New archaeological discoveries from the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya

Abstract

This research builds on the results of a three year interdisciplinary project carried out by the British Institute in Eastern Africa on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya. Recent investigations at the Maasai Plains Site, a large Pastoral Iron Age site located on present-day Mugie Ranch, have produced one of the largest and most complete collections of Kisima ware to date. In addition, newly discovered Pastoral Neolithic open-air sites are described further southeast on Lolldaiga Ranch. Not only are substantial Pastoral Neolithic open-air sites present on the Laikipia Plateau, but their size and spatial distribution compares to Pastoral Neolithic sites already discovered in the southwestern and Central Rift Valley regions of Kenya.

La recherche présentée ici complémente un projet interdisciplinaire de trois ans mené par l'Institut Britannique de l'Afrique de l'Est dans le plateau de Laikipia, au Kenya. Des enquêtes récentes au site de Maasai Plains, un grand site archéologique de l'age du fer pastoral qui se trouve dans l'actuel Ranch de Mugie, ont produit l'une des plus grandes et plus complètes collections de poterie du style Kisima connue jusqu’à présent. D'ailleurs, des nouveaux sites en plein air appartenant au néolithique pastoral, récemment découverts au sud-est du site Maassai Plains, en Lolldaiga Ranch, sont aussi présentés dans ce travail. Les sites du néolithique pastoral sont non seulement abondants dans le Plateau de Laikipia, mais leurs dimensions et distribution spatiale sont comparables à des sites du néolithique pastoral déjà découverts dans les régions du sud-ouest et du rift central au Kenya.

Keywords:

• Laikipia Plateau
• pastoralist archaeology
• Maasai Plains Site
• Kisima ware
• Pastoral Neolithic

Acknowledgements

I thank Peter Mitchell and Gary Lock for their thoughtful insights and careful suggestions regarding the results of this research, as well as Paul Lane and the British Institute in Eastern Africa for providing digital data and logistical support in the field. A great deal of gratitude is expressed to Jaanika Vider, who is responsible for the elaborate illustrations of stone tools depicted in this article, and to Philip Owiti, who drew the pottery types discovered at Laikipia. Mulu Muia, of the University of Illinois and research affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya, placed the various stone artefacts collected at Laikipia into formal typologies. Simiyu Wandibba, of the University of Nairobi and also an affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya, assisted in the identification of pottery types. Funding for both field seasons was provided by the Tweedie Exploration Fellowship, the Meyerstein Research Award, and the Barbinder-Watson Trust Fund. In addition, I owe thanks to the following individuals for their help with this research: Albert Robinson, Mathews Lekupe, Solomon Pomerantz, Jonathan Barnes, Claus Mortenson, Robert Wells, Joseph Mutua, Stephen Manoa, Thomas Lekanyia, Charles Hilton, Chris Gosden, John Giblin, Carolyn Thorp, John Sutton, Matt Davies, Fumi Mizutani, and all of the students and local people who partook in field research with me at Mugie and Lolldaiga Ranches in 2005 and 2006. Lastly, I owe a final debt of gratitude to my wife, Rabia Durgun, who not only put up with my extended absences, but also participated in fieldwork during the 2006 field season and refitted many of the ceramics pictured in this article. This research was conducted in affiliation with the Department of Archaeology at the National Museums of Kenya and with permission from the Kenyan Government (Research Permit No. MOST 13/001/36C 445).

Notes

1. A more detailed discussion of the artefacts recovered from Laikipia (including GPS points for those collected within a 3m radius) can be found in my DPhil dissertation entitled: ‘Delineating pastoralist behaviour and long-term environmental change: A GIS landscape approach on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya’ which is held at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. All of the artefacts collected in the field are currently housed at the BIEA in Nairobi, Kenya.

2. See my DPhil dissertation for detailed maps, GIS models, photographs, and GPS points for the Pastoral Neolithic sites discussed in the text.