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Cushitic and Nilotic Prehistory: New Archaeological Evidence from North-West Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

B. M. Lynch  and
L. H. Robbins
B. M. Lynch
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University
L. H. Robbins
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Extract

Recent archaeological research conducted west of Lake Turkana, Kenya has shed new light on the prehistory of eastern Cushitic and Nilotic speakers in East Africa. The Namoratunga cemetery and rock art sites, dated to about 300 B.C., are clearly related to the prehistory of Eastern Cushitic speakers. The newly defined Turkwell cultural tradition, dated to the first millennium a.d., is associated with eastern Nilotic prehistory. Lopoy, a large lakeside fishing and pastoralist settlement, is discussed in terms of eastern Nilotic prehistory. The archaeological data agrees with the independent findings of historical linguistics.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , July 1979 , pp. 319 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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7 Research was funded by the National Science Foundation. We thank the government of Kenya for granting permission to do this research. We are grateful to R. E. F. Leakey, J. C. Onyango-Abuje, D. Phillipson and N. Chittick for facilitating our fieldwork. In addition we thank P. Uland and J. N. Ochieng for their drawings.

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