Misplaced Pages

#796203

22-644: Gogo Falls is located in the Lake Victoria Basin in Kenya. Gogo Falls is located on the Kanyamkago Hillside near the modern dam on the West bank of Gucha River (also known as Kuja River). The Kanyamkago Hills were formed out of Pre-Cambrian rocks. The modern dam is fairly close to Gogo Falls but it did not form any of the falls in the area; the falls were all formed naturally. The falls were

44-679: A distinct pattern of land use, hunting and pastoralism that appeared and developed on the western plains of Kenya , East Africa during the Pastoral Neolithic c.3300-1200 BP. It was named by archaeologist Louis Leakey after Lake Elmenteita (also Elementaita ), a soda lake located in the Great Rift Valley , about 120 km (75 mi) northwest of Nairobi . The Elmenteitan was first described by Louis Leakey from excavations at Gamble's Cave (the type site) in 1931 and Njoro River Cave in 1938. Leakey had noticed

66-681: A good place to collect fish because they offered easy access to those who resided in the area. The first archaeologist to work in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya was Archdeacon W.E. Owen, he later enlisted the help of Louis Leakey . After their work, there were a few caves that were excavated but they did not present any important artifacts. That was the extent of the work done in the Lake Victoria Basin until 1980 when Peter Robertshaw started his work in Gogo Falls. Robertshaw and David Collett visited Gogo Falls in 1981, they found that some of

88-529: A grid that resulted in 52 squares, each measured 5m x 5m. There were two plots that produced the most finds and they were identified as Area A. After those plots provided so many finds they excavated more squares in that area which were labeled 1 through 30. The excavations of these squares were different than Robertshaw’s excavations because the topsoil was not removed by shovels, but instead separated into 10 cm spits. Different types of dating were used at Gogo Falls. Archaeologists sent small charcoal samples to

110-791: A high percentage of long symmetrical two-edged obsidian blades which were used unmodified and also served as blanks for a great variety of smaller microlithic tools. Typical Elmenteitan artifact assemblages also include ceramic bowls and shallow stone vessels. Ceramic vessels are mainly undecorated. Several rare, but very distinctive ornamental designs such as irregular punctuation and rim millings have also been found. Occasionally small bowls with out-turned rims, handles with holes or horizontal lugs have been discovered as well. Domestic cattle and small stock were raised and herded in combination with hunting, fishing and foraging. Patterns and degree of subsistence economy varied greatly depending on location and local and temporal climate. Regular cremation of

132-555: A locally distinct cluster of the lithic industry and a universal pottery tradition in a restricted area on the plains west of the central Great Rift Valley and at the Mau Escarpment . Elmenteitan sites are found between the central Rift Valley and the western Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya. The occupants of all these sites used obsidian sourced from Mount Eburu . They left behind distinctive lithic and ceramic traditions and practiced primarily cremation burial. This contrasts with

154-409: Is known that there were large numbers of domestic animals and wild animals at the site, this proves that there was no tsetse flies in the area. If there were tsetse flies, then there would not have been evidence of herding in Gogo Falls. The stable isotopes also prove that the area had been covered in grasses for the last 2000 years due to the increase of rainfall in the later Holocene, the environment

176-508: The University of Oxford to be radiocarbon dated . However, the samples of charcoal found were less than 30g, which meant the dates were only average dates because the samples were smaller than what was needed to obtain an exact date. The samples were not able to give exact dates because they could have come from the levels above or below the level that was being dated. Even though the samples had minor problems for obtaining dates, they were

198-561: The Gogo Falls dam was completed in 1956 with a hydropower capacity of 2MW, connected to the Kenyan national grid. The dam is operated by Kenya Electricity Generating Company (Kengen). In 2014, Kenyan government announced an upgrade to the dam, to increase capacity to 12MW, regulate flow to prevent flooding, and allow irrigation of approximately 25,000ha. As of February 2016, the Orango irrigation intake and canals have been built downstream of

220-645: The best option for dates in those levels. However, there were items that were dated using this method that did support the understanding of the site. The dates found did not always match the stratigraphy but the dates themselves were not statistically different. The other technique used to date items in Gogo Falls was obsidian hydration . For the excavations in 1983, J.W. Michele performed the obsidian hydration dating at MOHLAB. There were also problems with this kind of dating because rates of hydration are not always constant enough to date correctly. The date of an item could change based on how much sunlight that it receives and

