This detailed ""Handbook to the Iron Age"" covers the last 2000 years in Southern Africa. The first part outlines essential topics such as settlement organisation, stonewalled patterns, ritual residues, long-distance trade and ancient mining. Part Two presents a comprehensive culture-history sequence through ceramic analyses, showing distributions, stylistic types and characteristic pieces. Part Three reviews and updates the main debates about black prehistory, including migration versus diffusion, the role of cattle, the origins of Mapungubwe, the rise and fall of Great Zimbabwe and the archaeology of Venda, Sotho-Tswana and Nguni speakers.""Handbook to the Iron Age"" is an abundantly illustrated study that is accessible to a wide range of people interested in African prehistory.