The development and expansion of the field and irrigation systems at Engaruka, Tanzania

Abstract

Since the early 1960s the site of Engaruka in north-eastern Tanzania has been recognised as the remains of a Late Iron Age, primarily arable, economy, comprising large areas of stone-bounded fields overlooked by a series of terraced settlements. This picture has subsequently been refined by a number of archaeological surveys which have demonstrated that the vast majority of the former cultivation area was served by a complex system of irrigation channels which, on the basis of current information, make the site a comparatively rare and early example of an East African irrigated agronomy, and indeed it is the largest known site of this type to have been comprehensively abandoned prior to European contact. Yet despite the evident economic importance of the field area, all previous excavations at the site have focussed on the habitation terraces or on the stone enclosures and cairns located within the field system, rather than on the field and irrigation structures themselves. The fieldwork reported upon here represents an initial attempt to rectify this situation, and although this paper is intended to act primarily as a brief summary of these findings, it will also be argued that the site does not yet deserve its reputation as an example of local environmental mismanagement.

Keywords:

• Engaruka
• irrigation
• terracing
• site development
• intensive agriculture