Rwanda's prehistory is a relatively unexplored concept as compared to other regions of Africa. Most archaeological works regarding Rwanda past 1994 are associated with conflict and ethnic violence. However more recently, archaeologists have been attempting to focus on archaeological works from the first and second millennia A.D. For example, some archaeological research has been focusing on the Nyiginya Kingdom, which is the pre-colonial predecessor of the current Rwandan state. Other research has been focusing on the excavations of the earliest agricultural sites, likely from the Iron Age, as well as ceramics to indicate chronology of when certain agricultural groups migrated to Rwanda.
The Urewe culture of Rwanda The Urewe culture first settled the Rwanda-Burundi Central Plateau during the first millennium BC but takes its name from a site in Kenya. The Urewe culture demonstrates the earliest occurrences of many practices in Rwanda, such as iron smelting and pottery. The Urewe culture is known for its distinct iron smelting processes, as well as highly decorative pottery. Archaeologists generally believe that the Urewe culture had a mixed farming economy. The significance of the Urewe culture is that it provided the oldest evidence of an Early Iron Age (EIA) civilization south of the equator. The Urewe culture is also responsible for the spread of EIA cultures and agriculture eastwards to southeast Africa by 800 AD. Most Urewe sites that are from the first millennium AD are near or in heavily populated areas such as cities today.
Prior to the rise of the Urewe culture, previous cultures were based on stone technologies. The lack of stone technologies at Urewe sites may indicate that Urewe peoples had limited contact with the earlier cultures that inhabited the Great Lakes region. The Urewe peoples are considered to be a mix of hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists.There is a lack of “faunal remains of hunting and fishing” at EIA sites in Rwanda. However, the location of Urewe settlements near savannas and the edges of forests indicates that Urewe peoples probably gathered foods such as fruits, berries, and edible roots. in Late Iron Age (LIA) sites in Rwanda (Akameru and Cyinkomane) dating to the ninth century AD, “bones of wild game were mixed with those of domestic animals and roulette-decorated pots.” The hilly areas of Rwanda and Burundi were appealing for agricultural settlement by Urewe peoples. The landscape is open and bordered by the savanna and forests. The vast forests providing wood and iron ore deposits allowed iron smelting to occur. The presence of clay soils allowed for the production of Urewe ceramics.
Evidence of early Iron Age farming Three archaeological sites at Kabuye Hill in Rwanda provide the best direct evidence for agriculture in the EIA. Pollen analyses were conducted at each site. At Kabuye IV, a furnace crucible from 240 to 400 AD shows the earliest evidence of iron smelting at this region. Kabuye III has a crucible dating to 420-600 AD and Kabuye II has a crucible dating to 560-690 AD. The sample from Kabuye II was taken from a sealed pot at the base of the crucible. Cereal pollens were found at all three sites. Traces of finger millet pollen was found in the Kabuye IV sample, although it only made up a small percentage of the total pollen found. Similarly, finger millet pollen was present in Kabuye III and II; all three of these sites span from the third to the seventh centuries AD. Kabuye IV and II also had a small percentage of sorghum pollen found. The small percentages of cereal pollens found at all three sites indicate that cereal crops were not intensely farmed at a large scale at Urewe sites, but rather that small and individual plots were used instead.The presence of both of the aforementioned cereal crops is significant. They were “not domesticated in Rwanda or Burundi”. These crops were most likely brought into Rwanda and surrounding Great Lakes settlements via members of the Urewe culture.
Urewe burials Research was conducted on an Early Iron Age burial site in Kabusanze, Rwanda, that contained the skeletal remains of two people. The burial site also contained “Urewe ceramics, iron adornments and an exotic artefact, which have been radiocarbon dated by association with wood charcoal to c. 400 AD.” Archaeobotanical analyses conducted at the burial pits found “wild and domesticated charred seed remains.” Traces of sorghum, cowpea, and pearl millet were found in the two pits. The discovery of these cereal crops is important in providing further evidence of the domestication and cultivation of cereal crops in Rwanda during the first millennium AD. There was scarce evidence of this kind before. “Classic Urewe ceramics” were found in both burial pits.
