New excavations at Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania

Abstract

Mumba Rockshelter in northern Tanzania presents one of the richest and most complete archaeological sequences in East Africa for the Middle Stone Age through the Iron Age. Past excavations of the shelter revealed an extremely rich lithic and faunal assemblage, but were problematic, either because of poor excavation and recording methods (in the 1930s), or because the materials were never fully studied (in the 1979/1981 excavations). In both cases, excavators had concluded that the shelter contained a deposit without visible separation between archaeological levels. Re-excavation of Mumba, using modern techniques for recording spatial data, show that the previous geological and archaeological sub-divisions of the shelter deposits need much revision. The results of the excavation have implications for the interpretation of the “transitional” Mumba Industry in the Pleistocene levels and for the co-occurrence of ceramic traditions in the Holocene levels.