The Elmenteitan culture was a prehistoric

lithic Lithic may refer to: *Relating to stone tools **Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts **Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it **Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...

industry and pottery tradition with a distinct pattern of land use, hunting and

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...

that appeared and developed on the western plains of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

during the

Pastoral Neolithic The Pastoral Neolithic (5000 BP - 1200 BP) refers to a period in Africa's prehistory, specifically Tanzania and Kenya, marking the beginning of food production, livestock domestication, and pottery use in the region following the Later Stone Age. ...

c.3300-1200 BP. It was named by archaeologist

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

after

Lake Elmenteita Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Geography Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, espec ...

(also ''Elementaita''), a

soda lake A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate (and related salt complex ...

located in the

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it i ...

, about northwest of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

History of research

The Elmenteitan was first described by

from excavations at Gamble's Cave (the type site) in 1931 and

Njoro River Cave Njoro River Cave is an archaeological site on the Mau Escarpment, Kenya, that was first excavated in 1938 by Mary Leakey and her husband Louis Leakey. Excavations revealed a mass cremation site created by Elmenteitan pastoralists during the Pasto ...

in 1938. Leakey had noticed a locally distinct cluster of the lithic industry and a universal pottery tradition in a restricted area on the plains west of the central Great Rift Valley and at the

Mau Escarpment The Mau Escarpment is a fault scarp running along the western edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. The top of the escarpment reaches approximately 3000 m (10,000 ft) above sea level, and is over 1000 m higher than the floor of the ...

Sites and society

Elmenteitan sites are found between the central Rift Valley and the western Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya. The occupants of all these sites used obsidian sourced from Mount Eburu. They left behind distinctive lithic and ceramic traditions and practiced primarily cremation burial. This contrasts with the contemporaneous SPN pastoral tradition whose sites are found across a wider part of Kenya and Tanzania. Occupants of these sites used a variety of obsidian sources, had greater diversity in material culture, and mainly buried their dead in cairns. These findings suggest that the heterogeneous SPN category likely encompasses multiple groups.

Artefacts and characteristics

At Elmenteitan sites, lithic assemblages are distinguished by a high percentage of long symmetrical two-edged

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

blades which were used unmodified and also served as blanks for a great variety of smaller microlithic tools. Typical Elmenteitan artifact assemblages also include ceramic bowls and shallow stone vessels. Ceramic vessels are mainly undecorated. Several rare, but very distinctive ornamental designs such as irregular punctuation and rim millings have also been found. Occasionally small bowls with out-turned rims, handles with holes or horizontal lugs have been discovered as well. Domestic cattle and small stock were raised and herded in combination with hunting, fishing and foraging. Patterns and degree of subsistence economy varied greatly depending on location and local and temporal climate. Regular cremation of the dead took place in caves (e.g. Egerton Cave, Keringet Caves).

, first excavated in 1938 by

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A pro ...

, served as a mass-burial site. Associated finds include beads, blades, stone bowls, palettes and pottery vessels.

Physical anthropology

Instances of dental avulsion in some individuals from Elmenteitan burial sites has led to associations with the early spread of

Southern Nilotic The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania (with one of them, Kupsabiny language, Kupsabiny or Sapiny, being spoken on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon). They form a division of the larger Nilotic langu ...

speaking groups into south-western Kenya. The exact direction from which they entered southern Kenya remains unclear. Recent genetic analysis of the ancient remains of Elmenteitan has proven that the population of the

Savanna Pastoral Neolithic The Savanna Pastoral Neolithic (SPN; formerly known as the Stone Bowl Culture) is a collection of ancient societies that appeared in the Rift Valley of East Africa and surrounding areas during a time period known as the Pastoral Neolithic. They ...

were also responsible for the pastoralist Elmenteitan culture that lived in the Rift Valley during the same period.M. E. Prendergastet al
"Ancient DNA reveals a multistep spread of the first herders into sub-Saharan Africa"
''Science'', 30 May 2019

Artifacts

References

External links

Excavations in Baringo, Fieldwork Pt. 2 - Recent excavation
{{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded Neolithic cultures of Africa Lithics Archaeology of Eastern Africa