PROF. MUTORO HENRY WANGUTUSI

The Development of Archaeology in Kenya Since the Early 1960's

The history of archeology in Kenya broadly parallels that of the broader East African Region. This, in part, is because the region shares a related cultural history and in part, because, socio-political and economic environments in the countries of the region are largely related. In addition, international trends in archaeology pertaining to method and theory, affected the region in a more or less similar manner. Despite this, and for purposes of this chapter, the discussion confines itself to historical developments that relate to Kenya, since the early 1960's.
Archaeological studies in Kenya, as in the East African countries, have been conducted in two major dimensions, one concerned with human origins, and the other concerned with aspects pf later prehistory (Robertshaw 1990:78). The chapter will shed light on the social, political and economic environments under which archaeology as a discipline has thrived; explain how international trends in archaeology in method and theory have influenced archaeological studies in the country were conducted and how their results were interpreted.

This paper reports on work which was done on the upper Tana in Eastern Kenya. The work revealed a number of iron-using sites which included smelting areas, so-called Gumba earth works and lot of pottery, belonging to triangular incised (TIW) and Kwale Ware. It is concluded that TIW post date Kwale Ware and it is likely the TIW makers/users were responsible for the iron working in the Area.

There is a causal relationship between political leadership and economic development. There is evidence that the deterioration of economic conditions in African since independence is owed to poor management of public economic affairs by the incumbent state leadership. This argument implies that whereas the continent may not be very well endowed with natural resources, this may not be held solely responsible for the existing economic woes. Whatever resources exist are capable of generating economic development, indeed economic breakthrough, if they are harnessed and utilized effectively. Conversely, a country may be endowed with enormous natural and human resources, but may remain characterized by poverty and economic backwardness if it is not endowed with visionary, dedicated and rational political leadership capable of appropriating such resources for the purpose of national development and for the prosperity of the citizens.

This paper reports on work which was done on the upper Tana in Eastern Kenya. The work revealed a number of iron-using sites which included smelting areas, so-called Gumba earth works and lot of pottery, belonging to triangular incised (TIW) and Kwale Ware. It is concluded that TIW post date Kwale Ware and it is likely the TIW makers/users were responsible for the iron working in the Area.

This paper reports on work which was done on the upper Tana in Eastern Kenya. The work revealed a number of iron-using sites which included smelting areas, so-called Gumba earth works and lot of pottery, belonging to triangular incised (TIW) and Kwale Ware. It is concluded that TIW post date Kwale Ware and it is likely the TIW makers/users were responsible for the iron working in the Area.

The precolonial trading systems of the East African interior have a great antiquity ml can best be understood by employing a multidisciplinary approach including archaeology, oral traditions, linguistic evidence and documentary sources. Two types oj trade, namely subsistence-oriented and nonsubsistence-oriented or long-distance frai, can be identified. In general, the nonsubsistence-oriented trade was a response demands for unevenly distributed resources at both local and international levels, This is demonstrated by some of the coastal and hinterland settlements for which there is evidence for periods of prosperity. Archaeological evidence from the pre-tenth-century AD settlements on the coast, and documentary evidence of the same period, show how this prosperity emanated from trade transactions between the coast and the interior in response to industrial and labor-force demands in the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, particularly the Orient and Mediterranean Europe. The steadily expanding market for commodities from the interior, particularly ivory and slaves, provided by the international maritime trade especially after the fifteenth century, brought new opportunities for the expansion of long-distance trade. These created and strengthened contacts between the East African interior and the coast, in order to satisfy the needs of the expanding markets in Europe and the Orient, for instance, the Akamba, the Nyamwezi, and the Yao caravans, to name just a few, collaborated with the Mijikenda, the Swahili, and Arab caravan traders to deplete tht interior of its resources for the markets overseas. Trade with the interior not only increased in volume but also witnessed the supplementing of traditional commodities with new ones. From the coast, for example, interior communities got luxury items such as cloth, beads, porcelain, glass, and later guns, which had not been seen in the interior before. In addition to these were cowrie shells, now as a form of currency, certain foodstuffs, and salt. These were exchanged for interior products of the hunt and jar slaves. It seems that interior communities never took the first initiative in tk international trade that characterized this region in the period under review. Ik initiative was always taken by coastal communities in response to industrial growth and labor-force demands overseas. Analyzing the balance sheet of this trade, it my k concluded that precolonial African societies in the interior were not what we would now call astute business people with long-term investment programs. There is little evidence to show that they benefited very much from these transactions, in spite of the active role that they played.

