Ngenyn is a

Late Stone Age The Later Stone Age (LSA) is a period in African prehistory that follows the Middle Stone Age. The Later Stone Age is associated with the advent of modern human behavior in Africa, although definitions of this concept and means of studying it ar ...

and/or a Savanna Pastoral Neolithic archaeological site located in the

Kapthurin The Kapthurin Formation is a basalt outcrop in Kenya near Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo. Part of the East African Rift System, it is also an important archaeological site in the study of early humans who occupied the area and left Acheulean ston ...

River Basin, which is part of the

Tugen Hills The Tugen Hills (also known as ''Saimo'') are a series of hills in Baringo County, Kenya. They are located in the central-western portion of Kenya. The Tugen Hills represent one of the few areas in Africa preserving a succession of deposits from t ...

, west of Lake Baringo. It falls within the Baringo County (part of the former Rift Valley Province) in north central

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

. The occupied area is situated on the floodplain of the River Ndau's confluence with the Sekutionnen River, on a widespread terrace called the Low Terrace, the top of which is about 3m above the level of the modern river. The site was initially discovered by

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 ...

in 1969. It was visible as a large exposure of bones, stone tools and pottery eroding out of the terrace. The site was excavated in the late 1970s as part of

Francoise Hivernel Françoise Hivernel (1943-2022) was a French-born academic archaeologist, psychoanalyst, writer and translator. Early life Hivernel was born to Raymonde Beque and André Hivernel in Versailles during World War II. Her brother Jacques Hivernel, wa ...

's PhD research. Ngenyn remains the only Late

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

site excavated in the Lake Baringo Basin and in general very little archaeological work has been done on the Late Holocene within the Baringo County.

Excavations

The surface exposure spread over 2ha but the eastern part of the site was completely disturbed by cattle trampling and agriculture. Hivernel dug 13 test trenches, 8 of which proved sterile. Extensive excavations followed revealing three occupation phases.

Occupation 1

Occupation 1 was not dated, but it is presumed to be the oldest occupation phase. Found were basalt stone tools, 3 distinctive pottery decorations, including possibly the earliest record of the Turkwel Culture, and faunal remains of ovicaprids and wild game.

Occupation 2

It is speculated that Occupation 2 was a butchering site or an activity area, however no further work was done to confirm this. The occupation phase was dated to 2020±230 BP and contained stone tools, undecorated pottery, and the remains of ovicaprids, cattle, wild game, fish and rodents. Occupation 2 also contained a knapping area.

Occupation 3

Occupation 3 was by far the richest occupation layer. It contained pottery with 5 different types of decoration, which may fit with Akira, Remnant, and Narosura pottery wares from the Pastoral Neolithic period. It also contained some 5000 lithic objects from

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

and

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 ...

, and remains of cattle, ovicaprids, wild game, and fish. The remains of fish species indicate that the site was also occupied from Nov-Dec and Mar-Apr, which falls within the two rainy seasons the area experiences. Spatial analysis indicated that the area was possibly a 'home base', however, further investigation is needed before this is confirmed. The occupation layer also contained certain features. Occupation 3 was dated to 1970±150 BP and 2080±110 BP. These dates however need to be re-calibrated.

Current state of the site

Since the 1970s no further research has been done on the archaeology of the Late Holocene in the Baringo District. The area of the archaeological site is currently extensively cultivated and subject to slash-and-burn agriculture. Furthermore, because of the loose silty clay loams the area is eroding quickly and the archaeology is in danger of being lost. The Ndau river is also cutting deeper into its bank washing away the archaeological material. The excavations at Ngenyn were not extensive, and because of the lack of archaeological work, it is hard to situate it within the wider archaeological context of the Rift Valley and Kenya. More archaeological research into the Late Holocene will be done by th
Resilience in East African Landscapes
Initial Training Network in the following years.

References

{{coord missing, Kenya Archaeological sites in Kenya Baringo County Former populated places in Kenya Buildings and structures in Rift Valley Province Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa