Abstract
Large collections of archaeological spatiotemporal data can reveal past cultural and demographic trends, land use strategies, and processes of environmental adaptation. Within Africa, archaeological Big Data can contribute to the study of the spread of agriculture, domesticated species, and specific artefacts and technologies, as well as their ecological impacts. Although reviews addressing these topics are available for different parts of the continent, existing mid-late Holocene archaeology datasets have yet to be compiled into a central, open-access, standardized informatic-oriented dataset. Here we present Wanyika, a dataset of scientific dates from archaeological sites in eastern Africa spanning almost 7 millennia, from ~5000 BCE to 1800 CE. This dataset compiles published scientific dates and associated botanical, faunal, iron, and ceramic finds from sites in Kenya, Tanzania, the Comoros Islands, and Madagascar. The records also include data for megafauna extinctions in Madagascar. We describe the spatiotemporal coverage of the dataset, how the data were collected, the structure of the dataset, and the applied quality control measures.
Similar content being viewed by others
Introduction
Despite its importance in major models of human demographic and linguistic expansion, agricultural spread, and Indian Ocean trade, the Holocene archaeological record of eastern Africa remains largely unsynthesized and a source of significant debate1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Effectively addressing major archaeological questions, such as whether late Holocene changes in the archaeological record of eastern Africa reflect climate-driven migrations of different human populations, and applying archaeological information to contemporary socio-environmental challenges, especially using new archaeoinformatics approaches, requires the compilation of existing datasets on past human-environment interactions2,9,10,11,12,13. As it stands, much of the relevant archaeological information on eastern Africa’s past is dispersed across publications of varying accessibility, precluding or inhibiting the kinds of analyses that are currently being applied in other regions, and that can shed light on key research questions and debates9,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23.
Since the early 20th century, there has been significant growth in available archaeological data for the mid-to-late Holocene in eastern Africa24,25,26,27,28,29,30. These data are the outcome of the application of a variety of approaches, including excavation and survey, as well as archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, geoarchaeological, isotopic, palaeoproteomic, coring, and remote sensing methods30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42. However, available records have yet to be compiled into a standardized dataset format. Here, we present Wanyika43, a dataset of scientific dates and associated archaeological records from mid-late Holocene sites covering four countries (plus a selection of sites in Rwanda) in eastern Africa (Fig. 1). The dataset focuses on these four countries as they possess some of the best documented archaeological records in eastern Africa for this time period, in particular as a result of the application of radiocarbon dating. Wanyika43 is an informatics-oriented dataset that draws together data spanning almost seven millennia, from 5000 BCE to 1800 CE. The Bantu term ‘Wanyika’ translates as “people of the wilderness” and is used to refer to all inland ethnic groups of eastern Africa, as well as those that migrated to the littoral islands and Madagascar44,45,46. The associated archaeological records include spatiotemporal data pertaining to botanical, faunal, iron, and ceramic finds from published archaeological sites, in addition to several unpublished sites, across key regions of mainland and island eastern Africa. We have included iron and ceramic finds because they are closely—although not exclusively—associated with the spread of food production in eastern Africa3,5,27,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65. Ceramic finds are vital because the ceramic styles of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and farmers are different1,5,47,51,52,58,60,62,64,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79. Records for megafaunal persistence and coexistence with humans in Madagascar are also included30,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108. Rather than a comprehensive overview, the Wanyika dataset is a preliminary work that serves as a foundation for future research.
Maps of eastern Africa highlighting the disparities in spatial distribution of scientific dates by (a) country and (b) scientific dating technique (14C, OSL and IRSL, TL, and OH); and distribution of dates based on the four quality control measures: (c) stratigraphic integrity and reliability, (d) 14C dates from plant material, (e) 14C dates from faunal material, and (f) 14C dates accuracy in pre-treatment procedure. Note: Class A dates are the most reliable. We used QGIS version 3.28.9545, Natural Earth546, CSV data files547, Adobe Photoshop548, Inkscape app549, to generate Fig. 1 maps.
Archaeology in eastern Africa
Eastern Africa’s past is marked by significant transformations in economic organization, food production, trade, social connections, and climatic conditions5,6,39,40,109,110,111,112,113,114,115. Pastoral communities entered eastern Africa from the north by 4,000 BCE, but pastoralism spread gradually and heterogeneously across the region over the next few thousand years116,117,118. The origins of crop farming are less clear119. While scholars argue that farming may have spread into eastern Africa by 500 BCE, the first evidence for domesticated crops does not appear until the period 300 BCE - 250 CE27,72. Early farmers and herders also relied on hunting and gathering, as well as on trade with Indigenous forager populations5,6,10,25,53,70,120,121,122,123. Eventually, forms of food production involving diverse indigenous crops and exogenous livestock coalesced in eastern Africa before spreading to other parts of the continent26,53,60,124,125,126,127,128. There remain major debates as to the role that the migration of different cultural groups3,30,31,36,63,114,122,129,130,131,132,133 and major changes in climatic and environmental conditions134,135,136,137 played in these processes. During the 1st and 2nd millennia CE, eastern Africa became part of expanding proto-global exchange networks across the Indian Ocean, with crops, animals, spices, material culture and ideas arriving from Southwest Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia1,26,55,124,138,139,140,141,142,143.
Major research gaps and unresolved issues persist in eastern African archaeology. For example, archaeological research is unevenly distributed across the region60,128. Extensive areas of eastern Africa have seen minimal research, while researchers have only selectively applied archaeological science methods. This means that large swathes of interior eastern Africa lack archaeobotanical evidence for the origin and dispersal of crops, while coastal and island zones have only recently and patchily been investigated5,6,28,64,119,144,145,146,147,148. Furthermore, a significant percentage of excavated sites lack scientific dates1,26,30,57,125,147,148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,165,166,167,168,169,170,171. Almost half of the faunal remains recovered from eastern African archaeological sites have not been identified to the species level70,72,73,172,173,174,175,176,177,178, and the potential of residue analysis and micro-CT scanning in ceramic studies, and of digital archaeology more generally, have yet to be fully explored33,41,175,179,180,181,182,183. Meanwhile, debate continues regarding the involvement of pastoralists in the dispersal of sorghum and finger millet to the interior of eastern Africa5,25,59,111,114,119,131,184. Contention also surrounds the spread of livestock, early farming, iron production, and pottery manufacture, particularly to the coast and islands1,53,119,171,185,186,187,188,189,190,191,192,193,194, and the role of human colonisation and activity in megafaunal extinctions in Madagascar30,83,85,195. In part, this debate stems from unresolved regional chronologies that would otherwise aid understanding of the origin and dispersal of food production in eastern Africa and the spread of iron-working and ceramic traditions, warranting the revisiting and reanalysis of existing datasets30,82,186,187,196.
These deficiencies mean that many research questions in eastern African archaeology cannot at present be adequately addressed. These include questions surrounding the role of diverse populations in the different stages of eastern Africa’s deep-time history, as well as the spread of diverse languages, species, and technologies. Improved datasets are also required to understand the impact of changing land use on local and regional environments and the role of anthropogenic activities in shaping biodiversity30,82,83,87. Disentangling the complex fisher-forager-pastoralist-farmer interactions in various geographical settings also requires improved data62,63,64,68,74,153,187,194,197,198,199,200,201. Here, in order to begin to more systematically address these critical lacunae at the regional scale, we compile the first archaeological dataset of absolute dates along, with associated botanical and faunal remains, and iron and ceramic artefacts. By highlighting existing data gaps, and paving the way for assembling large, regional-scale datasets, we aim to facilitate initiatives aiming to address major research questions in eastern Africa, and to apply past data to current and future challenges.
Methods
Sampling strategy
The Wanyika43 dataset covers sites located in Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, and Madagascar that date to the period between c. 5,000 BCE and 1,800 CE (Fig. 1). The dataset addresses all scientifically dated sites in these countries, providing details of available dates, as well as information about associated crop, faunal, iron, and ceramic finds. In addition, selected Rwandan sites with early evidence for domesticated crops and iron artefacts are included in light of their importance to the study of farming dispersals in eastern Africa27,47,72,119,184.
The four countries currently covered by the database, which represent an initial sample of the 18 countries that define eastern Africa202,203, were selected because of their significant contributions to understanding past human-environment interactions in this broader region. Compared to the northern and southern regions of eastern Africa, the countries of the coast (Kenya and Tanzania) and islands (Comoros and Madagascar) have well-documented Holocene archaeological records and are at the heart of key archaeological debates surrounding early farming dispersals and biological exchange mediated by long-distance mobility and cross-cultural interaction3,5,8,16,30,32,53,55,70,72,73,74,82,124,131,132,153,195,198,199,200,201,204,205,206,207,208,209,210,211,212,213,214. Over the last 25 years, the application of archaeological science approaches in these countries has resulted in the recovery and identification of an increased number of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological finds to genus or species level, and has also produced significant numbers of chronometric dates and material culture remains7,30,31,33,34,36,37,38,42,53,55,62,63,67,68,70,71,72,74,80,81,82,83,85,87,91,93,96,98,103,117,124,130,144,152,172,174,178,185,186,187,190,191,192,193,195,200,209,215,216,217,218,219,220,221,222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230,231,232,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243,244,245,246,247,248,249,250,251,252,253,254,255,256,257,258,259,260,261,262,263,264,265,266,267,268,269,270,271,272.
Rwandan sites have been included in the dataset because they provide some of the earliest documented evidence of domesticated crops in eastern Africa, and also lie within the hypothesized dispersal route of farmers into the interior of eastern Africa16,47,127,207,273,274,275,276,277,278,279. Evidence for the dispersal of crops across interior eastern Africa is limited; apart from eight Rwandan sites, there are only two sites with archaeobotanical records (Kakapel and Deloraine in Kenya) in the interior72,119,184. These Rwandan sites have produced archaeobotanical remains associated with Urewe ceramics and iron, which are critical to the interpretation of archaeological assemblages in the interior of eastern Africa27,47. The Rwandan region is also hypothesized to have served as a gateway and dispersal point for farming communities migrating into the interior of eastern Africa through either the Mount Elgon or Lake Tanganyika region.
Whilst the dataset does not represent the entirety of eastern Africa, we present Wanyika as a foundational repository that provides a systematic framework for future expansion of eastern African archaeological datasets. As a cautionary note to users of the dataset, we have included a limited set of sites (only sites with scientific dates), which biases estimates about the effect sizes in the existing eastern African archaeological data. The selection of sites with scientific dates might lead to misleading inference at a broad spatiotemporal scale about the question of unravelling the complex interactions of farmers, pastoralists, and foragers in different geographical settings in eastern Africa.
Demarcation of country regions and vegetation cover
To facilitate the exploration of geographical patterns in the data (e.g., Table 3), Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar were sub-divided into smaller sub-regions (‘Country Regions’), e.g., southwestern, northwestern (see Table 1). These divisions are widely used in the archaeological literature1,58,59,61,66,94,112,116,118,153,155,159,187,190,199,204,209,239,280,281,282,283,284,285,286,287,288,289,290,291,292,293,294,295,296,297,298,299,300,301,302,303,304,305,306,307,308,309,310,311,312,313,314,315,316,317,318,319, but have not been formally constrained before using geographical coordinates. The boundaries used in this study were defined as follows. Mainland Kenya is divided into four broadly equal-sized regions demarcated by latitude 0.5° and longitude 37.7°, with the hinterland, coast and islands demarcated as the fifth region. Likewise, mainland Tanzania is divided into four regions using latitude −6° and longitude 35°, with the hinterland, coast and islands demarcated as the fifth region. Madagascar is also divided into four almost equal-sized regions using latitude -19° and longitude 47°. The predominant vegetation cover for each site and region have also been included13,320,321,322,323,324. These are divided into six categories, including forest/wood/grassland mosaic, montane forest, coastal forest mosaic, dry coastal wooded grassland, dry northern wooded grassland, and dry southern wooded grassland.
Data collection and deposition
Data collection followed the workflow summarized in Fig. 2. The authors drew upon more than 500 scientific publications as data sources based on citations in major review articles and other seminal works on the study regions1,5,25,30,53,55,60,82,83,87,111,124,128,131,138. The scientific search engine Google Scholar was employed to locate further articles using a combination of keywords such as specific country/region names, “archaeology”, “scientific dates”, “archaeobotany”, “zooarchaeology”, “iron”, and “ceramics”. The authors also screened all available volumes of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa (1967 to 2023) in order to collect further scientific dates and information about associated archaeological finds. For just over half of the published dates, the associated assemblage evidence, i.e. archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological and artefactual evidence, was obtained from separately published specialist articles. Where it was necessary to clarify data issues and locate missing publication data, the original publication authors or expert archaeologists working in eastern Africa were consulted. Radiocarbon dating laboratories were also contacted to provide missing details on published dates and dated material. Based on the references given in review articles and other seminal publications, and on discussions with researchers familiar with the study region, we estimate that at least 90% of the published scientific dates and associated archaeological records from the sampled eastern Africa countries are captured in the Wanyika dataset43.
Flow chart summarizing the construction of the Wanyika dataset43.
Upon completion, the Wanyika dataset was deposited in the Pandora data platform. Pandora is a multi-language, web-based, data management platform, where data communities self-manage membership and self-curate data in various formats202.
Scientific dates and calibration
We employ the term “scientific date” to refer to a date that is determined using scientific dating methods to establish the age of an artefact, feature, and/or site. These methods provide a quantifiable measure of time with an associated margin of error. Five types of scientific dating techniques were reported in the publications that were consulted to compile the Wanyika dataset94,144,280,325,326,327,328: radiocarbon dating (14C), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL), thermoluminescence (TL), and obsidian hydration (OH) (Fig. 1(b)). Radiocarbon dates are calculated based on the abundance of the 14C isotope in samples (e.g., archaeobotanical remains or collagen extracted from zooarchaeological remains)325,329. Luminescence dating methods such as OSL, IRSL, and TL determine the last time mineral grains were exposed to sunlight or sufficiently high temperatures144,325,328. Finally, OH dating measures obsidian water absorption to determine the age of an object. Although OH dating can be used to determine absolute or relative dates, only absolute dates (which can be summarized in intervals of calendar years, as opposed to just older or younger than280,325) are recorded in the Wanyika dataset. Relative dates based on material culture typologies such as ceramics and beads are also not included in our dataset1,127,277.
The scientific date of each sample appears in three formats: one showing uncalibrated years before present (BP) in two fields expressing the date BP and standard deviation (SD), another showing calibrated calendar years (BCE and CE) in three fields expressing a 95% probability range plus a mean, and finally one showing calibrated years BP also in three fields expressing a 95% probability range plus a mean. The reference year for uncalibrated 14C and OH dates is 1950. For 14C, the uncalibrated or conventional dates are reported so that their calibration can be revised once calibration curves are updated.
In the case of OSL, IRLS, and TL dates, BP is presented here relative to publication year rather than the conventional BP (Before Present, i.e., 1950). We note that this may differ from sample recovery or sample analysis date, which may represent the actual reference year. However, this choice is seldom reported and we do not anticipate a significant offset between the actual reference year and publication date. Luminescence dating techniques were first introduced in the 1960s, setting a highly conservative upper bound for a potential offset between publication year and the unknown reference year of c. 50 years144,325,328,330,331,332,333.
The 14C dates were calibrated using the most recent calibration curves (IntCal20 and SHCal20) and the Bayesian chronological software OxCal v.4.4334,335,336. For samples located to the south of latitude -17° (the southernmost limit of the Intertropical Convergence Zone; ITCZ), only SHCal20 was used in the calibration process. For samples to the north of this latitude, it was necessary to account for the mixing of northern and southern curves along the ITCZ337,338. In these cases, we calibrated radiocarbon measurements using a mixed IntCal20 and SHCal20 curve with an unknown level of mixing (flat prior between 0 and 100 in OxCal).
Radiocarbon calibrations for aquatic samples followed a protocol similar to that described in Goldstein et al.12. Briefly, for marine shells the marine ΔR radiocarbon offset was calculated around each burial location (radius of 100 km) for a ΔR smoothed surface generated using data from the Marine Reservoir Correction dataset339 and the Bayesian model AverageR340,341. Radiocarbon calibration into calendar dates was done using the Bayesian chronological software OxCal v4.4334. To calibrate a single inland shell, found in the vicinity of the Turkana salt lake, an inland ΔR mean value of 250 14C yrs relative the IntCal20 calibration curve335 was used following Beck et al.342 with an assigned uncertainty of ± 100 14C yrs.
As stated previously, for OSL, IRLS, TL, dates, the calibration process consisted of subtracting the reported BP date from the publication year while for OH the reported BP date was subtracted from 195064,117,144,185,270,278,343. The dates were converted into calendar years and reported as a 95% probability calendar range (BCE/CE).
For all methods, and when available, the dataset also includes the description of the dated sample type and the taxonomic identification. Questionable measurements are flagged under a notes field in the dataset records (e.g., when there were discrepancies among different measurements/dating methods or dates did not agree with known chronological boundaries for a cultural layer). Problematic dates often originated from mixed/unclear contexts72,186,187,196.
Quality control
We developed four chronometric quality control criteria for the scientific dates and used them to grade dates in the dataset into classes. The first criterion is based on a combination of stratigraphic integrity and reliability and is applied to all dates in the dataset to grade them into four classes (Class A–D, with A being the most secure and reliable, and D being the least secure and reliable) (Fig. 1 and Tables 2, 3). The other three criteria were only applied to 14C dates and are based on (i) whether the date was obtained on short or long lived plant material (i.e., the potential presence of an old wood effect)337, (ii) the possible presence of an aquatic radiocarbon reservoir effect344, and (iii) the accuracy of the chronometric determination (Fig. 1 and Table 4). In each of these cases, dates were assigned into three classes (Class A–C), again with A being the most reliable and C being the least reliable. A description of how the quality control criteria were applied is provided below.
Stratigraphic integrity and reliability grading
The stratigraphic integrity for each date was evaluated by assigning points to dates based on the following system (Column BI). Six points were given to a date if the authors of the original publication indicated that it was reasonably well associated with its archaeological context (i.e. the stratigraphic integrity was not questioned). Three points were given to a date that was questioned by either the original authors or in a subsequent publication, for example because the date is more recent than that of the overlying context, or older than that of the underlying context, possibly due to bioturbation. Finally, zero points were awarded to a date that had no contextual information, which is recorded as ‘Unreported’ in Column J. Radiocarbon dates on ratite eggshell and dates obtained using obsidian hydration (OH), which have been shown to be unreliable dating methods30,64,280,337,343, were treated as questioned dates and awarded three points, unless they had no context details in which case they were awarded zero points. Notes on the stratigraphic integrity of a date are found in Column BH of the dataset. We did not undertake any evaluation of the stratigraphic integrity of individual dates other that which has been reported in the published literature.
The reliability of a scientific date was evaluated on the basis of its standard deviation (Column N), with six, four, two and zero points assigned to dates with SDs between 0–25, 26–50, 51–100 and 101–650, respectively.
Subsequently, the points assigned to each date for their stratigraphic integrity and reliability were added and divided by two to give a mean score, which was used to generate Class A-D dates with mean scores of 6, 4–5.5, 2–3.5 and 0–1.5, respectively. The application of the grading system produced comparable class qualities (Table 2). Table 3 summarizes the number of dates based on country and region, dating method, and the stratigraphic integrity and reliability quality control grades.
The dataset43 records from Kakapel (Entry IDs 217 to 244), Gogo Falls (Entry IDs 203 to 216) provide good examples of the grading system. Kakapel has 28 dates, 23 of which are Class A and five of which are Class B. The Class B dates are different because they have SDs between 25–50. Gogo Falls has 14 dates, of which none are Class A because all of the dates have SDs above 60. It has eight Class B dates, four Class C dates and two Class D dates. Gogo Falls also provides examples of bioturbation and OH dating challenges (e.g., Entry ID 204, which is an OH date with an SD of 115 and therefore classified as Class D). The process by which ratite eggshell dates were classified are illustrated by examples from Andakatomena and Tony-Velondriake in Madagascar. A radiocarbon date from Andakatomena on Aepyornis eggshell (Entry ID 1124) was considered questionable owing to the use of an unreliable dating method and had an SD of 25 or less, so was classified as Class B. A similar date from Tony-Velondriake, also on Aepyornis eggshell (Entry ID 1120) and with an SD of 25 or less, was classified as Class C owing to its lack of contextual information.
Radiocarbon (14C) date grading
Radiocarbon dates underwent additional chronometric hygiene using three different criteria (Table 4). The first two criteria consider the in-built age of the sample at death, which varies with the type of material selected for dating. In the case of plant materials, age offsets may be present due to the selection of long-lived wood materials, often referred to as ‘the old wood effect’337,345. Dates obtained on taxonomically identified short-lived plant parts (e.g., annual seeds, leaves, twigs) were graded as Class A, dates obtained on taxonomically identified long-lived plant parts were graded as Class B, and dates where the taxonomic identification of plant parts was not reported were graded as Class C (see Column BJ in the dataset).
The second criterion considered the potential for an age offset owing to an aquatic radiocarbon reservoir effect344, caused by the uptake of 14C-depleted carbon by a marine or freshwater organism or the inclusion of such organisms into human or animal diets344,346,347,348 (Column BK). The degree to which aquatic radiocarbon reservoirs affect radiocarbon dates varies depending on local environmental conditions (which can also change over time), as well as variations between species owing to their habitat and dietary preferences349. We took a coarse approach to this problem, assigning samples with a fully terrestrial diet to Class A, aquatic samples to Class B, and samples that have an unreported origin or derive from humans or animals that may have consumed aquatic foods to Class C. A more detailed analysis of the original publications to assess, for example, whether local radiocarbon reservoir offsets were calculated for dates or the likelihood of aquatic diets using stable isotope data was not undertaken.
The third criterion considers the accuracy of a chronological determination based on the pre-treatment method used and its effectiveness at removing inorganic and organic contaminants, which may skew an age determination. Pre-treatment methods were not recorded in the dataset, and indeed, have rarely been reported alongside radiocarbon determinations in the study region. We employed a coarse filter based on the publication date of the assay (Column BL), working with the knowledge that the accuracy of the 14C dating technique for bone organics was refined in 1971, when the Longin collagen extraction method was introduced350, and in 1988, when ultrafiltration was introduced351. It was also around this time that AMS become an increasingly routine technique in radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal samples329. Dates reported after 1988, as well as those subjected to chromatographic methods (e.g. XAD, amino acid isolation using HPLC), were assigned to Class A, those reported between 1972 and 1988 were assigned to Class B, and those published prior to 1972 were assigned to Class C.
Data Records
The Wanyika dataset43 has 75 fields organized within eight major categories (Table 5). We provide definitions of these 75 column fields below. Wanyika43 is a spatiotemporal, flat-file dataset in which each row of the dataset represents a single scientific date associated with archaeological records. The total number of dataset records is 1792, each associated with one of 422 sites. The presence of domesticated crop, faunal, iron, and/or ceramic finds is marked by “Yes” in the specific cell, while absence is represented by a blank cell.
The dataset is made available in both Excel and CSV formats via the repository Wanyika (https://pandoradata.earth/dataset/wanyika) within the AfriArch data community on the Pandora data platform https://pandoradata.earth/organization/afriarch202. The upload is the peer-reviewed version of the dataset and will remain static.
Definition of column fields
The column fields are identified by alphabet letters, followed by column title and definition of what the column represents.
A - Entry ID: This number represents a row containing the details of a particular date entry.
B - Site ID: This is a database number assigned to a site. Each site has a unique number. All entries from the same site have the same number.
C - Site Name: Refers to the name of the archaeological site.
D - Country: Name of the country where a site is located (Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, and Madagascar).
E - Country Region: Name of the region where a site is located within a country, defined by administrative boundaries and latitude/longitude. Information on demarcation of country regions is provided in Table 1.
F – Vegetation cover: Describes the dominant vegetation of the site13,320,322,323,352. Includes six categories: Forest/wood/grassland mosaic, montane forest, coastal forest mosaic, dry coastal wooded grassland, dry northern wooded grassland and dry southern wooded grassland.
G - Latitude: Provides the site’s GIS coordinates for the latitude expressed in decimal degrees relative to WGS84353.
H - Longitude: Provides the site’s GIS coordinates for the longitude expressed in decimal degrees relative to WGS84353.
I - Trench/Site Notes: Provides the excavators’ code number details for the excavation trench, unit, square, quadrant, test pit, feature (e.g., burial, furnace, habitation), and any other unique attributes that define a site (e.g., single component or stratified site short/long term occupation).
J - Context: This includes the context number and/or measurement in cm, layer, level, and stratum. Provides details that define time and space, matrix and provenience.
K - Date Type: Indicates the type of scientific dating method used: 14C, OSL, IRSL, TL or OH.
L - Labcode: This is a code number assigned by the host dating laboratory to the sample used to produce a scientific date. Mostly represented by letters and numbers, where letters are the lab designation and the number the unique sample number, for example OXA-14500.
M - Date BP: Uncalibrated date Before Present.
N - Date BP SD: Standard deviation for the uncalibrated date Before Present.
O - Min Chronology (Calibrated BCE/CE): Minimum calibrated date in calendar years (Before Common Era and Common Era).
P - Max Chronology (Calibrated BCE/CE): Maximum calibrated date in calendar years (Before Common Era and Common Era).
Q - Mean Chronology (Calibrated BCE/CE): Mean calibrated date in calendar years (Before Common Era and Common Era), Minimum + Maximum / by 2 (calibrated date in calendar years).
R - Min Chronology (Calibrated BP - 1950): Minimum calibrated date Before Present (1950 minus Min Chronology calibrated BCE/CE).
S - Max Chronology (Calibrated BP - 1950): Maximum calibrated date Before Present (1950 minus Max Chronology calibrated BCE/CE).
T - Mean Chronology (Calibrated BP - 1950): Mean calibrated date Before Present (Minimum + Maximum / by 2 (Calibrated date Before Present).
U - Dated Material: Type of material/sample that was used to produce the date e.g., charcoal, ceramics, bone collagen, etc.
V - Dated Taxon: Provides the lowest order taxonomic group (species, genus, family, order or kingdom) for plant and animal remains (seeds, charred wood, bone/tooth collagen and apatite) used in dating.
W to AP - Archaeobotanical Information: Columns provide archaeobotanical information. A “Yes or blank cell” indicates the presence or absence of a specific crop. Represented African crops include finger millet (Eleusine coracana), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus), Fig (Ficus sp.) and baobab (Adansonia digitata); exotic crops include rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum aestivum), coconut (Cocos nucifera), mung bean (Vigna radiata), pea (Pisum), red date (Ziziphus jujuba), and cotton (Gossypium sp.).
AQ to BB - Zooarchaeological Information: Columns provide zooarchaeological information for wild and pastoral species (but excluding introduced commensals like cat, dog, black rat). A “Yes or blank cell” indicates the presence or absence of a specific faunal taxon. Faunal taxa include wild tetrapods, avian, aquatic, and indeterminate fauna, as well as pastoral animals like bovids, cattle (Bos taurus/indicus), sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Capra hircus), indeterminate Ovis/Capra, camel (Camelus dromedary), donkey (Equus asinus) and chicken (Gallus gallus). Directly dated remains of extinct megafauna in Madagascar (ratites, lemuroids, reptiles and non-primate mammals) and other translocated fauna (commensals cat, dog, black rat) are only recorded in the “Dated Taxon” column (column U).
BC to BD - Iron Smelting and Use: “Yes or blank cell” represents the presence or absence of evidence for iron smelting and use.
BE - Ceramics: “Yes or blank cell” represents the presence or absence of evidence for ceramics.
BF - Ceramic Phase (Pottery Ware): Lists the name/s of ceramic style/s associated with the row data. These include 25 major ceramic/pottery tradition/wares in eastern Africa listed in Table 6.
BG - Regional Cultural Phase (Eastern Africa): Lists the regional cultural phase represented by the recorded cultural assemblage. These includes, (a) Prehistoric (applicable for Madagascar), LSA (Late Stone Age), PN (Pastoral Neolithic), the latter divided into SPN (Savanna Pastoral Neolithic) and EPN (Elmenteitan Neolithic), PIA (Pastoral Iron Age); and (b) EIA (Early Iron Age), MIA (Middle Iron Age), LIA (Late Iron Age). See Table 6 for the time period and ceramic tradition associated with each regional cultural phase.
BH - General Notes: Provides important notes about the site/date. These include notes that were used for quality control assessment, for example notes on questionable dates and anomalies as a result of bioturbation.
BI - Mean Grade Chrono Hygiene 1 and 2: Refers to stratigraphic integrity grades tabulated from stratigraphic integrity plus standard deviation (SD) mean scores to produce Class A-D dates. See more details in the section on quality control.
BJ - Chrono Hygiene 3: Grade based on the possibility that the 14C date is affected by long life span plant material (long/short). See Table 4
BK - Chrono Hygiene 4: Grade based on the possibility of the dated material being affected by aquatic 14C reservoir. See Table 4
BL - Chrono Hygiene 5: Grade based on the accuracy of chronological determinations (pre-treatment protocol) for 14C dates. See Table 4
BM - Date of Publication: refers to the earliest year in which the date was published. This year is used to calculate the grades for “Chrono Hygiene 5: Accuracy (pre-treatment) C14 dates” and the BP dates for OSL, IRSL, and TL (the primary publications used the year of excavation as ‘the present’, we use the publication year).
BN to BW - References and DOI 1-5: Provides the bibliographic references and Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the sources of data.
Technical Validation
The authors retrieved the data recorded in this dataset primarily from peer-reviewed scientific journals, books, dissertations, monographs, and site reports written by established researchers working in eastern Africa. In several cases, data are also included from ongoing projects awaiting publication. Only dates reported in uncalibrated years before present, having standard deviations and laboratory codes, are included in the dataset. We carried out frequent checks throughout our database construction process and a final comprehensive check was completed towards the end of the process to remove duplicate records and other errors. Approximately 20 dates were excluded for lack of uncalibrated dates (reported in BCE/CE only), SD or laboratory code. For example, two dates from Engaruka and Kuumbi Cave (Tanzania) were excluded for lack of standard deviations185,187,258. A unique case that involved four dates from the Serengeti (Tanzania) being published as Takwa dates (Kenya) was noted59,204,354. These dates were also excluded from the dataset. The author of the Takwa report (page 4, first sentence) acknowledges the error354. Personal correspondence with Geochron Laboratories also confirmed that these dates belong to the Serengeti.
