Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Middle Holocene Environmental Change at Mtwapa Creek, Kenya: Distinguishing Human Activity from Regional Ecological Processes

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Plants and People in the African Past

Abstract

Very little is known about human occupation of the East African Coast prior to the Swahili period. Only a handful of pre-Swahili archaeological sites from this region have been investigated in any detail. The Holocene archaeology of the coastal region requires research attention if the role of indigenous African populations in later ethnic mosaics is to be understood. Pollen , fungal spores, and charcoal remains from a sediment core derived from Mtwapa Creek are presented with the goal of better understanding mid-to-late Holocene (c. 7500–4000 cal yr BP) occupations of the coast. Evidence for increased local burning, herbivore activity, and overall landscape disturbance possibly derived from cultivation activities characterizes the period between c. 6200–4000 cal yr BP. Intensive exploitation of riverine habitats was practiced in the neighboring hinterland during this period, and it is proposed that similar adaptations may have been at play in coastal drainages at Mtwapa Creek and elsewhere contemporaneously. A variety of investigative methods are proposed that may yield additional information on human activities during this time period.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adamowicz L (1990) Newly discovered Stone Age cultures in Nampula province, Northern Mozambique. In: Sinclair P, Pwiti G (eds) Urban origins in eastern Africa: project proposals and workshop summaries. Paper No. 6. Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish Central Board of National Antiquities, pp 137–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH (1984) The introduction of pastoral adaptations to the highlands of East Africa. In: Clark D, Brandt SA (eds) From hunters to farmers: the causes and consequences of food production in Africa. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH (1998) Chronology of the Later Stone Age and food production in East Africa. J Arch Sci 25(4):377–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH, DeNiro MJ (1989) Climate and habitat reconstruction using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of collagen in prehistoric herbivore teeth from Kenya. Quat Res:407–422

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH, Sikes NE (1991) Soil carbon isotope evidence for Holocene habitat change in the Kenya Rift Valley. Science 253:1402–1405

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baker AG, Bhagwat SA, Willis KJ (2013) Do dung fungal spores make a good proxy for past distribution of large herbivores? Quat Sci Rev 62:21–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell A (1983) Dung fungi, an illustrated guide to the coprophilous fungi in New Zealand. Victoria University Press, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergner AGN, Trauth MH, Bookhagen B (2003) Paleoprecipitation estimates for the Lake Naivasha basin (Kenya) during the last 175 k.y. using a lake-balance model. Global Planet Change 36:117–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnefille R, Riollet G (1980) Pollens des Savanes d’Afrique Orientale. Centre National de la Recherche Sientifique, Paris, France

    Google Scholar 

  • Boxem HW, de Meester T, Smaling EMA (eds) (1987) Soils of the Kilifi area. Reconnaissance soil survey report No. R11, Kenya Soil Survey, Nairobi and Department of Soil Science and Geology, Agricultural University of Wageningen, Pudoc, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Caratini C, Guinet P (1974) Pollen et Spores d’Afrique Tropicale. Association des Palynologues de Langue Francaise. Ministere de l’Education Nationale, Talence, France

    Google Scholar 

  • Chala A, Taye W, Ayalew A et al (2014) Multimycotoxin analysis of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Garten) from Ethiopia. Food Control 45:29–35

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chami FA (1998) A review of Swahili archaeology. Afr Archaeol Rev 15:199–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chami FA, Kessy E (1995) Archaeological work at Kisiju, Tanzania. Nyame Akuma 43:38–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS (1988) Particle motion and the theory of stratigraphic charcoal analysis: source area, transport, deposition and sampling. Quat Research 30:67–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen AS, Palacios-Fest MR, Msaky ES (2005) Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic environmental change in Lake Tanganyika: IX. summary of paleorecords of environmental change and catchment deforestation at Lake Tanganyika and impacts on the Lake Tanganyika ecosystem. J Paleolimnol 34(1):125–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coltorti M, Mussi M (1984) Late stone age hunter-gatherers of the Juba Valley. Nyame Akuma 28:32–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowther A (2012) Agriculture, subsistence and trade in coastal eastern Africa: archaeobotanical evidence from Kenya, Zanzibar and Tanzania. Paper presented at the 21st Biennial conference of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada: 20–23 June 2012

