Early Stone Age of Central Tanzania
Abstract
Unlike the north-eastern and coastal areas of Tanzania where extensive archaeological researches have been undertaken, the central region of Tanzania, including Kondoa and Singida, has been superficially examined. The earliest archaeological works in Central Tanzania concentrated on documentation of rock art, the Later Stone Age and Iron Age. In contrast, the current research was carried out to investigate the Early Stone Age cultures precisely the Acheulean culture at Haubi. The research focused on describing typology, raw materials and stratigraphic distribution of the Acheulean artifacts from the Iresi A site as an approach to the understanding of pre-Later Stone Age and Iron Age cultures of Central Tanzania. A combination of survey and extraction was employed to recover the Early Stone Age assemblages. Deliberate sampling was used to identify and locate the Early Stone Age surface exposures. Recovered materials included the exclusive Acheulean stone artifacts which were found both in primary and secondary contexts. Data analysis suggested that Iresi A is an Early Stone Age site of Acheulean type. These findings make Haubi one of the important Early Stone Age sites and sheds light on the archaeological potential of Central Tanzania, and Kondoa in particular. It is upon these research findings that the researcher urges for further Early Stone Age studies in Central Tanzania. Also diverse archaeological investigation should be directed towards less considered parts of the country to disclose their archaeological potentials.
Key words: Central Tanzania, Haubi, Acheulean artifacts, stratigraphy, Stone Age, quartzite
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