Phone: +49-(0)69 798 32013
Carlos Magnavita studied prehistory and protohistory, historical anthropology and geology in Frankfurt am Main. He received his doctorate from Goethe University Frankfurt in 2003 with a dissertation on the settlement history of the southwestern Chad Basin in Nigeria. As a research associate, he participated in various research projects, including the Collaborative Research Center 268 "West African Savanna" (1999 – 2003) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the DFG Research Unit 510 "Environmental and Cultural Change in West and Central Africa" (2004 – 2009), and the European Research Council (ERC) funded project "Crossroads of Empires" (2011 – 2015). He is currently conducting research on the hitherto little known connections of the Kanem-Borno Empire with other African regions as project leader in the DFG project "The Lake Chad Region as a Crossroads" (2019 – 2021).
Research interests
Thematic: settlement archaeology, archaeology of food-producing societies
Regional: West and Central Africa
Publications
Articles in jounals
2020 (mit Tchago Bouimon) „Archaeological research at tié (Kanem, Chad): excavations on Mound 1“, Afrique: Archéologie & Arts 16: 77 – 96
2018 (Carlos Magnavita, Friedrich Lüth, Siaw Appiah-Adu) „First trial geophysical surveys at Kintampo open-air sites: results, recommendations, research prospects. “Journal of African Archaeology 15 (2):105:115
2017 (Carlos Magnavita, Sonja Magnavita) “Garumele revisited: retracing vanished fired-brick elite constructions and new data on settlement foundation”, African Archaeological Review 34(2):155-175
2016 “Contributions of archaeological geophysics to field research in sub-Saharan Africa: past, present, future”, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 51(1):115-141
2016 (A. Haour, S. Nixon, D. N´Dah, C. Magnavita, A. Livingstone Smith) “The settlement mound of Birnin Lafiya: new evidence from the eastern arc of the Niger River”, Antiquity 90 (351):695-710
2009 (C. Magnavita, O. Adebayo, A. Höhn, D. Ishaya, S. Kahlheber, V. Linseele, S. Ogunseyin) “Garu Kime: a late Borno fired-brick site at Monguno, NE Nigeria”, African Archaeologial Review 26(3):219-246
2009 “Short report of a visit to the archaeological sites of Lergam and Garu Kime, Geidam L.G.A., Yobe State of Nigeria”, Borno Museum Society Newsletter 76: 55-58.
2008 (C. Magnavita, P. Breunig) “Facts and speculations: a reply to D. Lange’s The emergence of social complexity in the southern Chad Basin towards 500 BC: archaeological and other evidence”, Borno Museum Society Newsletter 72/73 & 74/75, 71-83.
2007 (S. Magnavita, A. Maga, C. Magnavita O. Idé) “New studies on Marandet (central Niger) and its trade connections: an interim report”, Zeitschrift für Archäologie Aussereuropäischer Kulturen 2:147-165
2007 (S. Magnavita, A. Maga, A., C. Magnavita, C., O. Idé) “New studies on Marandet, central Niger”, Nyame Akuma 68, 47-51.
2006 “Ancient humped cattle in Africa: A view from the Chad Basin”, African Archaeological Review 23(3-4):55-84
2006 (C. Magnavita, P. Breunig, J. Ameje, M. Posselt) „Zilum: A mid-first millennium BC fortified settlement near Lake Chad”, Journal of African Archaeology 4(1):153-169
2006 (A. G. Fahmy, C. Magnavita) “Phytoliths in a silo: micro-botanical evidence from Zilum (Lake Chad Basin), NE Nigeria (c. 500 BC)”, Journal of Biological Sciences 6(5):824-832
2004 (C. Magnavita, N. Schleifer) “A look into the earth: Evaluating the use of magnetic survey in African Archaeology”, Journal of African Archaeology 2(1):49-63
2004 (C. Magnavita, S. Kahlheber, B. Eichhorn, B.) “The rise of organisational complexity in mid-first millennium BC Chad Basin”, Antiquity 78 (301). http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/magnavita/index.html
2002 “Recent archaeological finds of domesticated Sorghum bicolor in the Lake Chad region”, Nyame Akuma 57, 14-20.
