Turkana material culture viewed from an archaeological perspective

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Abstract
While ethnographic accounts of material culture are important to the archaeologist, quantitative studies approached from the perspectives most appropriate for archaeological site analysis are rare. This paper introduces one such study and examines the material culture of the Turkana, a pastoral tribe of northern Kenya. The study is based on an inventory of the contents of an inhabited compound. It compares the contents of the inhabited dwelling with a series of abandoned settlements. Results indicate (1) 63% of the items in the inhabited compound were, in archaeological terms, perishable objects, (2) 48% of the entire material culture in the modern compound consisted of containers, (3) very little, if any, evidence of the artefacts present in the inventory would be found within a year after abandonment of the settlement.

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