Scott MacEachern
Professor of Archeology and Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University
Africanist archaeologist, with research interests in Central/West African archaeology, state formation and archaeogenetics.
Current Research Interests
I am an archaeologist specialising in research on the Neolithic, Iron Age and precolonial history of the Lake Chad Basin, in Central Africa. My current efforts involve: (1) a project on anthropic landscape changes in the Benue River Valley of Cameroon during the Iron Age; (2) a recently published book situating the terrorist organisation Boko Haram in the context of frontier processes of violence and wealth creation south of Lake Chad; and (3) work on cultural heritage management in Central/West Africa, in the context of development and resource-extraction efforts.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Professor of Archeology and Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University, DKU Faculty, Duke Kunshan University 2018
- Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at Duke Kunshan University, DKU Faculty, Duke Kunshan University 2019
- Professor of the Practice, DKU Visiting Faculty, Duke University 2020
Contact Information
- Background
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Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of Calgary (Canada) 1991
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Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Duke Kunshan University, DKU Faculty, Duke Kunshan University 2019 - 2021
- Recognition
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In the News
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OCT 22, 2021 Duke Kunshan University
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- Expertise
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Subject Headings
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Global Scholarship
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Expertise
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Research
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Teaching
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- Publications & Artistic Works
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Selected Publications
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Books
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MacEachern, S. Searching for Boko Haram: a history of violence in Central Africa. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
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Lavachery, P., S. MacEachern, T. Bouimon, and C. Mbida. Komé – Kribi: rescue archaeology along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline, 1999-2004/ De Komé à Kribi: archéologie preventive le long l'Oléoduc Tchad-Cameroun, 1999-2004. Frankfurt: Africa Magna Verlag, 2010.
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Academic Articles
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Alpaslan-Roodenberg, Songül, David Anthony, Hiba Babiker, Eszter Bánffy, Thomas Booth, Patricia Capone, Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee, et al. “Ethics of DNA research on human remains: five globally applicable guidelines.” Nature 599, no. 7883 (November 2021): 41–46. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04008-x.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Boko Haram, bandits and slave-raiders: identities and violence in a Central African borderland.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 54, no. 2 (May 3, 2020): 247–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2019.1700142.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Lipson, Mark, Isabelle Ribot, Swapan Mallick, Nadin Rohland, Iñigo Olalde, Nicole Adamski, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, et al. “Ancient West African foragers in the context of African population history.” Nature 577, no. 7792 (January 2020): 665–70. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1929-1.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Wright, D. K., S. MacEachern, S. H. Ambrose, J. Choi, J. H. Choi, C. Lang, and H. Wang. “Iron Age landscape changes in the Benoué River Valley, Cameroon.” Quaternary Research (United States) 92, no. 2 (September 1, 2019): 323–39. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.25.Full Text Open Access Copy
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MacEachern, Scott. “States and their genetic consequences in central Africa.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116, no. 2 (January 2019): 356–57. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1819609116.Full Text
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Wright, D. K., S. MacEachern, J. Choi, C. Lang, and J. D. Djoussou. “Iron Age Landscapes of the Benue River Valley, Cameroon.” Journal of Field Archaeology 42, no. 5 (September 3, 2017): 394–407. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2017.1358017.Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
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MacEachern, Scott. “Stephen A. Dueppen: Egalitarian Revolution in the Savanna: The Origins of a West African Political System.” African Archaeological Review 34, no. 2 (June 2017): 297–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-017-9251-5.Full Text
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Cunningham, J. J., and S. MacEachern. “Ethnoarchaeology as slow science.” World Archaeology 48, no. 5 (October 19, 2016): 628–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2016.1260046.Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
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MacEachern, Scott. “The mutability of mobility.” Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 51, no. 4 (October 1, 2016): 531–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2016.1233764.Full Text
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O’Brien, J. D., K. Lin, and S. MacEachern. “Mixture model of pottery decorations from Lake Chad Basin archaeological sites reveals ancient segregation patterns.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 283, no. 1827 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.2824.Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
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MacEachern, Scott. “Ethnoarchaeology: Current Research and Field Methods.” Ethnoarchaeology 7, no. 2 (July 3, 2015): 185–86. https://doi.org/10.1179/1944289015z.00000000035.Full Text
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Wright, D. K., S. MacEachern, and J. Lee. “Analysis of Feature Intervisibility and Cumulative Visibility Using GIS, Bayesian and Spatial Statistics: A Study from the Mandara Mountains, Northern Cameroon.” Plos One 9, no. 11 (2014): e112191. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112191.Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
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MacEachern, Scott, David A. Scott, Molly O’Guinness Carlson, and Jean-Marie Datouang Djoussou. “Iron Artefacts from the DGB-1 Site, Northern Cameroon: Conservation, Metallurgical Analysis and Ethnoarchaeological Analogies.” Journal of African Archaeology 11, no. 1 (October 25, 2013): 39–54. https://doi.org/10.3213/2191-5784-10230.Full Text
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MacEachern, S., and N. David. “Monumental architecture in mountain landscapes: the diy-geδ-bay sites of northern Cameroon.” Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 48, no. 2 (June 1, 2013): 241–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.790653.Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
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MacEachern, S., D. Scott, J. Datouang Djoussou, and M. Carlson. “A cache of iron artifacts from the DGB-1 site, northern Cameroon: metallurgical analysis and ethnoarchaeological analogies.” Journal of African Archaeology 11, no. 1 (2013): 39–54.Open Access Copy
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MACEACHERN, S. C. O. T. T. “DWELLING AND BELONGING IN THE MANDARA MOUNTAINS - The Dancing Dead: Ritual and Religion among the Kapsiki/Higi of Northern Cameroon and Northeastern Nigeria. By Walter E. A. van Beek. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. xii-345. $99, hardback (ISBN 9780199858149).” The Journal of African History 53, no. 3 (November 2012): 433–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853712000655.Full Text
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Gronenborn, Detlef, and Scott MacEachern. “Graham Connah: an archaeologist's life in Africa and in Australia.” Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47, no. 3 (September 2012): 249–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2012.708992.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Wandala and the DGB sites: political centralisation and its alternatives north of the Mandara Mountains, Cameroon.” Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47, no. 2 (2012): 272–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2012.707480.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “The Holocene history of the southern Lake Chad Basin: archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence.” African Archaeological Review 29, no. 2 (2012): 253–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-012-9110-3.Full Text Link to Item
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MacEachern, S., J. M. Datouang Djoussou, and R. Janson. “Research at DGB-1 and DGB-2, northern Cameroon, 2010-2011.” Nyame Akuma 78 (2012): 6–16.
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MacEachern, S. “Seeing like an oil company's CHM programme: Exxon and archaeology on the Chad Export Project.” Journal of Social Archaeology 10, no. 3 (October 1, 2010): 347–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605310378801.Full Text Link to Item
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MacEachern, Scott. “Thoughts on É. Zangato & A.F.C. Holl's “On the Iron Front”.” Journal of African Archaeology 8, no. 1 (June 2010): 39–41. https://doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10159.Full Text
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MacEachern, S., J. Datouang Djoussou, and R. Janson. “Excavations at DGB-1, northern Cameroon, 2008.” Nyame Akuma 73 (2010): 37–45.
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MacEachern, Scott. “The Silence of Great Zimbabwe: Contested Landscapes and the Power of Heritage. Joost Fontein. 2007. UCL Press, New York, xviii + 246 pp. $34.95 (paper), ISBN-13 978-1-59874-221-3.” American Antiquity 73, no. 4 (October 2008): 792–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0002731600047429.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Where in Africa does Africa start? Identity, genetics and African Studies from the Sahara to Darfur.” Journal of Social Archaeology 7, no. 3 (2007): 393–412.
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MacEachern, S. “Africanist archaeology and ancient IQ: racial science and cultural evolution in the 21st century.” World Archaeology 38, no. 1 (2006): 72–92.
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Lavachery, P., S. MacEachern, T. Bouimon, B. Gouem Gouem, P. Kinyock, J. Mbairo, C. Mbida, and O. Nkokonda. “Cultural heritage management in Central Africa: regional survey on the Chad - Cameroon oil pipeline.” Antiquity 79, no. 303 (2005).Link to Item
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Lavachery, P., S. MacEachern, T. Bouimon, B. Gouem Gouem, P. Kinyock, J. Mbairo, and O. Nkokonda. “Komé to Ebomé: archaeological research for the Chad Export Project, 1999-2003.” Journal of African Archaeology 3, no. 2 (2005): 175–93.
