Local Responses to Global Events: Regionally Distinct Dietary Changes among Eastern African Herders at the Close of the African Humid Period

Summary

Changing human diets in eastern Africa across the end of the African Humid Period (AHP) have been inferred indirectly from cultural and faunal remains at archaeological sites. Stable isotope analysis (SIA, specifically δ13C) can measure diets directly, yet few studies have conducted SIA on human remains from this region. We present 25 new δ13C values from human tooth enamel recovered from archaeological sites around Lake Turkana (northwest Kenya) and on Lukenya Hill and Rigo Cave (southern Kenya), whose material culture suggests economic strategies ranging from fishing-hunting-gathering (FHG) to herding. These data show pronounced regional dietary variability even after herding took hold. All samples from the Turkana Basin, including both FGH (GeJi11) and herding (GaJi4, GeJi9, GbJj1) sites, range from -4 to -8‰, indicating strong intake of either C3 plants or animals that consumed them. In contrast, samples from southern Kenyan herding sites of Lukenya Hill (GvJm202) and Rigo Cave (GrJh3) range from -2 to -4‰, suggesting more input from C4 grasses or herbivores feeding upon them. Overall, individuals from northern Kenya sites exhibit greater dietary variability than those from the south. Results suggest that post-AHP environments differed substantially within the eastern African Rift, fostering localized economic strategies by early herders.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22083