-
3. Archaeological Implications of Hadzabe Forager Land Use in the Eyasi Basin, Tanzania
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
3 Archaeological Implications of Hadzabe Forager Land Use in the Eyasi Basin, Tanzania Audax Mabulla This chapter examines site and land-use patterns of Hadzabe hunter-gatherers in Northern Tanzania. It emphasizes seasonality, resources, and social processes as the major determinants of Hadzabe individual and group mobility.It offers a unique examination of rock shelter use ethnoarchaeology , including factors affecting rock shelter choice, times of occupation , group size, activities carried out, and discard patterns.The final section of this chapter makes a call to save the Hadzabe way of life and offers some directions for doing so. Archaeological research has changed substantially since 1980. Ethnographic studies of forager land use, especially those that pertain to activities conducted away from perennial habitations (Binford 1980; Hitchcock 1982;Yellen 1977), have stimulated archaeologists to explore the interpretive potential of the full range of archaeological remains, including surface and low density artifact scatter. Contemporary forager land use was an important element of archaeological investigation in the 1990s (Gamble and Boismier 1991). The study of contemporary forager land use provides a fruitful approach to understanding prehistoric landscape use and archaeological spatial patterning . An examination of Hadzabe land-use foraging patterns in the Eyasi Basin of northern Tanzania affords a better understanding of prehistoric forager adaptive strategies (Fig. 3.1). The major concern in studying Hadzabe foragers was to understand spatial use of the landscape and its resources in order to apply this understanding to archaeological patterning across space. We shall consider several influences on Hadzabe mobility patterns, with the goal of using the Hadzabe pattern as a model for Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) foragers in the Eyasi Basin. Hadzabe land-use patterns and their relationship to the archaeological record of the Eyasi Basin have not received sufficient attention. Ethnoarchaeology in the Eyasi Basin can be useful in evaluating the behavioral and spatial aspects of the archaeological record. Hadzabe Forager Society The foragers known today as the Hadzabe (had-za-bay) are referred to in the literature as “Tindiga,” “Kangeju,” “Kindiga,” “Hadzapi,” or “Hadza.” The name Hadza is relatively recent in anthropological literature and is the shortest form of the name Hadzabe.Their language is“Hadzane.”According to our informants, the names Tindiga, Kindiga, and Kangeju are nicknames derived from Bantu languages in the region and refer to Bantu tribesmen who fled East African Archaeology: Foragers, Potters, Smiths, and Traders 34 Musoma Mwanza Seronera L. Ndutu L. Masek Olduvai Gorge L. Eyasi Mbulu L. Manyara Arusha Mt. Kilimanjaro Serengeti National Park L. Natron Ngorongoro Crater KENYA TANZANIA Research Area Karatu Mto wa mbu L. Victoria Ukara Ukerewe 0 100 km N Fig. 3.1 Northern Tanzania, showing the Eyasi Basin. [34.229.223.223] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 08:51 GMT) colonial aggression and taxes to live with the Hadzabe in the bush.Through time,the nameTindiga has been used to refer to all people living in the bush and dependent on hunting and gathering.To the Hadzabe, their other names are derogatory and denote people who escaped village work and ran into forests due to laziness (see also Ndagala 1988).Nevertheless,food producers who live among the Hadzabe still refer to them as “Tindiga.” Although Hadzabe have long been in contact with other ethnic and cultural groups in the basin through trade, government settlement schemes, intermarriage, and labor, they still maintain a distinct ethnic and cultural identity. As far as language,political and social structures,customs,and economy are concerned, they still have little in common with their neighbors. Nonetheless, due to increasing interaction with their neighbors, some aspects of Hadzabe lifeways and cultural identity are changing as Hadzabe become more and more exposed to other worldviews. The Hadzabe’s nomadic lifestyle in a vast landscape, the fluid nature of their camps, and their habit of changing names has made population estimates difficult to obtain (Blurton-Jones et al. 1992). Early estimates put the Hadzabe at 400 or so individuals (Woodburn 1972). Recent demographic studies estimate the Hadzabe population to be about 600–800 (BlurtonJones et al. 1992; Bunn, Bartram, and Kroll 1988; O’Connell and Hawkes 1988) or between 1,500 and 3,000 individuals (Kaare 1989; PMFPO 1992; Ndagala and Zengu 1989). Traditionally, the Hadzabe are mobile, egalitarian, immediate-return foragers .However,in recent years the government ofTanzania has launched comprehensive development programs to settle them in permanent villages. Government settlement schemes lure the Hadzabe by providing them with free education and health services,beekeeping,and agricultural...