Hinterlands and Cities: Archaeological Investigations of Economy and Trade in Tsavo, Kenya

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Drs. Chapurukha Kusimba and Sibel Kusimba will conduct two field seasons of archaeological and ethnographic research in the Tsavo region of southeastern Kenya. They are studying how small-scale but diverse societies participated in and were impacted by burgeoning trading systems that moved ivory, precious metals, agricultural foodstuffs, ceramics, textiles, human beings and cultural knowledge across port cities of the Old World during the period 2000 b.c.e. - 1800 c.e. In Tsavo, hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists interacted and traded amongst themselves and with merchants from the Kenyan Coast, where Muslim urban trading polities developed from 900-1700 c.e. The Tsavo region was an important source and conduit for African trade goods bound via Coast cities into Indian Ocean and Mediterranean trade, such as ivory, slaves, rhinoceros horns, animal skins, and rock crystal. From 1000-1500 AD Tsavo ivory became an increasingly valuable commodity and form of currency on the world market. The East African Coastal cities had a diverse and well-defined social hierarchy composed of a social and religious elite, commoners, foreigners, and slaves. The elite managed and financed complex and extensive interregional trade networks. They also sponsored craft specialists including ironworkers, specialized fishermen, and sailors. They owned the most productive land and leased out the land to commoners, newcomers, and slaves. They may also have financed and supported specialized hunters in the hinterland to provide export trade goods such as ivory. The actions of urban elite were no doubt important in the involvement of East Africa in global trade. However, the participation of ordinary people in hinterlands like Tsavo enabled elite accumulation of wealth, power, and status. Because elite actions have been an almost exclusive focus of East African archaeology, little is known about the impact of Coastal trade on Tsavo communities. The project team brings together Western and Kenyan specialists in archaeology, historical linguistics, geoarchaeology ethnography and archaeology to conduct a coordinated investigation into the development and cultural/ecological impact of trade in Tsavo. In three field seasons, the Kusimba's and colleagues have identified over 200 sites, including an extensive iron production complex, rockshelter agropastoralist and hunter-gatherer settlements including preserved dry stonework cattle pens and human sleeping and food processing areas, open-air sites, and sites of mortuary activity, including secondary reburial. They hypothesize that Tsavo communities and individuals used alliances, competition, and intensification to increase their participation in trade. These strategies may have caused ecological disruption through overexploitation of the elephant, whose foraging of woody and shrubby vegetation maintains ecosystem biodiversity and grazing areas for human pastoralists. Their research will examine the use and ecological effects of these three strategies through excavations in four areas of Tsavo and subsequent chemical and attribute analysis of pottery, lithic artifacts, faunal remains, and site architecture and location. Paleoecological analysis, including palynology and soil chemistry, will look for evidence of environmental degredation associated with elephant overexploitation.