Archaeological excavation of rock art shelters in Kasoma village, Mara region

Prior to this study, Musoma Rural District had received less attention in terms of archaeological research. It was not until 2002, when the Mara Region Archaeological Reconnaissance Project (MRARP) visited Kasoma village and documented several rock art sites and revealed several surface archaeological deposits of LSA affinity, bone fragments and pottery. Yet nothing was done in terms of establishing the culture history of the area. Therefore, through excavation of two rock shelters (Nyamang’ora and Nyankingi), the results show that Kasoma village was occupied by Later Stone Age (LSA) people who lived in the area around 8,000 to 5,000 bp. This LSA culture is subdivided into Aceramic and Ceramic LSA. Lithic artifacts, pottery and other symbolic revealing objects such as red ochre and dirty white pigments have been used to infer the LSA culture at Kasoma village. The results of this study have contributed to a better understanding of human occupation history in the area and Tanzania in general. The knowledge gaps addressed by this study include a need to formulate a site management plan and need for an ethnographic inquires on the importance of rock shelters to modern time village residents.