Browsing by Author "Kyazike, Elizabeth"

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The archaeology of kakoro and komuge rock art sites in eastern Uganda
(Studies in the African Past, 2023) Nyiracyiza, Jackline; Kyazike, Elizabeth
This paper presents the archaeology of Eastern Uganda's Komuge and Kakoro rock art sites. The paper is set out to examine the relationships between the archaeological assemblage and rock art with reference to chronology and authorship. Methodologically, the research employed systematic and unsystematic surveys to identify sites for excavations to aid in identifying archaeological materials associated with rock art. The study results demonstrate a clear cultural sequence spanning from the Later Stone Age (LSA) to the Later Iron Age (LIA) evidenced by the presence of lithic, faunal remains, pottery and rock art dating to 1,675BP. The archaeological remains at both sites indicate that the LSA communities that depended on wild and domesticated animals authored the rock art. Continuity in the settlement is marked by the presence of all types of classic Early Iron Age, Transitional Urewe, Middle Iron Age and Later Iron Age (IA) roulette ware superimposed on LSA lithics. Remarkably, the similarity of designs in rock art and ceramics indicates the continuity of inherited traits.
Characterising the archaeological assemblage of Kaiso Village in the Ugandan Albertine Rift
(SpringerLink, 2022-12) Mirembe, Fatumah; Kyazike, Elizabeth
This paper presents results from archaeological surveys and excavations conducted in 2012 around Kaiso Village located within the Albertine Graben part of the Western arm of the Great East African Rift Valley. This area has received limited attention compared to other parts of Uganda. The findings demonstrate that Kaiso contains a previously unexplored archaeological record ranging from the Later Stone Age to the Late Iron Age which is important for addressing broader regional questions and the site's archaeological potential. Kaiso Village’s archaeological assemblage comprises lithic, pottery and faunal remains. The lithic artefacts that dominate the archaeological assemblage broadly include shaped tools, cores and angular fragments. The dominant tools are both end and side scrapers and points. Other lithic materials include flakes and core scrapers, denticulates, burins and core axes identified from these specific attributes interrogated such as lithic typology, technology and raw material types. Analysed materials from the survey and test excavations, suggest the utilisation of a wide range of raw materials such as quartzite, quartz, basalt and chert. This research presents a hitherto unknown area archaeologically despite the lack of absolute dates. The scattered evidence of archaeological materials such as Levallois reduction strategy and points cannot warrant branding the Kaiso assemblage as Middle Stone Age due to the shallow stratigraphy of the excavation units and lack of absolute dating. Instead, the Kaiso assemblage suggests that the site had different periods of cultural occupation, some of which were temporary settlements depicted from the shallow stratigraphy. However, severe erosion evident from the gullies that transverse the landscape and animal grazing due to the large numbers of cattle that were roaming the village and, in most cases, unattended could also explain the shallow stratigraphy as a result of disturbance, while the enormous amounts of lithic debitage in the archaeological assemblage suggest extensive stone tool manufacture at Kaiso.
Charting a landmark-driven path forward for population genetics and ancient DNA research in Africa
(The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2024-07-11) Kyazike, Elizabeth; Sawchuk, Elizabeth A.; Sirak, Kendra A.; Manthi, Fredrick K.; Ndiema, Emmanuel K.
Population history-focused DNA and ancient DNA (aDNA) research in Africa has dramatically increased in the past decade, enabling increasingly fine-scale investigations into the continent’s past. However, while international interest in human genomics research in Africa grows, major structural barriers limit the ability of African scholars to lead and engage in such research and impede local communities from partnering with researchers and benefitting from research outcomes. Because conversations about research on African people and their past are often held outside Africa and exclude African voices, an important step for African DNA and aDNA research is moving these conversations to the continent. In May 2023 we held the DNAirobi workshop in Nairobi, Kenya and here we synthesize what emerged most prominently in our discussions. We propose an ideal vision for population history-focused DNA and aDNA research in Africa in ten years’ time and acknowledge that to realize this future, we need to chart a path connecting a series of ‘‘landmarks’’ that represent points of consensus in our discussions. These include effective communication across multiple audiences, reframed relationships and capacity building, and action toward structural changes that support science and beyond. We concluded there is no single path to creating an equitable and self-sustaining research ecosystem, but rather many possible routes linking these landmarks. Here we share our diverse perspectives as geneticists, anthropologists, archaeologists, museum curators, and educators to articulate challenges and opportunities for African DNA and aDNA research and share an initial map toward a more inclusive and equitable future.
