Cognitive Studies of the Iron Age in Southern Africa
Author(s)
Huffman, Thomas N.
Abstract
Cognitive Archaeology concentrates on the physical manifestation of the ideals, values and beliefs of past societies. Appropriate models are developed largely from ethnographic data and then applied to the archaeological record. Using this approach, two models have so far been developed for the Iron Age in Southern Africa: one determines political hierarchies and the other cosmologies. Cognitive models such as these help provide an integrated description of Iron Age societies, and they are necessary for an explanation of significant cultural change.
