Carbondale 15 . Delayed - Return Hunter - Gatherers in Africa ? Historic Perspectives

The material characteristics and past distribution of delayed­ return hunter-gatherers in Africa are investigated through ethnoarchae­ ological research among the Okiek and an archaeological study of the Kansyore. We recognize groups with delays in return but without hier­ archy as moderate delayed-return hlmter-gatherers. The Ownership Model, developed here, allows identification of such groups through in­ dicators of ownership: repeated use of sites, large quantities of ceramics, as well as specialized tools, and a rich and predictable resource base. The presence of such positive indicators must be combined with the absence of lines of evidence for complex delayed-rehlrn hunter-gatherers: large sites, permanent structures, and elaborate material cui hIre or exotic items. We conclude that the Kansyore were moderate delayed-return hunter-gatherers and that there were probably forms of delayed-return hunter-gatherers in a number of contexts in Africa during the Holocene. Their identification will assist consideration of the effect of factors such as latihlde on the development of delayed-rehlrn hunter-gatherer sys­ tems worldwide. There has been considerable discussion about the nature of, and under!ying reasons for, sociocultural variation among contemporary hun ter­ gatherers (Bernard and Woodburn 1988; Binford 2001; Kelly 1995; Renouf 1991; Sahlins 1972; Testart 1982; Woodburn 1982, 1988). Most scholars recog­ nize a broad distinction between hunter-gatherers with elaborate social sys­ tems and those who appear more egalitarian, but the ways in which those distinctions have been conceived vary. Terms used range from foragers and collectors (Binford 1980), storing and nonstoring (Testart 1982), generalized and Hunters and Gatherers in Theory and Archaeology, edited by George M. Crothers. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Occasional Paper No. 31. © 2004 by the TIoard of Trustees, Southern Illinois University. All rights reserved ISBN 0-88104-087-8.