Insights into herd management among East Africa's earliest pastoralists: Combining zooarchaeological data and stable isotope analysis

Abstract

Specialized pastoralists inhabited south-central Kenya approximately 3300 BP to 1200 BP, before the entrance of iron-using agriculturalists. The social and ecological context in which these pastoral groups were managing herds differs from anything documented historically in the region. Detailed zooarchaeological analyses of slaughter patterns and dental hypoplasias, in conjunction with stable isotope data, reveal subtle differences in herd management strategies at three pastoralist sites in Kenya's Central Rift Valley and Loita Plains. Isotopic data show that early pastoralists did not herd livestock seasonally to higher altitudes. The relatively low mobility of early herders allows for the examination of differences in livestock management by herders in different ecologies. We show that frequencies of hypoplasias in cattle are relatively low compared to caprines, and that cattle also have lower frequencies of severe hypoplasias. Hypoplasia data also show that livestock in the Central Rift Valley experienced more stress than those in the Loita-Mara plains. Environmental differences between the Central Rift Valley and Loita-Mara Plains likely influenced herd management strategies, as herders in the plains adjusted slaughter patterns to cope with suboptimal grazing conditions.