A contemporary view of hunters and gatherers adaptations, through an under-researched African region
Makarius Itambu
New field research in the Singida region, in Tanzania’s central plateaus, represents an emblematic case to study early human biocultural evolution and raises issues relevant for reflections on archaeological theory. Its emerging significative heritage, with contexts ranging from the Early-Middle Stone Age (ESA-MSA) period to the present time, including more than 50 stratified open-air sites, rock shelters and rock art sites, shows how much modern archaeological research can acquire from an area so far under-researched. It is still possible, in 21st century CE, to change the geographic narrative of archaeology by expanding research horizons and by designing and devising grassroots projects with the local community.
Furthermore, the recent transition of hunting-gathering communities to agropastoral economic strategies, has condensed in the last 50 years a major transformation of human socio-economic, and cultural adaptive behaviors to varied ecological niches.
For our study, we adopt multiple cutting-edge palaeoecological proxies such as phytoliths, stable isotopes, and plant wax biomarkers to complement site and stone tool studies. Our goal is to better understand the historical trends related to ancient mosaic habitats, and the role that climatic and environmental drivers had on shaping human cultural and technological adaptations to the arid environments of Singida during the Pleistocene-Holocene.
The project is framed inside a community-oriented research project, namely the ‘Singida Heritage & Archaeological Research Project’ (SHARP), recognizing archaeology as a practice intertwined with a fabric of social and cultural relations. African scholars generally lack direct funding, and are still unlikely to obtain grants from external funders, therefore we still work with little support or resources. We’re here to demonstrate that we can change not only where archaeology is done in Africa, but also how we’re changing project design, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge mobilization.
Biography
Makarius Itambu earned his PhD degree in Archaeology in 2020 with a specialization in Biological Anthropology. Immediately after his graduation, he returned to teach at the University of Dar Es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania. He teaches Palaeolithic Archaeology, Human Evolution and Stone Age Archaeology, as well as Research Methods courses at the UDSM. Mak Itambu is interested in exploring and underscoring hominin behaviours in relation to food procurement strategies in the past, stone tools manufacture and the synergetic links between hominin-environmental interactions, cognition abilities and subsistence systems. Specifically, he uses phytolith analysis in combination with archaeological and plant micro-remains data to reflect the nature and type of environments that were occupied by early humans and the plant environments surrounding their habitats during the Pleistocene-Holocene epochs. Also, he performs microscopic analysis of the soil and sediment for phytoliths, and the laboratory treatment for stable isotopes and granulometric analyses.
Mak is a research affiliate at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology MPG-Jena, Germany. Similarly, he received a Mobility Grant from MPG to be able to routinely travel to Germany to undertake radiocarbon dating (14C) and Stable Isotopes analysis. In 2024, he obtained a MOPGA grant from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs-hosted by the CEREGE & CNRS-France (Research stay in France for 12 months). He is currently, relocated to France to learn and practice the newly emerging lab analytics and equipment for archaeomagnetism, (triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths 170), XRD & laser granulometry at the Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de L'environnement), Aix- en Provence et Aix Marseille Université, France. Additionally, he recently received a 1-year research grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation for his research project entitled: ‘Community Engagement in Safeguarding the Rock Arts of Singida Region, Tanzania’ in order to undertake a community engagement-oriented project to salvage the endangered rock art sites of the Singida region.