Archaeology of Africa

African history is unwritten history. It is entwined in the traditions and minds of the African peoples - and under the surface of the continent. Archaeology is the chief means of revealing this hidden part of its history. African history is also the history of humankind. Early hominids developed here and the modern homo sapiens conquered the world from their African homeland. Some of the earliest known pictorial art in the world was found in Africa in the so-called Apollo 11 Cave in southern Namibia, and pottery was most probably invented almost 10000 years ago in the Sahara. The Heinrich-Barth-Institut and the Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne have carried out comprehensive archaeological research programmes in Namibia and in the Eastern Sahara for decades. On this website you will find not only information but also pictures which give an insight into this research.