Usage Notes
The FAIR data principles promote good data management practices by encouraging scientists to make their datasets ‘findable’, ‘accessible’, ‘interoperable’, and ‘reusable’355. The Wanyika dataset43, as a member of the Afriarch community hosted on the Pandora platform, adopts these principles. The public availability afforded by Pandora’s web presence makes the data findable and enables accessibility. Wanyika43 promotes data reuse by explicating the results of the quality control analysis and by being open to collaborations that can update the dataset as new information becomes available. Ongoing development of the Pandora platform includes Natural Language Model SQL (Standard Query Language) programming that grants interoperability to datasets such as Wanyika43, which furthermore has the potential for integration into semantically interoperable dataset systems such as MAEASaM (Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments).
Code availability
We have used four codes to calibrate the 14C dates in OxCal for (1) terrestrial samples between -18° and 6° latitude, (2) terrestrial samples below -18° latitude, (3) marine samples, (4) freshwater samples (only applicable to a sample above 0.5° latitude). These codes are provided below.
Terrestrial samples located between -18° and 6° latitude
Plot(‘terrestrial samples’)
{
Curve(‘IntCal20,‘IntCal20.14c’);
Curve(‘SHCal’,‘SHCal20.14c’);
Mix_Curves(‘Mixed_terrestrial_curves’,‘IntCal20’, ‘SHCal20’,U(0,100));
R_Date(‘LAB_CODE’,14C_MES,14C_UNC);
}
Terrestrial samples below -18° latitude
Plot(‘terrestrial samples’)
{
Curve(‘SHCal’,‘SHCal20.14c’);
R_Date(‘LAB_CODE’,14C_MES,14C_UNC);
}
Marine samples
Plot(marine samples’)
{
Curve(‘Marine20’, ‘Marine20.14c’);
Delta_R(‘LocalMarine’, MARINE_DR, MARINE_DR_UNC);}
R_Date(‘LAB_CODE’,14C_MES,14C_UNC);
}
Freshwater samples (only applicable to a sample above 0.5° latitude
Plot(‘freshwater samples’)
{
Curve(‘IntCal20,‘IntCal20.14c’);
Delta_R(‘LocalFreshwater’, FRESHWATER_DR, FRESHWATER_DR_UNC);}
R_Date(‘LAB_CODE’,14C_MES,14C_UNC);
}
Definition of terms for OxCal code for calibration of radiocarbon measurements
LAB_CODE stands for radiocarbon lab code
14C_MES stands for the uncalibrated radiocarbon measurement in years BP
14C_UNC stands for the 1-sigma error associated to 14C_MES
MARINE_DR stands for local marine ΔR value
MARINE_DR_UNC stands for the 1-sigma error associated to MARINE_DR
FRESHWATER_DR stands for local freshwater ΔR value
FRESHWATER_DR_UNC stands for the 1-sigma error associated to
FRESHWATER_DR
References
Wynne-Jones, S. & Laviolette, A. The Swahili World (Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2018).
Marchant, R. et al. Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: Human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present. Earth-Science Reviews 178, 322–378, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.12.010 (2018).
Lane, P. The moving frontier and the transition to food production in Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 39, 243–264 (2004).
Kusimba, S. B. Hunter–gatherer land use patterns in Later Stone Age East Africa. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 18, 165–200, https://doi.org/10.1006/jaar.1998.0335 (1999).
Ambrose, S. Chronology of the Later Stone Age and food production in East Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 25, 377–392, https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1997.0277 (1998).
Peregrine, P. N. & Ember, M. Encyclopaedia of Prehistory Vol. 1 (Kluwer Academic, 2003).
Ashley, C. Z. & Grillo, K. M. Archaeological ceramics from eastern Africa: past approaches and future directions. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 50, 460–480, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2015.1102939 (2015).
Kusimba, C. & Walz, J. R. Debating the Swahili: Archaeology since 1990 and into the future. Archaeologies https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-021-09434-x (2021).
Kay, A. U. et al. Diversification, intensification and specialization: changing land use in western Africa from 1800 BC to AD 1500. Journal of World Prehistory 32, 179–228, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-019-09131-2 (2019).
Courtney Mustaphi, C. & Marchant, R. A database of radiocarbon dates for palaeoenvironmental research in eastern Africa. Open Quaternary 2, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.22 (2016).
Courtney Mustaphi, C. et al. Integrating evidence of land use and land cover change for land management policy formulation along the Kenya-Tanzania borderlands. Anthropocene 28, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2019.100228 (2019).
Goldstein, S. et al. Presenting the AfriArch Isotopic Database. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 10, https://doi.org/10.5334/joad.94 (2022).
Iminjili, V. et al. Late Pleistocene to late Holocene palaeoecology and human foraging at Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar Island. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology 2, https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1080785 (2023).
Bird, D. et al. p3k14c, a synthetic global database of archaeological radiocarbon dates. Scientific Data 9, 27, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01118-7 (2022).
Bird, M. I., Crabtree, S. A., Haig, J., Ulm, S. & Wurster, C. M. A global carbon and nitrogen isotope perspective on modern and ancient human diet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, e2024642118, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024642118 (2021).
Russell, T., Silva, F. & Steele, J. Modelling the spread of farming in the Bantu-speaking regions of Africa: an archaeology-based phylogeography. PloS one 9, e87854–e87854, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087854 (2014).
Chaput, M. A. et al. Spatiotemporal distribution of Holocene populations in North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, 12127–12132, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1505657112 (2015).
Loftus, E., Mitchell, P. J. & Ramsey, C. B. An archaeological radiocarbon database for southern Africa. Antiquity 93, 870–885, https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.75 (2019).
Gattiglia, G. Think big about data: Archaeology and the Big Data challenge. Archäologische Informationen 38, https://doi.org/10.11588/ai.2015.1.26155 (2015).
Huggett, J. Is Big Digital Data different? Towards a new archaeological paradigm. Journal of Field Archaeology 45, S8–S17, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2020.1713281 (2020).
VanValkenburgh, P. & Dufton, J. A. Big Archaeology: Horizons and blindspots. Journal of Field Archaeology 45, S1–S7, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2020.1714307 (2020).
Djindjian, F. Big data and archaeology Humanities Arts and Society
Kintigh, K. The promise and challenge of archaeological data integration. American Antiquity 71, 567–578, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0002731600039810 (2006).
Leakey, M. Report on the excavations at Hyrax Hill, Nakuru, Kenya Colony, 1937-1938. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 30, 271–409 (1943).
Clark, D. & Brandt, S. A. From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa. 21 (University of California Press, 1984).
Helm, R. et al. Exploring agriculture, interaction and trade on the eastern African littoral: preliminary results from Kenya. Azania Archaeological Research in Africa 47, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2011.647947 (2012).
Giblin, J. & Fuller, D. First and second millennium AD agriculture in Rwanda: archaeobotanical finds and radiocarbon dates from seven sites. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 20, 253–265, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-011-0288-0 (2011).
Odner, K. Excavations at Narosura, a stone bowl site in the southern Kenya Highlands. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 7, 25–92, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707209511557 (1972).
Gramly, R. M. Pastoralists and hunters: recent prehistory in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania PhD thesis, Harvard University (1975).
Pearson, M. P. et al. Pastoralists, Warriors and Colonists: The Archaeology of Southern Madagascar. (Archaeopress, 2010).
Wang, K. et al. Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa. Science Advances 6, eaaz0183, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz0183 (2020).
Bleasdale, M. et al. Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa. Nature Communications 12, 632, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20682-3 (2021).
Grillo, K. M. et al. Molecular and isotopic evidence for milk, meat, and plants in prehistoric eastern African herder food systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, 9793–9799, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920309117 (2020).
Roberts, P. et al. Late Pleistocene to Holocene human palaeoecology in the tropical environments of coastal eastern Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 537, 109438, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109438 (2020).
Janzen, A. Mobility and herd management strategies of early pastoralists in South Central Kenya PhD thesis, University of California, (2015).
Prendergast, M. E. et al. Ancient DNA reveals a multistep spread of the first herders into sub-Saharan Africa. Science 365, eaaw6275, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw6275 (2019).
Prendergast, M. E. et al. Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. PLOS ONE 12, e0182565, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182565 (2017).
Prendergast, M. E., Janzen, A., Buckley, M. & Grillo, K. M. Sorting the sheep from the goats in the Pastoral Neolithic: morphological and biomolecular approaches at Luxmanda, Tanzania. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11, 3047–3062, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0737-0 (2019).
Kiage, L. M. & Liu, K. Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes in East Africa: a review of multiproxy evidence from palynology, lake sediments, and associated records. Progress in Physical Geography 30, 633–658, https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133306071146 (2006).
Kiage, L. M. & Liu, K.-b Palynological evidence of climate change and land degradation in the Lake Baringo area, Kenya, East Africa, since AD 1650. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 279, 60–72, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.05.001 (2009).
Barron, A. et al. Snapshots in time: MicroCT scanning of pottery sherds determines early domestication of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in East Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 123, 105259, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105259 (2020).
Le Meillour, L. et al. The name of the game: palaeoproteomics and radiocarbon dates further refine the presence and dispersal of caprines in eastern and southern Africa. Royal Society Open Science 10, 231002, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231002 (2023).
Iminjili, V. et al. Wanyika: A dataset of scientific dates from archaeological sites in eastern Africa spanning 5000 BCE to 1800 CE. https://doi.org/10.48493/mwsp-e133 (2025).
Werner, A. The Bantu coast tribes of the East African Protectorate. The Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute Of Great Britain And Ireland 45, 326–354 (1915).
Hamilton, R. W. Land Tenure among the Bantu Wanyika of East Africa. Journal of the Royal African Society 20, 13–18 (1920).
Morton, R. F. The Shungwaya myth of Miji Kenda origins: a problem of late nineteenth-century Kenya coastal history. International Journal of African Historical Studies 5, 397–423 (1972).
Giblin, J. & Humphris, J. An Urewe burial in Rwanda: Exchange, health, wealth and violence c. AD 400. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 276–297, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2010.521677 (2010).
Raymaekers, J. & Van Noten, F. Early iron furnaces with ‘bricks’ in Rwanda: Complementary evidence from Mutwarubona. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 21, 65–84, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708609511368 (1986).
Van Noten, F. The Early Iron Age in the Interlacustrine region: The diffusion of iron technology. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 14, 61–80, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707909511263 (1979).
Phillipson, D. W. The chronology of the Iron Age in Bantu Africa. The Journal of African History 16, 321–342, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700014298 (1975).
Collett, D. & Robertshaw, P. Pottery traditions of early pastoral communities in Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 18, 107–125, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708309511317 (1983).
Collett, D. P. & Robertshaw, P. T. Early Iron Age and Kansyore Pottery: Finds from Gogo Falls, South Nyanza. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 15, 133–145, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708009511280 (1980).
Crowther, A., Prendergast, M. E., Fuller, D. Q. & Boivin, N. Subsistence mosaics, forager-farmer interactions, and the transition to food production in eastern Africa. Quaternary International 30, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.014 (2018).
Crowther, A. et al. Iron Age agriculture, fishing and trade in the Mafia Archipelago, Tanzania: new evidence from Ukunju Cave. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 49, 21–44, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.878104 (2014).
Crowther, A. et al. Ancient crops provide first archaeological signature of the westward Austronesian expansion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113, 6635–6640, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522714113 (2016).
Collett, D. P. The spread of early iron producing communities in eastern Africa PhD thesis, University of Cambridge (1985).
Wandibba, S. Ancient and modern ceramic traditions in the Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 25, 69–78, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709009511409 (1990).
Ambrose, S. in Encyclopaedia of Prehistory Vol. 1 (eds Peter N. Peregrine & Melvin Ember) 96 -109 (Kluwer Academic, New York, 2003).
Ambrose, S. Holocene environments and human adaptations in the central Rift Valley, Kenya PhD thesis, University of California, (1984).
Sinclair, P. J. J. Archaeology in eastern Africa: an overview of current chronological issues. The Journal of African History 32, 179–219, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700025706 (1991).
Lane, P. in Pastoralism in Africa: Past, Present and Future (eds M. Bollig & H-P. Wotzka) 104-144 (Berghahn Books, 2013).
Lane, P., Ashley, C. & Oteyo, G. New dates for Kansyore and Urewe Wares from northern Nyanza, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 41, 123–138, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700609480438 (2006).
Lane, P. et al. The transition to farming in eastern Africa: new faunal and dating evidence from Wadh Lang’o and Usenge, Kenya. Antiquity 81, 62–81, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00094849 (2007).
Robertshaw, P. Gogo Falls. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 26, 63–195, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709109511425 (1991).
Robertshaw, P. T. in Early Pastoralists of South-western Kenya (ed P.T. Robertshaw) 183-204 (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1990).
Lane, P. in The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology (eds Peter Mitchell & Paul Lane) 585-601 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013).
Grillo, K. M., McKeeby, Z. & Hildebrand, E. A. “Nderit Ware” and the origins of pastoralist pottery in eastern Africa. Quaternary International 608-609, 226–242, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.06.032 (2022).
Prendergast, M. Kansyore fisher-foragers and transitions to food production in East Africa: The view from Wadh Lang’o, Nyanza Province, Western Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 83–111, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700903291765 (2010).
Prendergast, M. in People and Animals in Holocene Africa: Recent Advances in Archaeozoology (eds Helene Jousse & Josephine Lesur) (Africa Magna Verlag, 2011).
Prendergast, M. E. Forager variability and transitions to food production in secondary settings: Kansyore and Pastoral Neolithic economies in East Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 44, 276–277, https://doi.org/10.1080/00671990903052330 (2009).
Prendergast, M. E., Grillo, K. M., Mabulla, A. Z. P. & Wang, H. New dates for Kansyore and Pastoral Neolithic ceramics in the Eyasi Basin, Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeology 12, 89–98 (2014).
Goldstein, S. T. et al. Early agriculture and crop transitions at Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria region of eastern Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 291, 20232747, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2747 (2024).
Dale, D. D. An archaeological investigation of the Kansyore, Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers in East Africa PhD thesis, Washington University in Saint Louis., (2007).
Munene, K. Holocene Foragers, Fishers, and Herders of Western Kenya. (Archaopress, 2002).
Onyango-Abuje, J. C. A contribution to the study of the Neolithic in East Africa with particular reference to the Naivasha-Nakuru Basin PhD thesis, University of California, (1977).
Bower, J. The Pastoral Neolithic of East Africa. Journal of World Prehistory 5, 49–82, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00974732 (1991).
Bower, J. R. F. & Nelson, C. M. Early pottery and pastoral cultures of the central Rift Valley, Kenya. Man 13, 554–566, https://doi.org/10.2307/2801248 (1978).
Bower, J. R. F., Nelson, C. M., Waibel, A. F. & Wandibba, S. The University of Massachusetts’ Later Stone Age/Pastoral ‘Neolithic’ comparative study in central Kenya: an overview. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 12, 119–146, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707709511251 (1977).
Mturi, A. A. The Pastoral Neolithic of West Kilimanjaro. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 21, 53–63, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708609511367 (1986).
Crowley, B. E. A refined chronology of prehistoric Madagascar and the demise of the megafauna. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 2591–2603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.06.030 (2010).
