Zooarchaeology merges the disciplines of zoology and archaeology,focusing on the analysis of animal remains within archaeological sites. This field,managed by specialists known as zooarchaeologists or faunal analysts,examines remnants such as bones,shells,hair,chitin,scales,hides,and proteins,such as DNA,to derive insights into historical human-animal interactions and environmental conditions. While bones and shells tend to be relatively more preserved in archaeological contexts,the survival of faunal remains is generally infrequent. The degradation or fragmentation of faunal remains presents challenges in the accurate analysis and interpretation of data.
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan,Sudan,Ethiopia,Uganda,Kenya,the eastern border area of Democratic Republic of the Congo,Rwanda,Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-speaking peoples,Teso people also known as Iteso or people of Teso,Karo peoples,Luo peoples,Ateker peoples,Kalenjin peoples,Karamojong people also known as the Karamojong or Karimojong,Datooga,Dinka,Nuer,Atwot,Lotuko,and the Maa-speaking peoples.
Lake Turkana is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley,in northern Kenya,with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea,Issyk-Kul,and Lake Van,and among all lakes it ranks 24th.
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing,historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal species involved include cattle,camels,goats,yaks,llamas,reindeer,horses,and sheep.
The Turkana are a Nilotic people native to the Turkana County in northwest Kenya,a semi-arid climate region bordering Lake Turkana in the east,Pokot,Rendille and Samburu people to the south,Uganda to the west,to the South Sudan and Ethiopia to the north.
Uan Muhuggiag is an archaeological site in Libya that was occupied by pastoralists between the early Holocene and mid-Holocene;the Tashwinat mummy,which was found at Uan Muhuggiag,was dated to 5600 BP and presently resides in the Assaraya Alhamra Museum in Tripoli.
The Daasanach are an ethnic group inhabiting parts of Ethiopia,Kenya,and South Sudan. Their main homeland is in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations,Nationalities,and People's Region,adjacent to Lake Turkana. According to the 2007 national census,they number 48,067 people,of whom 1,481 are urban dwellers.
Sanga cattle is the collective name for indigenous cattle of some regions in Africa. They are sometimes identified as a subspecies with the scientific name Bos taurus africanus. Their history of domestication and their origins in relation to taurine cattle,zebu cattle (indicine),and native African varieties of the ancestral aurochs are a matter of debate. "African taurine","sanga","zenga","sheko","African indicine" are all sub-groups of Sanga cattle.
The Savanna Pastoral Neolithic is a collection of ancient societies that appeared in the Rift Valley of East Africa and surrounding areas during a time period known as the Pastoral Neolithic. They were South Cushitic speaking pastoralists who tended to bury their dead in cairns,whilst their toolkit was characterized by stone bowls,pestles,grindstones and earthenware pots.
The Pastoral Neolithic refers to a period in Africa's prehistory,specifically Tanzania and Kenya,marking the beginning of food production,livestock domestication,and pottery use in the region following the Later Stone Age. The exact dates of this time period remain inexact,but early Pastoral Neolithic sites support the beginning of herding by 5000 BP. In contrast to the Neolithic in other parts of the world,which saw the development of farming societies,the first form of African food production was nomadic pastoralism,or ways of life centered on the herding and management of livestock. The shift from hunting to food production relied on livestock that had been domesticated outside of East Africa,especially North Africa. This period marks the emergence of the forms of pastoralism that are still present. The reliance on livestock herding marks the deviation from hunting-gathering but precedes major agricultural development. The exact movement tendencies of Neolithic pastoralists are not completely understood.
Ngamuriak is an archaeological site located in south-western Kenya. It has been interpreted as an Elmenteitan Pastoral Neolithic settlement. The excavation of this site produced pottery sherds,stone tools with obsidian fragments and obsidian blades,along with large amounts of animal bones.
Fiona Marshall is an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Her methodological specialties are zooarchaeology and ethnoarchaeology. She has excavated Pastoral Neolithic sites in eastern Africa,focusing primarily on the domestication and herding of animals,particularly cattle and donkeys. She has also conducted ethnoarchaeological research on factors that affect body part representation in archaeological sites,and on foraging ways of life amongst Okiek people of the western Mau Escarpment,Kenya. She has also worked to conserve the Laetoli footprints.
