Lithic technological strategies of the earliest herders at Lake Turkana, northern Kenya

Goldstein, Steven T.

doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.178

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…More complex foraging strategies emerging during periods of extreme climatic shifts of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene saw increasing human reliance on obsidian, emergence of clear source preferences, and far more consistent long-distance movement of obsidian across the landscape (Ambrose 2012a;Frahm et al 2017;Frahm and Tryon 2018). Forager obsidian networks, and the social relationships underlying them, were the template for the intensification of large-scale organized obsidian distribution by Late Holocene mobile herders (Goldstein 2019a;Goldstein 2021). In part, this expansion was fueled by clear social and cultural value different groups held for specific obsidian sources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Lake Turkana Basin of northern Kenya, there is minimal evidence for Early Holocene foragers having increased access to obsidian even around a relatively small lake basin with several potential sources. Most lithic assemblages from lakeshore hunting and fishing sites like Lothagam-Lokam contain only 1-3% obsidian by artifact count (Barthelme 1985;Goldstein 2019a).…”

Section: Climate Change Mobility and Intensification Of Obsidian Exch...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BP. Both mortuary (Lothagam North, Jarigole) and habitation sites (Dongodien) associated with herders share both distinct "Nderit" ceramics and a lithic technological strategy based on reduction of pyramidal blade cores (Hildebrand and Grillo 2012;Goldstein 2019a;Grillo et al 2020). Obsidian was the preferred material for this lithic economy and assemblages from this period are 14-95% obsidian (relative to <3% during the Early Holocene), with sites strongly associated with herding lifeways having assemblages that are 70-95% obsidian (Barthelme 1985;Goldstein 2019a).…”

Section: Mobile Pastoralism and The Formation Of Organized Exchange N...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two-million-years of obsidian extraction, utilization, and exchange in eastern Africa

Goldstein¹,

James²,

Ranhorn

2022

Preprint

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Eastern Africa hosts the longest record of human evolutionary and cultural change on the planet. Archaeological sites across what are today Kenya and Tanzania preserve evidence for the emergence of bipedal hominins, our ancestors’ earliest experiments with stone tools, technological and social innovations, and expansions of diverse forms of food production. Here, we present a synthesis of recent advances in geochemical methodologies, source identifications, and applied sourcing studies that have enhanced our understanding of human-obsidian relationships across the volcanic landscapes of Kenya and Tanzania over the last two million year

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Climate Change Mobility and Intensification Of Obsidian Exch...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mobile Pastoralism and The Formation Of Organized Exchange N...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two-million-years of obsidian extraction, utilization, and exchange in eastern Africa

Goldstein¹,

James²,

Ranhorn

2022

Preprint

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“…Dilit (7.5 ka) had fauna, lithics, an ostrich eggshell (OES) bead, and non-diagnostic pottery. Beyin et al (2017), Prendergast and Beyin (2018), Beyin (2011Beyin ( , 2021 S/E preceding AHP industries, lithic technology associated with herding economies entailed a greater emphasis on a more uniform strategy of obsidian blade and bladelet production (Goldstein, 2019). Obsidian use by early herders was fairly localized but North Island sources required watercraft (Ndiema et al, 2010(Ndiema et al, , 2011.…”

Section: Robbins (1972) Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beach deposits are in elevated areas at or near spillover elevations, with numerous concentrations of habitation and mortuary remains from c. 10 to 6 ka The shallow Napudet Bay lay <1 km to the west, over the lesser volcanic ridge. Robbins (1967Robbins ( , 1972Robbins ( , 1974Robbins ( , 1980, Goldstein (2019) S/E Zu-13 * Site just SW of the main outcrop of the Napudet Hills, overlooking the Napudet Basin, which was a shallow bay during the AHP.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Buffering new risks? Environmental, social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period

et al. 2022

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This paper evaluates risk-oriented frameworks for explaining environmental, social, and economic changes faced by fishing and herding communities in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period (AHP, 15–5 ka). The orbitally-forced AHP created moist conditions, high lake levels, and unusual hydrological connections across much of northern and eastern Africa. As arid conditions set in and rainfall decreased between 5.3 and 3.9 ka in eastern Africa, Lake Turkana (NW Kenya) shrank dramatically. Shoreline retreat coincided with an expansion of open plains, creating new ecological conditions and potential opportunities for early herders in the basin. In this changing landscape, economies shifted from food procurement (fishing/hunting aquatic resources) to food production (herding), likely through both in-migration by pastoralists and adoption of herding by local fishers. Early pastoralists also built at least seven megalithic pillar sites that served as communal cemeteries during this time. Recent research has shown that local environmental dynamics – both during and after the AHP – were complex, demanding a more careful interrogation of the notion that post-AHP life entailed new and/or heightened risks. Risk-buffering strategies might include mobility, diversification, physical storage, and exchange. Archaeologists working around Lake Turkana have proposed that economic shifts from fishing to pastoralism entailed increased mobility as a risk-buffering strategy to deal with aridity and resource unpredictability, and that pillar sites – as fixed landmarks in an unstable landscape – provided settings for congregation and exchange amongst increasingly mobile herding communities. However, recent research has shown that local environmental dynamics in the Lake Turkana basin – both during and after the AHP – were more complex than previously thought, necessitating re-evaluation of the notion that post-AHP life entailed new and/or heightened risks. Here, we explore risk buffering strategies (e.g. mobility, diversification, physical storage and/or exchange) as only one category of potential explanation for the new social practices observed in the region at this time. Gauging their applicability requires us to (a) assess the spatial mobility of communities and individuals interred at pillar sites; (b) evaluate whether and how mobility strategies may have changed as pastoralism supplanted fishing; and (c) examine alternative explanations for social and economic changes.

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Origins and Migration: Environmental and Cultural Change Over the Last 300,000 Years in East Africa

Robinson

2021

East Africa’s Human Environment Interactions

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Lithic technological strategies of the earliest herders at Lake Turkana, northern Kenya

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 13 publications

References 42 publications

Two-million-years of obsidian extraction, utilization, and exchange in eastern Africa

Two-million-years of obsidian extraction, utilization, and exchange in eastern Africa

Buffering new risks? Environmental, social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period

Origins and Migration: Environmental and Cultural Change Over the Last 300,000 Years in East Africa

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