The underappreciated archeological history of Africa | Sirio Canós-Donnay | TEDxGoodenoughCollege
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- How much of Africa’s archeological history, other than Egypt do you know of? A lot, some or none? Africa is a history-rich continent, but we seldom hear about it. In this talk, Sirio Canós-Donnay gives us a small glimpse into Africa’s rich archeological history, shows us what armies of archeologists are trying to reveal, and accentuates why is it important to dispel the myth of Africa as a continent without the past.
Sirio Canós-Donnay is an archaeologist and AHRC-funded PhD candidate at UCL. Born in Spain, she read Archaeology & Anthropology at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and holds a masters in African Archaeology from UCL.
Since 2013 Sirio has been directing excavations in the Upper Casamance region in southern Senegal (West Africa), researching the hitherto unknown archaeology of the Kaabu Empire (13th-19th C). Her work combines archaeology, oral traditions, and written accounts from European travellers, and explores how West African history challenges some of our traditional assumptions about societal development and statehood worldwide.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
Beautiful worlds, words and work. Thank you professor Canós-Donnay! There is no wonder Africa is a marvelous continent, birth of all civilizations. A big hug from Greece.
The most important thing you need to know about Africa is that a significant portion of the world's population spends way too much energy trying to convince people that it's worthless.
Think about that.
because that's where all the Gems and Gold are
Like they were ever going to send spaceships to Mars.....
@@ADXYMOX62 Yep, with a 17 year old space girl, 2 cats and a minister. lmao
Who needs to be convinced? All of us from Asia to Europe to North America to South America to Australia just chuckle and shake our heads when we look at how much of a sh!thole Africa is.
Cagon415 you said it. It's like their idea of Africa being worthless is also linked to their self esteem. So any stories to the contrary they fight with such passion. I would like to know more about this from a pyschological level. It goes deeper than ignorance. Everywhere Europeans went they massacred dark skinned people. I wonder if it's an evolutionary thing. Like you have genetic memory and negrophobia has just been passed down.
Thank you Sirio. Makes me smile from ear to ear when I hear people finally discuss the factuals of ancient African civilizations.
This is still one of my favourite TED talks. I re-watch this every once and a while. Very intriguing
for awhile I just thought nobody really lived in those areas and thats why there wasnt alot of history to talk about. But no, Africa had great kingdoms and cities, trade networks, army's, vast amounts of religions and languages, everything you found in the rest of the old world. Im disgusted at how narrow the history books I had in school were
MightySabean Damn those europeans, if only sub-saharan africans weren't left alone for thousands of years on a richest mineral resource heavy continent on the planet with excelent climate, no winters, lush forests, with lots of animals and fruits before europeans even laid a foot there. Oh wait. Get lost with your pseudohistory.
MightySabean Arabs exploited Africa much more than whites and look at them now.Arabs invaded europe and whole region of north Africa and took control of it for hundreds of years and look at them now.Mongols invaded europe and took control of it and look at them now.Almost like the conquest of land and fight for resources were a common thing among all nations except whites did it best and most efficient and islanders and blacks did not do it at all because they had spears and mud huts in their arsenal.Liberia and Ethiopia were never colonised and they are poverty ridden dumps.Again, educate yourself before you express your worthless opinion.
are freaking serious, you just proved you lack the education of gnat.
mike askme exactly where did I prove my 'lack of education'?
kezicss the cimate isn't wonderful.
Wat a factual presentation congratulations. Wen the truth is spoken falsehood perishes. They tried to destroy the histroy of Africa but the evidences are there for everyone to see.
Well done Sirio, that was very interesting and enjoyable.
As Professor Ivan Van Sertima would say, European anthropologists who studied Africa spent too much time focusing on *minor* _tribes_. It would be like if someone went to West Virginia to study American Civilization. It makes no sense.
He might add that Egyptian civilization, which influenced virtually every other civilization was black. To say it was Arab or something else would be like saying Native Americans were white Europeans. It makes no sense.
Van Sertima was a fraud who contributed nothing of value to our understanding of history, African or otherwise.
Tom Jones an anthopologist job is to do those things. MY GOD you are inept.
More like mediterranean.and Arabian
For the wave of trolls beginning to hit the comments section, here are some questions:
1. Which European civilizations developed complete writing systems and when were they developed?
2. What was going on in the rest of Europe during ancient Greece and later Rome?
3. How much math can you do with Roman numerals and no zero?
4. Did the entire world believe in concepts like spontaneous generation and a flat Earth?
5. Why is there nothing comparable to the Great Pyramids of Giza in Europe?
Of course there are monuments comparable to the Great Pyramids in Europe, what a ridiculous claim. Listen if your idea is to argue that Africa can be spoken of in the same sentence as Europe and Europeans in terms of greatness and achievement you are clearly out of your mind.
The pyramids were probably built by europeans DNA research shows
Prove it. The made the pyramids in Sudan, China, North and South america too huh?
F Dannn so an African man who works from poverty to become something like say, a surgeon, lesser man than some alcoholic German just because he just so happens to be of European descent?
what are you on about, how is that relateble?
I really thank you for your passion of studying the History of Africa. I wondered what was the real history of Africa three year before ending high school, coming from a country having french as educational language I had to learn english because the resources where more openned in english. If there are some documents I could advise you to read I will say all the books of the Senegalese scientist CHeick Anta Diop (If didn't do it already). Most of his books are on amazone. I would like to hear more from ya.
Tom Jones please leave you troll
@Na tu natives also didn't native to America, but have roots from Asia
the empire of mali also had one of the oldest universities in the world, the university of Timbuktu. it produces about 25,000 graduates per annum in various fields of study such as medicine, astronomy maths, Islamic studies etc.
evidence of early surgery, especially cataracts was found recently.
and yes at its peak, the empire of Mali was the richest empire in the world.
No doubt they were the Tuareg who were basically Berber a Spanish and Arab mix. Mansa hired his government and architects from places like Morocco. Timbuktu was built by Tuareg Berbers.
That's not entirely correct, Timbuktu was already, settled, built, and developped before the arrival of Mansa Musa and Tuareg's. After Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage he brought scholars and architects to add MORE to what Timbucktu ALREADY HAD.
@@bimandas4499
Impossible to measure, really. Trade with the world above the Sahara was almost non-existent because, well, it's the Sahara. But they clearly had a staggering amount of gold, and still do. Gold, ivory and slaves were huge commodities and they're what attracted European explorers.
@@sikkableeat5614 trade with above the Sahara was not non existant. Glass beads made in Ghana were found in Carthage when There were extensive trade networks between west Africa and north Africa. How do you think mansa musa went on a pilgrimage to mecca
@Tom Jones well if, you dont have stone and if wood is in short supply, what are you suppose to build with and according to the bible, didn't the Hebrews build Egyptian homes with mud bricks, so if mud bricks were good enough for the Egyptians why is it so bad for West Africans?
Great overview as long as you’re willing to listen. Archeology vs clay, writing vs oral tradition. Interesting 👍
This is amazing and concise.
The Timbuktu manuscripts project is working on preserving, translating and digitizing ancient manuscripts that tell about some of Africa's past, its belief systems and academic learning. So contrary to popular belief, Africa did have written records. Meroe, which the presenter mentions also has written records, unfortunately the language has become extinct and therefore difficult to decipher. Imagine the tales they would tell about that part of Africa and their dealings with the ancient Egyptians and the Romans. Africa has history, we just need to keep an open mind about how that history is presented and stop looking at it through Eurocentric perspectives.
Seems interesting, where can I learn more about this
you have no history
A very enlightening talk, thanks.
What are you talking about? Timbuktu is still standing today as Mali's former capital?
Timbuktu today is a sparsely populated, decrepit, impoverished hell-hole.
Ancient Mali
John Carter Still standing was his point.
Timbuktu was not Mali's capital.
Yh, Timbuktu was never Mali's capital
Man, I really felt her passion for this! Great tedtalk!
It's a vast continent and it should be the one with the first major civilizations, I've thought as much and considering that there is no written history remaining, who knows what's under the soil and jungles. I am however amazed to learn that the most prevalent building material was mud, it pretty much guarantees there won't be any major structures remaining, most we can find will be tools, human remains, pots,, stuff made of precious metal and stuff like that. While it's something, it won't tell us a lot more than the state of metal working and depending on the metal, where it was likely sourced.
eternitynaut Some like Sudan Ethiopia Mali had writing.
Her talk reinforces for me the very real possibility of an African presence in parts of the New World predating Columbus, based on recent archaeological finds in parts of Latin America.
Not well studied is mid-Saharan Garamante civilizaton which controlled caravan routes from sub-Sahara to meditteranean coast, as early as Phonician's, and Greeks until Romans warred with them. They developed miles-long horizontal wells on alluvial fans and other deep, cone-shaped wells along edges of sand dunes to tap aquifers for water. Also had steep pyramids of stone, similar to Kush in Sudan. Tels were of stone but homes of clay brick. In 1963 I found one of the fogaras (horizontal wells) still watering a Berbers field, others were dry, caved in or filled with sand. They seemed to be centered 50-100 miles west of Sebha, Libya.
Awesome, thanks!
One word:
Awesome
Good stuff!
Africa is such a large continent, is this all you could dig up about Africa's history.
Marius Greeff ...Is this all she could dig up?... you ask? ...This is all for the presentation...there is sooooooo much more, just pay attention... that's all... pay attention
Eritrea has 80000 archaeology sites alone.
Brilliant!
BE WARNED!!! There is far too much stupidity in this comment section.
Indeed
I keep trying to focus on what she's saying because the subject matter is incredibly important, but.... I can't get my mind off of the fact of how absolutely beautiful she is! I could listen to her talk all day long
Welcome dear
The largest subsaharan structure is great Zimbabwe. When was it built?
the largest enduring
but yes relatively recent like 90 percent of everything else
when was kush built
play on words btw
Correction the Benin wall is the largest.
@@accountretired9479 was, ..its almost completely gone now
... developed over
She only said Malian empire used clay. SUDAN used stone
Nicky Apenahier They are great countries and beautiful people
for a so called historian , she should correct her sources (the Arab traveler IBN BATTUTA) is in fact Moroccan Berber, not Arab :-)
The TruthTeller it’s Tedx not officially a Ted talk, so there are less standards. Cut her some slack, it’s impossible to get something entirely right
The TruthTeller She's just human. I have seen things in museums that are clearly wrong as well. Plus she is covering the history of not just one place but numerous places. So she is bound to get some things wrong.
@KHALIIL01 Arabic is not the mother tongue of Berbers. They spoke the Amazigh language called berber before Arabs arrived.
@The Truth Teller, he may have been from Morocco, but he was Arab and not a Berber.
@@mikeaskme3530 he was an Arabized Berber
This is all wonderful but it did not stand the age of time. It's pretty bad when you have to dig up most of your past because it's been buried by time and lack of foresight....
What? Most of everyone's past has to be dug up
Aaaand a lot of things were destroyed on purpose
@@x999uuu1 Really? There buildings and such in Europe that are 700 years old still standing...what is standing in Africa even that old????
@@nancym3041 Again, had they protected themselves from the outside that would not have happened...Just ask Europe what is still standing after over 700 years....
@@ADXYMOX62 Did you even listen to the talk? The Pyramids in Sudan are 2700 years old And they have a lot older structures there. Ethiopia and Eritrea have ancient structures way over two thousand years old.
Mind-blow&open-ing!! Please more of this!! hYlkeW
she mentions a recent Empire from after the advent of islam...
empires influenced by Egypt...
cities influenced by trade from outside Africa...
anything based on a civilization with a mosque is very recent...
so she highlights one that appears to be totally local Zimbabwe...
then she alludes to mud based buildings while admitting that there is no writing...
Howard White
no writing is common in most parts of the world.
its harder to begin public schooling in the area and islamic culture probably killed africa much as it killed the middle east.
but they had universities so clearly they had writing.
Howard White Yes because trade wasn't a requirement for ancient economies to grow. In fact, All European and Asian civilizations had their own unique writing system and didn't require Roman conquest to rise.
Mud buildings have been used all over the world, from China to the British Isles. I honestly don't see what point you're trying to make
Itumo
she makes the claim that there is not a gap in civilization in Africa. Then her key examples are empires heavly influenced by the Mideast and an empire of relatively recent origin.
one, Zimbabwe, is of local origin, maby... nothing definitive about it.
the picture she paints is exactly what she says it is not. a region of earth with a huge empty spot as far as advanced civilizations go...
all over the Western Asia region and others there are tells, mounds built up into hills from long history of occupation, not necessarily centers of power, but long terms of human activity...
you do not find these in Australia or Africa.
find them, document them, and you have an argument.
right now I see more evidence of large communal efforts in the mound builders in central US, and advanced farming in the Amazon.
I am not saying nothing is there, but looking and found are two different things.
thats actually her point again because material that is used to build and beast of burden are fall ill here the chosen medium is mud her point is that the gap of african civilazations is not due to africans not making its due to it not being preserved
typically african emires used mud
because of this the empires do not leave remnants
so there is alot to discover and not much of it is obvious
+Howard White
1. The point of the talk is that there hasn't been enough investment in the archaeological study of the region
2. "Huge empty spot" you've spoken like someone who has clearly done no research and yet has come to a satisfactory conclusion. i'll give you some sources to start;
Ashanti Kingdom
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fa/c3/39/fac3393d8157138cde47831497d1147e.jpg
i0.wp.com/www.black-feelings.com/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_a851f1130b_834db701c8.png?resize=650%2C534
Hausa Kingdom - Kano City
smartpei.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451db7969e20154391761c1970c-pi
Bamum Kingdom
www.pinterest.com/pin/560064903648852515/
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/5d/ce/0a/5dce0a6143148661125f14e720fd637c.jpg
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/0a/39/64/0a3964c054f7a831e73fa49200f9c7ea.jpg
Mali Empire
4.bp.blogspot.com/-T3wI0z1CptE/VCqLCJPz1oI/AAAAAAAAAdI/qQN_fGTJxf0/s1600/15-81304994290035.jpg
There's so much more.
3. "Heavily influenced by the middle-east". um, Name one civilization that hasn't been influence by the middle-east. Its the cradle of civilization and was the most fertile region on earth.
Also by that logic, the only European civilization worth mentioning is Rome. Actually, scratch that because Rome was influenced by greece, which had influences in Egypt...see how illogical your analysis is?
When you do research hoping to find desirable results it is possible to come to incorrect conclusions.
Tom Jones how did she do that??? Explain????
Mike Wilson what??
Mike Wilson what are you talking about?? Does the evidence make you mad???
Mike Wilson If you would take time to research or even travel you would find that Africa has a very very rich history.... After all life did start there.
Mike already KNOWS this lol.
❤️❤️❤️
The french blow the wall up.
We wuz definately Kangz......We are happy that our children are speaking truth.
Tom Jones midevil Europeans where slaves to the king and nobles. Most people in every part of the earth where subservient throughout history. What are you trying to prove.
so fired bricks and mortar explain it all
Gems. Like most of the stuff described was after Venice was built. And the wily Malian king took a whole goldmine to himself . And left his subjects as poor as ever. They still are
hmm climate change could be the precipitating factor,
well to be fair afrocan climate not best for humans overall
@@palebluedot7435 Plate Tectonics - massive plate shifts occurred 9 thousand or so years ago which removed much of the Water from Africa which gave birth to the Sahara desert. That cut off the North from the South - that's when the decline began.
I believe Mansa Musa and Akhenaten r one and the same. I believe they displaced the timeline to hide that fact. Both of them took a massive amount of their subjects and left their former kingdoms. Mansa Musa building mosques in other people's territory seems to be unlikely.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! The RICHEST man in the world? Let's examine his people today. Are they the richest people in the world or the poorest people in the world? If they are the poorest, then did the richest man take away the money?
@Racialist Slayer I agree. You are not very bright! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Racialist Slayer You are absolutely right. Your illiteracy validates my assertion 😂😂😂😂
@Racialist Slayer 🤦♂
How on earth can you say its underappreciatted and then present all the information that many people have compiled about it. How do we know anything at all about Africa if it's all a big secret
Political rubbish
@Racialist Slayer I disagree , I've been looking into African history
It's all there to learn ...however there's more rubbish to sift through with people constantly rewriting history that they aren't comfortable with to get views and likes ...here on CZcams.
Europe is a place with a complex history as well ...there's no competition today to be right or to be first ...not amongst level headed historians anyway ...not too sure about the afrocentrics though ..they are certainly a bit twisted ...today
@Racialist Slayer agreed
She forgets to mention all these great sites were built by slaves, and she talks about civilisation.
cami .marte uhhhhso where several other places my god your inept
Well, slavery is an institution common to all pre-industrial civilizations. Which fact people who want to blame slavery on whites.want us to forget. These are marxists. for whom world history is a subject they want us to ignore.
she makes the point she is attempting to argue against....
Howard White explain?
Ernest Schultz
i thinkbgecis alluding to africa not having any great history.
he doesnt really get the mud thing
most of africa doesnt really have much natrually revealed lye to accidentally discover cement
mud structures last years if weather permits you to remain in the area
we still build with mid in the USA
Mud has nothing to do with my comments, According to her description of African civilizations, there is a huge part of the continent that is void of civilization for much of history. Most of what she does comment on us clearly heavly influenced by the nearby Mideast...
