David Phillipson highlights the contribution that archaeology can make to the understanding of the African continent and its people. He defends the vital role of the museum as custodian of a significant part of our international cultural heritage and essential resource for the furthering of international scholarship.

David Phillipson presents an illustrated account of African prehistory, from the origins of humanity through European colonization in this revised and expanded edition of his original work. Phillipson considers Egypt and North Africa in their African context, comprehensively reviewing the archaeology of West, East, Central and Southern Africa. His book demonstrates the relevance of archaeological research to understanding contemporary Africa and stresses the continent's contribution to the cultural heritage of humankind.

Focuses on the Aksumite state of the first millennium AD in northern Ethiopia and southern Eritrea, its development, florescence and eventual transformation into the so-called medieval civilisation of Christian Ethiopia. This book seeks to apply a common methodology, utilising archaeology, art-history, written documents and oral tradition from a wide variety of sources; the result is a far greater emphasis on continuity than previous studies have revealed. It is thus a major re-interpretation of a key development in Ethiopia's past, while raising and discussing methodological issues of the...

This well-illustrated book provides an up-to-date survey of a key period in the history of northern Ethiopia and south-central Eritrea. It is accessible to the general reader, but its comprehensive references and guidance to controversies and research needs will render it invaluable to specialists and students. It considers how the region's literate communities arose and flourished during the last millennium BC, giving rise to the Aksumite civilisation whose achievements and intercontinental significance are increasingly recognised, and which formed an integral but often neglected component...