Kistler, L. et al. Comparative and population mitogenomic analyses of Madagascar’s extinct, giant ‘subfossil’ lemurs. Journal of Human Evolution 79, 45–54, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.06.016 (2015).
Douglass, K. et al. A critical review of radiocarbon dates clarifies the human settlement of Madagascar. Quaternary Science Reviews 221, 105878, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105878 (2019).
Hixon, S. et al. Late Holocene spread of pastoralism coincides with endemic megafaunal extinction on Madagascar. Proc Biol Sci 288, 20211204, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1204 (2021).
Hixon, S. W. et al. Drought coincided with, but does not explain, Late Holocene megafauna extinctions in SW Madagascar. Climate 9, 138 (2021).
Hixon, S. W. et al. Ecological consequences of a Millennium of introduced dogs on Madagascar. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.689559 (2021).
Crowley, B. E. et al. Island-wide aridity did not trigger recent megafaunal extinctions in Madagascar. Ecography 40, 901–912, https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.02376 (2017).
Burney, D. A. et al. A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. Journal of Human Evolution 47, 25–63, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.05.005 (2004).
MacPhee, R. D. E. & Burney, D. A. Dating of modified femora of extinct dwarf hippopotamus from southern Madagascar: Implications for constraining human colonization and vertebrate extinction events. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 695–706, https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(91)90030-S (1991).
Burleigh, R., Arnold, E. N. & Westoll, T. S. Age and dietary differences of recently extinct Indian Ocean tortoises (Geochelone s.) revealed by carbon isotope analysis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 227, 137–144, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1986.0014 (1986).
Mahe, J. & Sourdat, M. Sur l’extinction des Vertebres subfossiles et l’aridification du climat dans le Sud-Ouest de Madagascar; description des gisements, Datations absolues. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France S7-XIV, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-XIV.1-5.295 (1972).
Jernvall, J., Wright, P. C., Ravoay, F. L. & Simons, E. L. Report on the finding of subfossils at Ampoza and Ampanihy in southwestern Madagascar. Lemur News, 21–23 (2003).
de Waard, H. & Straka, H. C14-Datierung zweier Torfproben aus Madagaskar. Naturwissenschaften 48, 45–45, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603409 (1961).
Hansford, J. et al. Early Holocene human presence in Madagascar evidenced by exploitation of avian megafauna. Science Advances 4, eaat6925, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat6925 (2018).
Wright, H. T. et al. Datation absolue de sites archeologiques du centre de Madagascar: presentation des determinations. Taloha 11, 121–146 (1992).
Wright, H. T. & Fanony, F. The evolution of settlement systems in the Mananara River Valley: archaeological reconnaissance of 1983-1990. TALOHA, 16-64 (1992).
Karanth, K. P., Delefosse, T., Rakotosamimanana, B., Parsons, T. J. & Yoder, A. D. Ancient DNA from giant extinct lemurs confirms single origin of Malagasy primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, 5090–5095, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0408354102 (2005).
Burney, D. A. in Natural Change and Human Impacts in Madagascar (eds S.M. Goodman & B.D. Patterson) 142-168 (Smithsonian Press, 1997).
Goodman, S., Raherilalao, M. J. & Muldoon, K. Bird fossils from Ankilitelo Cave: Inference about Holocene environmental changes in Southwestern Madagasca. Zootaxa 3750, 534–548, https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3750.5.6 (2013).
Goodman, S. M. in Proceedings of the 22nd International Ornithological Congress. (eds N. J. Adams & R. H. Slotow) 3071-3083 (BirdLife South Africa).
Goodman, S. M. & Rakotozafy, L. M. A. in Natural Change and Human Impacts in Madagascar (eds S. M. Goodman & B. Patterson) 142-168 (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997).
Rakotozafy, L. M. A. & Goodman, S. M. Contribution à l'étude zooarchéologique de la région du Sud-ouest et extrême Sud de Madagascar sur la base des collections de l’ICMAA de l’Université d’Antananarivo. TALOHA revue scientifique internationale des civilisations, 1-15 (2005).
Simons, E. L. in Natural Change and Human Impacts in Madagascar (eds S. M. Goodman & B. D. Patterson) 142-168 (Smithsonian Press, 1997).
Anderson, A. et al. New evidence of megafaunal bone damage indicates late colonization of Madagascar. PLOS ONE 13, e0204368, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204368 (2018).
Burney, D. A. in Extinction in Near Time (ed R. D. E. MacPhee) 145-164 (Kluwer/Plenum, 1999).
MacPhee, R. D. E. Environment, extinction, and Holocene vertebrate localities in southern Madagascar. National Geographic Research, 441-455 (1986).
MacPhee, R. D. E., Burney, D. A. & Wells, N. A. Early Holocene chronology and environment of Ampasambazimba, A Malagasy subfossil lemur site. International Journal of Primatology 6, 463–489 (1985).
Lawler, A. Scarred bird bones reveal early settlement on Madagascar. Science 361, 1059–1059, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.361.6407.1059 (2018).
Mitchell, P. Settling Madagascar: When Did People First Colonize the World’s Largest Island? The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 15, 576–595, https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2019.1582567 (2020).
Davidson, B., Mhina, J. E. F. & Ogot, B. A. The Growth of African Civilization: East and Central Africa to the Late Nineteenth Century. 329 (Longmans of Kenya Limited, 1967).
Ogot, B. A. Kenya Before 1900 (East African Publishing House, 1976).
Ehret, C. & Posnansky, M. The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. (University of California Press, 1982).
Wright, H. T. Early Islam, oceanic trade and town development on Nzwani: The Comorian Archipelago in the 11th-15th Centuries. AD. Azania 27, 81–128 (1992).
Wright, H. T., Griffin, W. & Ramilisonina. Early settlements near Belo-Sur-Mer. Unpublished (2015).
Maxon, R. M. East Africa: An Introductory History. (West Virginia University Press, 2009).
Hannaford, M. J. Deep histories of food systems in eastern Africa and current patterns of food insecurity. Nature Food 4, 949–960, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00879-7 (2023).
Marshall, F., Stewart, K. & Barthelme, J. Early domestic stock at Dongodien in northern Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 19, 120–127, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708409511332 (1984).
Ndiema, E. K. Mobility and subsistence patterns among mid-Holocene pastoralists at Koobi Fora, northern Kenya: new archaeological sites and evidence from obsidian sourcing and geochemical characterization PhD thesis, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, (2011).
Barthelme, J. Fisher-Hunters and Neolithic Pastoralists in East Turkana, Kenya. (Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 13 (B.A.R. International Series 254), 1985).
Young, R. & Thompson, G. in The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa (ed Marijke van der Veen) 63-72 (Springer US, 1999).
Mutundu, K. K. An ethnoarchaeological framework for the identification and distinction of late Holocene archaeological sites in East Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 6–23 (2010).
Prendergast, M. E. Diversity in East African foraging and food producing communities. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700903291674 (2010).
Mitchell, P. & Lane, P. The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa. (Polish Academy of Sciences and Poznan Archaeological Museum, 1984).
Crowther, A. et al. Coastal subsistence, maritime trade, and the colonization of small offshore islands in eastern African prehistory. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 11, 211–237, https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2016.1188334 (2016).
Pawlowicz, M. C. Finding their place in the Swahili world: an archaeological exploration of southern Tanzania PhD thesis, University of Virginia (2011).
Huffman, T. & Vogel, J. The chronology of Great Zimbabwe. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 46, 61, https://doi.org/10.2307/3889086 (1991).
Huffman, T. N. The Early Iron Age and the spread of the Bantu. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 25, 3–21, https://doi.org/10.2307/3888762 (1970).
Robertshaw, P. Archaeology in eastern Africa: recent developments and more dates. The Journal of African History 25, 369–393, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700028449 (1984).
Radimilahy, C. Mahilaka: An archaeological investigation of an early town in northwestern Madagascar, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, (1998).
Marshall, F. et al. Ancient herders enriched and restructured African grasslands. Nature 561, 387–390, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0456-9 (2018).
Marshall, F. & Hildebrand, E. Cattle before crops: the beginnings of food production in Africa. Journal of World Prehistory 16, 99–143, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019954903395 (2002).
Marshall, F. Origins of specialized pastoral production in East Africa. American Anthropologist 92, 873–894, https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1990.92.4.02a00020 (1990).
Stahl, A. African Archaeology: A Critical Introduction. (Blackwell, 2005).
Robertshaw, P. & Taylor, D. Climate change and the rise of political complexity in western Uganda. The Journal of African History 41, 1–28, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853799007653 (2000).
Fraedrich, K., Jiang, J., Gerstengarbe, F.-W. & Werner, P. C. Multiscale detection of abrupt climate changes: application to River Nile flood levels. International Journal of Climatology 17, 1301–1315, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199710)17:12<1301::AIDJOC196>3.0.CO;2-W (1997).
Jiang, J., Mendelssohn, R., Schwing, F. & Fraedrich, K. Coherency detection of multiscale abrupt changes in historic Nile flood levels. Geophysical Research Letters 29, 112-111–112-114, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL014826 (2002).
Hassan, F. A. Historical Nile floods and their implications for climatic change. Science 212, 1142–1145, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.212.4499.1142 (1981).
Boivin, N., Crowther, A., Helm, R. & Fuller, D. Q. East Africa and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean world. Journal of World Prehistory 26, 213–281, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-013-9067-4 (2013).
Boivin, N., Crowther, A., Prendergast, M. & Fuller, D. Q. Indian Ocean food globalisation and Africa. The African Archaeological Review 31, 547–581 (2014).
Boivin, N., Fuller, D. Q. & Crowther, A. Old World globalization and the Columbian exchange: comparison and contrast. World Archaeology 44, 452–469, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2012.729404 (2012).
Horton, M. & Middleton, J. The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society. (Blackwell Publishers, 2000).
Chami, F. A. A review of Swahili archaeology. The African Archaeological Review 15, 199–218 (1998).
Pouwels, R. L. Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean to 1800: Reviewing relations in historical perspective. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35, 385–425, https://doi.org/10.2307/3097619 (2002).
Wright, D. K. Environment, chronology and resource exploitation of the Pastoral Neolithic in Tsavo, Kenya PhD thesis, University of Illinois, (2005).
Mehlman, M. J. Later Quaternary Archaeological Sequences in Northern Tanzania PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (1989).
Odner, K. An archaeological survey of Iramba, Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 6, 151–198, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707109511550 (1971).
Odner, K. A preliminary report on an archaeological survey on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 6, 131–149, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707109511549 (1971).
Odner, K. Usangi Hospital and other archaeological sites in the North Pare Mountains, North-eastern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 6, 89–130, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707109511548 (1971).
Soper, R. Notes on some caves in Kilifi District. Caves Exploration Group of the East African Society (1975).
Wilson, T. H. & Omar, A. L. Archaeological investigations at Pate. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 32, 31–76, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709709511587 (1997).
Morales, E. M. Q. Reconstructing Swahili Foodways: the archaeology of fishing and fish consumption in coastal East Africa, AD 500-1500 PhD Unpublished Dissertation thesis, University of Bristol, (2013).
Walshaw, S. C. Swahili urbanization, trade, and food production: botanical perspectives from Pemba Island, Tanzania, A.D. 600-1500 PhD Unpublished Dissertation thesis, Washington University, (2005).
Chami, F. A. & Kwekason, A. Neolithic pottery traditions from the Islands, the Coast and the Interior of East Africa. The African Archaeological Review 20, 65–80 (2003).
Chami, F. A. & Msemwa, P. J. A new look at culture and trade on the Azanian coast. Current Anthropology 38, 673–677 (1997).
Soper, R. Iron Age sites in North-Eastern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 2, 19–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706709511438 (1967).
Soper, R. Archaeological sites in the Chyulu Hills, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 11, 83–116, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707609511232 (1976).
Lyaya, E. C. Change and continuity in metal technology: iron production in the first and second millennium CE in Mbinga, southwestern Tanzania. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12, 125, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01064-8 (2020).
Chapman, S. A Sirikwa hole on Mount Elgon. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 1, 139–148, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706609511346 (1966).
Sutton, J. E. G. The archaeology and early peoples of the highlands of Kenya and northern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 1, 37–57, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706609511340 (1966).
Onjala, I. O. Spatial distribution and settlement system of the stone structures of south-western Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 38, 99–120 (2003).
Lofgren, L. Stone structures of South Nyanza. Kenya Azania 2, 75–88 (1967).
Odede, F. Gunda-buche: the bank-and-dicth fortified settlement enclosures of western Kenya, Lake Victoria Basin. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 43, 36–49 (2008).
Wandibba, S. in History and Culture in Westem Kenya: The People of Bungoma District through Time (ed S. Wandibba) 11-17 (Gideon S. Were Press, 1985).
Abungu, G. H. O. Communities on the River Tana, Kenya: An archaeological study of relations between the Delta and the River Basin, 700-1890 A.D. PhD dissertation thesis, University of Cambridge (1989).
Davison, S. Early pottery on the Tiwi coast, south of Mombasa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 28, 127–130, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709309511651 (1993).
Mosley, P. N. & Davison, S. Ugunja: a new Kansyore (Oltome) site. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 27, 129–134, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709209511433 (1992).
Phillipson, D. W. Some Iron Age sites in the Lower Tana Valley. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 14, 155–160, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707909511270 (1979).
Willis, J. The Northern Kayas of the Mijikenda. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 31, 75–98, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709609511457 (1996).
Abungu, G. H. O. & Mutoro, H. in The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns (eds T. Shaw, P.J.J. Sinclair, B. Andah, & A. Okpoko) 694-704 (Routledge, 1993).
Taylor, R. D. F. The Gumba and ‘Gumba Pits’ of the Fort Hall District, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 1, 111–117, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706609511344 (1966).
Nkirote, M. M. F. Population and ceramic traditions: revisiting the Tana ware of coastal Kenya (7th–14th century AD). Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47, 245–246, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2012.674423 (2012).
Kusimba, C. M., Kusimba, S. B. & Dussubieux, L. Beyond the coastalscapes: preindustrial social and political networks in East Africa. African Archaeological Review 30, 399–426, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-013-9133-4 (2013).
Goldstein, S. T. et al. A 9,000 year record of subsistence transitons and population change at Kakapel Rockshelter, western Kenya. PLOS (forthcoming).
Shoemaker, A. Pastoral pasts in the Amboseli landscape: An archaeological exploration of the Amboseli ecosystem from the later Holocene to the colonial Period PhD thesis, Uppsala University, (2018).
Petek, N. & Lane, P. Ethnogenesis and surplus food production: communitas and identity building among nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ilchamus, Lake Baringo, Kenya. World Archaeology 49, 40–60, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2016.1259583 (2017).
Gifford-Gonzalez, D. The fauna from Ele Bor: evidence for the persistence of foragers into the later Holocene of arid North Kenya. African Archaeological Review 20, 81–119, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024410814287 (2003).
Gifford-Gonzalez, D. P. & Kimengich, J. in Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa (eds L. Krzyzaniak & M. Kobusiewicz) 457-471 (Polish Academy of Sciences and Poznan Archaeological Museum, 1984).
Prendergast, M. et al. Continental island formation and the archaeology of defaunation on Zanzibar, eastern Africa. PLOS ONE 11, e0149565, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149565 (2016).
Amy, S. J. Inside perspectives on ceramic manufacturing: Visualizing ancient potting practices through Micro-CT scanning Doctor of Philosophy thesis, The University of Western Ontario, (2020).
Barron, A. et al. Sherds as archaeobotanical assemblages: Gua Sireh reconsidered. Antiquity 94, 1325–1336, https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.166 (2020).
Kabiru, A. An exploratory study of Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age site locations in Kenya’s central Rift Valley using landscape analysis: A GIS approach MSC thesis, Lund University, (2017).
Causey, M. Delineating pastoralist behaviour and long-term environmental change: a GIS landscape approach on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya, University of Oxford, 2008. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 44, 155–155, https://doi.org/10.1080/00671990902796200 (2009).
Causey, M. & Lane, P. GIS and landscape archaeology: delineating the possible long-term environmental effects of pastoralism on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya. Nyame Akuma, 24-32 (2005).
Ambrose, S. H., Collett, D., Collett, D. & Marshall, F. Excavations at Deloraine, Rongai, 1978. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 19, 79–104, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708409511329 (1984).
Shipton, C. et al. Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 51, 197–233, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2016.1173308 (2016).
Sinclair, P., Juma, A. & Chami, F. Excavations at Kuumbi Cave on Zanzibar 2005. (Dar es Salaam University Press, 2006).
Chami, F. A. Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast from c.30,000 Years Ago. (E&D Vision Publishing, 2009).
Culley, C. et al. Collagen fingerprinting traces the introduction of caprines to island eastern Africa. Royal Society Open Science 8, 202341, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202341 (2021).
Culley, C. et al. Iron Age hunting and herding in coastal eastern Africa: ZooMS identification of domesticates and wild bovids at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya. Journal of Archaeological Science 130, 105368, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2021.105368 (2021).
Nitsche, C., Schreurs, G. & Serneels, V. The enigmatic softstone vessels of northern Madagascar: Petrological investigations of a Medieval Quarry. Journal of Field Archaeology 48, 55–72, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2022.2092689 (2023).
Serneels, V. et al. Pierre et fer à Madagascar (3) – La carrière de Bobalila. SLSA Jahresbericht – Rapport annuel – 2019 291-352 https://www.unifr.ch/geo/archaeometry/en/assets/public/assets/public/uploads/slsa_jb2019_(p291-352)_madagascar-bobalila_low.pdf (2020).
Serneels, V. et al. Pierre et Fer à Madagascar (1) - Vestiges sidérurgiques de Benavony et de la rivière Matavy. SLSA Jahresbericht – Rapport annuel – Annual report 2017 https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28729.52326 (2018).
Serneels, V. et al. Pierre et fer à Madagascar (2) – Les scories d’Amboronala et lescarrières de Milanoa. SLSA Jahresbericht – Rapport annuel 2018, 313–366 https://www.unifr.ch/geo/archaeometry/en/assets/public/files/Serneels%20et%20al%202018%20(SLSA).pdf (2019).
M’Mbogori, F. N. (Oxford University Press, 2017).
Godfrey, L. R. et al. A new interpretation of Madagascar’s megafaunal decline: The “Subsistence Shift Hypothesis”. Journal of Human Evolution 130, 126–140, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.03.002 (2019).
Chami, F., Pwiti, G. & Radimilahy, C. People, Contacts and the Environments in the African Past. (University of Dar es Salaam 2001).
Robertshaw, P., Collett, D., Gifford, D. & Mbae, N. B. Shell middens on the shores of Lake Victoria. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 18, 1–43, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708309511313 (1983).
Chami, F. A. Diffusion in the studies of the African past: reflections from new archaeological findings. The African Archaeological Review 24, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.2307/40645410 (2007).
Chami, F. A. & Chami, R. Narosura pottery from the southern coast of Tanzania: First incontro- vertible coastal Later Stone Age pottery. Nyame akuma, 29-35 (2001).
Chami, F. A. & Silayo, V. V. Neolithic and Early Iron Age settlements of Mount Kilimanjaro’s southern slopes: Re-examining a controversial cultural heritage. Utafiti 18, 135–159, https://doi.org/10.1163/26836408-15020080 (2023).
Kusimba, C. M. & Kusimba, S. B. in African Archaeology: A Critical Introduction (ed Ann Stahl) 392 - 419 (Blackwell, 2005).
Pandora. Pandora data platform. https://pandoradata.earth/organization/afriarch (2024).
United Nations Statistics Division. Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49), <https://web.archive.org/web/20110713041240/http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm> (2011).
Ambrose, S. in From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food production in Africa (eds Desmond Clark & Steven A. Brandt) Ch. 21, 212-421 (University of California Press, 1984).
Ambrose, S. H. in The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History (eds Ehret Christopher & Posnansky Merrick) 104-157 (University of California Press, 1982).
Ehret, C. in Encyclopedia of Africa South Of the Sahara Vol. 2 (ed John Middleton) 579-580 (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1997).
Ehret, C. Bantu expansions: re-envisioning a central problem of early African history. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 5-43 (2001).
Chami, F. A. A Response to Christopher Ehret’s “Bantu Expansions”. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 34, 647–651, https://doi.org/10.2307/3097559 (2001).
Kwekason, A. P. in Studies in the African Past (eds G. Pwiti, C. Radimilaly, & F. Chami) (Dar es Salaam University Press, 2007).
Kusimba, C. M. & Walz, J. R. When Did the Swahili become maritime?: A reply to Fleisher et al. (2015), and to the resurgence of maritime myopia in the archaeology of the East African Coast. American Anthropologist 120, 429–443, https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13059 (2018).
Kusimba, S. B. What Is a hunter-gatherer? Variation in the archaeological record of eastern and southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Research 13, 337–366, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-005-5111-y (2005).
Dale, D., Marshall, F. & Pilgram, T. in Hunters and Gatherers in Theory and Archaeology (ed G. Crothers) Ch. 15, 340-375 (Southern Illinois University 2004).
Karega, M. The east African Neolithic: An alternative view. African Archaeological Review 13, 247–254, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02126098 (1996).
Beaujard, P. East Africa, the Comoros Islands and Madagascar before the sixteenth century: On a neglected part of the world system. AZANIA: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 42, 15–35, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700709480448 (2007).
Goldstein, S., O’Brien, K., Adum, A. & Mwangi, J. A multi-component forager-to-herder sequence at Kapsoo Rockshelter (Chebinyiny) on the Uasin Gishu Plateau, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 1-27 https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2023.2259751 (2023).
Helm, R. Conflicting histories: the archaeology of the iron-working, farming communities in the central and southern coast region of Kenya Upublished PhD dissertation thesis, University of Bristol, (2000).
Prendergast, M. E., Quintana Morales, E. M., Crowther, A., Horton, M. C. & Boivin, N. L. Dietary diversity on the Swahili coast: the fauna from two Zanzibar trading locales. International journal of osteoarchaeology 27, 621–637, https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2585 (2017).
Fleisher, J. & Wynne-Jones, S. Ceramics and the early Swahili: Deconstructing the early Tana Tradition. African Archaeological Review 28 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-011-9104-6 (2011).
Kusimba, C., Kusimba, S. & Wright, D. The development and collapse of precolonial ethnic mosaics in Tsavo, Kenya. Journal of African Archaeology 3, 243–265, https://doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10053 (2005).
Hildebrand, E. A. & Grillo, K. M. Early herders and monumental sites in eastern Africa: dating and interpretation. Antiquity 86, 338–352, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00062803 (2012).
Hildebrand, E. A. et al. A monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa’s first herders near Lake Turkana, Kenya. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, 8942–8947, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721975115 (2018).
Hildebrand, E. A., Shea, J. J. & Grillo, K. M. Four middle Holocene pillar sites in West Turkana, Kenya. Journal of Field Archaeology 36, 181–200, https://doi.org/10.1179/009346911X12991472411088 (2011).
Sawchuk, E. A. et al. The Jarigole mortuary tradition reconsidered. Antiquity 96, 1460–1477, https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.141 (2022).
Koch, C. P., Pavlish, L. A., Farquhar, R. M., Hancock, R. G. V. & Beukens, R. P. in Archaeometry 98: proceedings of the 31st Symposium Budapest, April 26 - May 3 1998 (eds E. Jerem & K.T. Biro) 587-592 (Archaeopress, 2002).
Wilshaw, A., Muwonge, H., Rivera, F. & Mirazon Lahr, M. Aliel: A mid-Holocene stone platform with cairn and single pillar in West Turkana. Kenya. Nyame Akuma 2016, 51–59, https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.10507 (2016).
Wright, D. K., Grillo, K. M. & Soper, R. Stone cairns and material culture of the Middle to Late Holocene, Lake Turkana. Journal of African Archaeology 14, 209–222 (2016).
Ashley, G. M., Ndiema, E. K., Spencer, J. Q. G., Harris, J. W. K. & Kiura, P. W. Paleoenvironmental context of archaeological sites, implications for subsistence strategies under Holocene climate change, northern Kenya. Geoarchaeology 26, 809–837, https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.20374 (2011).
Iles, L. & Lane, P. Iron production in second millennium AD pastoralist contexts on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 50, 372–401, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2015.1079379 (2015).
Iles, L. & Martinón-Torres, M. Pastoralist iron production on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya: wider implications for archaeometallurgical studies. Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2314–2326, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.06.023 (2009).
Iles, L. E., Stump, D., Heckmann, M., Lang, C. & Lane, P. Iron production in North Pare, Tanzania: Archaeometallurgical and geoarchaeological perspectives on landscape change. African Archaeological Review 35 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9312-4 (2018).
Causey, M. J. New archaeological discoveries from the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 112–136, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700903291732 (2010).
Davies, M. I. J. An applied archaeological and anthropological study of intensive agriculture in the northern Cherangani Hills, Kenya PhD dissertation thesis, University of Oxford, (2008).
Wright, D. Holocene occupation of the Mount Porr strand plain in southern Lake Turkana. Kenya. Nyame Akuma 76, 47–62 (2011).
Siiriäinen, A., Seitsonen, O. & Laurén, J. Pastoralists in the northeastern Mara Plains, Kenya: archaeological investigations of the Pastoral Neolithic and the Pastoral Iron Age. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 44, 163–193, https://doi.org/10.1080/00671990903047090 (2009).
Goldstein, S. The technological and socio-economic organization of the Elmenteitan early herders in southern Kenya (3000–1400 BP) PhD thesis, Washington University (2019).
Mjema, E. Maritime community settlement history in Pangani Bay, Tanga coastal region, Tanzania PhD Dissertation thesis, Goethe Universitat, (2014).
Mjema, E. Catastrophes and deaths along Tanzania’s western Indian Ocean coast during the early Swahili period, AD 900–1100. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 53, 135–155, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2018.1473208 (2018).
Fleisher, J. Viewing stonetowns from the countryside: An archaeological approach to Swahili regional systems, AD 800–1500 Unpublished PhD dissertation thesis, University of Virginia, (2003).
Håland, R. & Msuya, C. S. Pottery production, iron working, and trade in the Early Iron Age: The case of Dakawa, east-central Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 35, 75–106, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700009511597 (2000).
Msuya, C. S. in Combining the past and the present: archaeological perspectives on society (eds T. Oestigaard, N. Anfinset, & T. Saetersdal) (Archaeopress, 2004).
Horton, M., Olsen, J., Fleisher, J. & Wynne-Jones, S. The chronology of Kilwa Kisiwani, AD 800–1500. African Archaeological Review 39 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-022-09476-8 (2022).
Kessy, E. T. Excavation of the Later Stone Age site of Madola - Kiwangwa, Bagamoyo, Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 54, 177–202, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2019.1619281 (2019).
Chami, F. in People, Contacts and the Environments in the African Past (eds F. Chami, G. Pwiti, & C. Radimilahy) 84-97 (University of Dar es Salaam 2001).
Christie, A. C. Refining the chronology of Kua Ruins: radiocarbon dates from the Mafia Archipelago, Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 48, 521–533, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.842666 (2013).
Walz, J. R. Route to a regional past: an archaeology of the Lower Pangani (Ruvu) Basin, Tanzania, 500-1900 CE PhD dissertation thesis, University of Florida (2010).
Chami, F. A., Khator, J. & Ali, A. H. in Studies in the African Past Vol. 9 (eds Felix Chami & C. Radimilahy) (University of Dar es Salaam, 2009).
Skoglund, P. et al. Reconstructing prehistoric African population structure. Cell 171, 59–71.e21, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.049 (2017).
Juma, A. Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar: An archaeological study of early urbanism, Afrikansk och jämförande arkeologi, (2004).
Wynne-Jones, S., Horton, M., Fleisher, J. & Olsen, J. in Urban Network Evolutions: Towards and High-Definition Archaeology (eds Rubina Raja & Søren M. Sindbæk) 277-286 (Aarhus University Press, 2018).
Wynne-Jones, S. et al. Urban chronology at a human scale on the coast of East Africa in the 1st Millennium a.d. Journal of Field Archaeology 46, 21–35, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2020.1854549 (2021).
Shipton, C. et al. 78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest. Nature Communications 9, 1832, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3 (2018).
Prendergast, M. et al. New excavations at Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeology 5, 217–243, https://doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10093 (2007).
Prendergast, M. E. et al. Pastoral Neolithic sites on the southern Mbulu Plateau, Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 48, 498–520, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.841927 (2013).
Kessy, E. T. The relationship between the Later Stone Age and Iron Age cultures of central Tanzania PhD dissertation thesis, Simon Fraser University, (2005).
Grillo, K., McKeeby, Z. & Hildebrand, E. “Nderit Ware” and the origins of pastoralist pottery in eastern Africa. Quaternary International https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.06.032 (2020).
Grillo, K. et al. Pastoral Neolithic settlement at Luxmanda, Tanzania. Journal of Field Archaeology 43, 102–120, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2018.1431476 (2018).
Seitsonen, O. Stone Age observations in the Engaruka area. Nyame Akuma, 27-32 (2005).
Westerberg, L.-O. et al. The development of the ancient irrigation system at Engaruka, northern Tanzania: physical and societal factors. The Geographical Journal 176, 304–318 (2010).
Stump, D. The development and expansion of the field and irrigation systems at Engaruka, Tanzania. Azania:archaeological Research in Africa 41, 69–94, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700609480435 (2006).
Stump, D. Towards an applied archaeology of East African intensive agricultural systems PhD thesis, University College London, (2006).
Tryon, C. et al. Middle and Later Stone Age chronology of Kisese II rockshelter (UNESCO World Heritage Kondoa Rock-Art Sites), Tanzania. PLoS ONE 13 (2018).
Sawchuk, E. A. Social change and human population movements — dental morphology in Holocene Eastern Africa PhD thesis, University of Toronto, (2019).
Biginagwa, T. J. & Ichumbaki, E. B. Settlement history of the islands on the Pangani River, northeastern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 53, 63–82, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2018.1436739 (2018).
Beta Analytic INC. Radiocarbon Dating Results for Samples GNMWI 9B-1, GNMWI 10AB-1, Lakaria 114B1, Lakaria 114B2. (2013).
Perez, V. R. et al. Evidence of early butchery of giant lemurs in Madagascar. Journal of Human Evolution 49, 722–742, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.08.004 (2005).
Radimilahy, C. in Civilisations des mondes insulaires (Madagascar, îles du Canal de Mozambique, Mascareignes, Polynésie, Guyanes) Mélanges en l’honneur du Professeur Claude Allibert (eds C. Radimilahy & N. Rajaonarimanana) 825-853 (Karthala, 2011).
Mietton, M. et al. New insights into the age and formation of the Ankarokaroka lavaka and its associated sandy cover (NW Madagascar, Ankarafantsika natural reserve). Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 39 https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3536 (2014).
Ramsey, C., Higham, T. H. F., Owen, D. C., Pike, A. W. G. & Hedges, R. E. M. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 31. Archaeometry 44, 1–149 (2002).
Gommery, D. et al. Les plus anciennes traces d’activités anthropiques de Madagascar sur des ossements d’hippopotames subfossiles d’Anjohibe (Province de Mahajanga). Comptes Rendus Palevol - C R PALEVOL 10, 271–278, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2011.01.006 (2011).
Dewar, R. E. et al. Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, 12583–12588, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1306100110 (2013).
Rasolondrainy, T. V. R. Decision-making in the face of unpredictable climate and intergroup conflicts in southwest Madagascar, Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries CE Doctoral thesis, Yale University, (2019).
Clarke, S. J., Miller, G. H., Fogel, M. L., Chivas, A. R. & Murray-Wallace, C. V. The amino acid and stable isotope biogeochemistry of elephant bird (Aepyornis) eggshells from southern Madagascar. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 2343–2356, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.02.001 (2006).
Giblin, J. D. New work on the later archaeology of Rwanda 2006 to 2007: A preliminary fieldwork report. Nyame akuma, 45-55 (2008).
Nurse, D. ‘Historical’ classifications of the Bantu languages. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 29-30, 65–81, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709409511662 (1994).
Were, G. S. & Wilson, D. A. East Africa Through a Thousand Years: AD 1000 to the Present Day. 344 (Evans Brothers Limited, 1970).
Maxon, R. M. East Africa: An Introductory History. (Morgantown, 1986).
Huffman, T. N. & Herbert, R. K. New perspectives on eastern Bantu. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 29-30, 27–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709409511659 (1994).
Clist, B. A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the early Urewe Iron Age industry. Muntu 6, 35–62 (1987).
Currie, T. E., Meade, A., Guillon, M. & Mace, R. Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa. Proc Biol Sci 280, 20130695–20130695, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0695 (2013).
Robertshaw, P. T. Early Pastoralists of South-western Kenya. (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1990).
Sutton, J. Engaruka: an irrigation agricultural community in northern Tanzanian before the Maasai era. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 33, 1–37, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709809511463 (1998).
Sutton, J. E. G. Sirikwa holes, stone houses and their makers in the western highlands of Kenya. Man 65, 113–115 (1965).
Sutton, J. E. G. The Archaeology of the Western Highlands of Kenya. Vol. Memoir 3 (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1973).
Sutton, J. E. G. Ilula: Excavations of Late Iron Age ‘brick’ sites in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. AZANIA: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 8, 141–150, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707309511577 (1973).
Sutton, J. E. G. Irrigation agriculture in the northern Tanzanian Rift Valley before the Maasai era. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 33, 1–37, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709809511463 (1998).
Seitsonen, O. Pastoral Neolithic studies in northern Tanzania: an interim report on XRF and stable isotope analyses in the Engaruka area. Nyame Akuma, 11-23 (2012).
Sassoon, H. New views on Engaruka, northern Tanzania excavations carried out for the Tanzania Government in 1964 and 1966. The Journal of African History 8, 201–217 (1967).
Phillipson, D. W. in Origins and Early Development Food-Producing Cultures in Northeastern Africa (ed L. Kryzyzaniak) 489-495 (Polish Academy of Science, 1984).
Nitsche, C. The Exploitation, Processing and Use of Softstone in Northern Madagascar and its Links to the Indian Ocean World, 800–1500 CE. (Université de Fribourg - Departement Géosciences, 2023).
Morel, M. Iron metallurgy in Northeastern Madagascar: Study of Rasikajy metallurgical production between the 11th abd 15th Centuries PhD Thesis thesis, (2023).
Davies, M. The irrigation system of the Pokot, northwest Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 43, 50–76, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700809480459 (2008).
Barthelme, J. Holocene sites North-East of Lake Turkana: A preliminary report. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 12, 33–41, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707709511246 (1977).
Owen, R. B., Barthelme, J. W., Renaut, R. W. & Vincens, A. Palaeolimnology and archaeology of Holocene deposits north-east of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Nature 298, 523–529, https://doi.org/10.1038/298523a0 (1982).
Chittick, H. N. Manda: Excavations at an Island Port on the Kenya Coast. (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1984).
Chittick, H. N. Kilwa: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast. (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1974).
Chittick, N. Kilwa and the Arab settlement of the East African Coast. The Journal of African History 4, 179–190, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700004011 (1963).
Kirkman, J. S. in East Africa and the Orient (eds H. N. Chittick & R. I. Rotberg) 226-247 (Africana Publishing, 1975).
Posnansky, M. Kilwa: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 11, 496–502, https://doi.org/10.2307/217315 (1978).
Wynne-Jones, S. & Fleisher, J. Fifty years in the archaeology of the eastern African coast: A methodological history. Azania Archaeological Research in Africa 50, 519–541, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2015.1102943 (2015).
Chami, F. The Tanzanian coast in the early first millenium AD: An archaeology of the iron-working, farming communities PhD dissertation thesis, Uppsala University, (1994).
Chami, F. in East African Archaeology: Foragers, Potters, Smiths, and Traders (eds C. Kusimba & S. Kusimba) 87-98 (University of Pennsylvania Museum 2003).
Chami, F. Further archaeological research on Mafia Island. AZANIA: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 35, 208–214, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700009511605 (2000).
Chami, F. in African Archaeology Network: reports and Views (eds Felix Chami, G. Pwiti, & C. Radimilahy) 73-101 (Dar es Salaam University Press, 2004).
Chami, F. in Climate, trade, and modes of production in the Sub-Saharan Africa (eds Feix Chami, G. Pwiti, & C. Radimilahy) 1-20 (Dar es Salaam University Press, 2003).
Chami, F. & Msemwa, P. J. The excavation at Kwale Island, South of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Nyame akuma, 45-56 (1997).
Chami, F. A. The Early Iron Age on Mafia Island and its relationship with the mainland. 1-10 https://doi.org/10.2307/al.ch.document.sip200023 (1999).
Chami, F. A. Limbo: Early iron-working in south-eastern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 27, 45–52, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709209511430 (1992).
Chami, F. A. The first millennium AD on the East Coast: a new look at the cultural sequence and interactions. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 29-30, 227–237, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709409511678 (1994).
Gabel, C. Six rock shelters on the northern Kavirondo shore of Lake Victoria. African Historical Studies 2, 205–254, https://doi.org/10.2307/216356 (1969).
Soper, R. Kwale: An Early Iron Age site in South-eastern Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 2, 1–17, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706709511437 (1967).
Soper, R. C. Radiocarbon dating of “dimple-based ware” in western Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 4, 148–153, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706909511514 (1969).
Stiles, D. & Munro-Hay, S. C. Stone cairn burials at Kokurmatakore, northern Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 16, 151–166, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708109511289 (1981).
Wright, H. T. et al. The evolution of settlement systems in the Bay of Boeny and the Mahavavy River Valley, north-western Madagascar. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 31, 37–73, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709609511456 (1996).
Mapunda, B. Preliminary report on archaeological reconnaissance along the Ruhuhu River Basin, southern Tanzania. Nyame Akuma 36, 32–40 (1991).
Mapunda, B. B. Iron Age archaeology in the south-eastern lake Tanganyika region, southwestern Tanzania. Nyame Akuma 43, 46–57 (1995).
Mapunda, B. B. An archaeological view of the history and variation of ironworking in southwestern Tanzania PhD dissertation thesis, University of Florida, (1995).
Haaland, R. in The Growth of Farming Communities in Africa South of the Equator Vol. Azania Special Volume XXIX-XXX (ed J.E.G. Sutton) 238-247 (British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1994-95).
Fawcett, W. B. & Violette, A. L. Iron Age settlement around Mkiu, south-eastern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 25, 19–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709009511405 (1990).
Fagan, B. M. & Yellen, J. E. Ivuna: Ancient salt-working in southern Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 3, 1–43, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706809511486 (1968).
White, F. The Vegetation of Africa: A Descriptive Memoir to Accompany the UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO Vegetation Maps of Africa (3 plates), 1:5,000,000. (UNESCO, 1983).
Bonnefille, R. Cenozoic vegetation, climate changes and hominid evolution in tropical Africa. Global and Planetary Change 72, 390–411, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.01.015 (2010).
Kingdon, J. East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa. Vol. 1 446 (The University of Chicago Press, 1984).
Kingdon, J. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. (Academic Press, 2001).
Iminjili, V. The utility of refined δ13C values in hominin paleoecology Master of Arts thesis, University of Georgia, (2012).
Taylor, R. E. & Aitken, M. J. Chronometric Dating in Archaeology. (Plenum Press, 1997).
Hajdas, I. Radiocarbon dating and its applications in Quaternary studies. Quaternary Science Journal 57 https://doi.org/10.3285/eg.57.1-2.1 (2008).
Hajdas, I., Kull, C. & Kiefer, T. 14C- Chronology. PAGES magazine (2006).
Bajaj, N. S. & Palan, C. B. in Radiation Dosimetry Phosphors (eds Sanjay Dhoble et al.) 99-128 (Woodhead Publishing, 2022).
Schuur, E. A. G., Druffel, E. R. M. & Trumbore, S. E. Radiocarbon and Climate Change Mechanisms, Applications and Laboratory Techniques. (Springer Cham, 2016).
Tite, M. S. & Waine, J. Thermoluminescent dating: A re-appraisal. Archaeometry 5, 53–79, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1962.tb00554.x (1962).
Mahan, S. et al. Guide for interpreting and reporting luminescence dating results. GSA Bulletin https://doi.org/10.1130/B36404.1 (2022).
Feathers, J. Use of luminescence dating in archaeology. Meas. Sci. Technol 14, 1493–1509, https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/14/9/302 (2003).
Liritzis, I. et al. Luminescence Dating in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Geoarchaeology An Overview. (Springer 2013).
Bronk Ramsey, C. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51, 337–360, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865 (2009).
Reimer, P. J. et al. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62, 725–757, https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.41 (2020).
Hogg, A. G. et al. SHCal20 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–55,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 62, 759–778, https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.59 (2020).
Wright, D. K. Accuracy vs. Precision: Understanding potential errors from radiocarbon dating on African landscapes. African Archaeological Review 34, 303–319, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-017-9257-z (2017).
Ziegler, M. et al. Development of Middle Stone Age innovation linked to rapid climate change. Nature Communications 4, 1905, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2897 (2013).
Reimer, P. J. & Reimer, R. W. A Marine Reservoir Correction Database and On-Line Interface. Radiocarbon 43, 461–463, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200038339 (2001).
Cubas, M. et al. Latitudinal gradient in dairy production with the introduction of farming in Atlantic Europe. Nature Communications 11, 2036, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15907-4 (2020).
Wilkin, S. et al. Economic diversification supported the growth of Mongolia’s nomadic empires. Scientific Reports 10, 3916, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60194-0 (2020).
Beck, C. C., Feibel, C. S., Wright, J. D. & Mortlock, R. A. Onset of the African Humid Period by 13.9 kyr BP at Kabua Gorge, Turkana Basin, Kenya. The Holocene 29, 1011–1019, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683619831415 (2019).
Michels, J. W., Tsong, I. S. T. & Nelson, C. M. Obsidian Dating and East African Archeology. Science 219, 361–366, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.219.4583.361 (1983).
Fernandes, R., Rinne, C., Nadeau, M.-J. & Grootes, P. Towards the use of radiocarbon as a dietary proxy: Establishing a first wide-ranging radiocarbon reservoir effects baseline for Germany. Environmental Archaeology 21, 285–294, https://doi.org/10.1179/1749631414Y.0000000034 (2016).
Schiffer, M. B. Radiocarbon dating and the “old wood” problem: The case of the Hohokam chronology. Journal of Archaeological Science 13, 13–30, https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(86)90024-5 (1986).
Fernandes, R. A freshwater lake saga: Carbon routing within the aquatic food web of Lake Schwerin. Radiocarbon 55 https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16357 (2013).
Fernandes, R. A Simple(R) model to predict the source of dietary carbon in individual consumers. Archaeometry 58, 500–512, https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12193 (2016).
Fernandes, R., Grootes, P., Nadeau, M.-J. & Nehlich, O. Quantitative diet reconstruction of a Neolithic population using a Bayesian mixing model (FRUITS): The case study of Ostorf (Germany. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 158, 325–340, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22788 (2015).
Petchey, F. et al. 14 C Marine reservoir variability in herbivores and deposit-feeding gastropods from an open coastline, Papua New Guinea. Radiocarbon 54, 967–978, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200047603 (2012).
Longin, R. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230, 241–242, https://doi.org/10.1038/230241a0 (1971).
Brown, T. A., Nelson, D. E., Vogel, J. S. & Southon, J. R. Improved collagen extraction by modified longin method. Radiocarbon 30, 171–177, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200044118 (1988).
Burgess, N. D. & Clarke, G. P. Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa. (IUCN - The World Conservation Union, 2000).
NIMA. World Geodetic System 1984: Its Definiton and Relations with Local Geodetic Systems 29 (National Imagery and Mapping Agency, January 2000).
Wilson, T. H. (ed National Museums of Kenya) (Nairobi, 2019).
Wilkinson, M. D. et al. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data 3, 160018, https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18 (2016).
Van Grunderbeek, M.-C. & Roche, E. Multi-Disciplinary Evidence of Mixed Farming during the Early Iron Age in Rwanda and Burundi. (presented at the World Archaeological Congress, Washington 2003) in. T.P. Denham, J. Iriarte, L. Vrydaghs (eds) Rethinking Agriculture. Archaeological en Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives, One World Archaeology 51, Left Coast Press, inc. California, pp.299-319. (2008).
Van Grunderbeek, M.-C. & Roche, E. Environment degradation resulting from human activities. Essay to further recognition through pollen and charcoal analysis. SAfA-website http://safa.rice.edu/About_SAfA/SAfA_2008_Conference-Proceedings_by_Program_Session. (2008).
Giblin, J. D. Re-constructing the past in post-genocide Rwanda: an archaeological contribution Phd thesis, University College London, (2010).
Allibert, C. Le site de Bagamoyo (Mayotte, archipel des Comores), in Études de l’Océan Indien n°2. INALCO-Paris (1983).
Allibert, C., Argant, A. & Argant, J. Le site de Dembeni (Mayotte, Archipel des Comores), mission 1984. Études Océan Indien 11, 63–172 (1989).
Allibert, C. & Verin, P. in The Indian Ocean in Antiquity (ed J. Reade) 417–438 (Kegan Paul, 1996).
Allibert, C. J. Early settlement on the Comoro Archipelago. National Geographic Research 5, 392–393 (1989).
Wright, H. T. et al. Early seafarers of the Comoros Islands: The Dembeni Phase of the IX th to X th Centuries A.D. Azania 19, 13–59 (1984).
Fontes, P., Coudray, J., Eberschweiler, C. & Fontes, J.-C. Datation et conditions d’occupation du site de Koungou (île de Mayotte). ArchéoSciences, revue d’Archéométrie 11, 77–82 (1987).
Wright, H., Horton, M. C. & Gou, A. M. Archaeological investigations at Nyamawi, Ngazidja, Union of the Comoros 2013. (Unpublished).
Chritz, K. L. et al. Climate, ecology, and the spread of herding in eastern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 204, 119–132, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.11.029 (2019).
Mgomezulu, G. G. Y. Recent archaeological research and radiocarbon dates from eastern Africa. The Journal of African History 22, 435–456, https://doi.org/10.1017/S002185370001985X (1981).
Robbins, L. H. Archeology in the Turkana District, Kenya. Science 176, 359–366, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.176.4033.359 (1972).
Lane, P., Bilinda, S. & Charles, H. Excavations at Baawa, Samburu District, Kenya: preliminary report on the 2006 season. Nyame Akuma 68, 34–46 (2007).
Phillipson, D. & Gifford, D. Kulchurdo rock shelter and the Stone Age of Mount Marsabit. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 16, 167–174, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708109511290 (1981).
Berger, R. & Libby, W. F. UCLA Radiocarbon Dates IX. Radiocarbon 11, 194–209, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200064547 (1969).
Hivernel, F. Excavations at Ngenyn (Baringo District, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 18, 45–79, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708309511314 (1983).
Hivernel, F. Preliminary report on excavations at Ngenyn, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 10, 140–144, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707509511620 (1975).
Maggs, T. Some recent radiocarbon dates from eastern and southern Africa. The Journal of African History 18, 161–191 (1977).
Lynch, B. M. & Robbins, L. H. Cushitic and nilotic prehistory: New Archaeological evidence from North-West Kenya. The Journal of African History 20, 319–328, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700017333 (1979).
Rightmire, G. P. Lopoy and Lothagam. No. 1 Lopoy: A late stone-age fishing and pastoralist settlement in the Lake Turkana Basin, Kenya. By L.H. Robbins. No. 2 Late Stone-Age Fishermen of Lothagam, Kenya. By J.L. Angel, T.W. Phenice, L.H. Robbins, and B. Mark Lynch. Michigan State University Museum Anthropological Series Vol. 3, Nos. 1 & 2. East Lansing, Michigan. 1980. xx + 201 pp., figures, tables, bibliography, index. $9.50 (paper). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 56, 205–206, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330560211 (1981).
Robbins, L. H. in Lopoy and Lothagam Vol. 3 (ed L.H. Robbins) (Michigan State University 1980).
Robbins, L. H. Lopoy and Lothagam. Vol. 3 (Michigan State University, 1980).
Lynch, B. M. & Robbins, L. H. Namoratunga: the first archeoastronomical evidence in sub-saharan Africa. Science 200, 766–768, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4343.766 (1978).
Petek, N. Archaeological perspectives on risk and community resilience in the Baringo lowlands, Kenya PhD thesis, Uppsala University (2018).
Davies, J. & Nori, M. Managing and mitigating climate change through pastoralism. (2008).
Davies, M. Economic specialisation, resource variability, and the origins of intensive agriculture in eastern Africa. Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History 2 https://doi.org/10.16993/rl.af (2015).
Davies, M. I. J. Stone cairns across eastern Africa: a critical review. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 48, 218–240, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.789207 (2013).
Davies, M. I. J., Kipruto, T. K. & Moore, H. L. Revisiting the irrigated agricultural landscape of the Marakwet, Kenya: tracing local technology and knowledge over the recent past. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 49, 486–523, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2014.979527 (2014).
Phillipson, D. W. Lowasera. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 12, 1–32, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707709511245 (1977).
Beyin, A. Human settlement successions and lithic technology in the Kalokol area (west Lake Turkana, Kenya) during the African Humid Period. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 56, 425–462, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2021.2012746 (2021).
Beyin, A. Recent archaeological survey and excavation around the greater Kalokol area, west side of Lake Turkana: Preliminary findings. Nyame Akuma 75 (2011).
Stewart, K. M. Fishing Sites of North and East Africa in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene: Environmental Change and Human Adaptation. (Cambridge University 1989).
Githinji, C. K. Il Lokeridede: A Pastoral Neolithic mortuary site East of Lake Turkana, Kenya Unpublished Master of Arts Thesis thesis, University of Nairobi, (1999).
Boles, O. in Isotopic Investigations of Pastoralism in Prehistory (eds Ventresca Miller A. & Makarewicz C.) 14 (Routledge, 2017).
Boles, O. Pastoralist settlement and the anthropogenic savannah: the archaeo-ecology of Maili Sita, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 52, 276–276, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2017.1324664 (2017).
Boles, O. J. C. & Lane, P. J. The green, green grass of home: an archaeo-ecological approach to pastoralist settlement in central Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 51, 507–530, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2016.1249587 (2016).
Boles, O. J. C. et al. Historical ecologies of pastoralist overgrazing in Kenya: Long-term perspectives on cause and effect. Human Ecology 47, 419–434, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-019-0072-9 (2019).
Gifford, D. The faunal remains. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 16, 175–180, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708109511291 (1981).
Hivernel, F. An ethnoarchaeological study of environmental use in the Kenya Highlands PhD dissertation thesis, University of London, (1978).
Robbins, L. H. in Hunters to Farmers: Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa (eds J.D. Clark & S.A. Brandt) 206-211 (University of California Press, 1984).
Lane, P. An Outline of the Later Holocene archaeology and precolonial history of the Ewaso Basin, Kenya. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 632 https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.632.11 (2011).
Hivernel, F. Archaeology excavation and ethnoarchaeology interpretation: A case study in Kenya. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.25826 (1983).
Lynch, B. M. The Namoratunga cemetery and rock art sites of NW Kenya: A study of early pastoralist social organization PhD thesis, Michigan State University, (1985).
Grillo, K. M. & Hildebrand, E. A. The context of early megalithic architecture in eastern Africa: the Turkana Basin c. 5000-4000 BP. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 48, 193–217, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.789188 (2013).
Wright, D. Archaeological investigations of three Pastoral Neolithic sites in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 38, 183–188, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700309480370 (2003).
Ambrose, S. H. Excavations at Masai Gorge Rockshelter, Naivasha. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 20, 29–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708509511358 (1985).
Prendergast, M. E. & Mutundu, K. K. in Tracking Down the Past: Ethnohistory Meets Archaeology Vol. 7 (eds G. Grupe, G. McGlynn, & J. Peters) 203-232 (Documenta Archaeologiae, 2009).
Posnansky, M. Excavations at Lanet, Kenya, 1957. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 2, 89–114, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706709511442 (1967).
Sutton, J. E. G. Hyrax Hill and the Sirikwa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 22, 1–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708709511378 (1987).
Sutton, J. E. G. Deloraine and the Rift Valley Sequence Nyame Akuma, 34-36 (1987).
Kyule, D. The Sirikwa economy. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 32, 21–30, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709709511586 (1997).
Kyule, D. Plant remains from a Sirikwa culture site at Hyrax Hill, Nakuru. Nyame Akuma 8-10 (1992).
Kyule, D. M. Economy and subsistance of Iron Age Sirikwa culture at Hyrax Hill, Nakuru: A zooarchaeological approach Master of Arts thesis, University of Nairobi, (1992).
Ambrose, S. in The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History (eds Christopher Ehret & Merrick Posnansky) 104-157 (University of California Press, 1982).
Ambrose, S. H. in Preliminary Report on Research on Permit OP.13/001/16 C 26/19 (1997).
Sutton, J. E. G. Further excavations, and the Iron Age sequence of the Central Rift. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 28, 103–125, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709309511650 (1993).
Gifford, D. P., Isaac, G. L. & Nelson, C. M. Evidence for predation and pastoralism at Prolonged Drift: a Pastoral Neolithic site in Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 15, 57–108, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708009511277 (1980).
Nelson, C. M. & Kimengich, J. in Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa (eds L. Krzyzaniak & M. Kobusiewicz) (Polish Academy of Sciences, 1984).
Gramly, R. M. Analysis of faunal remains from Narosura. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 9, 219–222, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707409511723 (1974).
Gramly, R. M. & Rightmire, G. P. A fragmentary cranium and dated later Stone Age assemblage from Lukenya Hill, Kenya. Man. 8, 571–579 (1973).
Siiriäinen, A. The Iron Age Site at Gatung’ang’a, Central Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 6, 199–232, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707109511551 (1971).
Marshall, F. & Robertshaw, P. Preliminary report on archaeological research in the Loita-Mara region, S.W. Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 17, 173–180, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708209511307 (1982).
Marshall, F. B. Aspects of the advent of pastoral economics in East Africa PhD thesis, University of California (1986).
Cohen, M. A Reassessment of the Stone Bowl Cultures of the Rift Valley, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 5, 27–38, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707009511525 (1970).
Bower, J. R. F. Early pottery and other finds from Kisii District, Western Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 8, 131–140, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707309511576 (1973).
Siiriäinen, A. Later Stone Age investigation in the Laikipia Highlands, Kenya: A preliminary report. Azania:archaeological Research in Africa 12, 162–186 (1977).
Siiriainen, A. Excavations in Laikipia: An archaeological study of the recent prehistory in the eastern highlands of Kenya. (Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistksen Aikakauskirja Finska Fornminnesforenengens Tidskrift, 1984).
Barendsen, G. W., Deevey, E. S. & Gralenski, L. J. Yale Natural Radiocarbon Measurements III. Science 126, 908–919, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.126.3279.908 (1957).
Merrick, H. V. & Monaghan, M. C. The date of the cremated burials in Njoro River cave. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 19, 7–11, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708409511326 (1984).
Wandibba, S. Excavations at Rigo Cave in the central Rift Valley, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 18, 81–92, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708309511315 (1983).
Simons, A. The development of early pastoral societies in south-western Kenya: a study of the faunal assemblages from Sugenya and Oldorotua 1 PhD thesis, La Trobe University, (2004).
Wandibba, S. Thimlich Ohingini. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 21, 134–134, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708609511375 (1986).
Flint, R. F., Edward S. & Deevey, J. in American Journal of Science Vol. 2 (American Journal of Science, New Havens 1960).
Muia, M. The Lukenyan Industry a definition Master of Arts thesis, University of Nairobi, (1998).
Marean, C. W. Hunter to herder: large mammal remains from the hunter-gatherer occupation at Enkapune Ya Muto Rock-shelter, central Rift, Kenya. African Archaeological Review 10, 65–127, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01117697 (1992).
Marean, C. W. Implications of late Quaternary mammalian fauna from Lukenya Hill (South-central Kenya) for paleoenvironmental change and faunal extinctions. Quaternary Research 37, 239–255, https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(92)90085-W (1992).
Marean, C. W., Mudida, N. & Reed, K. E. Holocene paleoenvironmental change in the Kenyan central Rift as indicated by micromammals from Enkapune Ya Muto Rockshelter. Quaternary Research 41, 376–389, https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1994.1042 (1994).
Erendira Malinali Quintana, M. & Prendergast, M. in The Swahli World (eds Stephanie Wynne Jones & Adria LaViolette) Ch. 32, 702 (Routledge, 2017).
Owen, W. E. The early smithfield culture of Kavirondo (Kenya) and South Africa. Man 41, 115–115 (1941).
Field, H. The University of California African Expedition: II, Sudan and Kenya. American Anthropologist 51, 72–84 (1949).
Ashley, C. Z. Ceramic variability and change: A perspective from Great Lakes Africa PhD thesis, University College London, (2005).
Dale, D. & Ashley, C. Z. Holocene hunter-fisher-gatherer communities: new perspectives on Kansyore Using communities of Western Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 24–48, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700903291716 (2010).
Dale, D. Recent archaeological investigation of Kansyore sites in western Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 35, 204–207, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700009511604 (2000).
Russell, T. & Lander, F. What is consumed is wasted: From foraging to herding in the southern African Later Stone Age. Azania Archaeological Research in Africa 50 https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2015.1079082 (2015).
Jungner, H. (ed Radiocarbon Dating Laoboratory of the University of Helsinki) (Helsinki, 1975).
Shoemaker, A. & Davies, M. Grinding-stone implements in the eastern African Pastoral Neolithic. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 54, 203–220 (2019).
Balasse, M. & Ambrose, S. H. in Cultures and breeding by mountains and valleys: what archaeological reading? Vol. 40 (eds M. P. Ruas & J.D. Vigne) 147-166 (Anthropozoologica 2005).
Cole, S. The Prehistory of East Africa. (The Macmillan Company, 1963).
Faugust, P. M. & Sutton, J. E. G. The Egerton Cave on the Njoro River. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 1, 149–153, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706609511347 (1966).
Goldstein, S. The lithic assemblage from Sugenya, a Pastoral Neolithic site of the Elmenteitan tradition in southwestern Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 54, 4–32, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2018.1540216 (2019).
Saggerson, E. P. Vol. Report No. 58 (Geological Survey of Kenya, Nairobi, 1963).
Cohen, M. Deloraine Farm, a new type of pottery. Azania 161-166 (1972).
Onyango-Abuje, J. C. Crescent Island: A preliminary report on excavations at an East African Neolithic site. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 12, 147–159, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707709511252 (1977).
Gramly, R. M. Meat-feasting sites and cattle brands: Patterns of rock-shelter utilization in East Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 10, 107–121, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707509511616 (1975).
Helm, R. M. Recent archaeological research on the iron-working, farming communities of coastal Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 35, 183–189, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700009511601 (2000).
Sassoon, H. Excavations at the site of early Mombasa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 15, 1–42, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708009511275 (1980).
Sassoon, H. Ceramics from the wreck of a Portuguese ship at Mombasa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 16, 97–130, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708109511287 (1981).
Kusimba, C. Manda: Betwixt in Between. (2015).
Kusimba, C. & Killick, D. in East African Archaeology: Foragers, Potters, Smiths, and Traders (eds Chapurukha M. Kusimba & Sibel B. Kusimba) 99-115 (University of Pennsylvania, 2003).
Kusimba, C. M. The Rise and Fall of Swahili States. (AltaMira Press, 1999).
Kusimba, C. M. The archaeology and ethnography of iron metallurgy of the Kenya coast PhD unpublished dissertation thesis, Bryn Mawr College (1993).
Kusimba, C. M. & Killick, D. in East African Archaeology: Foragers, Potters, Smiths, and Traders (eds C. M. Kusimba & S. B. Kusimba) 99-115 (University of Pennsylvania, 1993).
Horton, M. Primitive Islam and architecture in East. Africa. Muqarnas 8, 103–116 (1991).
Chittick, N. Discoveries in the Lamu Archipelago. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 2, 37–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706709511439 (1967).
Horton, M. C. Early Muslim Trading Settlements on the East African Coast: New Evidence from Shanga. The Antiquaries Journal 67, 290–323, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500025427 (1987).
Pradines, S. Islamization and urbanization on the coast of East Africa: recent excavations at Gedi, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 38, 180–182, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700309480369 (2003).
Phillipson, D. W. Notes on the later prehistoric radiocarbon chronology of eastern and southern Africa. The Journal of African History 11, 1–15, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700037415 (1970).
