Middle Holocene Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Turkana in Kenya and Their Cultural Connections with the North: The Pottery

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Keding
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Lake Turkana ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
The North ◽  
Wavy Line ◽  
Cultural Connections

AbstractDuring the Early and Middle Holocene, large areas of today’s arid regions in North and East Africa were populated by fisher-hunter-gatherer communities who heavily relied on aquatic resources. In North Africa, Wavy Line pottery and harpoons are their most salient diagnostic features. Similar finds have also been made at sites in Kenya’s Lake Turkana region in East Africa but a clear classification of the pottery was previously not available. In order to elucidate the cultural connections between Lake Turkana’s first potters and North African groups, the pottery of the Koobi Fora region that was excavated by John Barthelme in the 1970/80s was re-assessed in detail. It was compared and contrasted – on a regional scale – with pottery from Lowasera and sites near Lothagam (Zu4, Zu6) and – on a supra-regional scale – with the pottery of the Central Nile Valley and eastern Sahara. The analyses reveal some significant points: Firstly, the early fisher pottery of Lake Turkana is clearly typologically affiliated with the Early Khartoum pottery and was thus part of the Wavy Line complex. Secondly, certain typological features of the Turkana assemblages, which include only a few Dotted Wavy Line patterns, tentatively hint to a date at least in the 7th millennium bp or earlier. Thirdly, the pottery features suggest that the East African fisher-hunter-gatherers adopted pottery from Northeast Africa.

New chronostratigraphic records of the early-to-middle Holocene in the north-central region of Chile indicate Andean foothills housed hunter-gatherers during pulses of extreme aridity

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110116
Author(s):  
Sebastián Grasset ◽  
Amalia Nuevo-Delaunay ◽  
José Álvarez ◽  
Antonio Maldonado ◽  
César Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North Central ◽  
Central Chile ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Mobile Populations ◽  
The North ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Adverse Environmental Conditions

The scarcity of middle Holocene radiocarbon dates in different regions of the Andes has been interpreted as an indicator of discontinuity in human occupations in response to adverse environmental conditions due to marked aridity. In the subtropical Andes of north-central Chile and adjacent areas, this paucity has been detected in radiocarbon ages between 8000 and 6000 cal BP. A systematic programme of cave excavations with detailed chronologies in the Combarbalá area in the Andean western foothills at 31°S allows questioning the role these spaces and ecosystems played for hunter-gatherers throughout the Holocene. The elusive record of dateable material has been addressed by excavating deposits under rock-shelters which tend to trap sedimentary material. This dataset has been compared with the available climate records and shows a collation between the onset of various site chronologies during the early-to-middle Holocene and periods of extreme aridity. The organization of mobility and the role of Andean foothills for hunter-gatherer settlements is reviewed. Resource availability in the area, namely fresh water supply, good-quality toolstones, faunal resources, and shelters, attracted mobile populations to these environments as indicated by our records as well as others in the broader region.

scholarly journals Homo habitus: agency, structure and the transformation of tradition in the constitution of the TRB foraging-farming communities in the North European plain (ca 4500–2000 BC)

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 87-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Zvelebil
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
General View ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
The North ◽  
Theory Of Structuration

The current generally accepted view of the dispersal of farming into Europe is that farming groups in the eastern Mediterranean colonised selectively optimal farming areas. The role of contact between indigenous hunter-gatherers and incoming farmers was very important to the operation of this process. This general view of the spread of farming at a broad inter-regional scale gives us our understanding of the origins of the Neolithic but merits closer examination at the local and regional level, as increasingly it is becoming apparent that the causes and motivations may have differed. In this paper, Mesolithic to Neolithic communities with evidence of the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer will be examined at a regional scale, in the central part of the north European plain, focussing on Kujavia. Additionally, the theory of structuration will be applied in order to elucidate the transition process at this level.