The Kabusanze burial The burial contained an adult and a neonate. The adult's remains were found at the “base of the burial pit, approximately 2.5m beneath the current land surface, whilst the neonate was encountered 0.5m above the adult”. The adult remains were surrounded by Classical Urewe ceramics, iron, and shell artefacts. Bulk soil samples taken from the burial found wood charcoal and the charred remains of wild flowers. Only fragments of the adult's cranium remained (mandible, maxilla, left and right zygomatic bones.” Of the post-cranial skeletal, fragments of ribs, vertebrae, and parts of a right humerus remained. Using the remaining dentition present (fully grown molars), it was confirmed that the skeleton deeper in the burial pit was an adult.The mandible of the skeleton was scored by the archaeologists as being a 4 on a scale of 1-5, where a 5 means that features are strongly male. The skeleton was then seen as being a “large and robust adult male.”"The human skeleton discovered in the lower part of the burial represents a large adult male. The elements of this adult skeleton discovered within the pit are well preserved and the absence of the rest of the skeleton therefore requires further explanation. One possibility is differential preservation within the burial pit. However, the missing elements of the skeleton include the bones of the pelvis and the legs. These represent some of the largest and strongest bones in the human skeleton and it seems unlikely that small fragments of ribs would be preserved within the burial pit and not parts of these larger bones. In addition, the partial humerus is extremely well preserved but none of the other long bones of the arm were discovered. The depth of the deposit also means that the bones are unlikely to have been disturbed post burial. An alternative explanation is that only selected parts of the skeleton were buried. This is supported by the presence of cut marks on the humerus, as well as by a possible peri-mortem fracture on the shaft of the humerus. These findings provide strong evidence for the practice of secondary burial at Kabusanze and are also possible indications of violence and/or dismemberment of the body prior to burial."The neonate skeleton most likely died at around the time of birth. The skeleton was well-preserved and contained most bones besides dentition.
Iron objects Two collections of iron objects were found. In the first collection, a small pot with six iron beads and a potentially broken bracelet were found. In the second collection (found right next to the adult human's remains), two bracelets, a necklet, and a hollow disc were found. As Giblin and colleagues explain, “The results of the metallographic investigation carried out on the two objects suggest that a significant amount of time and technical skill was used to form and manipulate the shapes of these objects.”
It was well understood by archaeologists that much iron was being produced in southern Rwanda and the Great Lakes region in general. Archaeologists are attempting to confirm if the source of this iron is either local or if it was obtained through trade networks.
Ironsmiths in Rwanda during the first millennium AD used furnaces made of decorated clay bricks. However, the products of these furnaces are rare until the analysis is conducted at this site. There are two reasons for this: Rwanda's wet climate which corrodes metals and the recycling of iron into different products by ironsmiths (which leaves relatively no iron discarded). Archaeometallurgical analyses conducted on the iron objects found at Kabusanze suggest that one or more skilled ironsmiths made these objects. The analyses also indicate that the ironsmiths were capable of forging the iron "long strands and then into symmetrical circles." The artisans were able to use complex techniques to forge these jewelry pieces. The presence of iron in the first millennium AD in Rwanda suggests that iron was prized not just for practical usages, but also for "bodily adornment."
Urewe burial pots One complete and ten incomplete Classic Urewe artifacts were found next to the adult's skeletal remains. Ten of the items “were made of a single dark reddish/black fabric with a fine-grained matrix containing rare quartz and mica inclusions.” In the collection of Urewe burial pots, “four jars, two shouldered collared bowls, two flared mouth bowls, one open bowl, one hemispherical bowl and one small complete pot” were found. All of the pots (except the small pot) had two to four bevels; each pot (except the open bowl) was decorated and included “circular motifs, cross-hatching and horizontal bands." The small pot was found on top of burnt wood and charcoal; the inside of the pot had “a shell bead, four iron beads and the possible remains of an iron bracelet”. The small pot also had three evenly-spaced openings under the rim of the pot. These openings have been found in other first millennium AD sites in southern Zambia and also contained iron artifacts within them. These small pots may have been suspended using the three openings and then used for rituals. Urewe pottery is clearly shown to have both functional capabilities, as well as symbolic and ritual capacities.
Other discoveries at the Kabusanze burial A cowrie shell, a quartz blade, and six shell beads were found next to the adult's remains. The cowrie shell is of particular interest to archaeologists since cowrie is only naturally found in coastal areas. This indicates that the shell may have been brought to the landlocked Kabusanze site in a kind of long-distance trade. Evidence from the second millennium AD in the Great Lakes region shows cowrie shells in sites like Kibiro and Ntusi in Uganda, as well as at Tsavo National Park—in both the West and East Tsavo parks—in Kenya; Sanga, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Batoka Plateau, Zambia. The Kabusanze site shows the first direct evidence of long-distance trade in the first millennium AD. However, due to the rarity of cowrie in the Great Lakes region in this time period in general, it can only be assumed that the exchanges for these materials were done amongst individuals and not intensive trading networks.
Archaeological discoveries from the first and second millennia AD