Urewe
Encyclopedia
The Urewe culture developed and spread in and around the Lake Victoria
region of Africa
during the African Iron Age. The culture's earliest dated artifacts are located in the Kagera Region
of Tanzania
, and it extended as far west as the Kivu
region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
, as far east as the Nyanza
and Western
provinces of Kenya
, and north into Uganda
, Rwanda
and Burundi
. Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC. to the 6th century AD.
Urewe is the name of the site in Kenya brought to prominence through the publication in 1948 of Mary Leakey’s archaeological findings. She describes the early Iron Age period in the Great Lakes region in Central East Africa around Lake Victoria.
The origins of the Urewe culture are ultimately in the Bantu expansion
originating in Cameroon. Research into early Iron Age civilizations in sub-Saharan Africa has been undertaken concurrently with studies on African linguistics on Bantu expansion. The Urewe culture may correspond to the Eastern subfamily of Bantu languages, spoken by the descendants of the first wave of Bantu peoples to settle East Africa.
The ironsmelting furnace associated to these Urewe ceramics comprised a basin filled with fresh green leafy branches and herbs which served as a filter for the slag deposit at the base. Above the basin was a cone-shaped shaft, not unlike a chimney, made by superimposing rolls of damp clay. The decorated furnace, with its fluted patterns on the upper roll and deeply incised criss-cross or s-shaped patterns on the outer surface, may be reminiscent of the rim or neck of the ceramic pottery. Analyses carried out on the ironworking residue have not yet provided data on the efficiency of these furnaces, or whether they were a measure of their technical nature. Iron ore and fuel were readily available. The word “ubutare” meaning “iron” still crops up in many place names. The wooded crown cover was used to produce charcoal. As new wood was always used for this purpose, radiocarbon dating of this material is relatively reliable.
Combined human activities, land clearance, ironworking, cereal growing, etc. led to the deforestation of fringes of the great forest which once covered the North-south backbone as well as the forest corridors along the water sources which caused soil erosion on the slopes. This phenomenon led to the extensive erosion of Kabuye hill near Butare as a result of their occupation of the site for about 500 years.
The hilly region of Rwanda and Burundi was probably a well frequented route from the northern to the southern hemisphere in Africa and would therefore have regularly experienced the relative overcrowding of people fleeing the drought-ridden Sahel regions which impeded soil regeneration. On the contrary, the impact of human activity, combined with consecutive periods of hot, dry climatic conditions have only served to aggravate soil degradation up to modern times.
Since the 7th century, the appearance of simpler, roulette-decorated, ceramic pottery as well as new types of iron furnace, heralded a major change towards the late Iron Age. However, the Urewe civilization did manage to survive in isolated pockets at least up to the 14th century.
Van Grunderbeek M.C. Roche E. et Doutrelepont H., 1983, Le Premier Age du Fer au Rwanda et au Burundi. Archéologie et environnement, Publication de l'Institut national de Recherche scientifique, Butare, Rwanda, nr. 23: VIII + 57 pp.
- Roche E., Van Grunderbeek M.C., 1987, Apports de la palynologie à l'étude du Quaternaire supérieur au Rwanda, in: Palynologie et milieux tropicaux, Montpellier (1-3 octobre 1986), IXe symposium de l'A.P.L.F. Mémoires et travaux E.P.H.E., Institut de Montpellier, 17: 111-127.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C., 1988, Essai d'étude typologique de céramique urewe de la région des collines au Burundi et Rwanda, Azania, XXIII, Nairobi, Kenya: 11-55.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C. et Doutrelepont H., 1989, Etude de charbons de bois provenant des sites métallurgiques de l'Age du Fer Ancien au Rwanda et au Burundi, in: Bois et archéologie, Louvain-la-Neuve (2-3 octobre 1987), PACT nr. 22: 281-295.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C., 1992, Essai de délimitation chronologique de l'Age du Fer Ancien au Burundi, au Rwanda et dans la région des Grands Lacs, Azania, XXVII, Nairobi, Kenya: 53-80.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C., Roche E. et Doutrelepont H. 2002, Type de fourneau de fonte de fer, associé à la culture urewe (Age du fer ancien), au Rwanda et au Burundi, in: Descœudres J.-P., Huysecom E., Serneels V. & Zimmermann J.-L. (eds) The Origins of Iron Metallurgy, Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on the Archaeology of Africa and the Mediterranean Basin, held at The Museum of Natural History in Geneva, 4–7 June, 1999, Mediterranean archaeology Vol. 14, 2001: 271-298.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C. & Roche E. (2008) Multi-Disciplinary Evidence of Mixed Farming during the Early Iron Age in Rwanda and Burundi. (presented at the World Archaeological Congress, Washington 2003) in: T.P. Denham, J. Iriarte, L. Vrydaghs (eds) Rethinking Agriculture. Archaeological en Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives. One World Archaeology 51, Left Coast Press, inc. California: 299-319.
