Long-term Trends in Terrestrial and Marine Invertebrate Exploitation on the Eastern African Coast: Insights from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar

Abstract

The nature and trajectory of coastal and maritime adaptations, and the complex ways foraging economies have been structured to include both marine and terrestrial resources, are becoming key topics of interest in African archaeological research. There is, therefore, an increasing need to understand the longer-term context for more recent shifts in coastal economies, and for greater attention to be paid to the role of a broader spectrum of resources. This is particularly the case for terrestrial and marine molluscs, which have been somewhat overlooked in discussions centered on past economies in the region. The relative importance of these comparatively small-bodied faunal resources requires evaluation, particularly given their ubiquity within the archaeological record, and their potentially important contribution to dietary and economic practices. Kuumbi Cave, located in the southeast of Zanzibar (Unguja) Island, provides the ideal opportunity to investigate long-term trends in invertebrate use on the eastern African coast and islands. Here we discuss not only the trajectory of coastal resource exploitation and coastal economic adaptations in the region from the late Pleistocene, but also the significance of Kuumbi Cave as one of the few sites in eastern Africa that represents significant levels of exploitation of large terrestrial gastropods.

Keywords:

• Archaeomalacology
• foragers
• coastal adaptations
• escargotières
• coastal economy

Acknowledgements

Fieldwork was funded by an award to NB from the European Research Council (206148). The 2015 mollusc analyses were funded by a University of Sydney, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Support Scheme grant to PF. We wish to acknowledge the ongoing support of Dr. Amina Issa (Director) and staff of the Department of Museums and Antiquities for facilitating this research. We also thank the Department of Forest and Non-Renewable Natural Resources for approving the modern Achatinidae sample collection, and the staff at the Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park for their assistance and guidance during the collection of these specimens. The authors thank Tam Smith for her discussions on aspects of the analyses and interpretations presented in this paper, and we thank the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments on the manuscript.