Archaeological views on a history of landscape change in east Africa

Journal of African History

Volumn 38, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 393-421

  Schmidt, Peter R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; LANDSCAPE CHANGE;

AFRICA, (EAST);

EID: 0031428357     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S002185379700697X     Document Type: Review

References (110)

1. The research discussed here was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (BNS75-19611 and BNS78-07855) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (RO-10570-83). Special thanks go to the Antiquities Unit of the United Republic of Tanzania and to the former National Scientific Research Council (National Council for Science and Technology) for permission to conduct archaeological and ethnographic/ historical research in north-western Tanzania. I was blessed by very helpful local governments, with the cultural officers of both Bukoba District and Kagera Region providing many helpful services. Scores of Haya have contributed to this research over the years, a helpfulness consistent with the high value that they place on history. The iron smelters and other residents of Nyungwe village are special to the story told here: my deepest gratitude for their co-operation and engagement. Of those assisting with the analysis, special thanks go to S. Terry Childs, who has assisted with many dimensions of the archaeological research and to Ruth Laseski who helped with the palynology. I am also grateful to H. Doutrelepont for helping with the paleobotanical analysis of ancient charcoal. Priscilla Reining, Fred Kaijage, M. M. Mulokozi and N. J. Karoma, Carole Crumley, Marie-Claude Van Grunderbeek and David Schoenbrun have also provided important insights. The final interpretations are strictly my responsibility.
2. The first comprehensive, and still very useful, treatment of Bahaya agricultural practices is P. Reining, 'The Haya: the agrarian system of a sedentary people' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Chicago, 1967).
3. The historical ecology of Buhaya has been discussed previously in a related paper: P. R. Schmidt, 'Historical ecology and landscape transformation in Eastern Equatorial Africa', in Carole Crumley (ed.), Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing Landscapes (Santa Fe, 1994), 99-125; also see P. R. Schmidt, 'An interpretive model for sustainability based on the use and transformation of a forested landscape in Eastern Equatorial Africa', in A. G. Pantel and K. Schneider (eds.), Environment and Archaeology: Emerging Trends and New Techniques for Heritage Management and Sustainable Development in Tropical Forest Areas (Atlanta, 1992), part III, 30-8.
4. The historical ecology of Buhaya has been discussed previously in a related paper: P. R. Schmidt, 'Historical ecology and landscape transformation in Eastern Equatorial Africa', in Carole Crumley (ed.), Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing Landscapes (Santa Fe, 1994), 99-125; also see P. R. Schmidt, 'An interpretive model for sustainability based on the use and transformation of a forested landscape in Eastern Equatorial Africa', in A. G. Pantel and K. Schneider (eds.), Environment and Archaeology: Emerging Trends and New Techniques for Heritage Management and Sustainable Development in Tropical Forest Areas (Atlanta, 1992), part III, 30-8.
5. Archaeological research in the region began in 1970, after a year of research into the oral traditions tied to various sites. The first investigations are reported in P. R. Schmidt, 'A new look at interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa', History in Africa, II (1975), 127-36, and Historical Archaeology: A Structural Approach in an African Culture (Westport CT, 1978).
6. Archaeological research in the region began in 1970, after a year of research into the oral traditions tied to various sites. The first investigations are reported in P. R. Schmidt, 'A new look at interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa', History in Africa, II (1975), 127-36, and Historical Archaeology: A Structural Approach in an African Culture (Westport CT, 1978).
7. The distribution of settlement and industrial sites dating to the Early Iron Age [hereafter EIA] is complex and extensive; see P. R. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements and industrial locales in West Lake', Tanzania Notes and Records, LXXXIV-LXXXV (1980), 77-94. A recent view that Urewe pottery in the Great Lakes seems to be relatively scarce and may be a 'prestige' ware is an interesting proposition, but it is not supported by the numerous EIA ceramics found on the Buhaya landscape: K. Stewart, 'Iron Age ceramic studies in Great Lakes eastern Africa: a critical and historiographical review', African Archaeological Review, XI (1993), 21-37.
8. The distribution of settlement and industrial sites dating to the Early Iron Age [hereafter EIA] is complex and extensive; see P. R. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements and industrial locales in West Lake', Tanzania Notes and Records, LXXXIV-LXXXV (1980), 77-94. A recent view that Urewe pottery in the Great Lakes seems to be relatively scarce and may be a 'prestige' ware is an interesting proposition, but it is not supported by the numerous EIA ceramics found on the Buhaya landscape: K. Stewart, 'Iron Age ceramic studies in Great Lakes eastern Africa: a critical and historiographical review', African Archaeological Review, XI (1993), 21-37.
9. The issue of early dates is explored in M.-C. Van Grunderbeek, Chronologie de l'âge du fer ancien au Burundi, au Rwanda et dans la région des Grands Lacs', Azania, XXVII (1992), 53-80, and B. Clist, 'A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the early Urewe Iron Age industry', Muntu, VI (1987), 35-62.