- Craddock P., Freestone I., Middleton A. & Van Grunderbeek M.C. (2007) The Scientific Study of Some Early Iron Age iron Smelting Debris from Rwanda and Burundi, East Africa, Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society. Historical Metallurgy 41(1): 1-14.
- Roche E. & Van Grunderbeek M.C. (2009)Environment degradation resulting from human activities. Essay to further recognition through pollen and charcoal analysis. SAfA-website
http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/safa/emplibrary/VanGrunderbeeketalSafa2008.ppt.pdf
and sorghum
farmers. Their pottery
incorporated such distinctive features as dimples and concentric lines.
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....
region of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
during the African Iron Age. The culture's earliest dated artifacts are located in the Kagera Region
Kagera Region
Kagera Region is located in the northwestern corner of Tanzania. Bukoba, Kagera Region's capital, is a fast growing town situated on the shore of Lake Victoria. Bukoba lies only 1 degree south of the Equator and is Tanzania's second largest port on the lake. The region neighbors Uganda, Rwanda and...
of Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, and it extended as far west as the Kivu
Kivu
Kivu was the name for a large "Region" in the Democratic Republic of Congo under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko that bordered Lake Kivu. It included three "Sub-Regions" : Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Maniema, corresponding to the three current provinces created in 1986...
region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, as far east as the Nyanza
Nyanza Province
Nyanza Province of Kenya, is one of Kenya's eight administrative provinces. It is located in the southwest part of Kenya around Lake Victoria. Nyanza includes part of the eastern edge of Lake Victoria and is inhabited predominantly by the Luo. There are also Bantu-speaking tribes such as the...
and Western
Western Province (Kenya)
The Western Province of Kenya, bordering Uganda, is one of Kenya's seven administrative provinces outside Nairobi. It is west of the Eastern Rift Valley and is inhabited mainly by the Luhya people. Quakerism is widely practised here. Kenya's second highest mountain, Mount Elgon is located in...
provinces of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and north into Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
and Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
. Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC. to the 6th century AD.
Urewe is the name of the site in Kenya brought to prominence through the publication in 1948 of Mary Leakey’s archaeological findings. She describes the early Iron Age period in the Great Lakes region in Central East Africa around Lake Victoria.
Chronology
This civilization emerges in the region during the transition from the second to the first millennium B.C. and seems to have thrived in various sites well into the second millennium A.D. It underwent its greatest period of expansion, allied to an important metalworking activity, from the first to the sixth century A.D. and covered the Kivu region (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to the west up to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in north-west Tanzania and south-west Kenya.The origins of the Urewe culture are ultimately in the Bantu expansion
Bantu expansion
The Bantu expansion or the Bantu Migration was a millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of the original proto-Bantu language group...
originating in Cameroon. Research into early Iron Age civilizations in sub-Saharan Africa has been undertaken concurrently with studies on African linguistics on Bantu expansion. The Urewe culture may correspond to the Eastern subfamily of Bantu languages, spoken by the descendants of the first wave of Bantu peoples to settle East Africa.
