Middle Stone Age occurrences and hominid behavioural patterns in West Lake Natron Region, Northern Tanzania

This dissertation deals with Middle Stone Age (MSA) Occurrences and Hominid Behavioural Patterns in West Lake Natron, Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region, Northern Tanzania. This research aimed to reconstruct the behavioural patterns of MSA foragers using the ecological adaptation approach. The field-work sought to recover archaeological and paleontological data of middle and late Pleistocene age in order to reconstruct the MSA foragers adaptive strategies across the West Lake Natron Region (WLNR) and their resultant behavioural as well as technological developments. Ecological adaptation theory and comparative approach have been employed in this study. The data showed that movements and habitation strategies of MSA foragers in WLNR were influenced by climatic and environmental fluctuations. The escarpment area was occupied during wet seasons and the lowland plain in dry seasons. The MSA forager subsistence strategies depended much on local environmental resources, but they may have utilized very diversified food resources including animal, plant as well as macro and micro-organism food resources. Technological attributes and tool types represent significant differences in terms of lithic raw material and core reduction techniques in comparison with other MSA assemblages of northern Tanzania. In most cases, the observed differences reflect the nature and forms of desirable raw material types and sometimes, probably individual abilities and experiences as well as different artifact functions.