Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Kansyore Phenomenon of East Africa

在理查德·h·梅多博士的监督下，玛丽·普伦德加斯特将分析她在坦桑尼亚埃亚西湖附近挖掘时收集的考古数据，以及之前肯尼亚国家博物馆在维多利亚湖附近挖掘时收集的考古数据。这些湖盆是采集者的家园，他们分享着一种叫做Kansyore的陶器传统，这种陶器在肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚和乌干达的部分地区被发现，据报道，这些遗址的历史在8000 - 2000年前。普伦德加斯特的工作不仅将通过确定挖掘出的有机材料的年代来完善坎西奥尔遗址的年代，而且还将详细研究遗址居住者所追求的饮食策略。Kansyore遗址因其深厚的、富含陶器的沉积物和以鱼类为主的丰富食物而闻名。这与过去一个世纪对非洲狩猎采集者的人种学研究结果形成鲜明对比，后者被证明离开了相对较少使用的营地，消耗了大量的野生动物，避免使用陶瓷或其他需要大量劳动力投入生产的物品。因此，对Kansyore遗址的研究，特别是从饮食角度的研究，对于理解过去觅食生活方式的多样性至关重要。此外，在一个坎西奥尔遗址的后期发现了家畜（绵羊和/或山羊）的骨头，这表明这些人要么与当地牧民有接触，要么随着时间的推移采用了放牧。由于与牧民的互动已成为当今狩猎采集者生活的常规特征（通常是在被牧民或农民包围的边际生产力地区），因此历史视角对于理解东非过去和现在采用粮食生产至关重要。为了了解Kansyore觅食的性质以及与牧民的互动程度，Prendergast将对三个Kansyore遗址的鱼类和哺乳动物遗骸进行深入研究，并将利用其他信息来源，如沉积物的微形态分析，以确定家畜是否被长期饲养在现场。除了研究觅食变化和猎人与牧民之间的相互作用外，该项目还涉及更广泛的环境问题。维多利亚湖的古生态引起了科学界的关注，因为这个年轻的湖泊在仅仅12000年的时间里就成功地在一个鱼类科（Cichilidae）中产生了500多种或亚种。最近湖泊的富营养化和热分层导致鱼类数量下降，鱼类学家竞相记录其生物多样性。尽管考古食物遗迹受到保存条件和人类选择的影响，普伦德加斯特对坎西奥尔遗址鱼类的分析可能会提供有关该湖及其支流过去多样性的最佳历史数据。最后，该项目还将促进东非考古学的发展，因为坦桑尼亚的发掘工作将培训达累斯萨拉姆大学的学生。一些文章将与当地考古学家共同撰写，这项工作产生的论文将在三个东非机构提供。发表在期刊上的论文和在免费的在线数据库中公布的数据将使该项目的结果可供科学界和公众使用。

Under the supervision of Dr. Richard H. Meadow, Mary Prendergast will analyze archaeological data gathered during her excavations near Lake Eyasi in Tanzania and during previous excavations by the National Museums of Kenya near Lake Victoria. These lacustrine basins were home to foragers sharing a pottery tradition called Kansyore, found across parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda at sites reportedly dating between 8,000-2,000 years old. Prendergast's work will not only refine the chronology of Kansyore sites by dating organic materials from her excavations, but she will also examine in detail the dietary strategies pursued by the sites' occupants.Kansyore sites are remarkable for their deep, pottery-rich deposits and abundant food remains dominated by fish. This contrasts with findings from the past century of ethnographic research on African hunter-gatherers, who were shown to leave relatively lightly-used camps, consume a broad range of wild animals, and avoid using ceramics or other objects which require large investments of labor to produce. The study of Kansyore sites, particularly from a dietary perspective, is therefore essential to understanding the diversity of past foraging lifestyles. Furthermore, the appearance of bones of domestic caprines (sheep and/or goat) in the later levels of one Kansyore site suggests that the occupants were either in contact with local herders or adopted herding over time. Since interactions with herders have become a regular feature of life wherever hunter-gatherers remain today (typically in marginally productive areas, surrounded by herders or farmers), an historical perspective is essential to understanding past and present adoption of food production in East Africa. To understand the nature of Kansyore foraging and the degree of interaction with herders, Prendergast will pursue an in-depth study of the fish and mammal remains from three Kansyore sites, and will also draw on other sources of information, such as micromorphological analysis of sediments, to determine whether domestic animals were kept on-site for long periods of time.In addition to examining foraging variation and hunter-herder interactions, this project addresses broader environmental issues. The paleoecology of Lake Victoria has attracted the attention of the scientific community, since this young lake has managed to produce over 500 species or sub-species within a single fish family (Cichilidae) over just 12,000 years. Recent eutrophication and thermal stratification of the lake has led to declining fish populations, leaving ichthyologists racing to document its biodiversity. Although archaeological food remains are biased by both preservation conditions and human choices, Prendergast's analysis of the fish from Kansyore sites may offer the best available historical data on the past diversity of the lake and its tributaries.Finally, the project will also contribute to the growth East African archaeology, since the Tanzanian excavations will train students from the University of Dar es-Salaam. Some articles will be co-authored with local archaeologists, and the dissertation resulting from this work will be made available at three East African institutions. Papers in refereed journals and the publication of data in a free online databank will make the project results available to the scientific community and the public.