JOHN KINAHAN is an independent Namibian scholar, Adjunct Professor of Archaeology at Arizona State University and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. His research on the archaeology of the Namib has been widely published internationally.
1. INTRODUCTION: A radical new approach 2. FIRST FOOTSTEPS: Early human
ancestors 3. TIMES ARROW: Desert survival strategies 4. MOUNTAIN REFUGE:
Isolated refugia & ritual practice 5. ELEPHANTS AND RAIN: Rain-making and
initiation 6. DESERT GARDEN: Pottery & tending desert food plants 7. THE
FAMILY HERD: Ovahimba desert pastoralists 8. THE BLACK SWAN: Indigenous
views on colonial penetration 9. MEN IN HATS: Missionaries, traders,
prospectors, hunters 10. THE DEATH OF MEMORY: Lifting the veil on colonial
Genocide EPILOGUE: Critical reappraisal: desert as natural wilderness or -
the familiar home of people now banished?