Democratisation Processes Amidst Cultural Diversity in Uganda
(Springer International Publishing, 2022-11) Kyazike, Elizabeth; Kanyamurwa, John Mary; Babalanda, Stanley
Uganda attained independence on the 9th of October 1962 with a diverse cultural spectrum. Yet current analyses hardly interrogate the role of culture in the country’s democratisation processes. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the linkages between cultural diversity and democratisation processes in a heterogeneous society. While this is not a fundamentally unique discourse, the case of Uganda is quite interesting and warrants investigation. Using the cultural theory of democracy, the chapter investigates the various forms of cultural diversity that shape Uganda’s democratic processes, the strategies used to harness democratic aspirations amidst diversity and the implications of the strategies on Uganda’s democratisation drive. To achieve these objectives, an explorative design is utilised. This entails the use of the qualitative approach and techniques for data collection, specifically focusing on documentary review methods. A thematic analysis is utilised to examine the democratisation contradictions within existing debates in the context of culture-based analytics and the cultural framework. The findings of this chapter reveal the cultural diversities that have shaped Uganda’s democratic practices, democratic harnessing strategies and how these aspects have affected the democratisation processes of Uganda. This partly explains why Uganda has one of the biggest parliaments and cabinet despite its size and population. The chapter recommends profound analysis of cultural considerations to guide decision-makers on the direction and pace for democratisation reforms as guided by the nexus between democracy and culture.
Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present
(Elsevier: Earth-Science Reviews., 2018-03) Marchant, Rob; Richer, Suzi; Boles, Oliver; Capitan, Claudia; Courtney-Mustaphi, Colin J.; Lane, Paul; Prendergast, Mary E.; Stump, Daryl; De Cort, Gijs; Kaplan, Jed O.; Phelps, Leanne; Kay, Andrea; Olago, Dan; Petek, Nik; Platts, Philip J.; Widgren, Mats; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Ferro-Vázquez, Cruz; Benard, Jacquiline; Boivin, Nicole; Crowther, Alison; Cuní-Sanchez, Aida; Deere, Nicolas J.; Ekblom, Anneli; Farmer, Jennifer; Finch, Jemma; Fuller, Dorian; Gaillard-Lemdahl, Marie-José; Gillson, Lindsey; Githumbi, Esther; Kabora, Tabitha; Kariuki, Rebecca; Kinyanjui, Rahab; Kyazike, Elizabeth; Lang, Carol; Lejju, Julius; Kathleen, D. Morrison; Muiruri, Veronica; Mumbi, Cassian; Muthoni, Rebecca; Muzuka, Alfred; Ndiema, Emmanuel; Nzabandora, ChantalKabonyi; Onjala, Isaya; PasSchrijver, Annemiek; Rucina, Stephen; Shoemaker, Anna; Thornton-Barnett, Senna; Plas, Geertvan der; Watson, Elizabeth E.; Williamson, David; Wright, David
East African landscapes today are the result of the cumulative effects of climate and land-use change over millennial timescales. In this review, we compile archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from East Africa to document land-cover change, and environmental, subsistence and land-use transitions, over the past 6000 years. Throughout East Africa there have been a series of relatively rapid and high-magnitude environmental shifts characterised by changing hydrological budgets during the mid- to late Holocene. For example, pronounced environmental shifts that manifested as a marked change in the rainfall amount or seasonality and subsequent hydrological budget throughout East Africa occurred around 4000, 800 and 300 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). The past 6000 years have also seen numerous shifts in human interactions with East African ecologies. From the mid-Holocene, land use has both diversified and increased exponentially, this has been associated with the arrival of new subsistence systems, crops, migrants and technologies, all giving rise to a sequence of significant phases of land-cover change. The first large-scale human influences began to occur around 4000 yr BP, associated with the introduction of domesticated livestock and the expansion of pastoral communities. The first widespread and intensive forest clearances were associated with the arrival of iron-using early farming communities around 2500 yr BP, particularly in productive and easily-cleared mid-altitudinal areas. Extensive and pervasive land-cover change has been associated with population growth, immigration and movement of people. The expansion of trading routes between the interior and the coast, starting around 1300 years ago and intensifying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE, was one such process. These caravan routes possibly acted as conduits for spreading New World crops such as maize (Zea mays), tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), although the processes and timings of their introductions remains poorly documented. The introduction of southeast Asian domesticates, especially banana (Musa spp.), rice (Oryza spp.), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and chicken (Gallus gallus), via transoceanic biological transfers around and across the Indian Ocean, from at least around 1300 yr BP, and potentially significantly earlier, also had profound social and ecological consequences across parts of the region. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of information and metadatasets, we explore the different drivers and directions of changes in land-cover, and the associated environmental histories and interactions with various cultures, technologies, and subsistence strategies through time and across space in East Africa. This review suggests topics for targeted future research that focus on areas and/or time periods where our understanding of the interactions between people, the environment and land-cover change are most contentious and/or poorly resolved. The review also offers a perspective on how knowledge of regional land-use change can be used to inform and provide perspectives on contemporary issues such as climate and ecosystem change models, conservation strategies, and the achievement of nature-based solutions for development purposes.
