This volume proposes a supplemental approach to interdisciplinary historical reconstructions
that draw on archaeological and linguistic data. The introduction lays out the supplemental
approach situating it in the broader context of similar interdisciplinary research methods in
other world regions. Reflecting the arguments of the volume and its goal to document the
process rather than the outcome of interdisciplinary collaboration the volume is organized
into two two-chapter case studies. Within each case study the non-specialist develops an
historical interpretation using their own research findings and published data from the other
discipline.This chapter is followed by critical commentary from the specialist a dialogue
clarifying the commentary and specialists' methods and a second short historical
interpretation that deploys insights from the supplemental approach. The conclusion reflects on
the challenges of disciplinary conventions to interdisciplinary research and the contribution
of the supplemental approach to efforts to know the history of oral societies in Africa and
beyond