Human Responses to Middle Holocene (Altithermal) Climates on the North American Great Plains

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Meltzer
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Underground Water ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Southern High Plains ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
The North

The climate of the Great Plains during the middle Holocene varied considerably, but overall it was marked by a north–south gradient of increasingly warmer and drier conditions, with a reduction in effective moisture, surface water, and resource abundance, and an increase in resource patchiness, sediment weathering, erosion, and aeolian activity. Pronounced drought conditions were most evident on the Southern High Plains. Understanding the human responses to middle Holocene climates is complicated by a lack of archaeological data, which is partly a result of geomorphic processes that removed or deeply buried sites of this age, and by the varying adaptive responses of hunter-gatherers during this period. On the Southern High Plains, where drought was most severe, surface and groundwater sources dried and bison populations were diminished, prompting substantial adaptive changes, including local abandonment, well-digging to tap underground water, and a widening of the diet breadth to incorporate higher-cost, lower-return seed and plant resources. Sites of this age on the Central and Northern Plains also show a possible increase in diet breadth (with the incorporation of plant foods in the diet), and perhaps changes in settlement mobility (including possible shift into higher elevation areas, or mapping-on to extant rivers and springs). But linking those changes to middle Holocene drought is less straightforward.

From Hunters to Herders

2021 ◽  
pp. 249-269
Author(s):  
Friederike Jesse
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Sheep And Goats ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
The North ◽  
Libyan Desert ◽  
Over Time

The Nubian past cannot be fully understood without knowledge of occupation in the Libyan Desert west of the Nile. Hunter-gatherers occupied Nubia’s western hinterland during the Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Pottery and different pastoral adaptations featuring cattle, sheep, and goats appeared during the Middle Holocene. Cattle-centered behavior is evident: cattle largely dominates the economic and social life. Changing networks of contact and interaction are apparent over time. Depopulation of the region due to increasing aridity started earlier in the north, the southern Western Desert of Egypt, than in the south Libyan Desert of today’s Sudan where conditions for human settlement remained favorable in some areas up to the 1st millennium bce.

scholarly journals Influence of the North Atlantic oscillation on the atmospheric levels of benzo[a]pyrene over Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero ◽  
Nuno Ratola
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

AbstractThe atmospheric concentration of persistent organic pollutants (and of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, in particular) is closely related to climate change and climatic fluctuations, which are likely to influence contaminant’s transport pathways and transfer processes. Predicting how climate variability alters PAHs concentrations in the atmosphere still poses an exceptional challenge. In this sense, the main objective of this contribution is to assess the relationship between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the mean concentration of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP, the most studied PAH congener) in a domain covering Europe, with an emphasis on the effect of regional-scale processes. A numerical simulation for a present climate period of 30 years was performed using a regional chemistry transport model with a 25 km spatial resolution (horizontal), higher than those commonly applied. The results show an important seasonal behaviour, with a remarkable spatial pattern of difference between the north and the south of the domain. In winter, higher BaP ground levels are found during the NAO+ phase for the Mediterranean basin, while the spatial pattern of this feature (higher BaP levels during NAO+ phases) moves northwards in summer. These results show deviations up to and sometimes over 100% in the BaP mean concentrations, but statistically significant signals (p<0.1) of lower changes (20–40% variations in the signal) are found for the north of the domain in winter and for the south in summer.

Rock varnish record of the African Humid Period in the Lake Turkana basin of East Africa

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110116
Author(s):  
Tanzhuo Liu ◽  
Christopher J Lepre ◽  
Sidney R Hemming ◽  
Wallace S Broecker
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Lake Turkana ◽  
Moisture Condition ◽  
Turkana Basin ◽  
Rock Varnish ◽  
Geomorphic Features ◽  
Humid Period

Rock varnish is a manganiferous dark coating accreted on subaerially exposed rocks in drylands. It often contains a layered microstratigraphy that records past wetness variations. Varnish samples from latest Pleistocene and Holocene geomorphic features in the Lake Turkana basin, East Africa display a regionally replicable microstratigraphy record of Holocene millennial-scale wetness variability and a broad interval of wetter conditions during the African Humid Period (AHP). Three major wet pulses in the varnish record occurred during the generally wet interval of the early Holocene (11.5–8.5 ka) when the lake attained its maximum high stand (MHS) at 455–460 m. A >23 m drop from the MHS occurred between 8.5 and 8 ka. Subsequently two additional wet pulses occurred during the early to middle Holocene (8–5 ka) when the lake occupied its secondary high stand at 445 m. Collectively, these five wet phases represent an extended wet interval coincident with the AHP in the region. One moderate wet phase occurred during the subsequent climatic transition from the humid to arid regime (5–4.3 ka) after the lake level dropped rapidly from 445 m to <405 m. Five minor wet phases took place during the overall arid period of the late Holocene (4.3–0 ka) when the lake level oscillated below 405 m. These findings indicate that the AHP terminated rapidly around 5 ka in the Turkana basin in terms of lake level drop, but the regional shift in relative humidity from the AHP mode to its present-day condition lagged for about 700 years until 4.3 ka, hinting at a gradual phasing out in terms of moisture condition. These findings further suggest that Lake Turkana overflowed intermittently into the Nile drainage system through its topographic sill at 455–460 m during the early Holocene and has become a closed-basin lake thereafter for the past 8 ky.

