Kansyore Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers Abandoned the Northeastern Lake Victoria Shoreline during an Arid Period in the Middle Holocene: A Reconsideration of Dates from Western Kenya with New Radiometric and Faunal Evidence from the Namundiri A Shell Midden, Eastern Uganda

Mica B Jones,Ruth Tibesasa

doi:10.1163/21915784-bja10014

Mica B Jones, Ruth Tibesasa

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-bja10014

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Abstract

Abstract Kansyore pottery-using groups of the northeastern Lake Victoria Basin represent one of only a few examples of ‘complex’ hunter-gatherers in Africa. Archaeologists link evidence of specialized fishing, a seasonal land-use cycle between lake and riverine sites, and intensive investment in ceramic production to behavioral complexity after 9 thousand years ago (ka). However, a gap in the Kansyore radiocarbon record of the region between ~7 and 4.4 cal ka limits explanations of when and why social and economic changes occurred. This study provides the first evidence of lakeshore occupation during this temporal break at the only well-studied Kansyore site in eastern Uganda, Namundiri A. Within the context of other sites in nearby western Kenya, radiometric and faunal data from the site indicate a move from the lake to a greater reliance on riverine habitats with middle Holocene aridity ~5–4 cal ka and the arrival of food producers to the region after ~3 cal ka.

Highlights

Technological elaboration and ownership of resources are thought to signal ‘complexity’ among Kansyore ceramicproducing fisher-hunter-gatherers in the northeasternLake Victoria Basin of East Africa during the early and middle Holocene (Dale et al 2004; Dale 2007; Prendergast 2010; Prendergast & Lane 2010)
We quantified the assemblage by Number of Identifiable Specimens (NISP) and Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) (Klein & Cruz-Uribe 1984: 24–32; Reitz & Wing 1999: 191–200)
We focus on the five sites with quantitative taxonomic data (NISP and MNI) for both fish and non-fish remains

Summary

Introduction

Technological elaboration and ownership of resources are thought to signal ‘complexity’ among Kansyore ceramicproducing fisher-hunter-gatherers in the northeasternLake Victoria Basin of East Africa during the early and middle Holocene (Dale et al 2004; Dale 2007; Prendergast 2010; Prendergast & Lane 2010). The concept of complexity, in this case, is linked to Woodburn’s (1982) notion of delayed-return hunting and gathering, which emphasizes future food availability, reduced mobility, and hierarchical social structures. Archaeologists often point to evidence of seasonal resource-use, sedentism, food storage, and the exploitation of abundant marine environments when identifying complex or delayed-return hunter-gatherers in the past (Arnold 1996; Binford 2001). Researchers link seasonal and longerterm environmental changes to social, economic, and political reorganization among hunter-gatherers, as in temperate Eurasia and North America (Angelbeck & Grier 2012; Wengrow & Graeber 2015) and arid northern Africa (di Lernia 2001; Garcea 2001, 2006; Barich 2013). Studies in Mediterranean Eurasia (Byrd 2005; Munro 2009; Stutz et al 2009; Maher et al 2012) and coastal southern Africa (Jerardino 2010, 2012) highlight the role of changing social dynamics – including rising human populations

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