There is a causal relationship between political leadership and economic development. There is evidence that the deterioration of economic conditions in African since independence is owed to poor management of public economic affairs by the incumbent state leadership. This argument implies that whereas the continent may not be very well endowed with natural resources, this may not be held solely responsible for the existing economic woes. Whatever resources exist are capable of generating economic development, indeed economic breakthrough, if they are harnessed and utilized effectively. Conversely, a country may be endowed with enormous natural and human resources, but may remain characterized by poverty and economic backwardness if it is not endowed with visionary, dedicated and rational political leadership capable of appropriating such resources for the purpose of national development and for the prosperity of the citizens.

The precolonial trading systems of the East African interior have a great antiquity ml can best be understood by employing a multidisciplinary approach including archaeology, oral traditions, linguistic evidence and documentary sources. Two types oj trade, namely subsistence-oriented and nonsubsistence-oriented or long-distance frai, can be identified. In general, the nonsubsistence-oriented trade was a response demands for unevenly distributed resources at both local and international levels, This is demonstrated by some of the coastal and hinterland settlements for which there is evidence for periods of prosperity. Archaeological evidence from the pre-tenth-century AD settlements on the coast, and documentary evidence of the same period, show how this prosperity emanated from trade transactions between the coast and the interior in response to industrial and labor-force demands in the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, particularly the Orient and Mediterranean Europe. The steadily expanding market for commodities from the interior, particularly ivory and slaves, provided by the international maritime trade especially after the fifteenth century, brought new opportunities for the expansion of long-distance trade. These created and strengthened contacts between the East African interior and the coast, in order to satisfy the needs of the expanding markets in Europe and the Orient, for instance, the Akamba, the Nyamwezi, and the Yao caravans, to name just a few, collaborated with the Mijikenda, the Swahili, and Arab caravan traders to deplete tht interior of its resources for the markets overseas. Trade with the interior not only increased in volume but also witnessed the supplementing of traditional commodities with new ones. From the coast, for example, interior communities got luxury items such as cloth, beads, porcelain, glass, and later guns, which had not been seen in the interior before. In addition to these were cowrie shells, now as a form of currency, certain foodstuffs, and salt. These were exchanged for interior products of the hunt and jar slaves. It seems that interior communities never took the first initiative in tk international trade that characterized this region in the period under review. Ik initiative was always taken by coastal communities in response to industrial growth and labor-force demands overseas. Analyzing the balance sheet of this trade, it my k concluded that precolonial African societies in the interior were not what we would now call astute business people with long-term investment programs. There is little evidence to show that they benefited very much from these transactions, in spite of the active role that they played.

The precolonial trading systems of the East African interior have a great antiquity ml can best be understood by employing a multidisciplinary approach including archaeology, oral traditions, linguistic evidence and documentary sources. Two types oj trade, namely subsistence-oriented and nonsubsistence-oriented or long-distance frai, can be identified. In general, the nonsubsistence-oriented trade was a response demands for unevenly distributed resources at both local and international levels, This is demonstrated by some of the coastal and hinterland settlements for which there is evidence for periods of prosperity. Archaeological evidence from the pre-tenth-century AD settlements on the coast, and documentary evidence of the same period, show how this prosperity emanated from trade transactions between the coast and the interior in response to industrial and labor-force demands in the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, particularly the Orient and Mediterranean Europe. The steadily expanding market for commodities from the interior, particularly ivory and slaves, provided by the international maritime trade especially after the fifteenth century, brought new opportunities for the expansion of long-distance trade. These created and strengthened contacts between the East African interior and the coast, in order to satisfy the needs of the expanding markets in Europe and the Orient, for instance, the Akamba, the Nyamwezi, and the Yao caravans, to name just a few, collaborated with the Mijikenda, the Swahili, and Arab caravan traders to deplete tht interior of its resources for the markets overseas. Trade with the interior not only increased in volume but also witnessed the supplementing of traditional commodities with new ones. From the coast, for example, interior communities got luxury items such as cloth, beads, porcelain, glass, and later guns, which had not been seen in the interior before. In addition to these were cowrie shells, now as a form of currency, certain foodstuffs, and salt. These were exchanged for interior products of the hunt and jar slaves. It seems that interior communities never took the first initiative in tk international trade that characterized this region in the period under review. Ik initiative was always taken by coastal communities in response to industrial growth and labor-force demands overseas. Analyzing the balance sheet of this trade, it my k concluded that precolonial African societies in the interior were not what we would now call astute business people with long-term investment programs. There is little evidence to show that they benefited very much from these transactions, in spite of the active role that they played.