10. The issue of early dates is explored in M.-C. Van Grunderbeek, Chronologie de l'âge du fer ancien au Burundi, au Rwanda et dans la région des Grands Lacs', Azania, XXVII (1992), 53-80, and B. Clist, 'A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the early Urewe Iron Age industry', Muntu, VI (1987), 35-62.
11. Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, 179-80.
12. D. Schoenbrun 'Great Lakes Bantu: classification and settlement chronology', SUGIA XIV (1994), 1-62; C. Ehret, The Classical Age of Eastern African History : 1000 B.C. to A.D. 300 (forthcoming), and 'The African Lakes region in the Early Iron Age: shifting mosaics of cultural and economic interaction' (Unpublished paper presented at the African Studies Association annual meetings, St Louis 1991).
13. D. Schoenbrun 'Great Lakes Bantu: classification and settlement chronology', SUGIA XIV (1994), 1-62; C. Ehret, The Classical Age of Eastern African History : 1000 B.C. to A.D. 300 (forthcoming), and 'The African Lakes region in the Early Iron Age: shifting mosaics of cultural and economic interaction' (Unpublished paper presented at the African Studies Association annual meetings, St Louis 1991).
14. D. Schoenbrun 'Great Lakes Bantu: classification and settlement chronology', SUGIA XIV (1994), 1-62; C. Ehret, The Classical Age of Eastern African History : 1000 B.C. to A.D. 300 (forthcoming), and 'The African Lakes region in the Early Iron Age: shifting mosaics of cultural and economic interaction' (Unpublished paper presented at the African Studies Association annual meetings, St Louis 1991).
15. David Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat: ancient agriculture between the Great Lakes,' J. Afr. Hist., XXXIV (1993), 13.
16. D. Schoenbrun, 'Early history of Eastern Africa's Great Lakes region: linguistic, ecological, and archaeological approaches ca. 500 B.C. to ca. A.D. 1000 (Ph.D. thesis University of California at Los Angeles, 1990), 268; Ehret, Classical Age, 35-7; C. Ehret, 'The establishment of iron-working in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa: linguistic inferences on technological history', SUGIA, XV-XVI (1995-6), 1-47.
17. D. Schoenbrun, 'Early history of Eastern Africa's Great Lakes region: linguistic, ecological, and archaeological approaches ca. 500 B.C. to ca. A.D. 1000 (Ph.D. thesis University of California at Los Angeles, 1990), 268; Ehret, Classical Age, 35-7; C. Ehret, 'The establishment of iron-working in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa: linguistic inferences on technological history', SUGIA, XV-XVI (1995-6), 1-47.
18. D. Schoenbrun, 'Early history of Eastern Africa's Great Lakes region: linguistic, ecological, and archaeological approaches ca. 500 B.C. to ca. A.D. 1000 (Ph.D. thesis University of California at Los Angeles, 1990), 268; Ehret, Classical Age, 35-7; C. Ehret, 'The establishment of iron-working in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa: linguistic inferences on technological history', SUGIA, XV-XVI (1995-6), 1-47.
19. Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat', 15-21; Ehret, Classical Age, ch. 2.
20. Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat', 15-21; Ehret, Classical Age, ch. 2.
21. M.-C. Van Grunderbeek, E. Roche and H. Doutrelepont, Le premier age du fer au Rwanda et au Burundi: archéologie et environnement (Bruxelles, 1983), passim.
22. 3 sites in Northwest Tanzania', African Archaeological Review, III (1985), 64-7.
23. Schoenbrun suggests that this zone, at least in the last millennium B.C., was where pastoral Tale Southern Cushitic speakers resided. If indeed this was the case, then we might expect it to be an intense interaction zone with the Bantu farmers/livestock keepers/hunters/fisherman of the coastal zone, who eventually developed their own systems of cattle breeding: Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat', 15-21.
24. Ibid.
25. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements', passim; P. R. Schmidt, The Origins of Iron Smelting in Africa: A Complex Technology in Tanzania (Research Papers in Anthropology, Brown University, Providence RI, 1981); Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry'.
26. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements', passim; P. R. Schmidt, The Origins of Iron Smelting in Africa: A Complex Technology in Tanzania (Research Papers in Anthropology, Brown University, Providence RI, 1981); Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry'.
27. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements', passim; P. R. Schmidt, The Origins of Iron Smelting in Africa: A Complex Technology in Tanzania (Research Papers in Anthropology, Brown University, Providence RI, 1981); Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry'.
28. Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat', 25.
29. Most publications on the preheating issue in Buhaya are republished in P. R. Schmidt (ed.), The Culture and Technology of African Iron Production (Gainesville, 1996). Two new essays in this book address this issue: D. Killick, 'On claims for "advanced" ironworking technology in precolonial Africa', 147-266, and Avery and Schmidt, 'Preheating: practice or illusion?', 267-76.
30. Most publications on the preheating issue in Buhaya are republished in P. R. Schmidt (ed.), The Culture and Technology of African Iron Production (Gainesville, 1996). Two new essays in this book address this issue: D. Killick, 'On claims for "advanced" ironworking technology in precolonial Africa', 147-266, and Avery and Schmidt, 'Preheating: practice or illusion?', 267-76.