2001 (C. Magnavita, S. Magnavita) “New evidence of proto-urban settlements in the Lake Chad area”, Nyame Akuma 55, 46-50.
2000 (D. Gronenborn, C. Magnavita) “Imperial expansion, ethnic change, and ceramic traditions in the southern Chad Basin: A terminal nineteenth-century pottery assemblage from Dikwa, Nigeria”, International Journal of Historical Archaeology 4(1):35-70.
1999 “Investigating the transition from the Stone Age to the Iron Age in the southwestern Chad Basin”, Nyame Akuma 52, 55-57
Articles in edited volumes
2019 (P. Breunig, G. Franke, C. Magnavita, B. Wiesmüller) “The later prehistory and history of Northeast Nigeria”, in: P. Breunig, G, Franke (Hrsg.), Archaeological Map of Northeast Nigeria, 49-85. Frankfurt: Africa Magna
2018 „The geophysical prospection of Birnin Lafiya“, in: Anne Haour (Hrsg.), Birnin Lafiya: 2000 years in a Dendi village, 96 – 102. Leiden: Brill (Journal of African Archaeology Monographs 13) 2018 (Sonja Magnavita, Carlos Magnavita) „All that glitters is not gold: facing the myths of ancient trade between North- and sub-Saharan Africa“, in: Toby Green und Benedetta Rossi (Hrsg.), Landscapes, sources, and intellectual projects: politics, history, and the West African past, 25 – 45. Leiden: Brill
2017 (Sonja Magnavita, Carlos Magnavita) „A very brief archaeological reconnaissance of the Niger Valley in the southwestern Niger Republic“, in: N. Rupp, C. Beck, G. Franke, K.P. Wendt (Hrsg.), Winds of Change. Archaeological Contributions in Honour of Peter Breunig. 181 – 191. Bonn: Habelt Verlag (Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften 35)
2016 (C. Magnavita, L.S. da Silva Jr, D. Mutzenberg, B. Tavares, C. Oliveira) „Geofíscia aplicada à arqueologia histórica: um breve estudo de caso no Engenho Inhama, Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brasil“ in: F.L.R. Listo, D. Mutzenberg, B.A.C. Tavares, B.A.C. (Hrsg.), I Workshop de Geomorfologia e Geoarqueologia do Nordeste, 241 – 256. : Recife: GEQUA
2011 „Birni Gazargamo – die alte Hauptstadt Kanem-Bornos / Birni Gazargamo – the Early Capital of Kanem-Borno“, in: D. Gronenborn (Hrsg.), Gold, Sklaven, Elfenbein. Mittelalterliche Reiche im Norden Nigerias, 58 – 61. Mainz: RGZM
2009 (C. Magnavita, P. Breunig, D. Ishaya, O. Adebayo) “Iron Age beginnings at the southwestern margins of Lake Chad” in: Magnavita, S. / Koté, L. / Breunig, P. / Idé, O.A. (eds.), Crossroads/Carrefour Sahel: Cultural and Technological Developments in First Millennium BC/AD West Africa, 27 – 58. Frankfurt: Africa Magna (Journal of African Archaeology Monographs 2)
2006 (P. Breunig, B. Eichhorn, S. Kahlheber, V. Linseele, V., C. Magnavita, C., K. Neumann, M. Posselt, M., N. Rupp) “G(l)anz ohne Eisen: Große Siedlungen aus der Mitte des ersten Jahrtausends BC im Tschadbecken von Nordost-Nigeria”, in: H.-P. Wotzka (Hrsg.), Grundlegungen. Beiträge zur europäischen und afrikanischen Archäologie für Manfred K.H. Eggert, 255 – 270. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
2004 “Zilum - towards the emergence of socio-political complexity in the Lake Chad region”, in: M. Krings, E. Platte (Hrsg.), Living with the lake: perspectives on culture, economy and history of Lake Chad. Köln: Köppe (Westafrikanische Studien)
Publications (non peer-reviewed)
2023 (Carlos Magnavita, Mohammad Kardjala, Adoum Casimir Adjbane) „A brief archaeological reconnaissance of northern Kanem, Chad: initial evidence of early to mid-Holocene human occupation of the Lake Mega-Chad margins”, Nyame Akuma 99, 21-28.