Yamasaki, F., Hamada, C. & Hamada, T. RIKEN Natural radiocarbon measurements. American Journal of Science 16, 331–357 (1974).
Schmidt, P. R. Eastern expression of the Mwitu tradition: Early Iron Age industry of the Usambara Mountain. Tanzania. Nyame Akuma 30, 36–37 (1988).
Sassoon, H. Excavation of a burial mound in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Tanzania Notes and Records 69, 15–32 (1968).
Thorp, C. Archaeology in the Nguru Hills. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 27, 21–44, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709209511429 (1992).
Bower, J. & Chadderdon, T. J. Further excavations of Pastoral Neolithic sites in Serengeti. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 21, 129–133, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708609511374 (1986).
King, K. & Bada, J. L. Effect of in situ leaching on amino acid racemisation rates in fossil bone. Nature 281, 135–137, https://doi.org/10.1038/281135a0 (1979).
Masao, F. T. in Studen zur Kulturkunde 48 (ed Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH) (Wiesbaden 1979).
Sassoon, H. Engaruka: Excavations during 1964. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 1, 79–99, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706609511342 (1966).
Sassoon, H. The Masange Bowmen: A rock painting in central Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 2, 193–194, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706709511447 (1967).
Sassoon, H. Excavations at Engaruka, an Iron Age archaeological site in Tanzania. National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1965 projects 221–230 (1971).
Sutton, J. E. G. Engaruka and its waters. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 13, 37–70, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707809511631 (1978).
Robertshaw, P. Engaruka revisited: Excavations of 1982. Azania: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 21, 1–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672708609511365 (1986).
Mehlman, M. J. Mumba‐Höhle revisited: The relevance of a forgotten excavation to some current issues in east African prehistory. World Archaeology 11, 80–94, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1979.9979751 (1979).
Prendergast, M. E. et al. Small game forgotten: Late Pleistocene foraging strategies in eastern Africa, and remote capture at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya. Quaternary Science Reviews 305 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108032 (2023).
Bower, J. R. F. Seronera: Excavations at a Stone Bowl Site in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 8, 71–104, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707309511573 (1973).
Schmidt, P. R. & Childs, S. T. Innovation and industry during the Early Iron Age in East Africa: the KM2 and KM3 sites of northwest Tanzania. African Archaeological Review 3, 53–94, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01117455 (1985).
Schmidt, P. R. Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology. (Indiana University Press, 1997).
Schmidt, P. R. A New look at interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa. History in Africa 2, 127–136, https://doi.org/10.2307/3171469 (1975).
Soper, R. C. & Golden, B. An archaeological survey of Mwanza region, Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 4, 15–79, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706909511507 (1969).
Sutton, J. E. G. & Roberts, A. D. Uvinza and its salt industry. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 3, 45–86, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706809511487 (1968).
Schmidt, P. R. Historical Archaeology: A Structural Appoach in an African Culture 292-293 (Greenwood Press, 1978).
LaViolette, A., Fawcett, W. B., Karoma, N. J. & Schmidt, P. R. The coast and the hinterland: University of Dar es Salaam Archaeological Field Schools, 1987-88. Nyame Akuma 32, 38–46 (1989).
Schmidt, P. N. et al. in Archaeological Contributions of the University of Dar es Salaam (ed University of Dar es Salaam) (Archaeology Unit Dar es Salaam 1992).
Mapunda, B. B. in People, Contacts, and the Environment i the African Past (eds Felix Chami, G. Pwiti, & C. Radimilahy) 98-112 (DUP Ltd, 2001).
Lyaya, E. C. An identification guide for metallurgical sites in Tanzania. African Archaeological Review 36, 193–209, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-019-09334-0 (2019).
de Luna, K. & Fleisher, J. in Speaking with Substance Springer Briefs in Archaeology 75-94 (2019).
Fleisher, J. Rituals of consumption and the politics of feasting on the eastern African coast, AD 700–1500. Journal of World Prehistory 23, 195–217, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-010-9041-3 (2010).
Fleisher, J. & Laviolette, A. Elusive wattle and daub: Finding the hidden majority in the archaeology of Swahili. Azania 34, 87–108 (1999).
Fleisher, J. & Wynne-Joes, S. Archaeological investigations at Songo Mnara, Tanzania: 2011 Field Season preliminary report. 86 (Rice University, Texas, 2013).
Chami, F. Roman beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: First incontrovertible archaeological link with the Periplus. Current Anthropology 40, 237–242 (1999).
Chami, F. in People, Contacts and the Environment in the African Past (eds F. Chami, G. Pwiti, & C. Radimilahy) 7-20 (University of Dar es Salaam, 2001).
Chami, F. The Unity of African Ancient History: 3000 BC - AD 500. (E&D Publishers, 2006).
Chami, F. The geographical extent of Azania. Theoria 68, 12–29, https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2021.6816802 (2021).
Chami, F. A. in Southern Africa in the Swahili World (eds Felix A. Chami & G. Pwiti) (University of Dar es Salaam Press, 2002).
Walshaw, S. Converting to rice: Urbanization, Islamization and crops on Pemba Island, Tanzania, AD 700-1500. World Archaeology 42, 137–154, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240903430399 (2010).
Walshaw, S. & Pistor, D. in SAFA/PANAF (Dakar, 2010).
Fagan, B. M. Radiocarbon Dates for Sub-Saharan Africa-IV. The Journal of African History 7, 495–506 (1966).
LaViolette, A. & Fleisher, J. The urban history of a rural place: Swahili archaeology on Pemba Island, Tanzania, 700-1500 AD. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 42, 433–455 (2009).
LaViolette, A. & Fleisher, J. B. Developments in rural life on the eastern African coast, a.d. 700–1500. Journal of Field Archaeology 43, 380–398, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2018.1489661 (2018).
Christie, A. in The Swahili World (eds Stephanie Wynne-Jones & Adria LaViolette) 245-252 (Routledge, 2018).
Christie, A. C. Overview of work conducted in the Mafia Archipelago 2008–2010. Nyame Akuma 79, 30–44 (2013).
Christie, A. C. in Prehistoric Marine Resource Use in the Indo-Pacific Regions Vol. 39 (eds Rintaro Ono, Alex Morrison, & David Addison) 97-122 (Australian National University E-Press, 2014).
Kwekason, A. P. Nkope: The early ironworking pottery tradition of southern coastal Tanzania. The African Archaeological Review 30, 145–167, https://doi.org/10.2307/42641824 (2013).
Pawlowicz, M. Modelling the Swahili past: the archaeology of Mikindani in southern coastal Tanzania. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47, 488–508, https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2012.723510 (2012).
Pawlowicz, M. A Review of ceramics from Tanzania, Malawi, and northern Mozambique, with implications for Swahili archaeology. African Archaeological Review 30, 367–398, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-013-9146-z (2013).
Pawlowicz, M., Stoetzel, J. & Macko, S. Environmental archaeology at Mikindani, Tanzania: towards a historical ecology of the southern Swahili coast. Journal of African Archaeology 12, 119–139 (2014).
Chittick, N. Kilwa: A preliminary report. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 1, 1–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/00672706609511339 (1966).
Faulkner, P. et al. Characterising marine mollusc exploitation in the eastern African Iron Age: Archaeomalacological evidence from Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani, Zanzibar. Quaternary International 471, 66–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.08.051 (2018).
Faulkner, P. et al. Long-term trends in terrestrial and marine invertebrate exploitation on the eastern African coast: Insights from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 14, 479–514, https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2018.1501442 (2019).
Faulkner, P. et al. Human-ecodynamics and the intertidal zones of the Zanzibar Archipelago. Frontiers in Earth Science 10 https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.982694 (2022).
Kotarba-Morley, A. et al. Coastal landscape changes at Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar: Contextualizing the archaeology of an early Islamic port of trade. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 19, 1–35, https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2022.2030441 (2022).
Vernier, E. & Millot, J. (ed Paris Comptoirs musulmans, Muséum d’histoire naturelle (Catalogue du Musée de l’Homme, série F, Madagascar I. Supplément aux objets et mondes, XI, 3).) (1971).
Dewar, R. E. & Wright, H. T. The culture history of Madagascar. Journal of World Prehistory 7, 417–466 (1993).
Battistini, R. & Ve´rin, P. in Pleistocene Extinctions (eds P.S. Martin & H.E. Wright Jr.) 407-424 (Yale University Press, 1967).
Wright, H. T. & Fanony, F. L’ e´volution des systems d’occupation des sols dans la valle´e de la rivie’re Mananara au Nord-est de Madagascar, Allibert, C. (trans.). Taloha 11, 16–64 (1992).
Tattersall, I. Madagascar’s Lemurs: Cryptic diversity or taxonomic inflation? Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 16, 12–23 (2007).
Tattersall, I. & Standing, H. F.
Simons, E. L. et al. AMS 14 C dates for extinct lemurs from caves in the Ankarana Massif, northern Madagascar. Quaternary Research 43, 249–254, https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1995.1025 (1995).
Burney, D. A. Modern pollen spectra from Madagascar. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 66, 63–75, https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(88)90081-8 (1988).
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Results of AMS 14 C analysis of sample material submitted to AMS laboratory, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, 2019).
Rafamantanantsoa, J. G. Contribution a‘ l’e´tude micropale´ontologique (spores-pollen-diatome´e´ s) de quatre tourbie’res des Hautes Terres de Madagascar: Valorisatione´nerge´tique, paleoe’cologie, dynamique des environnements The’se de Doctorat de 3e’me Cycle thesis, Universite’d’Antananarivo (1991).
Matsumoto, K. & Burney, D. A. Late Holocene environmental changes at Lake Mitsinjo, northwestern Madagascar. The Holocene, 16-24 (1994).
Burney, D. A. Late Holocene vegetational change in central Madagascar. Quaternary Research 28, 130–143, https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(87)90038-X (1987).
Hedges, R. E. M., Pettitt, P. B., Ramsey, C. B. & Van Klinken, G. J. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS System: Archaeometry Datelist 23. Archaeometry 39, 247–262, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1997.tb00803.x (1997).
Parker Pearson, M. et al. in Third Report (University of Sheffield, and Institut de Civilisations, Muse´e d’Art et d’Arche´ologie, Antananarivo, 1995).
Battistini, R., Ve´rin, P. & Raison, R. Le site arche´ologique de Talaky: cadre ge´ographique. Vol. 1 (Faculte´ des Lettres et Sciences Humaine, 1963).
Emphoux, J.-P. Arche´ologie de Androy. Colloque d’Histoire Malgache, Tulear. Mimeo (cited in Dewar, 1984) (1979).
Emphoux, J. P. Archéologie de l’Androy: deux sites importants Andranosoa et le manda de Ramananga. Omaly sy anio: revue d'études historiques 13-14, 89–97 (1981).
Rakotoarisoa, J. A., Wright, H. T., Huertebize, G. & Ve´rin, P. The evolution of settlement systems in the Efaho River Valley, Anosy: a preliminary report on archaeological reconnaissances of 1983–1986. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 12, 2–20 (1993).
Battistini, R. & Vérin, P. Témoignages archéologiques sur la cote vezo de l’embouchure de l’onilahy a‘ la baie des assassins. Taloha 4, 51–63 (1971).
Rakotozafy, L. M. A. Etude de la constitution du regime alimentaire des habitants du site de Mahilaka du XI au XIV siecle a partir des products de fouilles archeologiques Doctorate thesis, Universite DAntananarivo (1996).
Burney, D. A., Robinson, G. S. & Burney, L. P. Sporormiella and the late Holocene extinctions in Madagascar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100, 10800–10805, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1534700100 (2003).
Douglass, K. et al. Multi-analytical approach to zooarchaeological assemblages elucidates Late Holocene coastal lifeways in southwest Madagascar. Quaternary International 471, 111–131 (2017).
Burney, D. A. in Paleoecology of Africa and of the surroundings islands (ed JA Coetzee) 357-381 (Balkema, 1987).
Gasse, F. et al. A 36 ka environmental record in the southern tropics: Lake Tritrivakely (Madgascar) (Un enregistrement de l’environnement depuis 36 ka en zone tropicale sud: le lac Tritrivakely (Madagascar)). (1994).
Goodman, S. M. & Rakotondravony, D. in Bioge´ographie de Madagascar (ed W.R. Lourencxo) 283-293 (de l’ORSTOM, 1996)s.
Kigoshi, K., Lin, D.-H. & Endo, K. Gakushuin Natural Radiocarbon Measurements III. Radiocarbon 6, 197–207, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200010675 (1964).
Straka, H. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der vegetationsgeschichte von Madagaskar (vorlaufige Mitteilung) Festschrift Zoller. Dissertationes Botanicae, 439-449 (1993).
Dewar, R. in Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution (eds P.S. Martin & R.G. Klein) 574-593 (University of Arizona Press, 1984).
Dewar, R. E. in The Indian Ocean in Antiquity (ed J. Reade) 471-486 (Kegan Paul and the British Museum, 1996).
Kusimba, C. M. & Sibel, B. K. East African Archaeology. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004).
QGIS Development Team. QGIS Geographic Information System, version 3.28. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project https://docs.qgis.org/3.28/pdf/en/QGIS-3.28-DesktopUserGuide-en.pdf (2024).
Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data at 1:10 m, 1:50 m, and 1:110 m scales. https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/ (2024).
Microsoft. Import or export text (.txt or.csv) files, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/import-or-export-text-txt-or-csv-files-5250ac4c-663c-47ce-937b-339e391393ba (2024).
Adobe. Adobe Photoshop 2024, https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2024/New-Adobe-Photoshop-with-Advanced-Generative-Fill-and-Generate-Image-Brings-New-Superpowers-to-All/default.aspx (2024).
Inkscape. Vector graphics editor. https://inkscape.org/release/inkscape-1.3.2/windows/64-bit/msi/?redirected=1 (2024).
Acknowledgements
We thank the following researchers for providing data and literature sources and/or for clarifying questions relating to publications: Vincent Serneels, Stanley Ambrose, Chapurukha Kusimba, Charles Nelson, Dana Krueger, Darla Dale, David Phillipson, David Wright, Helene Jousse, Henry Wright, Jeffrey Fleisher, Jonathan Walz, Kristina Douglass, Mathew Pawlowicz, Paul Lane, Peter Robertshaw, and Peter Schmidt. Thanks to Kristin Starkoff and Brigitte Hofmann at the MPI-GEA library for ensuring that the required publications were available, and to Hans Sell, Graphic Designer at MPI-GEA, for refining Fig. 2. This project was funded by the Max Planck Society.
Funding
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
V.I., R.F., P.R., N.B., A.C., A.K. and S.G. conceived the project, V.I. and A.C. collected the data and entered it in dataset, and V.I. and R.F. performed the date calibrations. V.I. and R.F. led the writing with contributions from P.R., S.G., A.C., A.K., M.F. and N.B. The maps were prepared by V.I., M.F., A.K. and R.F. and flowchart and tables by V.I. V.I., R.F. and A.C. developed the quality control criteria, and VI did the grading. All authors contributed to manuscript content and writing.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Iminjili, V., Crowther, A., Fisher, M.T. et al. A dataset of scientific dates from archaeological sites in eastern Africa spanning 5000 BCE to 1800 CE. Sci Data 12, 801 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05138-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Version of record:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05138-x
