Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation

dc.contributor.authorShipton, Ceri
dc.contributor.authorCrowther, Alison
dc.contributor.authorKourampas, Nikos
dc.contributor.authorPrendergast, Mary E.
dc.contributor.authorHorton, Mark
dc.contributor.authorDouka, Katerina
dc.contributor.authorSchwenninger, Jean-Luc
dc.contributor.authorFaulkner, Patrick
dc.contributor.authorQuintana Morales, Eréndira M.
dc.contributor.authorLangley, Michelle C.
dc.contributor.authorTibesasa, Ruth
dc.contributor.authorPicornell-Gelabert, Llorenc
dc.contributor.authorWilmsen, Edwin N.
dc.contributor.authorDoherty, Chris
dc.contributor.authorVeall, Margaret-Ashley
dc.contributor.authorAli, Abdallah K.
dc.contributor.authorPetraglia, Michael D.
dc.contributor.authorBoivin, Nicole
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-13T08:27:56Z
dc.date.available2016-10-13T08:27:56Z
dc.date.issued2016-02
dc.description.abstractThe late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period. Questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations — often problematically equated with the chronological labels ‘Later Stone Age (LSA)’, ‘Neolithic’ and ‘Iron Age’ — are still unresolved. Previous studies at the site of Kuumbi Cave in the Zanzibar Archipelago of Tanzania reported late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age (MSA) and LSA, mid-Holocene Neolithic and late Holocene Iron Age occupations (Sinclair et al. 2006; Chami 2009). Kuumbi Cave considerably extends the chronology of human occupation on the eastern African coast and findings from the site have been the basis for the somewhat contentious identification of both a coastal Neolithic culture and early chicken, a domesticate that was introduced to Africa from Asia. The site therefore warrants further investigation. Here we report on a new excavation of the Kuumbi Cave sequence that has produced a suite of 20 radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates. Our results suggest that the cave’s stratigraphy is complex, reflecting taphonomic processes that present interpretive and dating challenges. Our assessment of the stratigraphic sequence demonstrates three phases of habitation, two of which reflect terminal Pleistocene occupation and are characterised by quartz microliths, bone points and the exploitation of terrestrial and marine species, and one of which reflects later reoccupation by AD 600. In this latter phase, Kuumbi Cave was inhabited by a population with a locally distinct material culture that included idiosyncratic Tana or Triangular Incised Ware ceramics and mediumsized limestone stone tools, but with a subsistence economy similar to that of the late Pleistocene, albeit with more emphasis on marine foods and smaller terrestrial mammals. Our results suggest that Kuumbi Cave may have been unoccupied for much of the Holocene, after Zanzibar became an island. Our findings also place into question earlier identifications of domesticates, Asian fauna and a mid-Holocene Neolithic culture at the site.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentAnthropology and Archaeologyen_ZA
dc.description.librarianhb2016en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipThe Sealinks Project is funded by a European Research Council (ERC) grant to NB (Starter Grant 206148, ‘SEALINKS’), under the ’Ideas’ specific Programme of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). Additional funding for dates has been provided by a United Kingdom Natural Environmental Research Council Radiocarbon Facility grant to NB (NF/2012/2/4) and by an ERC grant to MP (no. 295719). AC was funded by a British Academy Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (2010–2013), and a University of Queensland Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2015–2017). LP-G is funded by the Conselleria d’Educació of the Government of the Balearic Islands and the European Social Fund. The analysis of fish remains undertaken by EQM was funded by a Fondation Fyssen Postdoctoral Study Grant (2014).en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raza20en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationShipton, C, Crowther, A, Kourampas, N, Prendergast, ME, Horton, M, Douka, K, Schwenninger, JL, Faulkner, P, Morales, EMQ, Langley, MC, Tibesasa, R, Picornell-Gelabert, L, Wilmsen, EN, Doherty, C, Veall, MA, Ali, AK, Petraglia, MD & Boivin, N 2016, 'Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation', Azania : Archaeological Research in Africa (open access), vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 197-233.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0067-270X (print)
dc.identifier.issn1945-5534 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1080/0067270X.2016.1173308
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/57144
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherRoutledgeen_ZA
dc.rights© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).en_ZA
dc.subjectNeolithicen_ZA
dc.subjectTana tradition / triangular incised wareen_ZA
dc.subjectSite formation processesen_ZA
dc.subjectIdian Ocean tradeen_ZA
dc.subjectPleistoceneen_ZA
dc.titleReinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupationen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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