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis OK (1987) Spores of the dung fungus Sporormiella: increased abundance in historic sediments and before Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. Quat Research 28:290–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis OK, Shafer DS (2006) Sporormiella fungal spores, a palynological means of detecting herbivore density. Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 237:40–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehret C (1998) An African classical age. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis MB (1971) Demaiaceous Hyphomycetes. Kew Publishers, Surrey, Commonwealth Mycological Institute

    Google Scholar 

  • Erdtman G (1960) The Acetolysis method: A revised description. Sven Bot Tidskr 54:561–564

    Google Scholar 

  • Gastaldo RA (2012) Taphonomic controls on the distribution of palynomorphs in tidally influenced coastal deltaic settings. Palaios 27:798–810

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelorini V, Verbeken A, van Geel BJ et al (2011) Modern non-pollen palynomorphs from East African lake sediments. Rev Palaeobot Palyno 164:143–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelorini V, Ssemmanda I, Verschuren D (2012a) Validation of non-pollen palynomorphs as paleoenvironmental indicators in tropical Africa: contrasting~200-year paleolimnological records of climate change and human impact. Rev Palaeobot Palyno 186:90–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelorini V, Verbeken A, Lens L et al (2012b) Effects of land use on the fungal spore richness in small crater-lake basins of western Uganda. Fungal Divers 55:125–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimm E (1991) Tilia 1.7. Illinois State Museum, Research and Collection Center, Springfield

    Google Scholar 

  • Helm R (2000) Conflicting histories: the archaeology of the iron-working, farming communities in the central and southern coast region of Kenya. Dissertation, University of Bristol

    Google Scholar 

  • Helm R, Crowther A, Shipton C et al (2012) Exploring agriculture, interaction and trade on the eastern African littoral: preliminary results from Kenya. Azania 47:39–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarzen DM, Elsik WC (1986) Fungal palynomorphs recovered from recent river deposits, Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Palynology 10:35–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karlen W, Fastook JL, Holmgren K et al (1999) Glacier fluctuations on Mount Kenya since~6000 cal. years BP: implications for Holocene climatic change in Africa. Ambio 28:409–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessy ET (1997) Archaeological sites survey from Kisiju to Dar-es-Salaam. Nyame Akuma 48:57–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiage LM, Liu K (2006) Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes in East Africa: a review of multiproxy evidence from palynology, lake sediments, and associated records. Progr Phys Geog 30:633–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusimba CM (1999) The rise and fall of Swahili States. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusimba SB (2003) African foragers: environment, technology, interactions. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusimba CM, Kusimba SB, Wright DK (2005) The development and collapse of precolonial ethnic mosaics in Tsavo, Kenya. J Afr Arch 3:345–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey MD (1966) Excavation of burial mounds in Ngorongoro Crater. Tanzania Notes and Records 66:23–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Lejju BJ, Taylor D, Robertshaw P (2005) Late-Holocene environmental variability at Munsa archaeological site, Uganda: a multicore, multiproxy approach. Holocene 15(7):1044–1061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mercuri AM, Trevisan Grandi G, Accorsi CA (1999) Plant exploitation during the early and middle Holocene in the Tadrart Acacus (Central Sahara, Libya): pollen evidence of changes. In: Guarino A (ed) Proceedings of the second science and technology for the safeguard of cultural heritage in the Mediterranean Basin. Elsevier, Paris, pp 1081–1085