The precolonial trading systems of the East African interior have a great antiquity ml can best be understood by employing a multidisciplinary approach including archaeology, oral traditions, linguistic evidence and documentary sources. Two types oj trade, namely subsistence-oriented and nonsubsistence-oriented or long-distance frai, can be identified. In general, the nonsubsistence-oriented trade was a response demands for unevenly distributed resources at both local and international levels, This is demonstrated by some of the coastal and hinterland settlements for which there is evidence for periods of prosperity. Archaeological evidence from the pre-tenth-century AD settlements on the coast, and documentary evidence of the same period, show how this prosperity emanated from trade transactions between the coast and the interior in response to industrial and labor-force demands in the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, particularly the Orient and Mediterranean Europe. The steadily expanding market for commodities from the interior, particularly ivory and slaves, provided by the international maritime trade especially after the fifteenth century, brought new opportunities for the expansion of long-distance trade. These created and strengthened contacts between the East African interior and the coast, in order to satisfy the needs of the expanding markets in Europe and the Orient, for instance, the Akamba, the Nyamwezi, and the Yao caravans, to name just a few, collaborated with the Mijikenda, the Swahili, and Arab caravan traders to deplete tht interior of its resources for the markets overseas. Trade with the interior not only increased in volume but also witnessed the supplementing of traditional commodities with new ones. From the coast, for example, interior communities got luxury items such as cloth, beads, porcelain, glass, and later guns, which had not been seen in the interior before. In addition to these were cowrie shells, now as a form of currency, certain foodstuffs, and salt. These were exchanged for interior products of the hunt and jar slaves. It seems that interior communities never took the first initiative in tk international trade that characterized this region in the period under review. Ik initiative was always taken by coastal communities in response to industrial growth and labor-force demands overseas. Analyzing the balance sheet of this trade, it my k concluded that precolonial African societies in the interior were not what we would now call astute business people with long-term investment programs. There is little evidence to show that they benefited very much from these transactions, in spite of the active role that they played.

The precolonial trading systems of the East African interior have a great antiquity ml can best be understood by employing a multidisciplinary approach including archaeology, oral traditions, linguistic evidence and documentary sources. Two types oj trade, namely subsistence-oriented and nonsubsistence-oriented or long-distance frai, can be identified. In general, the nonsubsistence-oriented trade was a response demands for unevenly distributed resources at both local and international levels, This is demonstrated by some of the coastal and hinterland settlements for which there is evidence for periods of prosperity. Archaeological evidence from the pre-tenth-century AD settlements on the coast, and documentary evidence of the same period, show how this prosperity emanated from trade transactions between the coast and the interior in response to industrial and labor-force demands in the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, particularly the Orient and Mediterranean Europe. The steadily expanding market for commodities from the interior, particularly ivory and slaves, provided by the international maritime trade especially after the fifteenth century, brought new opportunities for the expansion of long-distance trade. These created and strengthened contacts between the East African interior and the coast, in order to satisfy the needs of the expanding markets in Europe and the Orient, for instance, the Akamba, the Nyamwezi, and the Yao caravans, to name just a few, collaborated with the Mijikenda, the Swahili, and Arab caravan traders to deplete tht interior of its resources for the markets overseas. Trade with the interior not only increased in volume but also witnessed the supplementing of traditional commodities with new ones. From the coast, for example, interior communities got luxury items such as cloth, beads, porcelain, glass, and later guns, which had not been seen in the interior before. In addition to these were cowrie shells, now as a form of currency, certain foodstuffs, and salt. These were exchanged for interior products of the hunt and jar slaves. It seems that interior communities never took the first initiative in tk international trade that characterized this region in the period under review. Ik initiative was always taken by coastal communities in response to industrial growth and labor-force demands overseas. Analyzing the balance sheet of this trade, it my k concluded that precolonial African societies in the interior were not what we would now call astute business people with long-term investment programs. There is little evidence to show that they benefited very much from these transactions, in spite of the active role that they played.

The precolonial trading systems of the East African interior have a great antiquity ml can best be understood by employing a multidisciplinary approach including archaeology, oral traditions, linguistic evidence and documentary sources. Two types oj trade, namely subsistence-oriented and nonsubsistence-oriented or long-distance frai, can be identified. In general, the nonsubsistence-oriented trade was a response demands for unevenly distributed resources at both local and international levels, This is demonstrated by some of the coastal and hinterland settlements for which there is evidence for periods of prosperity. Archaeological evidence from the pre-tenth-century AD settlements on the coast, and documentary evidence of the same period, show how this prosperity emanated from trade transactions between the coast and the interior in response to industrial and labor-force demands in the lands beyond the Indian Ocean, particularly the Orient and Mediterranean Europe. The steadily expanding market for commodities from the interior, particularly ivory and slaves, provided by the international maritime trade especially after the fifteenth century, brought new opportunities for the expansion of long-distance trade. These created and strengthened contacts between the East African interior and the coast, in order to satisfy the needs of the expanding markets in Europe and the Orient, for instance, the Akamba, the Nyamwezi, and the Yao caravans, to name just a few, collaborated with the Mijikenda, the Swahili, and Arab caravan traders to deplete tht interior of its resources for the markets overseas. Trade with the interior not only increased in volume but also witnessed the supplementing of traditional commodities with new ones. From the coast, for example, interior communities got luxury items such as cloth, beads, porcelain, glass, and later guns, which had not been seen in the interior before. In addition to these were cowrie shells, now as a form of currency, certain foodstuffs, and salt. These were exchanged for interior products of the hunt and jar slaves. It seems that interior communities never took the first initiative in tk international trade that characterized this region in the period under review. Ik initiative was always taken by coastal communities in response to industrial growth and labor-force demands overseas. Analyzing the balance sheet of this trade, it my k concluded that precolonial African societies in the interior were not what we would now call astute business people with long-term investment programs. There is little evidence to show that they benefited very much from these transactions, in spite of the active role that they played.

A sacred site is a place which is considered holy, and is partially or wholly reserved for magico-religious or ceremonial functions. Because of this it is venerated and revered and is kept free from contamination by sin and evil. Sacred sites vary in size from very small places covering a few square metres to large areas covering several hectares of land. They are usually characterized by the presence of artefacts, ecofacts and features that are unique to them; they may be in the open air, or in rockshelters, caves and forests. In many cases, sacred sites have frightening tales told about them, in order to scare off those who would want to destroy or defile them. In the archaeological record, sacred sites may initially be identifiable as burial sites, ceremonial sites or butchery sites. It is on the basis of such clues that other attributes that are typical of sacred sites can be identified, isolated and studied. It is against this background that this chapter discusses the Mijikenda kaya (pi. makaya) as a sacred site.

A sacred site is a place which is considered holy, and is partially or wholly reserved for magico-religious or ceremonial functions. Because of this it is venerated and revered and is kept free from contamination by sin and evil. Sacred sites vary in size from very small places covering a few square metres to large areas covering several hectares of land. They are usually characterized by the presence of artefacts, ecofacts and features that are unique to them; they may be in the open air, or in rockshelters, caves and forests. In many cases, sacred sites have frightening tales told about them, in order to scare off those who would want to destroy or defile them. In the archaeological record, sacred sites may initially be identifiable as burial sites, ceremonial sites or butchery sites. It is on the basis of such clues that other attributes that are typical of sacred sites can be identified, isolated and studied. It is against this background that this chapter discusses the Mijikenda kaya (pi. makaya) as a sacred site.

A sacred site is a place which is considered holy, and is partially or wholly reserved for magico-religious or ceremonial functions. Because of this it is venerated and revered and is kept free from contamination by sin and evil. Sacred sites vary in size from very small places covering a few square metres to large areas covering several hectares of land. They are usually characterized by the presence of artefacts, ecofacts and features that are unique to them; they may be in the open air, or in rockshelters, caves and forests. In many cases, sacred sites have frightening tales told about them, in order to scare off those who would want to destroy or defile them. In the archaeological record, sacred sites may initially be identifiable as burial sites, ceremonial sites or butchery sites. It is on the basis of such clues that other attributes that are typical of sacred sites can be identified, isolated and studied. It is against this background that this chapter discusses the Mijikenda kaya (pi. makaya) as a sacred site.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

Settlement pattern studies are concerned with relics of human occupation in the past. In an archaeological record, these relics either appear in clusters or individually in the form of pestholes, house floors, house foundations or as middens. On aerial photographs and topographic maps relics of past human occupation can be identified by the presence of circular or rectangular depressional features and stunted vegetation cover in the midst of a flourishing vegetation community. Past human settlements can also be identified in actual field observation as ruins: building structures, walled fortresses, moats, monuments and mounds.

Irrespective of their nature and conditions of preservation, past settlements are a reflection of human behaviour through time and space. The archaeological evidence that is found preserved in them can shed much light on our knowledge of past culture. The essential archaeological problem in the analysis and interpretation of settlement, however, is that architectural remains and other settlement data cannot be understood simply by their description, distribution, cultural attribution and chronology - as they have been from the early anthropological work of Morgan (1881) and Mindeleff (1890) through the first large-scale regional archaeological syntheses, such as Childe's (e.g. 1934) in Europe and Willey (1953) in South America up to the common archaeological survey work of today.

With the influence of modern cultural ecology, geography and sociobiology, settle­ment analysis has been transformed into a concern with environmental and ecological processes. Settlements are part of a complex integration of culture and ecology within a regional environment. As a result, settlement analysis in archaeology must attend not only to the physical layout of the environment, but also to the social and historical aspects of environmental interaction.

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment

This chapter attempts to re-evaluate the history of the East African coast and the Comores between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This is being done with a view to correcting the false picture painted by historians and/or archaeologists of the colonial school of thought, who presented rather a history of foreign traders and colonizers credited with the civilization of the coast. The role of outsiders in the early history of the East African coast cannot be denied, but it is one thing to be part of a process of change and completely another to claim responsibility for the process. Recent research, however, is slowly but surely making it very clear that the history of the East African coast is the history of indigenous African populations and their interaction with the environment