The Elmenteitan culture was a prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition with a distinct pattern of land use,hunting and pastoralism that appeared and developed on the western plains of Kenya,East Africa during the Pastoral Neolithic c.3300-1200 BP. It was named by archaeologist Louis Leakey after Lake Elmenteita,a soda lake located in the Great Rift Valley,about 120 km (75 mi) northwest of Nairobi.
The Lothagam North Pillar Site, registered as GeJi9,is an archaeological site at Lothagam on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya dating to the Pastoral Neolithic and the Holocene. It is a communal cemetery,built between 3000 BCE and 2300 BCE by the region's earliest herders as rainfall in the area decreased and Lake Turkana receded. It is thought to be eastern Africa's largest and earliest monumental cemetery.
Pastoral rock art is the most common form of Central Saharan rock art,created in painted and engraved styles depicting pastoralists and bow-wielding hunters in scenes of animal husbandry,along with various animals,spanning from 6300 BCE to 700 BCE. The Pastoral Period is preceded by the Round Head Period and followed by the Caballine Period. The Early Pastoral Period spanned from 6300 BCE to 5400 BCE. Domesticated cattle were brought to the Central Sahara,and given the opportunity for becoming socially distinguished,to develop food surplus,as well as to acquire and aggregate wealth,led to the adoption of a cattle pastoral economy by some Central Saharan hunter-gatherers of the Late Acacus. In exchange,cultural information regarding utilization of vegetation in the Central Sahara was shared by Late Acacus hunter-gatherers with incoming Early Pastoral peoples.
The history of East Africa has been divided into its prehistory,the major polities flourishing,the colonial period,and the post-colonial period,in which the current nations were formed. East Africa is the eastern region of Africa,bordered by North Africa,Central Africa,Southern Africa,the Indian Ocean,and the Sahara Desert. Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary East African states,cutting across ethnic and cultural lines,often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more states.
The Tichitt Culture,or Tichitt Tradition,was created by proto-Mande peoples. In 4000 BCE,the start of sophisticated social structure developed among herders amid the Pastoral Period of the Sahara. Saharan pastoral culture was intricate. By 1800 BCE,Saharan pastoral culture expanded throughout the Saharan and Sahelian regions. The initial stages of sophisticated social structure among Saharan herders served as the segue for the development of sophisticated hierarchies found in African settlements,such as Dhar Tichitt. After migrating from the Central Sahara,proto-Mande peoples established their civilization in the Tichitt region of the Western Sahara. The Tichitt Tradition of eastern Mauritania dates from 2200 BCE to 200 BCE.
Kadero is an African archaeological site located in Central Sudan,northeast of Khartoum,Sudan and east of the Nile River. The site consists of burial grounds and two sand mounds around 1.5 meters in elevation,altogether encompassing around three hectares. Excavations at the site were led by Lech Krzyżaniak at the University of Warsaw. Kadero was occupied during the Neolithic period,dating to the years 5960 through 5030 B.P specifically,by pastoralists. The inhabitants of Kadero left behind evidence of intensive pastoralism,which is the earliest evidence of such phenomena in the area. Analysis of ceramics and stone artifacts have led archaeologists to consider the site as comparable to other early Neolithic sites in central Sudan,such as Ghaba and R12,placing the site in the early Khartoum culture.
The prehistory of East Africa spans from the earliest human presence in the region until the emergence of the Iron Age in East Africa. Between 1,600,000 BP and 1,500,000 BP,the Homo ergaster known as Nariokotome Boy resided near Nariokotome River,Kenya. Modern humans,who left behind remains,resided at Omo Kibish in 233,000 BP. Afro-Asiatic speakers and Nilo-Saharan speakers expanded in East Africa,resulting in transformation of food systems of East Africa. Prehistoric West Africans may have diverged into distinct ancestral groups of modern West Africans and Bantu-speaking peoples in Cameroon,and,subsequently,around 5000 BP,the Bantu-speaking peoples migrated into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Jarigole pillar site is one of the megalithic communal cemetery sites in Lake Turkana Basin in Northern Kenya associated with the Pastoral Neolithic period. The site is located on the eastern shores of Lake Turkana in the southeastern edge of the Sibiloi National Park. Situated in a recessional beach which is 70 m (230 ft) above the 1973 lake level,the site includes oval platforms >1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft) with a circular mound,and 28 basalt pillars each weighing about 200 kg (440 lb) and moved over a distance of 2 km (1.2 mi) from the site. The site is believed to have been constructed by the first wave of ancient herders who migrated to the region down from the Sahara around 5,000 years ago,a period marked by rapid climatic,economic and social change.