Civilization
At first sight, Urewe seems to be a fully developed civilization recognizable through its distinctive, stylish earthenware and highly technical and sophisticated iron working techniques. Given our current level of knowledge, neither seems to have developed or altered for nearly 2000 years. However, minor local variations in the ceramic ware can be observed.The Urewe civilization in Rwanda and Burundi
Urewe ceramics are modest in size, measuring from 30 cm up to a maximum of 36 cm in height. Three distinct shapes have been observed: vases, small vases, both closed s-shaped pieces, open-bowls on which stereotyped patterns have been crafted: and bevelling on the rim, hatching on the neck surface for ease of handling, the body decorated with a ribboned pattern of crafted geometrical designs, and a dimple base finish. The decorative markings are adapted to and emphasize the shape of the vase with its 4 components, often seen on the little vase in simplified form. Conversely, these ‘4 component’ patterns are all stuck on the bowl; regardless of its ‘3 components’ shape. One proposed hypothesis suggests the bowl was developed later than the vase. Support for this comes from the identification, in terms of Bantu linguistics, of a new term first appearing around 1000 B.C. meaning “frying pan” probably serving as a clue to a change in cooking techniques reflecting adaptation to a more sedentary lifestyle when Bantu-speaking people began to settle in the Rwanda and Burundi hills.The ironsmelting furnace associated to these Urewe ceramics comprised a basin filled with fresh green leafy branches and herbs which served as a filter for the slag deposit at the base. Above the basin was a cone-shaped shaft, not unlike a chimney, made by superimposing rolls of damp clay. The decorated furnace, with its fluted patterns on the upper roll and deeply incised criss-cross or s-shaped patterns on the outer surface, may be reminiscent of the rim or neck of the ceramic pottery. Analyses carried out on the ironworking residue have not yet provided data on the efficiency of these furnaces, or whether they were a measure of their technical nature. Iron ore and fuel were readily available. The word “ubutare” meaning “iron” still crops up in many place names. The wooded crown cover was used to produce charcoal. As new wood was always used for this purpose, radiocarbon dating of this material is relatively reliable.
Favorable environments and changes due to climatic variations and human activity
Environmental studies combine the tree species identification of charcoal collected from iron smelting furnaces and open hearths, palynological analyses of high altitude and valley peat bogs as well as in archaeological structures as well as phyto-sociological and geomorphologic data. This has taught us that the settlement period of the Urewe civilization should be seen in the context of a cooling and drying out period in about 1000 BC. Those members of the Urewe civilization who settled in Rwanda and Burundi did so exclusively in the hills region (central plain) in a 1700 and 1300 meters high zone on clay soils on primary substrate which are some of Africa’s richest. The undulating countryside, covered with woodland savannah (tree cover vegetation, sparser on the slopes and denser in valleys and on crests) together provided good living conditions (moderate temperatures and average rainfall, protected from carriers of human and animal disease) encouraged a variety of activities. The Urewe would have lived a relatively sedentary life as farmers, devoting themselves to agriculture (including cereal growing) and small-scale cattle rearing. They do not appear to have supplemented their diet by hunting and fishing as will be the case in these areas in the late Iron Age, and which occurred in the early Iron Age in those more east-lying Urewe civilizations around Lake Victoria, influenced perhaps by contacts with nomadic communities along the east African Rift Valley.Combined human activities, land clearance, ironworking, cereal growing, etc. led to the deforestation of fringes of the great forest which once covered the North-south backbone as well as the forest corridors along the water sources which caused soil erosion on the slopes. This phenomenon led to the extensive erosion of Kabuye hill near Butare as a result of their occupation of the site for about 500 years.
The hilly region of Rwanda and Burundi was probably a well frequented route from the northern to the southern hemisphere in Africa and would therefore have regularly experienced the relative overcrowding of people fleeing the drought-ridden Sahel regions which impeded soil regeneration. On the contrary, the impact of human activity, combined with consecutive periods of hot, dry climatic conditions have only served to aggravate soil degradation up to modern times.
Since the 7th century, the appearance of simpler, roulette-decorated, ceramic pottery as well as new types of iron furnace, heralded a major change towards the late Iron Age. However, the Urewe civilization did manage to survive in isolated pockets at least up to the 14th century.
Archaeologists in the field area
The authors and major institutions linked to research into the Urewe civilization in the Great Lakes region are: Mary Leakey (Owen collection published in 1948), Jean Hiernaux (excavations and publications 1960-70), Merrick Posnansky (excavations and publications 1960-70), D. W. Philipson (Synthesis of the Early Iron Age in Eastern Africa in 1976), the British Institute of Eastern Africa, in Nairobi, under the aegis of J.E.G. Sutton (within the Bantu Studies Project, excavations and publications 1960-70), P. R. Schmidt (excavations and publications 1970-80, synthesis 1997), Marie-Claude Van Grunderbeek, Emile Roche and Hugues Doutrelepont (excavations 1978-87, publications up to the present day). New on-site research is ongoing in the Great Lakes region on the initiative of London University in collaboration with BIEA. (British Institute in Eastern Africa).Some bibliography
- Van Grunderbeek, M.C., Roche, E. et Doutrelepont, H. (1982) L'Age du Fer Ancien au Rwanda et au Burundi. Archéologie et environnement, Journal des Africanistes, 52, pp. 5-58.Van Grunderbeek M.C. Roche E. et Doutrelepont H., 1983, Le Premier Age du Fer au Rwanda et au Burundi. Archéologie et environnement, Publication de l'Institut national de Recherche scientifique, Butare, Rwanda, nr. 23: VIII + 57 pp.
- Roche E., Van Grunderbeek M.C., 1987, Apports de la palynologie à l'étude du Quaternaire supérieur au Rwanda, in: Palynologie et milieux tropicaux, Montpellier (1-3 octobre 1986), IXe symposium de l'A.P.L.F. Mémoires et travaux E.P.H.E., Institut de Montpellier, 17: 111-127.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C., 1988, Essai d'étude typologique de céramique urewe de la région des collines au Burundi et Rwanda, Azania, XXIII, Nairobi, Kenya: 11-55.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C. et Doutrelepont H., 1989, Etude de charbons de bois provenant des sites métallurgiques de l'Age du Fer Ancien au Rwanda et au Burundi, in: Bois et archéologie, Louvain-la-Neuve (2-3 octobre 1987), PACT nr. 22: 281-295.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C., 1992, Essai de délimitation chronologique de l'Age du Fer Ancien au Burundi, au Rwanda et dans la région des Grands Lacs, Azania, XXVII, Nairobi, Kenya: 53-80.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C., Roche E. et Doutrelepont H. 2002, Type de fourneau de fonte de fer, associé à la culture urewe (Age du fer ancien), au Rwanda et au Burundi, in: Descœudres J.-P., Huysecom E., Serneels V. & Zimmermann J.-L. (eds) The Origins of Iron Metallurgy, Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on the Archaeology of Africa and the Mediterranean Basin, held at The Museum of Natural History in Geneva, 4–7 June, 1999, Mediterranean archaeology Vol. 14, 2001: 271-298.
- Van Grunderbeek M.C. & Roche E. (2008) Multi-Disciplinary Evidence of Mixed Farming during the Early Iron Age in Rwanda and Burundi. (presented at the World Archaeological Congress, Washington 2003) in: T.P. Denham, J. Iriarte, L. Vrydaghs (eds) Rethinking Agriculture. Archaeological en Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives. One World Archaeology 51, Left Coast Press, inc. California: 299-319.
- Craddock P., Freestone I., Middleton A. & Van Grunderbeek M.C. (2007) The Scientific Study of Some Early Iron Age iron Smelting Debris from Rwanda and Burundi, East Africa, Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society. Historical Metallurgy 41(1): 1-14.
- Roche E. & Van Grunderbeek M.C. (2009)Environment degradation resulting from human activities. Essay to further recognition through pollen and charcoal analysis. SAfA-website
http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/safa/emplibrary/VanGrunderbeeketalSafa2008.ppt.pdf
Inhabitants
The inhabitants were likely cattle herders and milletMillet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
and sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
farmers. Their pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
incorporated such distinctive features as dimples and concentric lines.