Archaeology of Early Pastoralism in East Africa

The first East African pastoralists arrived at the shores of Lake Turkana soon after the end of the African Humid Period, about 5,000 years ago. In the preceding millennia of the Holocene, fishing economies characterized East Africa. The domestic animals of the early pastoralists were not indigenous to East Africa, nor did they spread through the region simultaneously. Early pastoralist archaeological sites around Lake Turkana comprise settlements and remarkable monumental cemeteries. The expansion of pastoralists further south through East Africa was a two-stage process, probably because of the challenges posed by the presence of diseases fatal to livestock. First, caprines spread south and appear to have been integrated into existing forager subsistence systems. Then, starting toward the end of the 2nd millennium bce, specialized pastoralism began to be established across central and southern Kenya and into northern Tanzania. While analysis of lipid residues on potsherds has demonstrated that these Pastoral Neolithic (PN) peoples milked their animals, the question of whether agriculture was also practiced remains unresolved. Analyses of ancient DNA have shown there were at least two episodes of demic diffusion associated with the spread and establishment of the PN in East Africa. Considerable diversity is present in the PN, with three distinct cultures generally recognized across East Africa south of Lake Turkana. Moreover, there is even greater diversity observed in the decoration and shapes of ceramics. However, this cultural diversity is not matched by human genetic diversity, at least among the analyzed skeletons from two of the three cultures—the Elmenteitan and the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic.

Mobility and Subsistence Patterns among Mid-Holocene Pastoralists in East Africa

Pastoralism in eastern Africa was characterized by a form of niche broadening and diversification when viewed within the context of mobility and subsistence patterns. In East Africa, Pastoral Neolithic cultures entail those groups who herded domesticated animals and used stone tools and ceramics as part of their subsistence package. Climatic and demographic pressures after 6,000 bp pushed Neolithic pastoralists living in the Nile River Valley southward toward East Africa, where they encountered savanna habitats that were ideal for herding. Pastoralist mobility and subsistence patterns are reviewed from the perspective of how animal herders occupied distinct niches on the landscape. The development of the Pastoral Neolithic was lengthy and complex. The current state of archaeological evidence for early pastoral cultures in East Africa are examined to evaluate how prehistoric herders may have varied their mobility and subsistence patterns so as to opportunistically exploit specific ecological niches in the landscape. The exchange and mobility networks are also examined on how pastoralist groups in new lands exploited those networks with local foragers so as to acquire familiar resources in unfamiliar landscapes. The role of forgers as active participants in the inception and spread of pastoralism is reviewed. Finally, the social organization and groupings that necessitated these early herders to come together and build megalithic monuments is examined, highlighting how pastoralists had come together in times of severe aridity to build megalithic structures that served as a reminder of their shared identity. The early herders tended to have been less mobile, since resources were plenty and predictable. Later on, as aridity intensified, pastoralists adapted a broad-based subsistence pattern. When placed within the larger paleoenvironmental and cultural context, pastoralists adapted their mobility and subsistence to specific ecosystems based on the potential of the land to provide adequate sustenance for themselves and their livestock. Pastoralists also needed to adjust to several challenges specific to different ecological niches they occupied, such as livestock diseases, predation, as well as severe droughts. In understanding the prehistory of eastern Africa, pastoralism is fundamental: pastoralism formed the foundation of the transition to food production, spread widely, and has persisted as a primary subsistence system in the region over three millennia.

Molecular and isotopic evidence for milk, meat, and plants in prehistoric eastern African herder food systems

The development of pastoralism transformed human diets and societies in grasslands worldwide. The long-term success of cattle herding in Africa has been sustained by dynamic food systems, consumption of a broad range of primary and secondary livestock products, and the evolution of lactase persistence (LP), which allows digestion of lactose into adulthood and enables the milk-based, high-protein, low-calorie diets characteristic of contemporary pastoralists. Despite the presence of multiple alleles associated with LP in ancient and present-day eastern African populations, the contexts for selection for LP and the long-term development of pastoralist foodways in this region remain unclear. Pastoral Neolithic (c. 5000 to 1200 BP) faunas indicate that herders relied on cattle, sheep, and goats and some hunting, but direct information on milk consumption, plant use, and broader culinary patterns is rare. Combined chemical and isotopic analysis of ceramic sherds (n = 125) from Pastoral Neolithic archaeological contexts in Kenya and Tanzania, using compound-specific δ13C and Δ13C values of the major fatty acids, provides chemical evidence for milk, meat, and plant processing by ancient herding societies in eastern Africa. These data provide the earliest direct evidence for milk product consumption and reveal a history of reliance on animal products and other nutrients, likely extracted through soups or stews, and plant foods. They document a 5,000-y temporal framework for eastern Africa pastoralist cuisines and cultural contexts for selection for alleles distinctive of LP in eastern Africa.

Medical imaging as a taphonomic tool

Purpose Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Medical radiological techniques allowed us to discriminate and isolate the tissues preserved thanks to their different electron density, driving us to detailed examinations of features of interest. Findings With a focus on anatomy and taphonomy, the authors infer on post-depositional phenomena in a way that could not be achieved through traditional approaches. Originality/value The investigation of digital data allows to acquire new sets of information with no risk for the original object. This case study is especially important considering that the human remains from Takarkori are currently not available to the scientific community due to political instability in Lybia.

Coprolites from Rock Shelters: Hunter-Gatherers “Herding” Barbary Sheep in the Early Holocene Sahara

Archaeological deposits in rock shelters have enormous informative potential, particularly in arid environments where organic materials are well preserved. In these areas, sub-fossilized coprolites and dung remains have been identified as valuable proxies for inferences about past environments, subsistence economies and cultural trajectories. Here we present a multidisciplinary analysis of bovid (ovicaprine) coprolites collected from the Early Holocene hunter-gatherer occupation at Takarkori rock shelter (SW Libya, central Sahara). Our results show that Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) were managed as early as ~9500 years cal BP, mostly with the rearing of juveniles. Palynological analysis of individual pellets suggests a seasonal confinement of the animals and the selection of fodder. GIS analysis of coprolite distribution also indicates sophisticated strategies of Barbary sheep “herding” and spatial differentiation of specialized areas within the rock shelter, including the construction and use of a stone-based enclosure for corralling animals. These highly structured and organized forms of control over wild animals are interpreted as a potential co-evolutionary trigger for the subsequent rapid adoption and integration of the incoming pastoral Neolithic economy.

Ancient DNA reveals a multistep spread of the first herders into sub-Saharan Africa

How food production first entered eastern Africa ~5000 years ago and the extent to which people moved with livestock is unclear. We present genome-wide data from 41 individuals associated with Later Stone Age, Pastoral Neolithic (PN), and Iron Age contexts in what are now Kenya and Tanzania to examine the genetic impacts of the spreads of herding and farming. Our results support a multiphase model in which admixture between northeastern African–related peoples and eastern African foragers formed multiple pastoralist groups, including a genetically homogeneous PN cluster. Additional admixture with northeastern and western African–related groups occurred by the Iron Age. These findings support several movements of food producers while rejecting models of minimal admixture with foragers and of genetic differentiation between makers of distinct PN artifacts.