Exploring agriculture, interaction and trade on the eastern African littoral: preliminary results from Kenya

Abstract

There is a growing interest in transoceanic connections between prehistoric communities occupying the Indian Ocean rim. Corroborative and well-sequenced archaeological data from eastern Africa have, however, been notably lacking. Recent excavations by the Sealinks Project in the coastal region of Kenya has sought to redress this imbalance by collecting base-line data on the local communities occupying this region between c. 1000 BC and AD 1000. Although our analyses are still preliminary, the quality of faunal and botanical material recovered demonstrates considerable potential for exploring local interactions and transitions between early hunter-forager and food-producing communities. A key finding in this regard was the identification of a suite of African crops (Sorghum, Pennisetum and Eleusine) at first millennium AD farming and hunter-forager sites, providing the first significant evidence for early agriculture on the Kenyan coast and the role of crops in forager-farmer trade. Other material data, notably the transfer of marine shell and glass beads inland, and the use of ceramics, indicate a tentative correspondence between the increased intensity of such local interactions in the latter half of the first millennium AD and the emergence of wider Indian Ocean connections.

Récemment, les liaisons transocéaniques entre les communautés préhistoriques vivant autour de l'Océan Indien ont de plus en plus attiré l'attention. Il subsiste néanmoins pour l'Afrique Orientale un manque de données archéologiques solides et chronologiquement bien calées. Les fouilles récentes du projet Sealinks sur la région côtière du Kenya ont pour but de combler cette lacune, en collectant des données sur les sociétés qui occupèrent cette région entre 1000 av. J.C. et 1000 ap. J.C. Bien que nos analyses soient encore préliminaires, la qualité des éléments fauniques et botaniques prélevés démontre un potentiel considérable pour l’étude des interactions locales et des transitions entre les sociétés de chasseurs-cueilleurs et d'agriculteurs. Une des découvertes les plus importantes à cet égard fut l'identification d'une série de cultures agricoles africaines (sorgho, pennisetum et éleusine) sur des sites du premier millénaire ap. J.C. occupés par des chasseurs-cueilleurs et des agriculteurs, fournissant les premières données conséquentes concernant l'agriculture sur la côte kenyane et le rôle des cultures dans les échanges entre cueilleurs et agriculteurs. D'autres éléments, notamment le transport de coquillages marins et de perles de verre à l'intérieur des terres, ainsi que l'utilisation de la céramique, suggèrent peut-être une correspondance entre l'intensification de telles interactions locales dans la seconde moitié du premier millénaire ap. J.C., et l’émergence de plus larges réseaux de l'Océan Indien.

Keywords:

• prehistoric archaeology
• African crops
• Later Stone Age
• Early Iron Age
• Middle Iron Age
• Kenya
• eastern Africa
• Indian Ocean

Acknowledgements

Our research was carried out under Research Clearance Permit No NCT/RRI/12/1/SS/541 through research affiliation with the National Museums of Kenya, and Exploration/Excavation License No NMK/GVT/2. Funding was provided by the Sealinks Project under a European Research Council Grant Agreement No 206148 awarded to Nicole Boivin. The season would not have been possible without the support and guidance of Purity Kiura (Director, Department of Archaeology, NMK), Herman Kiriama (Head, Department of Coastal Archaeology, Fort Jesus, NMK), Anthony Githitho (Head, Coastal Forest Conservation Unit, NMK), and Matthew Davies (former Assistant Director, BIEA). We should particularly like to thank Johnpius Mpangarusya (Graduate Scholar, BIEA) for his excellent work in the field. Finally, thanks are extended to the two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve our paper.

Notes

1. The Sealinks Project (http://sealinks.arch.ox.ac.uk/) seeks to investigate the emergence of early long-distance connections between prehistoric communities occupying the Indian Ocean rim. The project intends to incorporate multiregional and multidisciplinary data, with fieldwork also presently being undertaken in southern India and Sri Lanka.