Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences Spring 5-15-2017 The echnologT ical and Socio-Economic Organization of the Elmenteitan Early Herders in Southern Kenya (3000-1200 BP) Steven Thomas Goldstein Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Goldstein, Steven Thomas, "The eT chnological and Socio-Economic Organization of the Elmenteitan Early Herders in Southern Kenya (3000-1200 BP)" (2017). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1104. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/1104 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN SAINT LOUIS Department of Anthropology Dissertation Examination Committee: Fiona Marshall, Chair Stanley H. Ambrose Stanton Braude Michael D. Frachetti Gayle J. Fritz Tristram R. Kidder The Technological and Socio-Economic Organization of the Elmenteitan Early Herders in Southern Kenya (3000-1200 BP). by Steven Thomas Goldstein A dissertation presented to The Graduate School of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2017 St. Louis, Missouri © 2017, Steven Thomas Goldstein TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………………………...…viii List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………………………….....xvi Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………..………xii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………xv 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 2. Ethnographic and archaeological perspectives on African pastoralism .............................. 8 2.1 Major questions ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 The spread of mobile pastoralism in eastern Africa .............................................................. 9 2.2.1 Early Holocene origins ................................................................................................. 10 2.2.2 Mid-Holocene dispersals .............................................................................................. 13 2.2.3 “Nderit” pastoralism in the northern Kenya (c. 5000-4000 BP) .................................. 16 2.2.4 End of the NEP networks? (c. 4000 BP) ...................................................................... 19 2.3 The spread of pastoralism in southern Kenya ..................................................................... 20 2.3.1 Hunter-gatherers in southern Kenya prior to pastoralism ............................................ 20 2.3.2 The initial spread of herding and hunter-gatherer interactions ..................................... 23 2.3.3 Climatic variability ....................................................................................................... 24 2.3.4 The Savanna Pastoral Neolithic (SPN) ......................................................................... 25 2.4 The Elmenteitan tradition of the Pastoral Neolithic ............................................................ 30 2.4.1 Origins and comparison to the SPN ............................................................................. 30 2.4.2 Elmenteitan chronology and subsistence ...................................................................... 31 2.4.3 Settlement patterns ....................................................................................................... 36 2.4.4 Interactions with hunter-gatherers ................................................................................ 38 2.4.5 Evidence for obsidian exchange ................................................................................... 40 2.5 Elmenteitan “Technological Organization” ........................................................................ 43 2.5.1 Elmenteitan tool production ......................................................................................... 43 2.5.2 Elmenteitan core technology ........................................................................................ 44 2.6 Conceptual Framework for African Pastoralism ................................................................. 46 2.6.1 Social and Economic Definitions of Mobile Pastoralism ............................................. 46 2.6.2 Pastoral Ecology and Mobility ..................................................................................... 48 2.6.3 Defining “networks”: exchange and alliance ............................................................... 51 2.6.4 Social structures of exchange ....................................................................................... 54 ii 2.6.5 Archaeological perspectives on pastoralist exchange .................................................. 57 2.7 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 59 3. Approaches to the study: Lithic technology, learning, and exchange ................................ 61 3.1 Technological Organization ................................................................................................ 61 3.1.1 Curation and expediency .............................................................................................. 63 3.1.2 Core Technology .......................................................................................................... 66 3.2 Quarry Archaeology ............................................................................................................ 69 3.2.1 Interpretating lithic patterns at quarry sites .................................................................. 69 3.2.2 Challenges and opportunities........................................................................................ 72 3.3 Archaeologies of exchange ................................................................................................. 73 3.3.1 Motivations for obsidian exchange............................................................................... 74 3.4 Exchange, identity, and social boundaries .......................................................................... 77 3.5 Archaeologies of learning ................................................................................................... 79 3.5.1 Practice theory and learning ......................................................................................... 79 3.5.2 “Communities of Practice” (CoP) ................................................................................ 81 3.6 Measuring skill in lithic assemblages.................................................................................. 82 3.6.1 Operational sequences .................................................................................................. 83 3.6.2 Core preparation and reduction .................................................................................... 84 3.6.3 Implications of lithic learning at the Elmenteitan Obsidian Quarry ............................. 85 3.7 Research questions .............................................................................................................. 87 3.8 Archaeological expectations ............................................................................................... 88 4. Study area and research site .................................................................................................. 95 4.1 East African environments and ecologies ........................................................................... 95 4.2 Mount Eburru ...................................................................................................................... 97 4.2.1 Geology and ecology .................................................................................................... 97 4.2.2 Prehistoric land-use ...................................................................................................... 98 4.2.3 Historic land-use and implications for prehistory ...................................................... 100 4.2.4 Previous research ........................................................................................................ 101 4.3 The Elmenteitan Obsidian Quarry (GsJj50): Site location and approach ......................... 102 5. Materials and methods ......................................................................................................... 106 5.1 Surveys .............................................................................................................................. 106 5.1.1 Survey design and strategy ......................................................................................... 106 iii 5.1.2 Mount Eburru surveys ................................................................................................ 108 5.1.3 Site survey and mapping............................................................................................. 109 5.2 Archaeological excavations..............................................................................................