Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Chapter 1. Introducing the Issues and Themes 1
5. Chapter 2. African Firsts in the History of Technology
6. Ceramic Technology in World and African History 12
7. Women as Inventors and Innovators 17
8. Metallurgy in Ancient Africa 18
9. Historical Connections of Copper to Iron Metallurgy in Africa 29
10. Mechanical Invention in Early World and African History 32
11. Issues and Propositions 37
12. Chapter 3. Ancient Africa and the Export of Agricultural Innovation
13. The Era of Early Agriculture 39
14. African Agricultural Beginnings 44
15. Early Agriculture in West Africa 46
16. The Age of Agricultural Exchange 54
17. Chapter 4. Towns and Long-Distance Commerce in Ancient Africa
18. The West African Commercial Revolution 67
19. A Second African Commercial Revolution: The Congo Basin 73
20. Commercial “Revolutions” in the Global Frame 79
21. Chapter 5. The Africanity of Ancient Egypt
22. The Deep Background of Ancient Egyptian History, 20,000–6000 BCE 83
23. The Not-So-Deep-Time Story of Egypt’s Foundations, 6000–3100 BCE 100
24. Chapter 6. Africa and Africans in Early Global History
25. Global History, 68,000–20,000 BCE 116
26. Global History, 20,000–9700 BCE 129
27. Global History, 9700 to the Sixth Millennium BCE 131
28. The Age of Agricultural Exchange, 6000–3000 BCE 139
29. Global History, 3000 BCE–300 CE 146
30. “Civilization” 162
31. Appendix: Considerations for Historians Reading Genetic Studies 167
32. Notes 171
33. Bibliography 189
34. Index 203