scholarly journals Crustal variability along the rifted/sheared East African margin: a review

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren Vormann ◽  
Wilfried Jokat
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
The South ◽  
East African ◽  
The North ◽  
Rifted Margins ◽  
Continental Block ◽  
Seismic Lines ◽  
Southeastern Madagascar

AbstractThe East African margin between the Somali Basin in the north and the Natal Basin in the south formed as a result of the Jurassic/Cretaceous dispersal of Gondwana. While the initial movements between East and West Gondwana left (oblique) rifted margins behind, the subsequent southward drift of East Gondwana from 157 Ma onwards created a major shear zone, the Davie Fracture Zone (DFZ), along East Africa. To document the structural variability of the DFZ, several deep seismic lines were acquired off northern Mozambique. The profiles clearly indicate the structural changes along the shear zone from an elevated continental block in the south (14°–20°S) to non-elevated basement covered by up to 6-km-thick sediments in the north (9°–13°S). Here, we compile the geological/geophysical knowledge of five profiles along East Africa and interpret them in the context of one of the latest kinematic reconstructions. A pre-rift position of the detached continental sliver of the Davie Ridge between Tanzania/Kenya and southeastern Madagascar fits to this kinematic reconstruction without general changes of the rotation poles.

Aircraft Applications of Insecticides in East Africa. VIII.—An Experiment against the Tsetse Fly, Glossina swynnertoni Aust., in an isolated Area of Thronbush and Thicket

1954 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Hocking ◽  
G. F. Burnett ◽  
R. C. Sell
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Apparent Density ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Tsetse Fly ◽  
Central Province ◽  
The North ◽  
Insecticidal Treatment ◽  
Bad Weather ◽  
Glossina Swynnertoni ◽  
Better Than

An isolated area of 2,200 acres of thicket and thronbush in the Central Province, Tanganyika, was treated from the air with a DDT-in-oil aerosol in an attempt to eliminate the tsetse fly, Glossina swynnertoni Aust. Eight applications of 0·25 lb. technical DDT per acre were planned to be done at fortnightly intervals.Delays due to unseasonal bad weather reduced this to seven at a slightly higher rate and over a longer-period.G. swynnertoni was reduced from an apparent density of about 7 to zero at the end of the second application. No flies were caught after the fifth application for a period of six months.It is not possible to say whether the few caught since then have been brought in or are the offspring of survivors of the insecticidal treatment.This experiment was more successful than that on the Galapo Block in the same ares, to a highly significant degree, and this is attributed to the vulnerability of the smaller population present. It was doubtfully better than the first treatment of the North Block, also in this area, because the increase in population in the latter block may have been assisted by immigration.

scholarly journals The Geology of Portuguese Nyasaland

1922 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 200-212
Author(s):  
Robert R. Walls
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
East Africa ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Dark Continent ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Portuguese Nyasaland is the name given to the most northern part of Portuguese East Africa, lying between Lake Nyasa and the Indian Ocean. It is separated from the Tanganyika territory in the north by the River Rovuma and from the Portuguese province of Mozambique in the south by the River Lurio. The territory measures about 400 miles from east to west and 200 miles from north to south and has an area of nearly 90,000 square miles. This territory is now perhaps the least known part of the once Dark Continent, but while the writer was actually engaged in the exploration of this country in 1920–1, the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty published two handbooks, the Manual of Portuguese East Africa and the Handbook of Portuguese Nyasaland, which with their extensive bibliographies contained practically everything that was known of that country up to that date (1920). These handbooks make it unnecessary in this paper to give detailed accounts of the work of previous explorers.

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