Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Pastoral Neolithic of East Afica Revisited through a New Chronology for the Emergence of Pastoralism from Tsavo National Park, Kenya

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Chapurukha M. Kusimba, David Wright will undertake archaeological excavations and analysis at the site of Mtembea kwa Barafu in Tsavo, Kenya. Mtembea kwa Barafu is located on the banks of the Galana River within Tsavo East National Park and was a large, prehistoric village that dates to at least 2,000 BC. There is evidence that the village was inhabited many times over thousands of years based on the discovery of distinct layers of pottery, animal bones and stone tools eroding from separate river terraces at the site. The earliest dated occupation of the site occurs at during the time when people in East Africa were changing their subsistence patterns from one that was based solely on hunting and gathering to one that revolved around domesticated food products. Wright's excavations have great potential to enhance general understandings of the environmental and social factors that played a role in the transition from foraging to domestication. Archaeologists have long been interested in determining how, when and why people decided to adopt domesticates. For millions of years, hominids successfully hunted and gathered their food, but only in the last 10,000 years has domestication of plants and animals occurred. Domestication is recognized as an important social transition-one that allowed for the development of densely populated urban centers, surplus economies and political power vested in small groups of individuals rather than spread throughout a community. Understanding the environmental conditions present during the origins of domesticated plants and animals can answer whether or not extreme climatic stimuli may have played a part in encouraging people to adopt domesticates. In order to answer important questions regarding incipient domestication processes high precision dating methods such as Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon analysis and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) will provide an accurate chronology of when people settled at Mtembea kwa Barafu. These methods will also assist in interpreting river aggrading and downcutting for the last several thousand years, which is an important indicator of general environmental conditions in the area. Coupled with advances in the Quaternary sciences that are providing detailed regional and global understandings of past environments, these data will be important for framing occupations of Mtembea kwa Barafu in a specific environmental context. As a result of this work, archaeologists will have a clearer picture from the perspective of one site that can elucidate general motivations behind altering human subsistence patterns that functioned uninterrupted for millions of years. These data will also assist in developing a sustainable future for modern African pastoralists, who are challenged by restricted land allocations for grazing and watering their animals. By looking at successful land-use strategies of the past, the laws that regulate the distribution of grazing land and restrict the use of resources can be more effectively targeted to meet the needs of herding people today as well as preserve the ecosystem for future generations. The Tsavo research agenda is long term and will eventually solicit the assistance of local community leaders in presenting data of past and current pastoral lifeways to the international donors and government officials who design land management policies. However, funds for the current project will be used to build the dataset of prehistoric pastoral adaptations and will be presented in Wright's upcoming doctoral dissertation, peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Future efforts to broaden the scope of presentation to the American and international public will be augmented by the research undertaken in this year's project.