Early agriculture and crop transitions at Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria region of eastern Africa

Steven T Goldstein^#¹, Natalie G Mueller^#², Anneke Janzen³, Christine Ogola⁴, Rita Dal Martello⁵, Ricardo Fernandes^{6

7

8

9}, Sophia Li², Victor Iminjili⁶, Sara Juengst¹⁰, Anthony Odera Otwani¹¹, Elizabeth A Sawchuk^{12

13}, Ke Wang¹⁴, Emmanuel Ndiema¹⁵, Nicole Boivin^{6

16

17}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, WWPH 3302, S. Bouquet St , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
² Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, McMillan Hall, 1 Brookings Dr , Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA.
³ Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee , Knoxville, TN, USA.
⁴ Department of Archaeology, National Museums of Kenya , Nairobi, Kenya.
⁵ Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca'Foscari University of Venice , Venice, Italy.
⁶ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology , Jena, Germany.
⁷ Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw , Warsaw, Poland.
⁸ Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University , Brno, Czech Republic.
⁹ School of Archaeology, Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte , Charlotte, NC, USA.
¹¹ Kakapel National Monument, National Museums of Kenya , Amagoro, Kenya.
¹² Cleveland Museum of Natural History , Cleveland, OH, USA.
¹³ Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY, USA.
¹⁴ School of Life Sciences, Fudan University , Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
¹⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya , Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁶ School of Social Science, University of Queensland , Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁷ Griffith Sciences, Griffith University , Brisbane, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38981530
PMCID: PMC11335020
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2747

Early agriculture and crop transitions at Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria region of eastern Africa

Steven T Goldstein et al. Proc Biol Sci. 2024 Jul.

. 2024 Jul;291(2026):20232747.

doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2747. Epub 2024 Jul 10.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, WWPH 3302, S. Bouquet St , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
² Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, McMillan Hall, 1 Brookings Dr , Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA.
³ Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee , Knoxville, TN, USA.
⁴ Department of Archaeology, National Museums of Kenya , Nairobi, Kenya.
⁵ Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca'Foscari University of Venice , Venice, Italy.
⁶ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology , Jena, Germany.
⁷ Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw , Warsaw, Poland.
⁸ Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University , Brno, Czech Republic.
⁹ School of Archaeology, Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte , Charlotte, NC, USA.
¹¹ Kakapel National Monument, National Museums of Kenya , Amagoro, Kenya.
¹² Cleveland Museum of Natural History , Cleveland, OH, USA.
¹³ Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY, USA.
¹⁴ School of Life Sciences, Fudan University , Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
¹⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya , Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁶ School of Social Science, University of Queensland , Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁷ Griffith Sciences, Griffith University , Brisbane, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38981530
PMCID: PMC11335020
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2747

Abstract

The histories of African crops remain poorly understood despite their contemporary importance. Integration of crops from western, eastern and northern Africa probably first occurred in the Great Lakes Region of eastern Africa; however, little is known about when and how these agricultural systems coalesced. This article presents archaeobotanical analyses from an approximately 9000-year archaeological sequence at Kakapel Rockshelter in western Kenya, comprising the largest and most extensively dated archaeobotanical record from the interior of equatorial eastern Africa. Direct radiocarbon dates on carbonized seeds document the presence of the West African crop cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) approximately 2300 years ago, synchronic with the earliest date for domesticated cattle (Bos taurus). Peas (Pisum sativum L. or Pisum abyssinicum A. Braun) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) from the northeast and eastern African finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) are incorporated later, by at least 1000 years ago. Combined with ancient DNA evidence from Kakapel and the surrounding region, these data support a scenario in which the use of diverse domesticated species in eastern Africa changed over time rather than arriving and being maintained as a single package. Findings highlight the importance of local heterogeneity in shaping the spread of food production in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: East Africa; Eleusine coracana; Sorghum bicolor; Vigna unguiculata; agriculture; archaeology.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

Location of Kakapel Rockshelter relative to hypothesized routes for initial spread of West African crops (WAC) and Northeastern African Crops (NEAC) and other sites in the region with early evidence for domesticated plants and/or referenced in text — **Figure 1.**
Location of Kakapel Rockshelter relative to hypothesized routes for initial spread of western African crops (WAC) and northeastern African crops (NEAC) and other sites in the region with early evidence for domesticated plants and/or referenced in text; (1) Nguri Cave; (2) Musanze; (3) Karama; (4) Kabusanze; (5) Usenge 3; (6) Wadh Lang’o; (7) Gogo Falls; (8) Deloraine Farm; (9) Panga ya Saidi; (10) Mgombani; (11) Fukuchani; (12) Unguja Ukuu and(13) Kuumbi Cave.

(V. unguiculata [L.] Walp.) specimens recovered from an Urewe-period hearth dated to phase II. — **Figure 2.**
(*V. unguiculata* (L.) Walp.) specimens recovered from an Urewe-period hearth dated to phase II. Left: ventral (top) and lateral (bottom) views of a complete specimen; right: interior (top) and exterior (bottom) views of a single cotyledon.

P. sativum L. or P. abyssinicum A. Braun specimen recovered from phase II hearth. — **Figure 3.**
*P. sativum* L. or *P. abyssinicum* A. Braun specimen recovered from phase II hearth. Left: lateral view and right: ventral view.

Examples of (a) S. bicolor [L.] Moench; (b) domesticated finger millet (E. coracana (L.) Gaertn.) — **Figure 4.**
Examples of (a) sorghum (*S. bicolor* (L.) Moench), (b) domesticated finger millet (*E. coracana* (L.) Gaertn.) and (c) wild finger millet (*E. coracana* ssp. *africana* [Kenn.-O'Byrne] Hilu & de Wet) from phase III samples at Kakapel Rockshelter.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Early agriculture and crop transitions at Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria region of eastern Africa

Affiliations

Early agriculture and crop transitions at Kakapel Rockshelter in the Lake Victoria region of eastern Africa

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources