Migrations and Exchange: Early Pastoral Mobility in Kenya Assessed Through Stable Isotope Analysis

Summary

Specialized pastoralism emerged in Kenya around 3000 years ago and has adapted with changes in the social and ecological landscape to this day. Ethnographic research has documented significant changes in herding strategies among pastoral groups throughout colonial and post-colonial periods. Stable isotope analysis sheds light on how crucial mobility was in maintaining herds before the appearance of iron-using and –producing peoples in the region. Intra-tooth sequential sampling of livestock tooth enamel presents an isotopic record of diet during tooth formation, and can thus track movements across the landscape. These analyses were conducted on enamel of livestock teeth from several Savanna Pastoral Neolithic sites in the Central Rift Valley and neighboring plains of Kenya. Some sites are clearly the result of specialized pastoralist pursuits, and other sites indicate a mixed economy of pastoralism and foraging. While carbon stable isotope ratios do not indicate seasonal altitudinal mobility up to higher elevations, this does not preclude herding of livestock long distances at low elevations. 87Sr/86Sr ratios can reflect movement across geologically distinct soil complexes. Recent analysis of the strontium isotope composition of livestock tooth enamel provide another line of evidence for pastoral mobility.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• "Bones are Not Enough": Research in Honor of Diane Gifford-Gonzalez   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage