Lithic technological strategies of the earliest herders at Lake Turkana, northern Kenya. (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goldstein, Steven T.
• Is Part Of: Antiquity. Volume 93:Number 372(2019)
• Page Start: 1495
• Page End: 1514
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: Eastern Africa, -- Kenya, -- Turkana, -- lithics, -- obsidian, -- pastoralism, -- mobility; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Antiquities -- Periodicals; 930.05
• DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.178
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-598X

Abstract

Abstract: Abstract : The spread and persistence of early forms of mobile food production throughout Africa depended on the ability of herding communities to adapt to novel social and environmental challenges. This article presents the first quantitative technological analysis of lithic assemblages from the earliest eastern African pastoralist sites, located in the Lake Turkana Basin of northern Kenya. In this region, transitions to pastoralism involved the adoption of a new, regionally homogeneous technological strategy, which emphasised utility and flexibility. This research provides new insights into how early herders were able to spread through sub-Saharan Africa during a period of extreme climate change.