Elizabeth Kyazike

This is a comparative study of prehistoric cultural connections in the Upper Nile catchment from 5000-1500 Before Present. The study examines cultural similarities and differences as reflected by material culture, historical records, oral history, architecture, and social organization of the people. Since humans are directly responsible for the dissemination of culture, these products provide insight into cultural change. The study draws on pottery decoration and form, lithic artifact types, and raw materials and faunal remains, as well as theories of how migration and diffusion explain the formation and development of culture, to to understand the thinking of Upper Nile residents. Bearing in mind the limitation of the down the line trade model of considering one variable that is distance, other variables like physical geography are explored in examining cultural interactions.

The coexistence and overlap of Kansyore (LSA) and Urewe pottery (IA) in time and space has been reported at several East African sites and at Kansyore Island in particular. However, why and how this occurred is not clear due to the assumption of accidental mixture. The proposed project aims at examining the cultural characteristics of the LSA/IA interaction at Kansyore Island. The objectives of the project will be examining the cultural behavior of the Later Stone Age and Iron Age people and date the site. In so doing the research will examine models of hunter-gatherer and food production interaction, settlement and mobility patterns that characterized the LSA/IA transition period. This will entail focus on mainly pottery decoration and associated artefacts such as lithics (stone artifacts) and faunal remains (bone and shells). The project will utilize archaeological survey and excavation supplemented by written literature and ethnographic inquiries.