Local animal economies during the nineteenth century caravan trade along the Lower Pangani, north-eastern Tanzania: a zooarchaeological perspective
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Date
2021-07-08
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Taylor and Francis
Abstract
The expansion of the caravan trade in eastern Africa during the
nineteenth century is considered to have had significant
ecological, economic and social consequences. While available
historical documentary and oral sources provide valuable
evidence concerning the scale, timing and spatial extent of these,
as well as information about some of the key actors and agents,
there remain significant gaps that have the potential to be filled
by targeted archaeological research. This paper presents one such
study, which aims to establish how influential the expansion of
the caravan trade was on local animal economies, with particular
reference to a sample of known caravan halts on the northern
route on the Pangani River, Tanzania. The results of
zooarchaeological analysis of faunal assemblages recovered from
four sites suggest that the impacts may have been less than has
often been argued by some historians. The study also provides
fresh insight on the continuing importance of wild resources,
especially rodents, in local diets in the late nineteenth century
and on local herd management strategies.
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Keywords
Lower Pangani; historical archaeology; caravan trade; zooarchaeology; Tanzania