31. Most publications on the preheating issue in Buhaya are republished in P. R. Schmidt (ed.), The Culture and Technology of African Iron Production (Gainesville, 1996). Two new essays in this book address this issue: D. Killick, 'On claims for "advanced" ironworking technology in precolonial Africa', 147-266, and Avery and Schmidt, 'Preheating: practice or illusion?', 267-76.
32. Discussions of the archaeological evidence for early iron technology and, more specifically iron smelting furnaces are found in P. R. Schmidt, 'More evidence for an advanced prehistoric iron technology in Africa', Journal of Field Archaeology, X (1983), 421-34; Schmidt and Childs. 'Innovation and industry', 72-9. Characteristics of the ancient tuyères and the clay used in their manufacture can found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry ', 88-91. For an up-dated and more detailed version, see chapter 7 in P. R. Schmidt, Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology (Bloomington, 1997). The technical attributes of the clay resources and the requirements for clays used to make tuyères used in preheated furnaces are discussed in S. T. Childs, 'Clay resource specialization in ancient Tanzania: imphcations for cultural process', in C. Kolb (ed.), Ceramic Ecology Revisited (BAR, International Series 436, 11, pt. 2, 1-31) (Oxford, 1988), and 'Clays to artifacts: resource selection in African Early Iron Age iron-making technologies', in G. Bronitsky (ed.), Pottery Technology: Ideas and Approaches (Boulder, 1989), 139-64.
33. Discussions of the archaeological evidence for early iron technology and, more specifically iron smelting furnaces are found in P. R. Schmidt, 'More evidence for an advanced prehistoric iron technology in Africa', Journal of Field Archaeology, X (1983), 421-34; Schmidt and Childs. 'Innovation and industry', 72-9. Characteristics of the ancient tuyères and the clay used in their manufacture can found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry ', 88-91. For an up-dated and more detailed version, see chapter 7 in P. R. Schmidt, Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology (Bloomington, 1997). The technical attributes of the clay resources and the requirements for clays used to make tuyères used in preheated furnaces are discussed in S. T. Childs, 'Clay resource specialization in ancient Tanzania: imphcations for cultural process', in C. Kolb (ed.), Ceramic Ecology Revisited (BAR, International Series 436, 11, pt. 2, 1-31) (Oxford, 1988), and 'Clays to artifacts: resource selection in African Early Iron Age iron-making technologies', in G. Bronitsky (ed.), Pottery Technology: Ideas and Approaches (Boulder, 1989), 139-64.
34. Discussions of the archaeological evidence for early iron technology and, more specifically iron smelting furnaces are found in P. R. Schmidt, 'More evidence for an advanced prehistoric iron technology in Africa', Journal of Field Archaeology, X (1983), 421-34; Schmidt and Childs. 'Innovation and industry', 72-9. Characteristics of the ancient tuyères and the clay used in their manufacture can found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry ', 88-91. For an up-dated and more detailed version, see chapter 7 in P. R. Schmidt, Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology (Bloomington, 1997). The technical attributes of the clay resources and the requirements for clays used to make tuyères used in preheated furnaces are discussed in S. T. Childs, 'Clay resource specialization in ancient Tanzania: imphcations for cultural process', in C. Kolb (ed.), Ceramic Ecology Revisited (BAR, International Series 436, 11, pt. 2, 1-31) (Oxford, 1988), and 'Clays to artifacts: resource selection in African Early Iron Age iron-making technologies', in G. Bronitsky (ed.), Pottery Technology: Ideas and Approaches (Boulder, 1989), 139-64.
35. Discussions of the archaeological evidence for early iron technology and, more specifically iron smelting furnaces are found in P. R. Schmidt, 'More evidence for an advanced prehistoric iron technology in Africa', Journal of Field Archaeology, X (1983), 421-34; Schmidt and Childs. 'Innovation and industry', 72-9. Characteristics of the ancient tuyères and the clay used in their manufacture can found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry ', 88-91. For an up-dated and more detailed version, see chapter 7 in P. R. Schmidt, Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology (Bloomington, 1997). The technical attributes of the clay resources and the requirements for clays used to make tuyères used in preheated furnaces are discussed in S. T. Childs, 'Clay resource specialization in ancient Tanzania: imphcations for cultural process', in C. Kolb (ed.), Ceramic Ecology Revisited (BAR, International Series 436, 11, pt. 2, 1-31) (Oxford, 1988), and 'Clays to artifacts: resource selection in African Early Iron Age iron-making technologies', in G. Bronitsky (ed.), Pottery Technology: Ideas and Approaches (Boulder, 1989), 139-64.
36. Discussions of the archaeological evidence for early iron technology and, more specifically iron smelting furnaces are found in P. R. Schmidt, 'More evidence for an advanced prehistoric iron technology in Africa', Journal of Field Archaeology, X (1983), 421-34; Schmidt and Childs. 'Innovation and industry', 72-9. Characteristics of the ancient tuyères and the clay used in their manufacture can found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry ', 88-91. For an up-dated and more detailed version, see chapter 7 in P. R. Schmidt, Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology (Bloomington, 1997). The technical attributes of the clay resources and the requirements for clays used to make tuyères used in preheated furnaces are discussed in S. T. Childs, 'Clay resource specialization in ancient Tanzania: imphcations for cultural process', in C. Kolb (ed.), Ceramic Ecology Revisited (BAR, International Series 436, 11, pt. 2, 1-31) (Oxford, 1988), and 'Clays to artifacts: resource selection in African Early Iron Age iron-making technologies', in G. Bronitsky (ed.), Pottery Technology: Ideas and Approaches (Boulder, 1989), 139-64.
37. Discussions of the archaeological evidence for early iron technology and, more specifically iron smelting furnaces are found in P. R. Schmidt, 'More evidence for an advanced prehistoric iron technology in Africa', Journal of Field Archaeology, X (1983), 421-34; Schmidt and Childs. 'Innovation and industry', 72-9. Characteristics of the ancient tuyères and the clay used in their manufacture can found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry ', 88-91. For an up-dated and more detailed version, see chapter 7 in P. R. Schmidt, Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology (Bloomington, 1997). The technical attributes of the clay resources and the requirements for clays used to make tuyères used in preheated furnaces are discussed in S. T. Childs, 'Clay resource specialization in ancient Tanzania: imphcations for cultural process', in C. Kolb (ed.), Ceramic Ecology Revisited (BAR, International Series 436, 11, pt. 2, 1-31) (Oxford, 1988), and 'Clays to artifacts: resource selection in African Early Iron Age iron-making technologies', in G. Bronitsky (ed.), Pottery Technology: Ideas and Approaches (Boulder, 1989), 139-64.
38. At the site of Kabale, located at the southern end of the central plateau, there was a radiocarbon date of 185 B.C. ±250 specifically associated with iron smelting. While this seems very early, given the rest of the EIA in interior Buhaya, one sigma variation (250 years) brings the date into the mid-first century A.D. and two sigmas variation (500) brings the date into the early fourth century A.D. Thus, it appears that the southern occupations are likely congruent with those that occurred on the northern plateau, on the better soils, during the second and third centuries A.D.
39. On the matter of plateau tuyères see Childs, 'Clay resource specialization', 17.
40. Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 88-91; S. T. Childs, 'Style in technology a view of African Early Iron Age iron smelting through its refractory ceramics' (Ph. D. thesis, Boston University, 1986), and 'Clay resource specialization', 17.
41. Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 88-91; S. T. Childs, 'Style in technology a view of African Early Iron Age iron smelting through its refractory ceramics' (Ph. D. thesis, Boston University, 1986), and 'Clay resource specialization', 17.
42. Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 88-91; S. T. Childs, 'Style in technology a view of African Early Iron Age iron smelting through its refractory ceramics' (Ph. D. thesis, Boston University, 1986), and 'Clay resource specialization', 17.
43. Ibid.
44. Van Grunderbeek, Roche and Doutrelepont., Premier âge, 40-1, and 'La metallurgie ancienne au Rwanda et au Burundi', Journées de Paleometallurgie: Actes du Colloque de Compiegne (22-23 février, 1983), 407-23; Schmidt, 'Historical ecology', 109.
45. Van Grunderbeek, Roche and Doutrelepont., Premier âge, 40-1, and 'La metallurgie ancienne au Rwanda et au Burundi', Journées de Paleometallurgie: Actes du Colloque de Compiegne (22-23 février, 1983), 407-23; Schmidt, 'Historical ecology', 109.
46. Van Grunderbeek, Roche and Doutrelepont., Premier âge, 40-1, and 'La metallurgie ancienne au Rwanda et au Burundi', Journées de Paleometallurgie: Actes du Colloque de Compiegne (22-23 février, 1983), 407-23; Schmidt, 'Historical ecology', 109.
47. D. Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds and banana gardens: the historical geography of the Western Great Lakes region, C. A.D. 800-1500', African Archaeological Review, XI, 1993)', 48.
48. Archaeological inquiries at Ntusi are discussed in A. Reid, 'Ntusi and its hinterland: further investigations of the Later Iron Age and pastoral ecology in Southern Uganda', Nyame Akuma, XXXIII (1990), 26-8, and 'The role of cattle in the Later Iron Age communities of Southern Uganda' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991); Peter Robertshaw, 'Archaeological survey, ceramic analysis, and state formation in Western Uganda', African Archaeological Review, XII (1994), 105-31; and J. E. G. Sutton, 'The antecedents of the interlacustrine kingdoms', J. Afr. Hist., XXXIV (1993), 33-64.
49. Archaeological inquiries at Ntusi are discussed in A. Reid, 'Ntusi and its hinterland: further investigations of the Later Iron Age and pastoral ecology in Southern Uganda', Nyame Akuma, XXXIII (1990), 26-8, and 'The role of cattle in the Later Iron Age communities of Southern Uganda' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991); Peter Robertshaw, 'Archaeological survey, ceramic analysis, and state formation in Western Uganda', African Archaeological Review, XII (1994), 105-31; and J. E. G. Sutton, 'The antecedents of the interlacustrine kingdoms', J. Afr. Hist., XXXIV (1993), 33-64.
