Mica Jones

This project examines shifting mobility patterns and lakeshore adaptations among Kansyore hunter-gatherers at Numundiri A in the Lake Victoria Basin of eastern Uganda. Through archaeological excavation, radiocarbon dating, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and material analyses, it addresses questions of hunter-gatherer socioeconomic variability and Holocene climatic fluctuations in East Africa between ~8,000-1,500 BP. Findings from this research will build on current discussions of flexibility and resilience in forager strategies broadly to examine the relationships between shifting hunter-gatherer systems and ecological reorganization in a tropical environment. By systematically investigating Kansyore social and economic strategies through time, this study provides new perspectives on the local mechanisms that contributed to the emergence of sociocultural diversity in East Africa today. In doing so, it also informs discussions regarding the ways people in this highly-populated, socially-dynamic region might mitigate climatic and environmental instability in the future.