Title Page The Archaeology of the Sesse Islands and Their Contribution to the Understanding of Great Lakes Ceramics By Scheherazade Amin Thesis submitted to University College London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON Declaration of Authorship Declaration of Authorship I, Scheherazade Amin, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed ………………………………………. 2 Abstract Abstract The Sesse Islands within the north-eastern sector of Lake Victoria are of particular interest due to their role as a centre of cult practices as recounted in multiple oral and historic traditions. Their interactions with the mainland may be examined through archaeological remains on the islands and the surrounding lakeshore, with ceramics forming the main corpus of material data. Yet despite this privileged social role there has been a lack of any substantive research except on the largest island, with the mainland lakeshore being subject to extensive ceramic analysis in recent decades. Previous archaeological research in the Great Lakes region of East Africa has been heavily reliant on ceramic chronologies derived from a ‘type-variety’ method of analysis. It is argued here that this approach is flawed, and that a more replicable and comparative method is required. With successful applications elsewhere on the continent, ‘attribute-based’ analysis meets such criteria. The Sesse archipelago offers a forum of new ceramic information through which to test applications of this new approach to pottery analysis. Field research for this thesis took place on three of the islands and has identified a number of ceramic-rich sites. A new analysis of these ceramics is presented in this thesis, which not only calls into question the continued use of broad descriptive typological categories such as ‘Urewe Ware’, but also offers a direct dating of excavated ceramics using the new OSL method for the first time in the Lake Victoria basin. The results highlight clusters of attributes in the data suggesting patterns of shared and unique ceramic expression within and between the islands sites and the mainland. These shared traditions frame a scenario of aquatic trade within the lacustrine landscape, with certain ceramic traits manifesting localised cultural identity at a time of increased interaction. 3 Table of Contents Table of Contents Title Page ................................................................................................................................. 1 Declaration of Authorship ........................................................................................................ 2 Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... 9 List of Tables ...........................................................................................................................17 Preface: Concerning the Presentation of Dates .......................................................................25 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................26 Chapter 1: Introduction, Research Aims and Thematic Background .........................................27 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................27 1.2 Research Aims and Questions ........................................................................................31 1.3 Further Background to the Study Region: Ecology and Geology .....................................32 1.4 Paradigms Affecting Research: Coastal and Islands Archaeology ....................................39 1.5 The Socio-Political Background to the Sesse Islands, and their Importance for Regional Ideologies............................................................................................................................45 1.6 Religion in Archaeology .................................................................................................56 1.7 The Organisation of this Thesis ......................................................................................58 Chapter 2: History of Archaeological Practice in the Great Lakes Region ..................................60 2.1 Late Stone Age Archaeology and Ceramics in the Great Lakes Region ............................64 2.2 ‘Urewe’ Ceramics and related Early Iron Age Archaeology from the Great Lakes Region 67 2.3 ‘Transitional’ Ceramics and Associated Archaeology ......................................................71 2.4 Late Iron Age Ceramics and Associated Archaeology ......................................................73 2.5 Summary of the Great Lakes Ceramic Sequence ............................................................76 2.6 Coastal Sites in the Lake Victoria Basin ..........................................................................77 2.7 Island Sites outside the Sesse Archipelago .....................................................................85 2.8 Sesse Island Sites ...........................................................................................................88 2.9 Summary of Previous Archaeological Research in the Lake Victoria Basin ......................95 Chapter 3: Methodological Approaches to Ceramics ...............................................................98 3.1 A Critique of Previous Ceramic Analysis Methodologies Applied to Assemblages within the Lake Victoria Basin ......................................................................................................101 3.2 A Way Forward for Ceramic Methodologies in the Great Lakes Region ........................112 3.2.1 The Grouping of ceramic data prior to analysis .....................................................119 3.2.2 Statistical testing of the ceramic data: Chi Squared Testing ...................................124 4 Table of Contents 3.2.3 Statistical testing of the ceramic data: Principal Components Analysis (PCA) .........126 Chapter 4: Fieldwork Methodology .......................................................................................128 4.1 Choice of Survey Area ..................................................................................................128 Chapter 5: Survey and Test Excavation Results ......................................................................143 5.1 Bubembe Island Survey ...............................................................................................146 5.2 Bubembe Island Excavation Sites .................................................................................149 5.2.1 Site Bubembe 3B ..................................................................................................150 5.2.2 Site Bubembe 9.....................................................................................................155 5.3 Bukasa Island Survey Sites ...........................................................................................158 5.4 Bukasa Island Excavation Sites .....................................................................................162 5.4.1 Site Bukasa 2 ........................................................................................................164 5.4.2 Site Bukasa 20.......................................................................................................169 5.5 Bubeke Island Survey Sites...........................................................................................182 5.6 Bubeke Excavation Sites ..............................................................................................184 5.6.1 Site Bubeke 7 ........................................................................................................185 5.6.2 Site Bubeke 1 ........................................................................................................189 5.6.3 Site Bubeke 8 ........................................................................................................193 5.7 Survey Summary ..........................................................................................................197 Chapter 6 Analysis of Fieldwork Ceramics..............................................................................200 Chapter 6 Part 1: Surface Ceramics .......................................................................................201 6.1.1 Surface Fabric Attribute Analysis: ‘Fabric Coarseness’ ...............................................201 6.1.2 Surface Fabric Attribute Analysis: Mineral Inclusions and Grog .................................208 6.1.2 Fabric Attributes: ‘Magnetism’..................................................................................213 6.1.3 Surface Décor Attribute Analysis ...............................................................................217 6.1.4. Surface Vessel Form Attribute Analysis ....................................................................221 6.1.5 Surface Rim Form Attribute Analysis .........................................................................223