    Google Scholar 

  • Mercuri AM, Trevisan Grandi G (2001) Palynological analyses of the Late Pleistocene, Early Holocene and Middle Holocene layers. In: Garcea EAA (ed) Uan Tabu in the settlement history of the Libyan Sahara. Arid Zone Archaeology, Monographs 2. All’Insegna del Giglio, Firenze, pp 161–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Mercuri AM (2008) Plant exploitation and ethnopalynological evidence from the Wadi Teshuinat area (Tadrart Acacus, Libyan Sahara). J Archaeol Sci 35:1619–1642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michieka DO, van der Pouw BJA, Vleeshouwer JJ (1978) Soils of the Kwale-Mombasa-Lungalunga area. Reconnaissance Soil Survey Report No. R3, vol I: Main Report, Draft Edicion, Kenya Soil Survey, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • Morais J (1988) The early farming communities of southern Mozambique. Maputo, Eduardo Mondulane University and Stockholm, The Swedish Central Board of National Antiquities, Studies in African Archaeology, 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris A, Monge J, Kusimba C et al (2015) Decoding the Swahili: ancient DNA studies on the Kenyan Coast. Paper presented at the 80th meeting of the society for American archaeology, 15–19 April, San Francisco, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Msaky ES, Livingstone D, Davis OK (2005) Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic environmental change in Lake Tanganyika: V. Palynological Evidence for Deforestation and Increased Erosion. J Paleolimnol 34(1):73–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson CM (1993) Evidence for early trade between the coast and interior of East Africa. Paper presented at WAC Mombassa intercongress conference volume

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson SE (1996) A review of climate dynamics and climate variability in Eastern Africa. In: Johnson AI (ed) Limnology, climatology and paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 25–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Nirenberg HL, O’Donnell K (1998) New Fusarium species and combinations within the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex. Mycologia 90:434–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omi G (1982) Mtongwe 1980: an interim report of the East and Northeast African prehistory research project 1980. Nagoya University, Nagoya

    Google Scholar 

  • Omi G (1984) Mtongwe 1982: an interim report of the East and Northeast African prehistory research project 1982. Nagoya University, Nagoya

    Google Scholar 

  • Omi G (1986) Mtongwe 1984: an interim report of the East and Northeast African prehistory research project 1984. Nagoya University, Nagoya

    Google Scholar 

  • Omi G (1988) Mtongwe and Mgonga 1986: an interim report of the East and Northeast African prehistory research project 1986. Nagoya University, Nagoya

    Google Scholar 

  • Omi G (1991) An interim report of the East and Northeast African prehistory research project, 1988/1989. Nagoya University, Nagoya

    Google Scholar 

  • Onyike NBN, Nelson PE (1992) Fusarium species associated with Sorghum grain from Nigeria, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. Mycologia 90:452–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oosterum AP (1988) The geomorphology of Southeast Kenya. Dissertation. Agricultural University, Wageningen

    Google Scholar 

  • Palacios-Fest MR, Cohen AS, Lezzar K (2005a) Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic environmental change in Lake Tanganyika: III. Physical Statigraphy and Charcoal Analysis. J Paleolimnol 34(1):31–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palacios-Fest MR, Alin SR, Cohen AS (2005b) Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic environmental change in Lake Tanganyika: IV. Lacustrine Paleoecology. J Paleolimnol 34(1):51–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker NE, Williams JW (2011) Influences of climate, cattle density, and lake morphology on Sporormiella abundances in modern lake sediments in the US Great Plains. Holocene 22:475–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson WA III, Edwards KJ, MacGuire DJ (1987) Microscopic charcoal as a fossil indicator of fire. Quat Sci Rev 6:3–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penugonda S, Girisham S, Reddy SM (2011) Elaboration of mycotoxins by seed-borne fungi of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.). Int J Biotechnol 2:198–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitkanen A, Huttunen P (1999) A 1300 year forest-fire history at a site in eastern Finland based on charcoal and pollen records in laminated lake sediment. Holocene 9:311–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Punwong P, Marchant R, Selby K (2013a) Holocene mangrove dynamics and environmental change in the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania. Veg Hist Archaeobot 22:381–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Punwong P, Marchant R, Selby K (2013b) Holocene mangrove dynamics in Makoba Bay, Zanzibar. Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 379–380:54–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raper D, Bush M (2009) A test of Sporormiella representation as a predictor of megaherbivore presence and abundance. Quat Res 71:490–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson JL (1972) Paleolimnological records from Rift lakes in central Kenya. Palaeoecol Afr 6:131–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Rucina SM, Muiruri VM, Kinyanjui RN et al (2009) Late Quaternary vegetation and fire dynamics on Mount Kenya. Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 283:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt MR, Bothman G (2005) Indications of bee pollination in sorghum and its implications in transgenic biosafety. Int Sorghum Millets Newsl 46:72–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoenbrun DL (1993) We are what we eat: ancient agriculture between the Great Lakes. J Afr Hist 34:1–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipton C, Roberts P, Archer W et al (2018) 78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later stone age innovation in an East African tropical forest. Nat Commun 9(1832):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper RC (1966) Archaeological evidence from the coastal hinterland of Kenya and north-east Tanzania. Unpublished paper, Fort Jesus, Mombasa

