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Sustainable Management and Conservation of Heritage Assets: A Case Study of the Lake Eyasi Basin, Northern Tanzania

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Abstract

The Lake Eyasi Basin in northern Tanzania is among the few key regions in Africa that offer important information about human origins and peopling of the world. Material culture from this region provides significant insight into the origin and development of modern human behavior. It contains dense, stratified, and continuous archaeological records from the Middle Pleistocene to historical periods. The archaeological records of this region offer an opportunity to investigate trends in technological change, past diets, symbolic aspects, and other traits of cognitive thoughts. For a long time, these cultural materials and environmental trajectories were managed through traditionally based non-legislative systems ordered through traditional norms and values. However, such arrangements were interrupted during the colonial and post-colonial periods with emphasis on legislative heritage management systems stressing law enforcement and economic outputs. Strict obedience to heritage law enforcement gradually excluded local communities from mainstream social, economic, and cultural aspects of the archaeological sites in their regions. This paper discusses sustainable solutions and guidelines for managing cultural assets and the surrounding environment through co-management systems. The intention is to develop a highly focused mission for sustainable management and use of cultural assets, reduce vulnerability to climate change, enhance sustainable rural development, and contribute to poverty eradication through tourism.

Résumé

Le Bassin du lac Eyasi au nord de la Tanzanie constitue une des régions africaines notables qui réservent des informations importantes sur les origines des humaines ainsi que le peuplement du monde. La culture matérielle exceptionnelle de cette région préserve de manière significative l’origine et le développement de comportement humain moderne. Cette culture porte des vestiges archéologiques denses, diversifiées et interrompues, datant depuis le Pléistocène moyen de nos jours. À cet effet, les réserves archéologiques présentes dans cette région créent une occasion inédite pour l’investissement visant la protection contre le changement climatique, la cuisine ancienne, le patrimoine symbolique ainsi que contre les traits relatifs au développement de la réflexion cognitive. Pendant longtemps, ces matériaux culturels et ces projets environnementaux ont été protégés grâce aux systèmes non législatifs des gestions basées sur les normes et valeurs traditionnelles. Et pourtant, tels plans ont été interrompus par le droit moderne institué au cours de l’ère coloniale et repris au post colonial qui privilégie le gain économique. Ceux-ci mettent l’accent sur le respect strict des lois. En conséquence, ces règlements restreignent la population locale de profiter aux atouts sociaux, économiques et culturelles disponibles dans ces sites archéologiques. Dans le cet article l’auteur présente des solutions durables et propose des lignes directrices pour une gestion des biens culturels et une protection de l’environnement autour à travers la gestion de ces biens de manière coopérative.

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Acknowledgements

This project was carried out through research clearance granted by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and with the permission of the Antiquities Department and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT), Tanzania. I thank the Volkswagen Foundation for the Junior and Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship research grants # 881015, 92047, and 96977, which enabled the archaeological project in the Lake Eyasi Basin in northern Tanzania. I extend my thanks to my employer, the University of Dar es Salaam, the graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Dar es Salaam and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science, and the assistants who participated in the field research. I also thank my mentors, collaborators, and the organizing committee for the Volkswagen Stiftung funding initiative of the University of Hanover, Germany.

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  1. Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Dar Es Salaam, P. O. Box 35050, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Pastory Magayane Bushozi

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Bushozi, P.M. Sustainable Management and Conservation of Heritage Assets: A Case Study of the Lake Eyasi Basin, Northern Tanzania. Afr Archaeol Rev 39, 303–314 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-022-09489-3

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