Shadreck Chirikure
Chirikure is Professor and Head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. He obtained the degrees of MA Artefact Studies (2002) and PhD in Archaeology (2005) from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. His doctoral thesis explored the technology and socio-cultural metaphors associated with pre-colonial iron production in southern Africa.
Shadreck Chirikure’s Archaeological Materials Laboratory is Africa's only facility dedicated to the study of pyrotechnology practiced by farming communities of the last 2000 years of the sub-Saharan past. Examples of pyrotechnological material studied in the laboratory include metallurgical slags, metal objects, local and imported ceramics, plasters and glass beads. This research facility is dedicated to combining archaeological approaches with techniques derived from earth sciences and engineering to explore the contribution of high temperature technologies to societal evolution. The laboratory's research is currently targeting three areas: (1) investigating the role of mining and metallurgy in early state formation, (2) modelling the evolution of pyrotechnology within the last 2000 years of the sub-Saharan past and (3) exploring innovation and demography in the evolution of socio-technical systems. These areas are studied using material from prominent southern African sites such as Great Zimbabwe, Mapungubwe and Khami. In alignment with the laboratory's continental focus, additional material is also sourced from countries such as Malawi, Nigeria, and amongst others Cameroon..
Selected publications:
Chirikure, S. (2015). Metals in society: indigenous African metallurgy in a global perspective. New York: Springer.
Chirikure, S. Hall, S. Rehren, Th. 2015. When ceramic sociology meets material science: technological and sociological aspects of crucibles from Mapungubwe, southern Africa. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
Chirikure, S. (2015). “Do as I Say and Not as I Do”. On the Gap Between Good Ethics and Reality in African Archaeology. In After Ethics (pp. 27-37). Springer New York.
Chirikure, and Sinamai, A. (2015). Salvaging world history on seabed: rescue excavations of a Portuguese ship off Namibia’s southern coast. In Sila Triparti, G. (ed) Shipwrecks around the world. New Delhi. Pp.56-69.
Chirikure, S., Manyanga, M., Pollard, A. M., Bandama, F., Mahachi, G., & Pikirayi, I. (2014). Zimbabwe Culture before Mapungubwe: New Evidence from Mapela Hill, South-Western Zimbabwe. PloS one, 9(10), e111224.
Chirikure, S. (2014). Land and Sea Links: 1500 Years of Connectivity Between Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Rim Regions, ad 700 to 1700. African Archaeological Review, 31(4), 705-724.
Chirikure, S., & Bandama, F. (2014). Indigenous African Furnace Types and Slag Composition—Is there a Correlation? Archaeometry. 56, 2, 296-312. DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12013.
Chirikure, S. (2014). ‘Where angels fear to tread’: ethics, commercial archaeology, and extractive industries in southern Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2014.909166.
Chirikure, S. (2014). Geochemistry of Ancient Metallurgy: Examples from Africa and Elsewhere. In Cerling, T and Turekian, K (eds) Treatise on Geochemistry: Vol 14 Archaeology and Anthropology. Elsevier. P. 169–189.
Chirikure, S. (2014). Southern Africa. In Renfrew, C and Bahn, P (eds) Cambridge World Prehistory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chirikure, S. (2014). Ethics and commercial archaeology in southern Africa. In Smith, C. (ed) Encyclopaedia of Archaeology. Springer.
Chirikure, S. (2014). Working with and for indigenous people. In Smith, S. (ed) Encyclopaedia of Archaeology. New York: Springer.
Chirikure, S., Manyanga, M., Pikirayi, I., & Pollard, M. (2013). New Pathways of Socio-political Complexity in Southern Africa. African Archaeological Review, 30(4), 339-366.
Chirikure, S., Pollard, M., Manyanga, M., & Bandama, F. (2013). A Bayesian chronology for Great Zimbabwe: re-threading the sequence of a vandalised monument. Antiquity, 87(337), 854-872.
Chirikure, S. (2013). Heritage conservation in Africa: The good, the bad, and the challenges. South African Journal of Science, 109(1-2), 1-3.
Koleini, F., Prinsloo, L. C., Schoeman, M. H. A., Pikirayi, I., & Chirikure, S. (2013). Characterization of the corrosion layer on iron archaeological artefacts from K2 (825–1220 AD), an archaeological site in South Africa. Studies in Conservation, 58(3), 274-282.
Bandama, F., Chirikure, S., & Hall, S. (2013). Ore sources, smelters and archaeometallurgy: exploring Iron Age metal production in the Southern Waterberg, South Africa. Journal of African Archaeology, 11(2).
Chirikure, S 2013 “The Archaeology of African Metalworking” In Mitchell, P and Lane, P (eds) The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 131-139. Book Chapter
Chirikure, S. Thondhlana, T. P. and Bandama, F. (2013. Pre-colonial mining and metalworking in southern Africa: an overview with specific reference to Zimbabwe. In Manyanga, M and Katsamudanga, S (eds). Zimbabwean Archaeology in the post-independence era. (pp. 143-158). Harare: SAPES
Manyanga, M. Pwiti, G and Chirikure, S. (2013). Forager and farmer interactions in the Shashi-Limpopo Basin in pre-colonial times: some thoughts based on observations in southern Zimbabwe and eastern Botswana. In Manyanga, M and Katsamudanga, S (eds) Zimbabwean archaeology in the post-independence era. (pp. 75-98). Harare: SAPES.
Chirikure, S. 2012. Relevance seeking or reverse archaeology. Heritage and Society 5. 30-35.
Chirikure, S., Manyanga, M., & Pollard, A. M. (2012). When science alone is not enough: Radiocarbon timescales, history, ethnography and elite settlements in southern Africa. Journal of Social Archaeology, 12(3), 356-379.
Pikirayi, I., & Chirikure, S. (2011). Debating Great Zimbabwe. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 46(2), 221-231.
Chirikure, S. 2010. “On evidence, facts and fantasy: on the origins of metallurgy in Africa” Journal of African Archaeology 8, 1. DOI 10.3213/1612-1651-101** Published online in March 2010 © Africa Magna Verlag, Frankfurt M
Chirikure, S., Manyanga, M., Ndoro, W,. Pwiti, G 2010 “Unfulfilled promises: community participation at some of Africa’s World Heritage Sites” International Journal of Heritage Studies 16, 1 & 2, 30-44.
Mlaudzi, M, Schoeman, A. M and Chirikure, S 2010 “Continuing conversations at the frontier” South African Historical Journal 62 (2) 2010 ISSN: Print 0258-2473/Online 1726-1686 DOI 0.1080/02582473.2010.492982.
Manyanga, M., Pikirayi, I., & Chirikure, S. (2010). Conceptualising the Urban Mind in Pre-European Southern Africa: Rethinking Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe. The Urban Mind, 573. (Citations 3: Google Scholar)
Ndoro, W. and Chirikure, S 2009 “Developments in the practice of heritage management in Africa” In Conserving Authenticity (eds) Stanley-Price, N and King J, ICCROM Conservation Studies 10. Rome: ICCROM. 235-247.
Mlaudzi, M, Schoeman, A. M and Chirikure, S 2010 “Continuing conversations at the frontier” South African Historical Journal 62 (2) 2010 ISSN: Print 0258-2473/Online 1726-1686 DOI 0.1080/02582473.2010.492982
Chirikure, S. (2008). Language and Archaeology in Southern Africa: The Search for Post-colonial Reality. Archaeologies, 4(1), 182-185.
Chirikure, S. and Rehren, Th. 2006 “Iron production in pre-colonial Zimbabwe – evidence for diachronic change from Swart Village and Baranda” Journal of African Archaeology. 4 (1) 37-54
Chirikure, S. and Pikirayi, I. 2008 “The Archaeology of the Zimbabwe plateau and adjacent lowlands” Encyclopaedia of Archaeology 1. New York: Elsevier. 6-9.
Hall, S. and Chirikure, S. 2008 “The archaeology of southern Africa, herders, farmers and metallurgists” Encyclopaedia of Archaeology 3. New York: Elsevier. 66-71.
Chirikure, S., & Paynter, S. (2002). A metallurgical investigation of metalworking remains from Snettisham, Norfolk. English Heritage, Centre for Archaeology (Citations 3: Google Scholar)
Chirikure, S. 2004. A review of studies of iron working in southern Africa. In Chami, F, Pwiti, G and Radimilahy, C. (eds). The African Archaeological Network: Reports and a review. Dar es Salam: Dar es Salam University Press. 161 – 179.
Books
Chirikure, S. (2015). Metals in society: indigenous African metallurgy in a global perspective. New York: Springer.
Chirikure, S, Delius, P, Esterhuysen, M, Mlaudzi, M, Schoeman, 2011. A. Mapungubwe reconsidered. Johannesburg: MISTRA.
Books in Press/Preparation
Ndoro, W, Chirikure, S and Deacon, J (eds) In press. Theory in African Heritage. London: Routledge (published late 2014/early 2015)
Chirikure, S Preparation. Rethinking Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Africa. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. Society and Technology Series.