Presenting the AfriArch Isotopic Database

AfriArch is an archaeological and paleoenvironmental data community designed to integrate datasets related to human-environmental interactions in Holocene Africa. Here we present a dataset of bioarchaeological stable isotope (C/N/O) and radiocarbon measurements from African archaeological sites spanning the Holocene. Modern measurements, when reported together with archaeological data in original publications, are also included. The dataset consists of 5568 entries and covers the entirety of Africa, though most isotopic research has been concentrated in southern Africa. The AfriArch isotopic dataset can be used in paleodietary, paleodemography, paleoclimatic, and paleoenvironmental studies. It can also be employed to highlight data gaps across space and time and set future research agendas

Mobility and Herd Management Strategies of Early Pastoralists in South-Central Kenya, 3000-1200 BP

Specialized pastoralism emerged in Kenya around 3000 years ago and has evolved with changes in the social and ecological landscape to this day. Ethnographic research has documented significant changes in herding strategies among pastoral groups throughout colonial and post-colonial periods. Stable isotope analysis sheds light on how crucial mobility was in maintaining herds before the appearance of iron-using and –producing peoples in the region. This thesis explores the use of multiple stable isotopes to reconstruct mobility and herd management strategies of ancient pastoralists in south-central Kenya 3000 to 1200 years ago. Through intra-tooth sequential sampling of livestock tooth enamel, which presents an isotopic record of diet during tooth formation, movements across the landscape may be tracked. Further zooarchaeological analyses of livestock teeth include analysis of mortality profiles generated from age estimates based upon life histories. Combined with enamel hypoplasia data, these analyses inform on herd management strategies of early pastoralists. Archaeological cattle and caprine teeth from seven Savanna Pastoral Neolithic sites in the Central Rift Valley and neighboring plains of Kenya were sequentially sampled and analyzed for their carbon, oxygen, and strontium stable isotopic composition. Consistently elevated carbon stable isotope ratios did not indicate any herding at high elevations. Because the lack of altitudinal mobility does not preclude extensive herding and exchange of livestock long distances at low elevations, a strontium map of south-central Kenya was created by analyzing the stable strontium isotope composition of archaeological and modern microfauna collected from various locations throughout the Central Rift valley and adjacent mountain ranges and plains. 87Sr/86Sr ratios, which can reflect movement across geologically distinct soil complexes, also indicated low levels of seasonal or long-term mobility, with little evidence for exchange of livestock among far-flung herding groups, though some regional differences exist. In contrast to widespread seasonal mobility and exchange documented ethnographically, these data show that those patterns were not in place before agricultural populations moved into the region. The mortality data presented for all definite pastoralist sites show that early herders kept cattle alive for somewhat longer than East African pastoralists do today, and that some variation in management techniques is apparent, perhaps due to environmental or cultural factors. Mortality profiles and hypoplasia data from livestock are quite similar between pastoralist sites and one with a mixed faunal assemblage, indicating that site with higher proportions of wild fauna was indeed occupied by pastoralists taking advantage of seasonally available migratory wild animals, suggesting some fluidity in subsistence strategies

Le festin dahoméen. Femmes du palais, politiques internes et pratiques culinaires en Afrique de l’Ouest au XVIIIe-XIXe siècle

Feasting is a central component of elite power strategies in complex societies worldwide. In the precolonial Kingdom of Dahomey, located in the Republic of Bénin, public feasts were a critical component of royal strategies to attract and bind political subjects over the course of the 17th through 19th centuries, a period of dramatic political transformation on the Bight of Benin. Archaeological excavations within the domestic quarters of a series of Dahomean royal palace sites have yielded diverse faunal and ceramic assemblages that represent clear examples of 1) ritualized food consumption and 2) everyday culinary practices. In this paper, faunal and ceramic evidence from two excavated contexts is marshaled to distinguish the archaeological signatures of feasting in Dahomey, highlighting the importance of private feasts in attempts to build political influence in the domestic zones of Dahomean royal palaces. In particular, this analysis foregrounds how palace women jockeyed for power and influence during a period of political uncertainty

Early herding at Măgura-Boldul lui Moş Ivănuş (early sixth millennium BC, Romania): environments and seasonality from stable isotope analysis

International audienceStable isotope analyses were conducted on faunal remains from the site of Măgura-Boldul lui MoşIvănuş with the objective of characterizing the environments and seasonality of husbandry in theearliest Neolithic (Gura Baciului-Cârcea/Starčevo-Criş I) of southern Romania. Results from bonecollagen analysis indicate extensive herding strategies for cattle and pigs. However, sequential analysisin tooth enamel also provides evidence for winter leaf foddering in one bovine, potentially kept by thesettlement over winter. In some instances, sheep were fed a 13C-enriched resource in late winter, whichmay have also coincided with lactation. It could not be determined whether this contribution was fromC3 or C4 plants. Although isolated, these findings may be important in evaluating how early agriculturalcommunities dealt with environmental constraints. These results are also interpreted withreference to the models of intensive mixed farming systems recently proposed by Bogaard (2004) andHalstead (2006)

Late Pleistocene to Holocene human palaeoecology in the tropical environments of coastal eastern Africa

The ecological adaptations that stimulated the dispersal and technological strategies of our species during the Late Pleistocene remain hotly disputed, with some influential theories focusing on grassland biomes or marine resources as key drivers behind the rapid expansion and material culture innovations of Homo sapiens within and beyond Africa. Here, we present novel chronologically resolved, zooarchaeological taxonomic and taphonomic analysis, and stable isotope analysis of human and faunal tooth enamel, from the site of Panga ya Saidi (c. 78–0.4 ka), Kenya. Zooarchaeological data provides rare insights into the fauna associated with, and utilized by, Late Pleistocene-Holocene human populations in tropical coastal eastern Africa. Combined zooarchaeological and faunal stable isotope data provide some of the only dated, ‘on-site’ archives of palaeoenvironments beyond the arid interior of eastern Africa for this time period, while stable isotope analysis of humans provides direct snapshots of the dietary reliance of foragers at the site. Results demonstrate that humans consistently utilized tropical forest and grassland biomes throughout the period of site occupation, through a transition from Middle Stone Age to Later Stone Age technological industries and the arrival of agriculture in the region. By contrast, while coastal resources were obtained for use in symbolic material culture, there is limited evidence for consumption of marine resources until the Holocene. We argue that the ecotonal or heterogeneous environments of coastal eastern Africa may have represented an important refugium for populations during the increasing climatic variability of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, and that tropical environments were one of a diverse series of ecosystems exploited by H. sapiens in Africa at the dawn of global migrations.1. Introduction 2. Background to the site and methodology 2.1. Late Pleistocene and Holocene human environments in eastern Africa and the potential of Panga ya Saidi 2.2. Zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis, and tropical human palaeoecology 3. Materials and methods 3.1. Zooarchaeological sample and analytical methods 3.2. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of human and faunal tooth enamel 3.3. Statistical analysis 4. Results 4.1. Panga ya Saidi faunal assemblage overview and formation 4.2. Macromammalian remains at Panga ya Saidi and environmental implications 4.3. Faunal stable carbon and oxygen isotope results from Panga ya Saidi 4.4. Human stable carbon and oxygen isotope result from Panga ya Saidi 5. Discussion 5.1. A new palaeoenvironmental record for Late Pleistocene and Holocene eastern Africa 5.2. Strength in diversity: Late Pleistocene human palaeoecology in eastern Africa and beyond 6. Conclusion

A monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa's first herders near Lake Turkana, Kenya

Monumental architecture is a prime indicator of social complexity, because it requires many people to build a conspicuous structure commemorating shared beliefs. Examining monumentality in different environmental and economic settings can reveal diverse reasons for people to form larger social units and express unity through architectural display. In multiple areas of Africa, monumentality developed as mobile herders created large cemeteries and practiced other forms of commemoration. The motives for such behavior in sparsely populated, unpredictable landscapes may differ from well-studied cases of monumentality in predictable environments with sedentary populations. Here we report excavations and ground-penetrating radar surveys at the earliest and most massive monumental site in eastern Africa. Lothagam North Pillar Site was a communal cemetery near Lake Turkana (northwest Kenya) constructed 5,000 years ago by eastern Africa's earliest pastoralists. Inside a platform ringed by boulders, a 119.5-m(2) mortuary cavity accommodated an estimated minimum of 580 individuals. People of diverse ages and both sexes were buried, and ornaments accompanied most individuals. There is no evidence for social stratification. The uncertainties of living on a "moving frontier" of early herding-exacerbated by dramatic environmental shifts-may have spurred people to strengthen social networks that could provide information and assistance. Lothagam North Pillar Site would have served as both an arena for interaction and a tangible reminder of shared identity

sj-pdf-4-hol-10.1177_09596836221121766 – Supplemental material for Buffering new risks? Environmental, social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-4-hol-10.1177_09596836221121766 for Buffering new risks? Environmental, social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period by Elisabeth Hildebrand, Katherine M Grillo, Kendra L Chritz, Markus L Fischer, Steven T Goldstein, Anneke Janzen, Annett Junginger, Rahab N Kinyanjui, Emmanuel Ndiema, Elizabeth Sawchuk, Amanuel Beyin and Susan K Pfeiffer in The Holocene</p