Seronera: Excavations at a Stone Bowl Site in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Summary

Excavations at six localities at Seronera in the Serengeti National Park of northern Tanzania have revealed traces of prehistoric occupation from the “Middle Stone Age” to within the present millennium. A stratigraphical sequence of pottery styles was established; the earliest ware being of Gumban A type, here dated to around the first century B.C. Subsequent and perhaps partly contemporary with the Gumban A material is a previously unrecorded ware now named TIP (= thin incised panelled) ware. This is now recognised at other sites, where it has been dated to the first millennium A.D. It was succeeded by plain and rouletted ware thought to be of relatively recent date. A few sherds were also attributed to Kansyore ware but their position in the sequence could not be ascertained. Stone bowls were recovered at Seronera but could not incontrovertibly be associated with any of the pottery wares: it is suggested that they are best attributed to the makers of the Gumban A pottery. Hunting was evidently of economic importance throughout the occupation: the data concerning the occurrence of domestic cattle are inconclusive.