOK PRIZE WINNERS (2023)

For a book that has been successful in taking African archaeology to a world audience: Stephen A. Dueppen. 

Divine Consumption. Sacrifice, Alliance Building, and Making Ancestors in West Africa. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 2022.


For success in breaking down disciplinary divisions in African archaeology: Barbara E. Frank. 

Griot Potters of the Folona. The History of an African Ceramic Tradition. Indiana University Press, 2021.


For success in championing the value of African archaeology within an African nation or community: John Kinahan. 

Namib. The Archaeology of an African Desert. UNAM Press, 2020.


For a major advance in our knowledge of the African past: Peter Mitchell. 

African Islands. A Comparative Archaeology. Routledge, 2022.



NYAME AKUMA ISSUE (No. 100) - DECEMBER 2023

Available for SAfA members. Click here to access.


2023 SAfA EXECUTIVE BOARD ELECTION RESULTS

The online voting for membership of the vacant positions on the SAfA Executive Board closed on July 19, 2023. 

The results were as follows:

President - 3 candidates. Candidate with the most votes: Prof Akin Ogundiran, duly elected SAfA President.

Recording Secretary - 1 candidate. Elected unopposed: Dr Elizabeth Sawchuk

Member at Large Africa - 1 candidate. Elected unopposed: Dr Catherine Namono

Member at Large Europe - 1 candidate. Elected unopposed Prof Anne Mayor

Member at Large N America - 4 candidates. Candidate with the most votes: Dr Cameron Gokee, duly elected SAfA Member at Large for North America.

AFRICAN CHRONOMETRIC DATING FUND AWARDS 2022-23

FONDS AFRICAIN DE DATATION CHRONOMÉTRIQUE 2022-23   

      

It is with great pleasure that the ACDF announces its radiocarbon dating funding awards for 2022-23.  They include nine successful applicants from six countries.

C'est avec grand plaisir que l'ACDF annonce le résultat de ses financements pour des datations radiocarbones pour l’année 2022-23.  Nous avons retenus neuf (9) dossiers en provenance de six (6) pays.

Latifa Sari from Algeria / Latifa Sari de l’Algérie

P. Jean-Baptiste Coulibaly from Burkina Faso / P. Jean-Baptiste Coulibaly du Burkina Faso

Ruth Wafang from Cameroon / Ruth Wafang du Cameroun

Abigail E. Idoko from Nigeria / Abigail E. Idoko du Nigéria

Macham Mangut from Nigeria / Macham Mangut du Nigéria

Oyinloye Y. Olanrewaju from Nigeria / Oyinloye Y. Olanrewaju du Nigéria

Dawn Green from South Africa / Dawn Green d’Afrique du Sud

Mohamed A. S. Bashir from Sudan / Mohamed A. S. Bashir du Soudan

Ahmed H. Nassr from Sudan / Ahmed H. Nassr du Soudan

Congratulations to you all!

Félicitations à tous!

Philip de Barros
ACDF Chair


STUDENT PAPER & POSTER PRIZE WINNERS (2023)

The following SAfA student members were awarded prizes in the SAfA 2023 Student Paper and Poster Prize Competition held during the 26th Biennial Meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists at Rice University, Houston, Texas, June 1-6, 2023:

Paper Presentation First Prize: Elizabeth Hicks. "Ceramic Use, Cuisine and the Creation of Community along the Swahili Coast in the 1st Millennium AD"

Paper Presentation Second Prize: Victor Iminjili. "Late Pleistocene to late Holocene palaeoecology and human foraging at Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar Island"

Paper Presentation Third Prize: Abiola Ibirogba. "Human occupation on Landscapes of Trauma: Evidence from the Badagry Coast"

Poster Presentation: Sylvia Wemanya. "Mobility and Land-use Patterns of Northern Kenya Populations during the Holocene"




A donation to SAfA helps to fund conference travel grants of assistance to African researchers and subsidize subscriptions to African institutions.