An ethnoarchaeology and stable isotope study on the diets of three modern groups of people in northern Kenya

This thesis is a study over the annual cycle by direct observations and stable isotope analysis of the food consumption of three groups of people with different subsistence strategies. These three groups, the Dassanech, the Gabra and the El-molo live today to the East of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. The ultimate goal is to provide an interpretive framework for investigating the subsistence strategies and diet of people believed to have occupied the region during the last 10,000 years. These three modern groups are not direct analogues for the Holocene peoples but do have diets similar to those proposed in the region by Barthelme (1985). However, if these peoples' diets are found to be discrete, then it may be possible to identify similar subsistence strategies in the region's Holocene record.; I conducted daily observations and interviews of the peoples' dietary behavior while at the same time I documented the food remains that are discarded in food refuse pits through the peoples' food processing and consumption activities. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to determine the food types consumed were carried out using the peoples' hair, the bone and the teeth from the animals consumed by the people, and also the plants eaten by these animals. Daily weather observations were also recorded to chart seasonal climatic changes in the region.; The results reported in this thesis clearly indicate that the three groups of people have different dietary behavior although they live in the same region. The ultimate variation in their diet is clearly shown by the delta 13C and the delta15N isotopic compositions reported from the stable isotope analysis of hair samples. Moreover, an ethnoarchaeological study and the analyses of food refuse pits among these people show a difference in resource utilization as well as food availability within these three groups of people. Seasonal climate does not seem to affect the dietary behavior of these people. Indeed, therefore, this research has established an isotopic context with which to interpret the dietary behavior and subsistence strategy of the Holocene people living at Koobi Fora using archaeological material.