Examining Late Pastoral Neolithic Settlement at Silanga (GvJm52), Lukenya Hill, Kenya

Close relationships between human and animal living spaces have been a central element of the settlements of pastoralist communities in eastern Africa since the introduction of herding c. 5000 BP. The spatial organisation of pastoralist architecture and material deposits within settlements has been...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAzania Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 37 - 58
Main Authors Hu, Lorraine, McKeeby, Zachary, Muia, Mulu, Munyiri, John, Nelson, Charles M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.01.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Cultural factors
East Africa
Excavation
Habitats
Herding
Layout
Livestock
magnetometry
Neolithic
Pastoral Neolithic
Pastoralism
Preservation
Refuse disposal
settlements
Spatial analysis
Kenya
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ISSN0067-270X
1945-5534
DOI10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050566

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Summary:Close relationships between human and animal living spaces have been a central element of the settlements of pastoralist communities in eastern Africa since the introduction of herding c. 5000 BP. The spatial organisation of pastoralist architecture and material deposits within settlements has been the subject of much ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological research designed to identify variation in social practices and cultural contexts. However, baseline questions regarding settlement layout have proven difficult to examine archaeologically due to poor preservation of household features such as hearths and postholes. New magnetometry data from the late Pastoral Neolithic (PN) settlement site of Silanga (GvJm52) in southern Kenya, combined with unpublished excavation data, delineate several potential structures and middens c. 1900-1600 BP. Our data suggest that living structures may have been associated with individual dumps and corrals, similar to the pattern proposed for the PN site of Luxmanda, Tanzania, and contrasting with centralised refuse disposal at the PN site of Prolonged Drift, Kenya. Findings from Silanga may also contrast with the well-known pattern of centrally located livestock spaces seen in ethnographically documented pastoralist settlements in East Africa. The evidence reported here demonstrates the potential of integrated spatial analyses for examining settlement management practices during the PN.
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ISSN:0067-270X
1945-5534
DOI:10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050566