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MacEachern, Scott. “The Land of Houlouf: Genesis of a Chadic Polity 1900 BC–AD 1800. Augustin Holl. 2002. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Number 35. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, xvi + 271 pp., figures, tables, appendix, bibliography. $30.00 (paper).” American Antiquity 70, no. 1 (January 2005): 194–95. https://doi.org/10.2307/40035281.Full Text
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MACEACHERN, S. C. O. T. T. “THE STATE OF AFRICANIST ARCHAEOLOGY IN BRITAIN Researching Africa's Past: New Contributions from British Archaeologists. Edited by PETER MITCHELL, ANNE HAOUR and JOHN HOBART. Oxford: Oxford University School of Archaeology, 2003. Pp. viii+152. £40 (ISBN 0-947816-58-5).” The Journal of African History 45, no. 3 (November 2004): 491–92. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853704219934.Full Text
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MACEACHERN, S. C. O. T. T. “DESCRIBING MATERIAL CULTURAL AND SPATIAL PATTERNS Ethnoarchaeology of Shuwa-Arab Settlements. By AUGUSTIN HOLL. Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2003. Pp. xiii+422. $85 (ISBN 0-7391-0407-1).” The Journal of African History 45, no. 2 (July 2004): 347–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853704429442.Full Text
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MACEACHERN, S. C. O. T. T. “HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS AND AFRICAN HISTORY The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. By CHRISTOPHER EHRET. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia; Oxford: James Currey 2002. Pp. xii+480. $50 (ISBN 0-8139-2084-1); $22.50; £18.95, paperback (ISBN 0-85255-475-3).” The Journal of African History 44, no. 2 (July 2003): 342–43. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853703228553.Full Text
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MACEACHERN, S. C. O. T. T. “African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Second edition. By GRAHAM CONNAH. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xv+340. $65 (ISBN 0-521-59309-3); $23, paperback (ISBN 0-521-59690-4).” The Journal of African History 44, no. 1 (March 2003): 145–94. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853703498484.Full Text
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MACEACHERN, S. C. O. T. T. “NIGERIAN ARCHAEOLOGY Historical Archaeology in Nigeria. Edited by KIT W. WESLER. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 1998. Pp. xx+356. $79.95 (ISBN 0-86543-609-6); $21.95, paperback (ISBN 0-86543-610-X).” The Journal of African History 43, no. 3 (November 2002): 503–40. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853702228418.Full Text
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Maceachern, Scott. “Beyond the belly of the house.” Journal of Social Archaeology 2, no. 2 (June 2002): 197–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605302002002395.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Beyond the belly of the house: space and power in the Mandara Mountains.” Journal of Social Archaeology 2, no. 2 (2002): 179–219.
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MacEachern, S. “Montagnard ethnicity and genetic relations in northern Cameroon: comment on "The Peopling of Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case Study of Cameroon," by G. Spedini et al.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 114, no. 4 (2001): 357–60.
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MacEachern, S. “Cultural resource management and Africanist archaeology.” Antiquity 75, no. 290 (2001): 866–71.
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MacEachern, S., C. Bourges, and M. Reeves. “Early horse remains from northern Cameroon.” Antiquity 75, no. 287 (2001): 62–67.
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Oliver, Roland, Thomas Spear, Kairn Klieman, Jan Vansina, Scott MacEachern, David Schoenbrun, James Denbow, et al. “Comments on Christopher Ehret, "Bantu History: Re-Envisioning the Evidence of Language".” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 34, no. 1 (2001): 43–43. https://doi.org/10.2307/3097286.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Genes, tribes, and African history.” Current Anthropology 41, no. 3 (2000): 357–84.
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MacEachern, S. “Genes, tribes, and African history.” Current Anthropology 41 (2000): 357–84.
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Bourges, C., S. MacEachern, and M. Reeves. “Excavations at Aissa Hardé, 1995 and 1996.” Nyame Akuma 51 (1999): 6–13.
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MacEachern, S. “Foreign countries: the development of ethnoarchaeology in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of World Prehistory 10, no. 3 (1996): 243–304.
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MacEachern, S. “'Symbolic reservoirs' and inter-group relations: west african examples.” African Archaeological Review 12 (1994): 205–24.
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Stone, Glenn Davis. “: Households and Communities: Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Chacmool Conference . Scott MacEachern, David J. W. Archer, Richard D. Garvin.” American Anthropologist 95, no. 2 (June 1993): 478–79. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1993.95.2.02a00440.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Selling the iron for their shackles: Wandala-montagnard interactions in northern Cameroon.” Journal of African History 34, no. 2 (1993): 247–70.
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MacEachern, S. “Archaeological research in northern Cameroon, 1992: the Projet Maya-Wandala.” Nyame Akuma 39 (1993): 7–13.
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MacEachern, S. “Ethnicity and stylistic variation around Mayo Plata, northern Cameroon.” African Commitment: Papers in Honor of Peter Lewis Shinnie, 1992, 211–30.
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David, N., S. MacEachern, J. Sterner, and K. Gavua. “Ethnicity and material culture in north Cameroon.” Canadian Journal of Archaeology 15 (1991): 171–77.
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“The Silence of Great Zimbabwe: Contested Landscapes and the Power of Heritage.,” n.d. https://doi.org/10.2307/25470530.Full Text
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Book Sections
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MacEachern, Scott, and Carlos Magnavita. “Communities, urbanism, and state building in the Lake Chad region.” In From House Societies to States Early Political Organisation, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia. Multidisciplinary Approaches t, 2023.
