Engaruka: Excavations during 1964

Petrographic investigation of the provenance of pottery from Engaruka

“…Various archaeological researchers have worked at the site, including Reck in 19 13, Leakey in 1935, Sassoon in 1964and 1966, Sutton in 1978and Robertshaw in 1982. These researchers undertook both archaeological excavation and survey, as well as analysis of archaeological features extant on the ground.…”

“…These researchers undertook both archaeological excavation and survey, as well as analysis of archaeological features extant on the ground. Throughout this period the main areas of interest were the extent of the Engaruka system of farming (Sassoon 1966, Sutton 1978, population size (Leakey 1935, Sutton 1978, and pottery traditions and chronology (Sassoon 1966, Robertshaw 1986). …”

Hamo Sassoon’s Personal Archive. Comments on Material Recently Gifted to the BIEA

“…A sequence of 11 photographs showing the construction of a smelting furnace and a further six images showing the same smiths manufacturing tuyeres may be of similar interest, especially given that opportunities to examine these practices directly are becoming increasing rare. 1 Unlike the Kampala excavation, Sassoon's work at Engaruka, Tanzania, has been published (Sassoon 1966(Sassoon , 1967(Sassoon and 1971, but these brief accounts did not include full details of the finds or of the strata from which they were retrieved, and of course included only a fraction of the fieldwork photographic record. The site has subsequently been the focus of a series of archaeological surveys (see Sutton 1998 and and excavations (Robertshaw 1986;Siiriäinen et al 2003a;Stump 2006) which, when combined with Sassoon's results, demonstrate that Engaruka was occupied between at least the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries AD and comprised a group of terraced habitation areas located on the lower slopes of the eastern Rift escarpment, with the population of these settlements supported by the irrigated cultivation of some 2,000 ha of stone-bounded fields and terraces located within the plains area to the north and south of the perennial Engaruka river.…”

Making metals in East Africa and beyond: archaeometallurgy inAzania, 1966–2015

“…Many of the earliest appearances of metallurgical-related subject matter comprised descriptions and accompanying illustrations of metal objects, with occasional references to the waste products of smelting (e.g. Sassoon 1966;Chapman 1967;Robinson 1969;Phillipson 1970;Vogel 1970;Soper 1971;Mills and Filmer 1972;Ambrose et al 1984). Although very little discussion accompanies these short descriptions, it is acknowledged that the primary objective in these early days was to begin to construct a corpus of metallurgical data upon which future analyses could be undertaken and broader discussions founded.…”