Howard White
i can see what you are talking about because well mosques but you seem to have missed the idea that everyone was influenced by the middle east. thank spain for preserving Muslim science after the nuslim age of f
reason and during christain dark ages
the real complaint is islamic culture inhibiting the development of Africa
pale blue dot I am not big on Islam, but my point here is that she does not make her point.
bruh why tf is everyone talking about how unadvanced africa is when literally they had the first civilization?
sounds like a lot of hearsay
Triggered.
This holds more weight then white theory of Egypt
A mud fort is a mud fort; if you want immortality you need to evolve beyond mud!
Bruce Huff we still use mud lol cement
they dont really have much else to build with in the plains and lye is rather rare in. plains soo you would probably be killed if your fort took to long to make your fort and using other materials makes things to obvious
It's not a matter of evolution. What you don't realize is that *many* scientific and technological advancements are things people stumble upon by *chance*.
In the right environment and with the right circumstances, those advancements may be made more frequently.
People get stuck in marveling at European and Asian civilizations - mistaking them as the product of purely logical advanced thinking. They can't understand how much of a role chance plays.
true africa not relly covered with limestones to accidentally mix it in your mud and make concrete
A. Soul The Egyptian temples are made from mud. They are still standing after thousands of years. And you never saw the first part when she clearly talks about structures not made of mud. And they use mud in many developed countries. Adobe is actually very practical for hot climates.
Tom Jones Adobe buildings exist in all parts of the world. Especially hot climates. So Africans used this but some used different materials as she clearly states in the video. And many Egyptian temples monuments used this and are some of the most ancient buildings in the world. When the Romans came to Egypt the temple of Karnak was already 1500 years old. So the idea that mud brick is impractical is a false belief.
Drivel.
jeanjeudi1111 Grow up.
"Africa's great civilizations did not leave any written record" she says. So how could they have been great? Is this whole thing a colossal bluff? Has anybody written the "Rise and Fall of the African Empire". Did they ever rise in the first place? What I want to see is the Colosseum, the Acropolis, the Plato, the poetry, the art and the science of the Heart of Darkness. Come back when you have some firm evidence.
John Carter lol they had universities ect during the time africa was becoming greater islam was to
islam is not a religion that promotes scienceing
the middle east was once the academic capital of the world
Some European civilizations didn't begin writing until as late as 200 AD, and when they did, they used the _Roman_ alphabet -- and Roman numerals, which are terrible for _Algebra_ in case you didn't notice.
Tell us, what was going on in France and in England before Rome??? Or did you forget those places existed before the Romans conquered them and spread civilization to them.
I consider the Gauls, the Celts, the Franks, the Visigoths and the Saxons to have been more advanced peoples than their contemporaries in sub Saharan Africa.
John Carter but they too had no writing... the most advanced metal work, silver/goldsmiths ever known (still can't recreate it today), yet they had no writing... is writing a pre-requisite of civilisation? We're a rich country - we excavated and had so many archeological digs all over the country etc so we've found lots of our history - has as much digging been done in Western Africa? When will people realise that the rich countries of today 'buy' their cultural ancestry by paying to discover it... it doesn't mean the poorer places today, do not have the same treasures underground just waiting to be discovered... also what is it to be civilised? The humans who left Africa made extinct all the big beasts of the new lands they discovered... while the humans in Africa did not make extinct the big beasts of Africa (European colonialist has a good go etc) so they lived in a more harmonious way with their environment... they perhaps had a better understanding of their environment etc...
George EX Um pre-roman gaul had cities of up to 15000 people called Oppida and also had writing using the celtiberian script before Rome existed. They also had sculpture, gold and metal working, boats with sails, invented bar soap, chainmail and they were organized with kings and priests.
What a joke. She showed nothing but pictures of ruins
KreigsMarine2 Well go research the places she is talking about and stop being lazy. So you expect buildings that date in some cases to nearly three thousand years old to be in prestige condition?
KreigsMarine2 Rome, Greece, Persia, Egypt ,etc... Are also ruins you inept moron.
KreigsMarine2 but if you want to look at European civilizations from the past that is what you will find soooo...
Tom Jones I guess Egypt isn't in Africa
Well she's an archaeologist and that's what archaeologists do, excavate ruins.
About the same time- Europeans lived in Caves 😂😂😂
Too many fleas in a grass hut, cave better
Egyptians isn't really African the genetics link them to Europe.
That's been debunked.
Link please
@Jay Cole21 their skulls are Caucasian