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MacEachern, Scott. “(Un)becoming states: their neighbours and the Wandala south of Lake Chad.” In Life at the Margins of the State Comparative Landscapes from the Old and New Worlds, edited by Alicia M. Boswell and Kyle A. Knabb, 192–213. University Press of Colorado, 2022.
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MacEachern, S. “Globalization: Contact between West Africa, North Africa and Europe during the European medieval period.” In Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Globalization, edited by T. Hodos, 90–103. London: Routledge, 2016.Open Access Copy
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MacEachern, S. “What was the Wandala state, and who are the Wandala?” In Ethnic Ambiguity and the African Past: Materiality, History, and the Shaping of Cultural Identities, edited by F. Richard and K. MacDonald, 172–91. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2015.
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MacEachern, S. “African models in global histories.” In Theory in Africa, Africa in Theory: Locating Meaning in Archaeology, edited by S. Wynne-Jones and J. Fleisher, 19–37. London: Routledge, 2015.Open Access Copy
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MacEachern, S. “Time on the timeless continent: history and archaeological chronologies in the southern Lake Chad Basin.” In Big Histories, Human Lives: Tackling Problems of Scale in Archaeology, edited by T. R. Pauketat and J. Robb, 123–44. Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press, 2013.
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MacEachern, S. “Genetics and archaeology.” In Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology, edited by P. Lane and P. Mitchell, 65–76. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
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MacEachern, S. “Rethinking the Mandara political landscape: enslavement, climate and an entry into history in the second millennium AD.” In Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives, edited by A. Ogundiran and J. C. Monroe, 309–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
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MacEachern, S. “The prehistory and early history of the northern Mandara Mountains and surrounding plains.” In Metals in Mandara Mountains’ Society and Culture, edited by N. David, 29–67. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2012.
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MacEachern, S. “Enslavement and everyday life: living with slave raiding in the northern Mandara Mountains of Cameroon.” In Slavery in Africa: Archaeology and Memory, edited by P. Lane and K. MacDonald, 109–24. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
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MacEachern, Scott. “AFRICA, CENTRAL | Foragers, Farmers, and Metallurgists.” In Encyclopedia of Archaeology, 1–4. Elsevier, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012373962-9.00115-1.Full Text
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MacEachern, S. “Two thousand years of West African history.” In African Archaeology: A Critical Introduction, edited by A. Stahl, 441–66. London: Blackwell, 2005.
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MacEachern, S. “Residuals and resistance: languages and history in the Mandara Mountains.” In When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition and Language Coexistence, edited by B. Joseph, J. Destefano, N. Jacobs, and I. Lehiste, 21–44. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2002.
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MacEachern, S. “State formation and enslavement in the southern Lake Chad Basin.” In West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade: Archaeological Perspectives, edited by C. DeCorse, 130–51. London: Leicester University Press, 2001.
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MacEachern, S. “Setting the boundaries: linguistics, ethnicity, colonialism, and archaeology south of Lake Chad.” In Archaeology, Language, and History: Essays on Culture and Ethnicity, edited by J. Terrell, 79–101. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 2001.
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MacEachern, S. “Scale, style, and cultural variation: technological traditions in the northern Mandara Mountains.” In The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, edited by M. Stark, 107–31. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
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MacEachern, S. “Iron Age beginnings north of the Mandara Mountains, Cameroon and Nigeria.” In Aspects of African Archaeology: Proceedings of the Tenth Pan-African Congress, edited by G. Pwiti and R. Soper, 489–95. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Press, 1996.
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David, N., and S. MacEachern. “The Mandara Archaeological Project: preliminary results of the 1984 season.” In Le Milieu et Les Hommes: Recherches Comparitives et Historiques Dans Le Bassin Du Lac Tchad, edited by D. Barreteau and H. Tourneux, 51–80. Paris: Editions de l’ORSTOM, 1988.
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Other Articles
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MacEachern, S. “The Origin of Civilization.” Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company, 2010.
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MacEachern, S. “Du Kunde: processes of montagnard ethnogenesis in the northern Mandara Mountains of Cameroon.” Mandaras Publishing, London, n.d.Link to Item
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Reports
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MacEachern, S. “Report on archaeological road survey between Beibokoum and Doba, southern Chad, June - July, 2000.” Report submitted to ExxonMobil Corporation, 2001.
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MacEachern, S. “Report on archaeological survey between Mbéré and Doba, southern Chad, April - May 1999.” Report submitted to ExxonMobil Corporation, 1999.
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Conference Papers
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MacEachern, S. “The material correlates of Wandala statehood.” Calgary, 2000.
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Theses and Dissertations
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MacEachern, S. “Du kunde: processes of montagnard ethnogenesis in the northern Mandara Mountains of Cameroon.,” 1991.
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- Teaching & Mentoring
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Recent Courses
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