50. Archaeological inquiries at Ntusi are discussed in A. Reid, 'Ntusi and its hinterland: further investigations of the Later Iron Age and pastoral ecology in Southern Uganda', Nyame Akuma, XXXIII (1990), 26-8, and 'The role of cattle in the Later Iron Age communities of Southern Uganda' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991); Peter Robertshaw, 'Archaeological survey, ceramic analysis, and state formation in Western Uganda', African Archaeological Review, XII (1994), 105-31; and J. E. G. Sutton, 'The antecedents of the interlacustrine kingdoms', J. Afr. Hist., XXXIV (1993), 33-64.
51. Archaeological inquiries at Ntusi are discussed in A. Reid, 'Ntusi and its hinterland: further investigations of the Later Iron Age and pastoral ecology in Southern Uganda', Nyame Akuma, XXXIII (1990), 26-8, and 'The role of cattle in the Later Iron Age communities of Southern Uganda' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991); Peter Robertshaw, 'Archaeological survey, ceramic analysis, and state formation in Western Uganda', African Archaeological Review, XII (1994), 105-31; and J. E. G. Sutton, 'The antecedents of the interlacustrine kingdoms', J. Afr. Hist., XXXIV (1993), 33-64.
52. Schmidt Historical Archaeology, 291-2. The Makongo site, located on the littoral several km. north of Bukoba, shows convincing evidence for a tenth-century occupation that is associated with EIA ceramics. It also contains the most abundant evidence for carved roulette ware dated to several centuries later.
53. Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds', 55-9. Schoenbrun argues that the increasing importance of cattle among West Nyanza Bantu speakers (those inhabiting the western shore of Victoria Nyanza) is seen in the innovation of many new color terms for cattle among Rutaran speakers (Kihaya, Kizinza, Lunyoro) in the area between A.D. 1000 and 1450, the period of time when this zone west of Victoria Nyanza was once again settled by agriculturists, and, a period when oral traditions point to the coming of cattle keepers from the northern karagwe depression (Ankole) to the south and then into Buhaya proper from the west.
54. The type of iron smelting furnace found in Buhaya in ancient as well as recent times is a shaft-bowl furnace that is non-slag-tapping; this means that a 1.2-1.5 m. conical superstructure surmounted a pit approximately 0.3-0.6 m. deep. The slag was not tapped from the furnace, but instead reached the bottom of the pit by dripping or running between the charcoal or other carbonaceous materials placed in the sub-surface pit. A detailed discussion of furnace pit characteristics during the Early Iron Age can be found in Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 72-82.
55. Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, passim.
56. H. Richter, 'Notitzen über Lebensweise, Zeitrechnung, Industrie und Handwerk der Bewohner des Bezirk Bukoba', Mitteilungen (von Forschungsreisenden und Gelerhrten) aus dem Deutschen Schutzgebieten, XIII (1900), 115-26.
57. The vegetational history of Buhaya resulted from the palynology component of the West Lake Archaeological Project overseen by the author: R. Laseski, 'Modern pollen data and holocene climate change in Eastern Africa' (Ph.D. thesis, Brown University, Providence, 1983).
58. I am grateful for the assistance of M.-C. Van Grunderbeek and S. T. Childs for helping to arrange charcoal analysis. Special thanks go to H. Doutrelepont for his analysis of the charcoal found in the Buhaya furnaces. Van Grunderbeek's allied research in Rwanda and Burundi has also provided important ecological insights: M.-C. Van Grunderbeek, H. Doutrelepont and E. Roche, 'Influence humaine sur le milieu au Rwanda et au Burundi à l'âge du fer ancien (220-665 A.D.): apports de la palynologie et de l'étude des charbons de bois', Révue de paléobiologie (Avril, 1984), 221-9; Van Grunderbeek, Roche and Doutrelepont, Premier âge; M.-C. Van Grunderbeek and H. Doutrelepont 'Étude de charbons de bois provenant des sites métallurgiques de l'âge du fer ancien au Rwanda et au Burundi', PACT: Journal of the European Study Group on Physical, Chemical, Mathematical and Biological Techniques Applied to Archaeology, XXII (1988), 281-95.
59. I am grateful for the assistance of M.-C. Van Grunderbeek and S. T. Childs for helping to arrange charcoal analysis. Special thanks go to H. Doutrelepont for his analysis of the charcoal found in the Buhaya furnaces. Van Grunderbeek's allied research in Rwanda and Burundi has also provided important ecological insights: M.-C. Van Grunderbeek, H. Doutrelepont and E. Roche, 'Influence humaine sur le milieu au Rwanda et au Burundi à l'âge du fer ancien (220-665 A.D.): apports de la palynologie et de l'étude des charbons de bois', Révue de paléobiologie (Avril, 1984), 221-9; Van Grunderbeek, Roche and Doutrelepont, Premier âge; M.-C. Van Grunderbeek and H. Doutrelepont 'Étude de charbons de bois provenant des sites métallurgiques de l'âge du fer ancien au Rwanda et au Burundi', PACT: Journal of the European Study Group on Physical, Chemical, Mathematical and Biological Techniques Applied to Archaeology, XXII (1988), 281-95.