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Reimer RW (2017) CALIB 7.1 [WWW program]. http://calib.org. Accessed 23 Jan 2017

  • Taylor M, Ravilious C, Green EP (2003) Mangroves of East Africa. UNEP WCMC, Banson, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson AO (1956) Geology of the Malindi Area. Report No. 36, Geological Survey of Kenya, Government printer, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson LG, Mosley-Thompson E, Davis ME et al (2002) Kilimanjaro ice core records: evidence of Holocene climate change in tropical Africa. Science 298:589–593

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Geel BJ, Buurman O, Brinkkemper J (2003) Environmental Reconstruction of a Romap Period settlement site in Uitgeest (The Netherlands), with special reference to coprophilous fungi. J Arch Sci 30:873–883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Geel B, Gelorini V, Lyaruu A et al (2011) Diversity and ecology of tropical African fungal spores from a 25,000-year palaeoenvironmental record in southeastern Kenya. Rev Palaeobot Palyno 164:174–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Zinderen Bakker EM (ed) (1966) Palaeoecology of Africa and of the surrounding islands and Antarctica. Balkema, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Waddington JCB (1969) A stratigraphic record of the pollen influx to a lake in the Big Woods of Minnesota. Geol S America S 123:263–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker MJC, Berkelhammer M, Bjorck S et al (2012) Formal subdivision of the Holocene series/epoch: a discussion paper by a working group of INTIMATE (Integration of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records) and the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (International Commission on Stratigraphy). J Quat Sci 27:649–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams LAJ (1962) Geology of the Hadu-Fundi Isa area North of Malindi. Report No. 52, Geological Survey of Kenya, Government printer, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilshaw A (2012) An investigation into the LSA of the Nakuru-Naivasha Basin and surrounding, Central Rift Valley, Kenya: technological classifications and population considerations. Dissertation, St. John’s College, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodroffe SA, Long AJ, Punwong PA et al (2015) Radiocarbon dating of mangrove sediments to constrain Holocene relative sea-level change on Zanzibar in the southwest Indian Ocean. Holocene 25:820–831

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wooller MJ, Swain DL, Ficken KJ et al (2003) Late Quaternary vegetation changes around Lake Rutundu, Mount Kenya, East Africa: evidence from grass cuticles, pollen and stable carbon isotopes. J of Quat Sci 18(1):3–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright DK (2005) New perspectives on early regional interaction networks of East African trade: a view from Tsavo National Park. Kenya. Afr Arch Rev 22(3):111–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright DK (2007) Tethered mobility and riparian resource exploitation among Neolithic hunters and herders in the Galana River basin, Kenyan coastal lowlands. Environ Arch 12:25–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright DK, Forman SL, Kusimba CM et al (2007) Stratigraphic and geochronological context of human habitation along the Galana River. Kenya. Geoarchaeol 22(7):709–728

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Ryan M. Szymanski

Authors
  1. Ryan M. Szymanski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ryan M. Szymanski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Anna Maria Mercuri

  2. Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    A. Catherine D'Andrea

  3. Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Rita Fornaciari

  4. Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany

    Alexa Höhn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Szymanski, R.M. (2018). Middle Holocene Environmental Change at Mtwapa Creek, Kenya: Distinguishing Human Activity from Regional Ecological Processes. In: Mercuri, A., D'Andrea, A., Fornaciari, R., Höhn, A. (eds) Plants and People in the African Past. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation