A New Framework for the Study of Early Pastoral Communities in East Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	A New Framework for the Study of Early Pastoral Communities in East Africa
Authors:	Robertshaw, Peter Collett, David
Year:	1983
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	24
Issue:	3
Pages:	289-301
Language:	English
Geographic term:	East Africa
Subjects:	animal husbandry history History and Exploration Anthropology and Archaeology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/181896
Abstract:	This review provides a new interpretative framework for the 'Neolithic' in East Africa. A seriation of pottery assemblages is used to delineate several archaeological traditions, the implications of which include rejection of the use of the terms 'Neolithic' and 'Pastoral Neolithic', and the demise of previous attempts at archaeological-linguistic correlations. Evalution of the dating evidence brings into question the validity of early dates for domestic stock and cultivated crops in the region. A new model for the development of specialized herd management strategies in the Central Rift Valley is outlined. This mode rests upon the definition of pastoralism as an ideological System rather than as a subsistence strategy. Finally, the archaeological evidence for the antecedents of the early pastoral communities of East Africa is examined and the ascription of some of these assemblages to the 'aquatic civi-lization of Middie Africa' is questioned. Map, notes, sum.