The Arrival and Expansion of Pastoralist Economies on the Laikipia Plateau

在国家科学基金会的支持下，凯瑟琳·瑞安博士和一个国际团队的同事将在肯尼亚莱基皮亚的姆帕拉牧场进行三个考古测绘和测试挖掘的实地季节。该团队汇集了美国，肯尼亚、英国和以色列的考古学、地质考古学和地球化学专家，对早期畜牧和狩猎采集遗址进行系统研究。其目标是确定在引入到莱基皮亚，大约4000年前，牛畜牧业的迁移牛群所采用的策略，并通过扩展，以评估对土著狩猎采集者的生活方式的影响。拟议的研究将补充和建立在该小组2002年至2005年在莱克皮亚西部的莱基皮亚自然保护区已经完成的区域调查和试验挖掘以及2005年在莱基皮亚中部的姆帕拉正在进行的勘探的基础上。由于他们的大小，一起Mpala（约。2万公顷）莱基皮亚自然保护区（Laikipia Nature Conservancy）35，000公顷）提供机会，以确定和抽样的大量网站在一个广泛的地区。这一项目成功的关键将是有能力（一）区分牧区和狩猎-采集区，以及（二）检验最早到来的牧牛人带着一个充分发展的牧区，严重依赖乳制品的假设。这将需要将最先进的地质考古和地球化学分析与更传统的调查和挖掘方法相结合，以确定畜牧区和牧区的其他特征，以及陶器中乳脂残留物的化学特征。 研究工作包括考古调查、挖掘和文化及沉积物分析，将有助于我们了解非洲各地畜牧业的出现和传播。这在现代非洲的背景下具有重要意义，在那里，畜牧业仍然是现代生计基础的重要组成部分。获得直接的证据，以及日期和社会背景，为非洲牛挤奶的史前牧民的研究的一个关键部分，可以有助于最近的讨论乳糖耐受性的遗传基础在东非人口。在一个人类学知识通常由外国研究人员创造的地区，肯尼亚国家博物馆和内罗毕美国国际大学的研究人员与布里斯托大学、以色列魏茨曼研究所和宾夕法尼亚大学博物馆的合作将有助于纠正这种不平衡。它还将通过为美国和肯尼亚学生提供实践经验来建立研究能力。所有五个机构都参与通过研究创造知识。USIU将通过课堂教学进一步帮助传播这些知识。

ABSTRACTWith National Science Foundation support, Dr. Kathleen Ryan and an international team of colleagues will conduct three field seasons of archaeological mapping and test excavation at Mpala Ranch, Laikipia, Kenya. The team brings together U.S., Kenyan, British, and Israeli specialists in archaeology, geoarchaeology and biogeochemistry to carry out a systematic study of early pastoral and hunter-gatherer sites. The goal is to identify the strategies employed by in-migrating cattle herding groups during the introduction of cattle pastoralism into Laikipia, around 4000 years ago, and by extension, to assess the impact on the lifestyle of the indigenous hunter-gatherers. The proposed research will complement and build on the regional survey and test excavations already completed by the team between 2002 and 2005 at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy in western Laikpia and ongoing exploration in 2005 at Mpala in central Laikipia. Because of their size, together Mpala (ca. 20,000 ha.) and Laikipia Nature Conservancy (ca. 35,000 ha.) offer the opportunity to identify and sample a large number of sites over an extensive area. Crucial to the success of this project will be the ability to (i) distinguish pastoral and hunter-gatherer sites and (ii) test the hypothesis that the earliest incoming cattle herders arrived with a fully developed pastoral package heavily reliant on dairy products. This will require integration of cutting-edge geoarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses with more conventional methods of survey and excavation, to identify stockholding areas and other features of pastoral settlements, as well as the chemical signatures of dairy fat residues in pottery vessels. Research includes archaeological survey, excavation and the analysis of cultural and sediments recovered.The project will contribute to our understanding of the advent and spread of cattle pastoralism throughout Africa. This is of significance in the context of modern Africa where cattle pastoralism still forms an important part of the modern subsistence base. Obtaining direct evidence, as well as dates and social context, for milking of African cattle by prehistoric herders-a pivotal part of the study-can contribute to recent discussions of the genetic basis of lactose tolerance in East African populations. In a region where anthropological knowledge has generally been generated by foreign researchers, the collaboration between researchers at the National Museums of Kenya and the United States International University (USIU), in Nairobi, with the Univeristy of Bristol, the Weizmann Institute of Israel, and the University of Pennsylania Museum will help redress this imbalance. It will also build research capacity by offering hands-on experience to US and Kenyan students. All five institutions are involved in the creation of knowledge through research. USIU will further aid the dissemination of such knowledge through teaching in the classroom.