Insoll Timothy
Archaeology, School of Arts, Histories, and Cultures, University of Manchester, UK.
Anthropol Med. 2011 Aug;18(2):145-66. doi: 10.1080/13648470.2011.591193.
Whereas shrines in Africa, and to a lesser extent their links with medicine and healing, have been extensively studied by historians and anthropologists, they have been largely neglected by archaeologists. Focus has been placed upon palaeopathology when medicine is considered in archaeological contexts. Difficulties certainly exist in defining medicine shrines, substances and practices archaeologically, yet research can take various forms - scapegoats and figural representations of disease; divination and diagnosis; trade and spread of medicinal substances, shrines, and amulets; syncretism of different traditions and materiality; the material culture associated with healing and medicinal substance; depictions in rock art; genetic research. A move beyond palaeopathology is required to begin to understand the archaeology of medicine shrines, substances, practices and healing in sub-Saharan Africa.
尽管非洲的圣地以及它们与医学和治疗的联系在较小程度上已被历史学家和人类学家广泛研究，但考古学家在很大程度上忽视了它们。在考古背景下考虑医学时，重点一直放在古病理学上。从考古学角度定义医学圣地、物质和实践肯定存在困难，但研究可以采取多种形式——疾病的替罪羊和形象表现；占卜和诊断；药用物质、圣地和护身符的贸易与传播；不同传统与物质性的融合；与治疗和药用物质相关的物质文化；岩石艺术中的描绘；基因研究。需要超越古病理学，才能开始理解撒哈拉以南非洲医学圣地、物质、实践和治疗的考古学。
