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The Neolithic or New Stone Age is an archaeological period,the final division of the Stone Age in Europe,Asia and Africa. It saw the Neolithic Revolution,a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming,domestication of animals,and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.
The Neolithic Revolution,also known as the First Agricultural Revolution,was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period in Afro-Eurasia from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement,making an increasingly large population possible. These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants,learning how they grew and developed. This new knowledge led to the domestication of plants into crops.
Africa has the longest record of human habitation in the world. The first hominins emerged 6-7 million years ago,and among the earliest anatomically modern human skulls found so far were discovered at Omo Kibish,Jebel Irhoud,and Florisbad.
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.
Nomadic pastoralism is a form of pastoralism in which livestock are herded in order to seek for fresh pastures on which to graze. True nomads follow an irregular pattern of movement,in contrast with transhumance,where seasonal pastures are fixed. However,this distinction is often not observed and the term 'nomad' used for both—and in historical cases the regularity of movements is often unknown in any case. The herded livestock include cattle,water buffalo,yaks,llamas,sheep,goats,reindeer,horses,donkeys or camels,or mixtures of species. Nomadic pastoralism is commonly practised in regions with little arable land,typically in the developing world,especially in the steppe lands north of the agricultural zone of Eurasia.
Sanga cattle is the collective name for indigenous cattle of sub-Saharan 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.
Karim Sadr is an archaeologist contributing to research in southern Africa. He is the author of over 60 academic articles,a book and two edited volumes. While Sadr has contributed to the Kalahari Debate,his more recent work has focused on historical revision,re-examining the acquisition of domesticated animals and pottery in southern Africa by Hunter-gatherer. His work is reintroducing the term Neolithic back into southern African archaeological discourse from which it had previously been removed.
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.
Dhar Tichitt is a Neolithic archaeological site located in the southwestern region of the Sahara Desert in Mauritania. It is one of several settlement locations along the sandstone cliffs in the area. Tichitt culture includes Dhar Tichitt,Dhar Walata,Dhar Néma,and Dhar Tagant,and possibly sites from the Malian Lakes Region. Dhar Tichitt,which includes Dakhlet el Atrouss,may have served as the primary regional center for the multi-tiered hierarchical social structure of the Tichitt Tradition,and the Malian Lakes Region,which includes Tondidarou,may have served as a second regional center of the Tichitt Tradition. The cliffs of Dhar Tichitt were inhabited by farmers and pastoralists between 4000 BP and 2300 BP,or between 2000 BCE and 300 BCE.
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.
Gogo Falls is an archaeological site near a former and since 1956 dammed waterfall,located in the Lake Victoria Basin in Migori County,western Kenya. This site is important to archaeology as it includes some of the earliest appearances of artifacts and domestic animals in the area. The findings at the site help to reconstruct the later prehistory around Lake Victoria,including a Pastoral Neolithic occupation by Elmenteitan peoples and a later Iron Age occupation. Artifacts found at the site included pottery and iron artifacts. Through these artifacts some of the cultural traditions of the people who lived near Gogo Falls were discovered.
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez is an American archaeologist who specializes in the field of zooarchaeology. Her research has included fieldwork near Lake Turkana,northwestern Kenya,and her research often touches on the question of animal domestication and the origins and development of African pastoralism.
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.
Luxmanda is an archaeological site located in the north-central Babati District of Tanzania. It was discovered in 2012. Excavations in the area have identified it as the largest and southernmost settlement site of the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic (SPN),an archaeologically-recognized pastoralist culture centered in eastern Africa during a time period known as the Pastoral Neolithic. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal,human collagen,and organic matter in ceramic artifacts indicate that Luxmanda was occupied between 3,200 to 2,900 years ago. Ceramics,lithics,worked bone,ivory,and ostrich eggshell assemblages in addition to livestock and human bones have been recovered from the Luxmanda site. Large grinding stones have also been found,though their function remains uncertain. The people of Luxmanda were highly specialized pastoralists,relying on cattle,sheep,goats,and donkeys for subsistence. Their linguistic affiliation is unknown,but some historical linguists have speculated that the peoples of the SPN spoke Cushitic languages. The Pastoral Neolithic was followed by the Pastoral Iron Age and the Bantu Expansion.
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.
Esh Shaheinab is an African archaeological site that was occupied multiple times during the early Holocene. Artifacts from this site exemplify various traditions including the Early Khartoum,Neolithic,and Late Neolithic.
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.
References
- ↑ "Where's the love for donkeys?". New York Times. October 31, 2016.
- 1 2 "Fiona Marshall". The Source. Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
- 1 2 "Fiona Marshall | Department of Anthropology". anthropology.artsci.wustl.edu. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
- 1 2 "Installation of Professor Fiona Marshall as the James W. and Jean L. Davis Professor | Alumni and Development for Arts & Sciences". alumni.artsci.wustl.edu. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ↑ "Fiona Marshall named to the US National Academy of Sciences | Department of Anthropology". anthropology.artsci.wustl.edu. May 2, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- ↑ "New Members". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Marshall, Fiona; Hildebrand, Elisabeth (2002). "Cattle Before Crops: The Beginnings of Food Production in Africa". Journal of World Prehistory. 16 (2): 99–143. doi:10.1023/A:1019954903395. S2CID 19466568.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marshall, Fiona (1990). "Origins of Specialized Pastoral Production in East Africa". American Anthropologist. 92 (4): 873–894. doi:10.1525/aa.1990.92.4.02a00020.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shahack-Gross, Ruth; Marshall, Fiona; Weiner, Steve (2003). "Geo-Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Sites: The Identification of Livestock Enclosures in Abandoned Maasai Settlements". Journal of Archaeological Science. 30 (4): 439–459. Bibcode:2003JArSc..30..439S. doi:10.1006/jasc.2002.0853.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Marshall, Fiona; Pilgram, Tom (1991). "Meat versus within-bone nutrients: Another look at the meaning of body part representation in archaeological sites". Journal of Archaeological Science. 18 (2): 149–163. Bibcode:1991JArSc..18..149M. doi:10.1016/0305-4403(91)90044-P.
- ↑ "Cattle Before Crops: The Beginnings of Food Production in Africa – Google Scholar". scholar.google.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
- 1 2 Beja-Pereira, Albano; Caramelli, David; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Vernesi, Cristiano; Ferrand, Nuno; Casoli, Antonella; Goyache, Felix; Royo, Luis J.; Conti, Serena (May 23, 2006). "The origin of European cattle: Evidence from modern and ancient DNA". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (21): 8113–8118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0509210103 . ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1472438 . PMID 16690747.
- ↑ "Origins of specialized pastoral production in East Africa". Google Scholar. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- 1 2 3 Gifford-Gonzalez, Diane (2000). "Animal Disease Challenges to the Emergence of Pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa". African Archaeological Review. 17 (3): 95–139. doi:10.1023/A:1006601020217. ISSN 0263-0338. S2CID 161391486.
