Archaeology

The West Turkana area of northern Kenya offers a long plio-pleistocene sequence (4 -0.7 Ma) within which archaeological sites are present between 3.1 – 0.7 Ma. This unique situation gives the West Turkana Archaeological Project (WTAP), lead by Dr. Sonia Harmand (formerly by Dr. Hélène Roche) from the CNRS (France), the opportunity to reconstruct the genesis of hominin technology as far back as 3.1 Ma and beyond, from Pre-Oldowan to Middle Acheulean.

Since 1994, the WTAP has identified more than 60 archaeological sites yielding a wealth of lithic material, very often associated with faunal remains. New archaeological survey during the 2011 field season has lead to the discovery of the oldest stone tools in the world dated to 3.1 Ma. Besides this new site at 3.1 Ma, the West Turkana archaeological record includes the other two oldest sites in Kenya at 2.34 Ma (Lokalalei and Nasura, Roche et al., 1999; Delagnes and Roche, 2005; Harmand et al., 2010), and the oldest Acheulean in the world (Kokiselei 4 at 1.76 Ma; Lepre et al., 2011). Current permanent WTAP members are Sonia Harmand and Hélène Roche (Paleolithic archaeology), Jean-Philip Brugal and Jason Lewis (paleontology/archaeozoology), Sandrine Prat (paleoanthropology), C. Feibel, Chris Lepre and Rhonda Quinn (geology), Arnaud Lenoble (geo-archaeology), and Gourguen Davtian (GIS). Sonia and Hélène participated in the Fifth Human Evolution Workshop held at TBI Ileret in 2008, and plan to take full advantage of the Turkwel facility to support their field research in future years.

The Later Prehistory of West Turkana (LPWT) team is a multidisciplinary group of researchers studying human behavioral change in West Turkana during the past 10,000 years. The team is exploring a wide range of interests, including intensive fishing-hunting-gathering, early herding, and the development of complex societies around Turkana. Current LPWT members Elisabeth Hildebrand (archaeobotany), John Shea (stone tools), Veronica Waweru (geochronology), and Katherine Grillo (ceramics) did four weeks of fieldwork in July 2008, using the new TBI-Turkwel campus as a base camp. Survey and excavation focused on the Losedok hills southwest of Kalokol, Ayangiyeng Inland Delta, and Lothagam, and sites overlooking Lake Turkana south of Kalokol.

Larry Robbins’ research at Lothagam in the 1980’s showed that during the Holocene fisher- hunter-gatherers lived around the lake, using bone harpoons to capture fish and aquatic animals. LPWT aims to improve chronological resolution of Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer sites, and also to discover more sites from this period to examine similarities and contrasts in diet and economy.

Trained in prehistoric archaeology at the University of Asmara, Eritrea, and Stony Brook University, Ammanuel Beyin joined TBI in 2009 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Before joining TBI, Beyin’s work was focused on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea (his home country) where his team documented Early and Middle Holocene shell middens and Middle Stone Age surface occurrences in an a area that had seen little prior research. He worked on coastal fishing environments looking at the archaeological record for coastal fishing populations in Eritrea and is now contrasting these to adaptations of lake shore fishing people in northern Kenya.

Dr. Beyin’s research will focus on the early Holocene epoch, 10,000-7,000 years before present. With the onset of a globally wet climate during this time period, lakeshores, riverine settings, and seashores became increasingly important resources for humans in many parts of the world. Like many other East African lake basins, Lake Turkana became a mega-lake during this period, with abundant aquatic resources and lush grasslands for hunters and fishers to utilize. Through his archaeological investigation of western Turkana, Beyin hopes to clarify the role this region played in human survival in the early Holocene, the cultural contexts of human lakeshore adaptations in Africa, and the possible connections between the cultures of the Turkana Basin and those of the Sahara and Nile Valley during this time.