Amazon.com description: Product Description: Urban settlements and states were a feature of precolonial societies in many parts of Africa. In this study, Graham Connah uses the direct evidence provided by archaeological investigation to demonstrate the complexity of these urban societies, to understand their origins, their economic basis and social structure. Well illustrated chapters deal with African civilizations in Nubia, Ethiopia, the West African savanna, the West African forest, the East African coast, the Zimbabwe plateau and Central Africa.