Phone: +49 069-79832105
Gabriele Franke studied prehistory and early history, historical ethnology, and archaeometry in Frankfurt am Main. Her dissertation on the chronology and ceramics of the Nigerian Nok culture, with which she received her doctorate in 2015, was awarded the Christa Verhein Prize for the Advancement of Archaeology in 2016. As a research associate, she worked from 2009 to 2021 in the long-term project "Development of Complex Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Nok Culture of Nigeria," funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), where she was primarily responsible for ceramic analyses, chronology, and long-term data preservation. Currently, she is involved in the DFG project "Rock Art of the Mik Mountains, Namibia, in the Context of Settlement History and Landscape".
Main research topics
Publications
Articles in Journals
2022 (J. Dunne, A. Höhn, K. Neumann, G. Franke, P. Breunig, L. Champion, T. Gillard, C. Walton-Doyle & R.P. Evershed) Making the invisible visible: tracing the origins of plants in West African cuisine through archaeobotanical and organic residue analysis. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14, 30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01476-0
2021 (J. Dunne, A. Höhn, G. Franke, K. Neumann, P. Breunig, T. Gillard, C. Walton-Doyle & R.P. Evershed) Honey-collecting in prehistoric West Africa from 3500 years ago. Nature Communications 12, 2227. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4
2020 (G. Franke, A. Höhn, A. Schmidt, S. Ozainne, P. Breunig & K. Neumann) Pits, pots and plants at Pangwari – deciphering the nature of a Nok Culture site. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 55 (2), 129-188.
2017 (A. Fagg Rackham, G. Franke, H. Junius, Tanja M. Männel & C. Beck) Early West African Iron Smelting: The Legacy of Taruga in Light of Recent Nok Research. African Archaeological Review 34 (3), 321-343.
2016 A chronology of the Central Nigerian Nok Culture - 1500 BC to the beginning of the Common Era. Journal of African Archaeology 14 (3), 257-289.
2008 (P. Breunig, G. Franke & M. Nüsse) Early sculptural traditions in West Africa: new evidence from the Chad Basin of north-eastern Nigeria. Antiquity 82 (316), 423-437.
Monographs and articles in edited volumes
2019 (P. Breunig, P. & G. Franke) (eds.) Archaeological Map of Northeast Nigeria. Africa Magna, Frankfurt.
2019 "Radiocarbon Dates from Archaeological Sites in Northeast Nigeria." In: P. Breunig & G. Franke (eds.), Archaeological Map of Northeast Nigeria. Africa Magna, Frankfurt, pp. 115-135.
2018 (A. Höhn, G. Franke & A. Schmidt) "Pits at Pangwari: charcoal taphonomy at a multi-phased Nok site, central Nigeria." In: A. M. Mercuri, C. D'Andrea, R. Fornaciari & A. Höhn (eds.), Plants and people in the African past: progress in African archaeobotany. Springer Nature, Cham, pp. 271-299.
2017 Potsherds in time - the pottery of the Nigerian Nok Culture and its chronology. Verlag Dr. Hut, München. http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/42210
2017 (G. Franke & C. Beck) ""Early Nok" or Not? Linking Sites of the Second Millennium BCE in Central Nigeria to the Nok Culture." In: N. Rupp, C. Beck, G. Franke & K. P. Wendt (eds.), Winds of Change - Archaeological Contributions in Honour of Peter Breunig. Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften 35. Habelt-Verlag, Bonn, pp. 263-273.
2017 (N. Rupp, C. Beck, G. Franke & K. P. Wendt) (eds.) Winds of Change - Archaeological Contributions in Honour of Peter Breunig. Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften 35. Habelt-Verlag, Bonn.
2014 (P. Breunig & G. Franke) "How old is the Nok Culture?" In: P. Breunig (ed.), Nok - African Sculpture in Archaeological Context. Africa Magna, Frankfurt, pp. 130-136.
2014 "When sherds speak - the pottery of the Nok Culture." In: P. Breunig (ed.), Nok - African Sculpture in Archaeological Context. Africa Magna, Frankfurt, pp. 168-177.
2013 (P. Breunig & G. Franke) "Das Alter der Nok-Kultur." In: P. Breunig (ed.), Nok - ein Ursprung afrikanischer Skulptur. Africa Magna, Frankfurt, pp. 136-142.
2013 "Was Scherben erzählen - Die Keramik der Nok-Kultur." In: P. Breunig (ed.), Nok - ein Ursprung afrikanischer Skulptur. Africa Magna, Frankfurt, pp. 176-185.
2010 "The Pottery of the Central Nigerian Nok Culture - Interim Results of the Chronological Analysis." In: I. Thiaw & H. Bocoum (eds.), Preserving African Cultural Heritage. Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Panafrican Archaeological Association for Prehistory and Related Studies (PAA) and of the 20th meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA). Mémoires de L'IFAN - Cheikh Anta Diop 93. IFAN, Dakar, pp. 329-336.
Further
2013 Eine Uhr aus Scherben. Spektrum der Wissenschaft 10/13, 16-19.
2009 No title (object descriptions). In: A. Sibeth (ed.), Being object. Being art. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen-Berlin, pp. 90, 92, 126, 134, 140, 142.
2007 Malankari. Eine früheisenzeitliche Großsiedlung im Tschadbecken von Nordost-Nigeria. M.A. thesis, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main. http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/year/2008/docId/178
2002 "Kaliforniens Korbkunst." In: Ch. Feest (ed.), Indian Times. Nachrichten aus dem Roten Amerika. European Review of Native American Studies (ERNAS), Altenstadt, pp. 70-71.
2002 Sandalen. In: Ch. Feest (ed.), Indian Times. Nachrichten aus dem Roten Amerika. European Review of Native American Studies (ERNAS), Altenstadt, p. 77.