2023 (Carlos Magnavita, Mohammad Kardjala, Adoum Casimir Adjbane) „A brief archaeological reconnaissance of northern Kanem, Chad: initial evidence of early to mid-Holocene human occupation of the Lake Mega-Chad margins”, Nyame Akuma 99, 21-28.
2017 (Magnavita, S. / Magnavita, C.) A very brief archaeological reconnaissance of the Niger Valley in the southwestern Niger Republic. In: Rupp, N., Beck, C., Franke, G. & Wendt, K.P. (Hrsg.), Winds of Change. Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften 35. Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn, pp. 181-191.
2016 (Magnavita, C. / da Silva Jr, L.S. / Mutzenberg, D. / Tavares, B. / Oliveira, C.) Geofíscia aplicada à arqueologia histórica: um breve estudo de caso no Engenho Inhama, Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brasil. In: Listo, F.L.R. / Mutzenberg, D. / Tavares, B.A.C. (Hrsg.), I Workshop de Geomorfologia e Geoarqueologia do Nordeste. GEQUA, Recife, pp. 241-256.
2011 (Magnavita, C.) Birni Gazargamo – die alte Hauptstadt Kanem-Bornos / Birni Gazargamo – the Early Capital of Kanem-Borno. In: Gronenborn, D. (Hrsg.), Gold, Sklaven, Elfenbein. Mittelalterliche Reiche im Norden Nigerias. RGZM, Mainz, pp. 58-61.
2009 (Magnavita, C.) Short report of a visit to the archaeological sites of Lergam and Garu Kime, Geidam L.G.A., Yobe State of Nigeria. Borno Museum Society Newsletter 76.
2008 (Magnavita, C. / Breunig, P.) Facts and speculations: a reply to D. Lange’s The emergence of social complexity in the southern Chad Basin towards 500 BC: archaeological and other evidence. Borno Museum Society Newsletter 72/73 & 74/75, 71-83.
2007 (Magnavita, S. / Maga, A. / Magnavita, C. / Idé, O.) New studies on Marandet, central Niger. Nyame Akuma 68, 47-51.
2006 (Breunig, P. / Eichhorn, B. / Kahlheber, S. / Linseele, V. / Magnavita, C. / Neumann, K. / Posselt, M. / Rupp, N.) G(l)anz ohne Eisen: Große Siedlungen aus der Mitte des ersten Jahrtausends BC im Tschadbecken von Nordost-Nigeria. In: Wotzka, H.-P. (ed.), Grundlegungen. Beiträge zur europäischen und afrikanischen Archäologie für Manfred K.H. Eggert. Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Tübingen, pp. 255-270.
2004 (Magnavita, C.) Zilum - towards the emergence of socio-political complexity in the Lake Chad region. In: Krings, M. & Platte, E. (Hrsg.), Living with the lake: perspectives on culture, economy and history of Lake Chad. [Westafrikanische Studien]. Köppe, Köln.
2004 (Magnavita, C. / Kahlheber, S. / Eichhorn, B.) The rise of organisational complexity in mid-first millennium BC Chad Basin. Antiquity 78 (301). http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/magnavita/index.html
2002 (Magnavita, C.) Recent archaeological finds of domesticated Sorghum bicolor in the Lake Chad region. Nyame Akuma 57, 14-20.
2001 (Magnavita, C. / Magnavita, S.) New evidence of proto-urban settlements in the Lake Chad area. Nyame Akuma 55, 46-50.
1999 (Magnavita, C.) Investigating the transition from the Stone Age to the Iron Age in the southwestern Chad Basin. Nyame Akuma 52, 55-57.ationen (peer-reviewed)
