Sewasew Haileselassie Assefa

SEWASEW HAILESELASSIE ASSEFA, then a graduate student at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, was approved funding in September 2023 to aid research on ‘Temporality of Diet, Foodways, and Social Identity among Urban Populations on the East African Coast,’ supervised by Dr. Sarah Baitzel. The project utilized stable isotopic and radiocarbon dating data from tooth and bone samples of sheep/goats, cattle, fish, and human remains from the sites of Mtwapa and Manda, Kenya. The study revealed a wide consumption of arid-adapted plants and animals that relied on arid-adapted plant species, including Millets and Sorghum, contrary to previous dietary reconstruction, which emphasized rice consumption tied to Islamic identity. Dietary examination across age and sex showed that male and female individuals, as well as children, generally consumed similar foods that relied on arid-adapted C4 plants and terrestrial animals. Radiocarbon dates and archaeothanatological reconstructions further indicate that burials occurred within a short time span in Mtwapa, reflecting a high mortality rate in a brief period, which necessitated the use of mass burials and suggests that the period under examination was a time of biosocial crisis. The results suggested foodways, communal food consumption practices that crosscut age and sex categories.