ABSTRACT
The explanation of the origins of agriculture, and by extension the origins of animal domestication, is rightfully regarded as one of the ‘Big Questions of Archaeology’ (Binford 1983a, p. 26 and see Clutton-Brock 1989a; Harris & Hillman 1989; Clutton-Brock, Ch. 4, this volume; Harlan, Ch. 3, this volume). Since east Africa 1 boasts no wild progenitors of either domestic animals or agricultural crops, with the possible exception of finger millet (Eleusine coracana) in northern Uganda, the relevant questions in this context are, first, by what process were domesticates introduced into the region; second, how did the earliest food producers adapt to east African environments and, third, how did these adaptations evolve into those encountered by early European travellers and ethnographers in the last hundred years? East Africa is renowned for its pastoral peoples, who spurn both agriculture and hunting-and-gathering; therefore, the explanation of the evolution of this pastoral adaptation and its socio-cultural framework is an important goal of both archaeological and historical research, which I have attempted to address in other publications (Robertshaw 1982; Robertshaw & Collett 1983). In this chapter I focus upon the adaptations of early food-producing peoples in east Africa, confining myself to an outline of the evidence from southwestern Kenya, where I have been engaged in field research for several years. However, to locate this work within the broader canvas, I shall first outline current thought on the first question — the process by which domesticates were introduced to east Africa.
