Pastoralists in the northeastern Mara Plains, Kenya: archaeological investigations of the Pastoral Neolithic and the Pastoral Iron Age

During the 1980s, a fairly detailed picture was constructed of the prehistory of the Loita-Mara region, Narok District, southwestern Kenya, up to Elmenteitan times. However, the archaeological sequence after the Elmenteitan period remained poorly understood. Researchers from the University of Helsinki therefore undertook an initial examination of this post-Elmenteitan period in 1984 and 1986. This paper presents results of the work thus undertaken and of the oral histories collected. Field survey in the northeastern Mara Plains identified a host of Pastoral Iron Age (PIA) sites and many late or post-Elmenteitan sites, provisionally named 'Oldorotua' and thought likely to date, based on currently available evidence, to the transition between the Pastoral Neolithic and the Pastoral Iron Age. Two PIA sites were excavated, an iron-smelting/working furnace (GuJe 32) and a few hundred years old boma (GuJf 70). In addition, oral histories were also collected from local informants. Based on these field studies a preliminary culture-historical base sequence for the area is proposed, ranging from Pastoral Neolithic times to the twentieth century. This can be used as a working hypothesis for future research in the area.