Ricerc@Sapienza

Lake Turkana, located in the north-western fringe of the Kenyan Rift Valley, is the largest freshwater lake in a desert area and has always played a key role in the cultural dynamics of the region. Although it represents an ideal laboratory for the study of cultural strategies adopted by human groups to cope with Holocene environmental variations, it has been only marginally investigated archaeologically, with an interdisciplinary research program still missing. Our 2019 project, continuing and expanding the activities undertaken in 2016 and 2018, will investigate the cultural dynamics of the region from c. 12,000 to 4000 years ago. The main aims of the project are: 1) to detail the sequence of climatic and environmental changes in the Early-Middle Holocene and to analyse the changes in subsistence strategies; 2) to define the socio-cultural dynamics of the different groups of hunter-gatherer-fishers living on Lake Turkana and their cross-cultural connections; 3) to trace the cultural and symbolic trajectories of early herders, investigating the relationships between rock art, funerary and ceremonial sites, and settlements; 4) to analyse the diversity of the modern populations living around Lake Turkana through a genetic approach; and 5) to favour the bi-directional transfer of knowledge and capacity building. These objectives will be achieved through a landscape approach in a diachronic perspective, and through a multidisciplinary strategy that includes remote sensing studies, fieldwork (surveys and excavations) and laboratory activities on archaeological and biological finds. The main stratigraphic excavation will be carried out by in the Early-Middle Holocene site of Lowasera, a key context for African prehistory. Overall, the activities will be developed by applying cutting-edge technologies in the fields of archaeological research and rock art, environmental studies, petrologic analyses of the artefacts, phenotype of human remains, isotopes and genetic studies.