242-399: The chemical composition that is in its environment. Some dates of samples that were found did not match because there was a 1500-year gap between the two and some of the other dates were older than the ones that were found in deeper layers. However, there were other dates that showed stratigraphic consistency because there were layers in the trenches that showed the deeper levels were older than

SECTION 10

#1732783932797

264-411: The contemporaneous SPN pastoral tradition whose sites are found across a wider part of Kenya and Tanzania. Occupants of these sites used a variety of obsidian sources, had greater diversity in material culture, and mainly buried their dead in cairns. These findings suggest that the heterogeneous SPN category likely encompasses multiple groups. At Elmenteitan sites, lithic assemblages are distinguished by

286-487: The dam for the use of Okenge and Owiro farmers in Migori County , but construction of distributary channels have been delayed. The Gogo Falls archaeological site is located near the dam. Elmenteitan Modern ethnicities Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers The Elmenteitan culture was a prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition with

308-538: The dead took place in caves (e.g. Egerton Cave, Keringet Caves). Njoro River Cave , first excavated in 1938 by Mary Leakey , served as a mass-burial site. Associated finds include beads, blades, stone bowls, palettes and pottery vessels. Instances of dental avulsion in some individuals from Elmenteitan burial sites has led to associations with the early spread of Southern Nilotic speaking groups into south-western Kenya. The exact direction from which they entered southern Kenya remains unclear. Recent genetic analysis of

330-472: The excavations found more stone artifacts that had been found earlier but they also found arrowheads. In 1983, there were some bone artifacts found, including one possible harpoon , which would make it the first in the Lake Victoria Basin. The faunal remains include mammalian fauna which were bones and teeth from cattle, fish bones which were believed to be the first associated with Elementeitan pottery, shellfish and botanical remains. Based on evidence, Gogo Falls

352-489: The ground had been disturbed due to work on the local dam. From the visible disturbance they found the ground had archaeological evidence that should be further examined. The items found were ash midden that included Oltome pottery ( Kansyore pottery), faunal remains and stone artifacts. There were cattle teeth found in the area but through further research it appeared that the cattle and the pottery were not related. Robertshaw returned to Gogo Falls in 1983 to further excavate

374-852: The heart of Gucha District running west through Migori country where it is joins the Migori River and flows as the Kuja-Migori River into Lake Victoria . As it runs across the Gusii Land part of it becomes the Mogonga River , known for its deadly effects when it floods. Mogonga and Gucha are almost equal in size and they meet just 1 mile before flowing through the Ogembo Town center. The Gucha-Migori river changed its course near its mouth in 2001–2002, moving north to its present location. About 45 km from Migori ,

396-540: The ones above it. The dates that were attained from the excavations date to about 2000 BP and range between the years of 1510-990 BC and AD 4 and AD 410. There were many different items excavated at Gogo Falls, found were ash midden, Akira pottery, Kansyore pottery , Elementeitan pottery, Urewe pottery, iron artifacts, regular shells beads , ostrich eggshell beads , faunal remains, stone artifacts and charcoal. The stone Artifacts include obsidian, quartz, small microliths and modified blades of different sizes. In 1989,

418-409: The remainder of the excavations. The deposit was then separated in 10 cm deep units which were then identified by both a number and letter. After the deposit was separated into units, it was then dry-sieved using a sieve with 5 mm mesh. The 1989 excavations of this area were conducted by Karega-Munene. The excavation decided to focus on the area that was adjacent to the river. They established

440-414: The site with new trenches located in different areas of the falls. In 1989, Karega-Munene excavated Gogo Falls on a larger scale using similar excavations techniques to Robertshaw’s in 1983. In 1983, Robertshaw dug five trenches of varying sizes about 2m x 2m. The strategy for excavation of the five trenches included the removal of topsoil with picks and shovels. Once below the topsoil, trowels were used for

462-472: Was a site for herding cattle, sheep and goats. People at Gogo Falls also hunted; bones of zebra, warthog, bush pig, and oribi were found at the site. Finds were spread throughout the different areas that were excavated but all of the areas were consistent with the others. Gogo Falls helps archaeologists today because based on recent studies of stable isotopes of animal teeth, a path has been found that would have allowed people to travel to South Africa. Since it

SECTION 20

#1732783932797

484-580: Was ideal to have supported domestic animals. This evidence helps prove that there could have been a movement of people from eastern Africa to southern Africa, because the main source of food for people were animals and they would have had to travel through areas that animals could survive. Gucha River Gucha River , referred to as the River Kuja by Luo community originates in the highlands of Kiabonyoru in Nyamira County passing through

#796203