Exploring the preference for indigenous medicinal plant medicine in Buliisa District, Western Uganda
(Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: AJOL, 2021-08-11) Kyazike, Elizabeth
This paper explores the preference for indigenous medicinal plant medicine in Buliisa district, situated in the Albertine Graben. Despite attempts to improve access to conventional health services, there seems to be a preference for alternative medicine from medicinal plants. The specific objectives included examining the forms of indigenous herbal medicine, how they are administered and passed on from generation to generation, preservation challenges and mitigation measures. The study utilises a multidisciplinary approach by using archaeological transect walks, oral interviews with 50 herbalists, observation of the administration of herbal medicine, focus group discussions, and documentary review to collect data. Four hundred and seventy-seven medicinal plant sites were marked using a hand-held Global Positioning System at 80 locations. The results revealed that all plant parts are used for treatment as either independent parts or combined and often with other plant types. The most commonly used medicinal plant parts are the leaves. Buliisa medicinal plants cure various diseases, but the most common ones are sterility, sexually transmitted infections, high blood pressure, back pain, eye diseases, external body injuries, poisoning, and nose bleeding. In addition, treatment for aspects such as luck and spiritually related ailments are also handled. Though the harvesting poses a key conservation challenge, the secrecy embedded in the transmission of indigenous knowledge, education, Christianity and oil exploration is each equally a threat. The study recommends that since most herbal medicines have no overdose, there is a need to undertake more research to document the dosage and side-effects of using medicinal plants and compile a red list of the endangered species. The study has implications for the knowledge and development of herbal indigenous medicinal plants.
Kibiro Indigenous Salt Making Technology and Uganda’s Economic War, 1972-1979
(African Journal of History and Geography, 2024-12-02) Ssematimba, Juliet; Kyazike, Elizabeth; Khanakwa, Pamela
This paper examines the continuities and changes that characterised traditional salt-making technology at Kibiro during the 1972 economic war in Uganda and the influence of these technologies on the volume, quality, and benefits of mined salt. While Kibiro’s salt-making was not new in historical discourse, attention had largely been on its archaeology rather than its history. Using a historical qualitative approach, data was collected through oral interviews through purposeful snowballing, documentary review, and observations. The data were analysed using documentary analysis and narrative techniques. Results show the dynamics in the traditional salt making technology that provided a basis for appreciating how national changes can lead to unintended changes and benefits to the local communities without necessarily changing the production technology. The traditional salt-making technology exclusively done by women reveals the power of a woman salt miner to survive and support her household in an agriculturally barren geographical setting with trivial support from men due to cultural beliefs and practices.
Mapping past human land use using archaeological data: A new classification for global land use synthesis and data harmonization
(PLOS ONE, 2021-04-14) Morrison, D.Kathleen; Hammer, Emily; Boles, Oliver; Madella, Marco; Whitehouse, Nicola; Gaillard, Marie-Jose; Bates, Jennifer; Linden, Marc Vander; Merlo, Stefania; Yao, Alice; Popova, Laura; Hill, Austin Chad; Antolin, Ferran; Bauer, Andrew; Biagetti, Stefano; Bishop, R. Rosie; Buckland, Phillip; Cruz, Pablo; Dreslerová, Dagmar; Dusseldorp, Gerrit; Ellis, Erle; Filipovic, Dragana; Foster, Thomas; Hannaford, Matthew J.; Harrison, P. Sandy; Hazarika, Manjil; Herold, Hajnalka; Hilpert, Johanna; Kaplan, Jed O.; Kay, Andrea; Goldewijk, Kees Klein; Kolář, Jan; Kyazike, Elizabeth; Laabs, Julian; Lancelotti, Carla; Lane, Paul; Lawrence, Dan; Lewis, Krista; Lombardo, Umberto; Lucarini, Giulio; Arroyo-Kalin, Manuel; Marchant, Rob; Mayle, Francis; McClatchie, Meriel; McLeester, Madeleine; Mooney, Scott; Moskal-del Hoyo, Magdalena; Navarrete, Vanessa; Ndiema, Emmanuel; Góes Neves, Eduardo; Nowak, Marek; Out, Welmoed A.; Petrie, Cameron; Phelps, Leanne N.; Pinke, Zsolt; Rostain, Stéphen; Russell, Thembi; Sluyter, Andrew; Styring, Amy K.; Tamanaha, Eduardo; Thomas, Evert; Veerasamy, Selvakumar; Welton, Lynn; Zanon, Marco
In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.