Kansyore fisher-foragers and transitions to food production in East Africa: the view from Wadh Lang'o, Nyanza Province, Western Kenya

Abstract

The site of Wadh Lang'o in southern Nyanza Province (Kenya) has produced a very large faunal assemblage in association with Kansyore, Elmenteitan and Urewe ceramics. The stratigraphy of the site appears to be intact and six dates have been obtained from the sequence, making this the best opportunity to look at diachronic change in subsistence strategies in this region. The main results of the zooarchaeological analysis are presented here, with emphasis on the Kansyore component. Two important findings are discussed: first, the fish remains, when taken together with remains from other Kansyore sites and considering the behavioural traits of these fish, suggest that Kansyore riverside and lakeshore sites were occupied in distinct seasons and used together in a single settlement and subsistence system. Second, the mammalian remains suggest that while Kansyore foragers hunted a broad range of taxa, they also began to consume domesticates perhaps as early as the mid-to late-third millennium cal. BC. This suggests that occupants of late Kansyore sites were in contact with food producers, but whether the domestic animal remains are the result of exchange, or of adopting food production, remains ambiguous.Le site de Wadh Lang'o, au sud de la province de Nyanza (Kenya), a produit un grand ensemble faunistique en association avec poterie du style Kansyore, Elmenteitan et Urewe. La stratigraphie du site semble entière et six datations ont permis de dater la séquence, en rendant ce site fondamental pour l?étude du changement diachronique des stratégies de subsistance de la région. Les principaux résultats de l?analyse zooarchéologique sont présentés ici, avec un accent sur le composant Kansyore. Deux découvertes sont discutées: la première est l?étude du poisson. Les restes du poisson quand sont considérés en conjonction avec d?autres sites de type Kansyore, suggère que les sites près du lac et ceux formés prés des rivières ont été occupés dans des saisons différentes et ont été parties d'un système saisonnier de subsistance et d'installation. La seconde découverte, d?après l?étude des restes des macro-mammifères, suggère que bien que les populations du Kansyore aient chassé une gamme très grande de taxons sauvages, ils consommaient aussi des animaux domestiqués au milieu ou fin du troisième millénaire av. J.-C. Ceci indique que les occupants des sites appartenant à la phase finale du Kansyore étaient en contact avec des producteurs. La manière auquel ces populations obtenaient ces animaux (échange, élevage) reste encore ambiguë.*

Environments and trypanosomiasis risks for early herders in the later Holocene of the Lake Victoria basin, Kenya

“…2), it was also likely situated in a grassy environment. Fishing is a significant activity at both sites; however, the mammals in the Elmenteitan faunal horizons in Trench 1, Wadh Lang'o (below datum 140-190 cm), are predominantly (89-91%) domestic, suggesting limited hunting (75). Alcelaphines are represented, but the zebra and oribi present at Gogo Falls are absent at Wadh Lang'o.…”

“…Recent research in the Lake Victoria basin has shown that the nearby site of Wadh Lang'o shares similar dates of 1,950 ± 35 y B.P. for early Elmenteitan levels (27,75) and a number of similarities with Gogo Falls: Wadh Lang'o is also a large open-air site with a long sequence containing Kansyore, Elmenteitan, and Iron Age horizons (27,75). It is situated in a similar environmental setting, on the banks of a river flowing into Lake Victoria.…”

Lithics use at Kansyore sites in East Africa: technological organisation at four recently excavated sites in Nyanza Province, Kenya

“…As Dale and Ashley mention earlier in this volume, radiocarbon dates were erroneous but the Kansyore component likely dates to the early Kansyore phase, based on material analogies with dated contexts at the nearby Pundo shell midden and the more distant open-air site of Siror. A few teeth likely belonging to domestic caprines were found among the wild faunal remains, suggesting that there might be also later Kansyore influence at the site, since domesticates have not been recovered at any early Kansyore sites (Lane et al 2007;Prendergast 2010).…”

Archaeological ceramics from eastern Africa: past approaches and future directions

“…The earliest known ceramic type in eastern Africa, Kansyore pottery, dates to between c. 8000 and c. 2000 BP and is associated with a delayed-return hunter-gatherer economy focused on aquatic resources (Karega-Mũnene 2002; Dale et al 2004;Dale and Ashley 2010;Prendergast 2010). Sites are found across a wide region that incorporates western Kenya, northern Tanzania and southern Uganda, with a possible local variant, Lokabulo, found in South Sudan (see Figure 1).…”

“…A bimodal distribution of sites between riverine and lacustrine locations has long been proposed, with Robertshaw (1991) suggesting that both were 'magnet locations' because of their abundant aquatic resources. More recently, Prendergast (2010) and Prendergast and Lane (2010) have argued that this distinctive spatial pattern represents seasonal occupation. Riverine sites are thought to have been chosen for the wet season, when fish were spawning up the rapids, while during the leaner dry season lacustrine shores provided temporary accommodation with access to both shellfish and species such as lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus), which aestivate in the shallow reeds (see also Seitsonen 2010 for supporting evidence from an an analysis of associated lithic assemblages).…”