60. I am grateful for the assistance of M.-C. Van Grunderbeek and S. T. Childs for helping to arrange charcoal analysis. Special thanks go to H. Doutrelepont for his analysis of the charcoal found in the Buhaya furnaces. Van Grunderbeek's allied research in Rwanda and Burundi has also provided important ecological insights: M.-C. Van Grunderbeek, H. Doutrelepont and E. Roche, 'Influence humaine sur le milieu au Rwanda et au Burundi à l'âge du fer ancien (220-665 A.D.): apports de la palynologie et de l'étude des charbons de bois', Révue de paléobiologie (Avril, 1984), 221-9; Van Grunderbeek, Roche and Doutrelepont, Premier âge; M.-C. Van Grunderbeek and H. Doutrelepont 'Étude de charbons de bois provenant des sites métallurgiques de l'âge du fer ancien au Rwanda et au Burundi', PACT: Journal of the European Study Group on Physical, Chemical, Mathematical and Biological Techniques Applied to Archaeology, XXII (1988), 281-95.
61. Schmidt, 'Historical ecology', 107, passim.
62. D.M. McMaster, 'Change of regional balance in the Bukoba District of Tanganyika', Geographical Review, L (1960), 73-88.
63. Schmidt, 'Historical ecology', 109; Laseski, 'Modern pollen data', 181.
64. Schmidt, 'Historical ecology', 109; Laseski, 'Modern pollen data', 181.
65. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements', passim.
66. The more open woodlands of the Lake Ikimba area, if opened to cereal agriculture and intensive herding - initially by the Tale Southern Cushitic speakers and later by Bantu-speaking agriculturists influence by interactions with the former - could well have experienced a more rapid and amplified environmental degradation.
67. I. Langdale-Brown, H. A. Osmaston and J. G. Wilson, The Vegetation of Uganda and Its Bearing on Land Use (Entebbe, 1964), 75.
68. A. Hamilton, D. Taylor and J. D. Vogel, 'Early forest clearance and environmental degradation in south-west Uganda', Nature, CCCXX (1986) 164-7.
69. Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds', 48-53; Schmidt, 'Interpretive model', III, 33.
70. Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds', 48-53; Schmidt, 'Interpretive model', III, 33.
71. Schoenbrun provides a strong argument on behalf of an 'explosion of terms for cattle colors' that starts at approximately the same period of time, A.D. 1000-1200: Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds', 53. These plural developments, explosive expansion of banana cultivation and the increased importance of cattle in this precise area fit the archaeological evidence in Buhaya very nicely.
72. Laseski, 'Modern pollen data', appendix VIII, 266.
73. The distribution of sites in Rakai is discussed in R. MacLean, 'Late Stone Age and Early Iron Age settlement patterns in the Interlacustrine region: a district case study', Azania, XXIX-XXX (1996), 296-302, and in A. Reid, 'Early settlement and social organization in the Interlacustrine region', Azania, XXIX-XXX (1996), 303-13.
74. The distribution of sites in Rakai is discussed in R. MacLean, 'Late Stone Age and Early Iron Age settlement patterns in the Interlacustrine region: a district case study', Azania, XXIX-XXX (1996), 296-302, and in A. Reid, 'Early settlement and social organization in the Interlacustrine region', Azania, XXIX-XXX (1996), 303-13.
75. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements', passim.
76. A. Reid believes that EIA settlements are not to be found in Buhaya, asserting that the Buhaya sites are simply episodes of iron smelting; 'Early settlement', 306. This argument is invalid on several grounds. The sample of EIA sites in Buhaya - using systematic survey as well as extended survey of most occupied agricultural zones, where Te best agricultural soils are found - has yielded the largest total number as wel as highest density of sites known on the continent. It is spurious to claim in this context that the EIA settlement sites in Buhaya are restricted in number or that these populations were insignificant. Nor does it seem likely that EIA smelters were settled elsewhere and came to Buhaya - the best watered region around Victoria Nyanza - only to smelt iron (an EIA commuting culture?), as Reid's interpretation would have us believe.
77. I earlier noted that good clays evidently were not found on the plateau. There were excellent clays, however, on some of the swamp margins to the west and south-west of Kemondo Bay.
78. 2 sites attest: Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, 184-5, 227, and Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 65-6. The presence of domestic ceramics, iron working, and house structures at these sites suggest that similar conditions prevailed elsewhere in the region during antiquity.
79. 2 sites attest: Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, 184-5, 227, and Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 65-6. The presence of domestic ceramics, iron working, and house structures at these sites suggest that similar conditions prevailed elsewhere in the region during antiquity.
80. 2 sites attest: Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, 184-5, 227, and Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 65-6. The presence of domestic ceramics, iron working, and house structures at these sites suggest that similar conditions prevailed elsewhere in the region during antiquity.
81. 2 sites attest: Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, 184-5, 227, and Schmidt and Childs, 'Innovation and industry', 65-6. The presence of domestic ceramics, iron working, and house structures at these sites suggest that similar conditions prevailed elsewhere in the region during antiquity.
82. Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat', 28, passim.
83. R. B. Stothers, 'Mystery cloud of A.D. 536', Nature, 307: 5949 (1984), 344-6; M. G. L. Baillie, 'Dendrochronology raises questions about the nature of the A.D. 536 dust-veil event', Holocene, IV (1994), 212-17.
84. R. B. Stothers, 'Mystery cloud of A.D. 536', Nature, 307: 5949 (1984), 344-6; M. G. L. Baillie, 'Dendrochronology raises questions about the nature of the A.D. 536 dust-veil event', Holocene, IV (1994), 212-17.
85. J. Gunn 'A framework for the Middle-Late Holocene transition: astronomical and geophysical conditions' (Unpublished manuscript, forthcoming in Southeastern Archaeology).
86. P. Robertshaw, 'The interlacustrine region: a progress report', Nyame Akuma, XXX (1088), 37-8. The absence of attention to the Urewe component at Mubende Hill may have arisen from the fact that little evidence has been found for Urewe ware at other sites in the region: Reid, 'Early settlement', 306. This phenomenon may be related to a low archaeological visibility rather than a low incidence of sites. It is clear that Urewe evidence at Ntusi and the numerous Urewe sherds at Mubende Hill require a reevaluation of the idea that this drier area did not support EIA populations. The presence of EIA peoples in south central Uganda, however, may be related more to ritual activities than it is to full blown subsistence-based communities. Interestingly, J. E. G. Sutton allows for the possibility that there may be some ritual continuity back to the EIA at Mubende Hill: Sutton, 'Antecedents', 47-8.
87. P. Robertshaw, 'The interlacustrine region: a progress report', Nyame Akuma, XXX (1088), 37-8. The absence of attention to the Urewe component at Mubende Hill may have arisen from the fact that little evidence has been found for Urewe ware at other sites in the region: Reid, 'Early settlement', 306. This phenomenon may be related to a low archaeological visibility rather than a low incidence of sites. It is clear that Urewe evidence at Ntusi and the numerous Urewe sherds at Mubende Hill require a reevaluation of the idea that this drier area did not support EIA populations. The presence of EIA peoples in south central Uganda, however, may be related more to ritual activities than it is to full blown subsistence-based communities. Interestingly, J. E. G. Sutton allows for the possibility that there may be some ritual continuity back to the EIA at Mubende Hill: Sutton, 'Antecedents', 47-8.
88. P. Robertshaw, 'The interlacustrine region: a progress report', Nyame Akuma, XXX (1088), 37-8. The absence of attention to the Urewe component at Mubende Hill may have arisen from the fact that little evidence has been found for Urewe ware at other sites in the region: Reid, 'Early settlement', 306. This phenomenon may be related to a low archaeological visibility rather than a low incidence of sites. It is clear that Urewe evidence at Ntusi and the numerous Urewe sherds at Mubende Hill require a reevaluation of the idea that this drier area did not support EIA populations. The presence of EIA peoples in south central Uganda, however, may be related more to ritual activities than it is to full blown subsistence-based communities. Interestingly, J. E. G. Sutton allows for the possibility that there may be some ritual continuity back to the EIA at Mubende Hill: Sutton, 'Antecedents', 47-8.
89. Reid 'Role of cattle' passim. Sutton, 'Antecedents', 52-7. The function ot Ntusi is still very much open to question. I have argued that the activities documented at Ntusi, particularly the deep and detailed stratigraphies in two large mounds, rather than being evidence only for settled agriculture and cattle raising, might alternatively be read as rhythmed time, that is, the installation of chiefs or religious leaders in the region during a period of growing centralization. Other features on the site, such as the large exposure of kaolin in an excavated depression (called Bwogero) also fits with the idea that the area was used for chiefly installations: P. R. Schmidt, 'Rhythmed time and its archaeological implications', in G. Pwiti and R. Soper (eds.), Aspects of African Archaeology (Harare, 1996), 655-62.
90. Reid 'Role of cattle' passim. Sutton, 'Antecedents', 52-7. The function ot Ntusi is still very much open to question. I have argued that the activities documented at Ntusi, particularly the deep and detailed stratigraphies in two large mounds, rather than being evidence only for settled agriculture and cattle raising, might alternatively be read as rhythmed time, that is, the installation of chiefs or religious leaders in the region during a period of growing centralization. Other features on the site, such as the large exposure of kaolin in an excavated depression (called Bwogero) also fits with the idea that the area was used for chiefly installations: P. R. Schmidt, 'Rhythmed time and its archaeological implications', in G. Pwiti and R. Soper (eds.), Aspects of African Archaeology (Harare, 1996), 655-62.
91. Reid 'Role of cattle' passim. Sutton, 'Antecedents', 52-7. The function ot Ntusi is still very much open to question. I have argued that the activities documented at Ntusi, particularly the deep and detailed stratigraphies in two large mounds, rather than being evidence only for settled agriculture and cattle raising, might alternatively be read as rhythmed time, that is, the installation of chiefs or religious leaders in the region during a period of growing centralization. Other features on the site, such as the large exposure of kaolin in an excavated depression (called Bwogero) also fits with the idea that the area was used for chiefly installations: P. R. Schmidt, 'Rhythmed time and its archaeological implications', in G. Pwiti and R. Soper (eds.), Aspects of African Archaeology (Harare, 1996), 655-62.
92. The presence of carved roulette ware near Lake Albert has been documented, amongst others, by R. Soper, 'Iron Age archaeological sites in the Chobi sector of Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda', Azania, VI (1971), 51-87, and G. Connah, Kibiro (British Institute in Eastern Africa, Memoir no. 13) (London, 1996).
93. The presence of carved roulette ware near Lake Albert has been documented, amongst others, by R. Soper, 'Iron Age archaeological sites in the Chobi sector of Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda', Azania, VI (1971), 51-87, and G. Connah, Kibiro (British Institute in Eastern Africa, Memoir no. 13) (London, 1996).
94. Ehret, Classical Age, 47.
95. Robertshaw, 'Archaeological survey', 122-6.
96. N. David, 'Prehistory and historical linguistics in Central Africa: points of contact', in C. Ehret and M. Posnansky (eds.), The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1982), 90.
97. Stewart, 'Iron Age ceramic studies', and Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds', point out the limitation of the arguments by Desmedt, who attempts to link oral traditions in Rwanda to the coming of Nilotic pastoralists and roulette-decorated pottery using twisted and plaited techniques at the end of the first millennium A.D.: C. Desmedt, 'Poteries anciennes décorées à la roulette dans la Région des Grands Lacs', African Archaeological Review, IX (1991), 161-96. Soper, 'Iron Age archaeological sites', notes that at the Chobi site in north-western Uganda carved roulette and plaited roulette techniques are coeval. However, he was unable to date these occurrences. Connah illustrates numerous motifs made by the carved roulette technique, initially dating to the first quarter of this millennium: Kibiro, 122-4. These ceramics are found in association with plaited grass roulette (Connah's knotted strip roulette), though the earliest levels are dominated by carved roulette. J. E. G. Sutton notes that at Ntusi in the earliest levels the other decorative techniques - plaited and twisted roulettes - were dominant: 'Antecedents', 60. This points to a need to document the history of roulette wares and the particular importance of carved roulettes in the region.
98. Schoenbrun, 'Early history', 276; a less precise attribution of northerly origins is offered by Sutton, 'Antecedents', 60.
99. Schoenbrun, 'Cattle herds', 55-9. The attribution of identity tied to ceramic decoration is a contested topic in archaeology. One of the difficulties in such a proposition is that it is difficult to find groups in Africa today who use decorative elements on ceramics as signs of identity. While there is an absence of strong inference for this position, nonetheless there were certainly significant economic and cultural changes occurring at the turn of the millennium, sufficient to suggest that new decorative techniques on ceramics are part of that process of internal transformation.
100. Connah, Kibiro, 120.
101. The new communities established at this time in Buhaya were marked by a carved roulette pottery with a distinctive design - a battleship-shaped form in relief (e.g., Connah's motif no. 2: Kibiro, 122). This has been dated to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries along with iron production, in the interior aliong the Mulelezi River at the Kasiramfuka site and the ridge overlooking Lake Ikimba at the Rulama site. These dates fit closely with those from units 25 and 26 of cutting III at Kibiro: Connah, Kibiro, 91-2.
102. For a description of the role of carbonaceous swamp reeds in bloom formation and carburization, see P. R. Schmidt and D. H. Avery. 'Prehistoric culture and complex iron smelting in Tanzania', Science, CCI (1978), 1085-9; and D. H. Avery and P. R. Schmidt, 'A metallurgical study of the iron bloomery, particularly as practiced in Buhaya', Journal of Metals, XXXI (1979), 14-20.
103. For a description of the role of carbonaceous swamp reeds in bloom formation and carburization, see P. R. Schmidt and D. H. Avery. 'Prehistoric culture and complex iron smelting in Tanzania', Science, CCI (1978), 1085-9; and D. H. Avery and P. R. Schmidt, 'A metallurgical study of the iron bloomery, particularly as practiced in Buhaya', Journal of Metals, XXXI (1979), 14-20.
104. Schmidt 'Interpretive model', III, 33.
105. have elsewhere provided an exegesis of the symbolism attached to this ancient plece and its significance as the most important symbolic armature in the rich ritual symbolism associated with iron production: P. R. Schmidt, 'Cultural meaning and history in African myth', International Journal of Oral History, IV (1983), 167-83, and Iron Technology, chs. 2 and 9.
106. The deforestation east of Lake Ikimba C. A.D. 450-500 bears similarities (decline in arboreal pollen, then in nonarboreal pollen) to patterns we see in Buhaya again in the midsecond millennium.
107. Schmidt, Historical Archaeology, 94-6.
108. Ibid. 78-86.
109. Schoenbrun points out that the importance of manure among Great Lakes Bantu goes back to the pre-Christian era: Schoenbrun, 'We are what we eat', 19.
110. Schmidt, 'Early Iron Age settlements', 81-3.