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Urewe
The Urewe culture developed and spread in and around the Lake Victoria region of Africa during the African Iron Age. The culture's earliest dated artefacts are located in the Kagera Region of Tanzania, and it extended as far west as the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as far east as the Nyanza and Western provinces of Kenya, north into Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and south into Southern Africa. Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD. The Urewe people certainly did not disappear, and the continuity of institutional life was never completely broken. One of the most striking things about the Early Iron Age pots and smelting furnaces is that some of them were discovered at sites that the local people still associate with royalty, and still more significant is the continuity of language.
This civilisation emerges in the region during the transition from the second to the first millennium B.C. and seems to have thrived in various sites well into the second millennium A.D. It underwent its greatest period of expansion, allied to an important metalworking activity, from the first to the sixth century A.D. and covered the Kivu region (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to the west up to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in north-west Tanzania and south-west Kenya.
Urewe seems to be a fully developed civilisation recognizable through its distinctive, stylish earthenware and highly technical and sophisticated iron working techniques. Their pottery incorporated such distinctive features as dimples and concentric lines. However, minor local variations in the ceramic ware can be observed.
The origins of the Urewe culture are thought to ultimately be in the Bantu expansion originating in Cameroon. [citation needed] Research into early Iron Age civilisations in sub-Saharan Africa has been undertaken concurrently with studies on Niger–Congo linguistics on Bantu expansion. The Urewe culture may correspond to the Eastern subfamily of Bantu languages, spoken by the descendants of the first wave of Bantu peoples to settle East Africa. The inhabitants were likely cattle herders and millet and sorghum farmers.
The Urewe tradition has also been recognised as the first Iron Age community to reach Southern Africa, via the Kwale and Nkope branches. The Kwale branch is associated with areas along the eastern coast of Africa, particularly from Kenya down to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, while the Nkope branch is associated with a central stream extending from southern Tanzania through Malawi and eastern Zambia into Zimbabwe. Pioneers from the Kwale Branch reached the KwaZulu-Natal area between 200 and 300 AD, and evidence of the Nkope branch reaching the Limpopo Province dates to 400 AD.
The people of the Urewe Culture spoke the Proto-Great Lakes Bantu language.
Urewe ceramics are modest in size, measuring from 30 cm up to a maximum of 36 cm in height. Three distinct shapes have been observed: vases, small vases, both closed s-shaped pieces, open-bowls on which stereotyped patterns have been crafted: and bevelling on the rim, hatching on the neck surface for ease of handling, the body decorated with a ribboned pattern of crafted geometrical designs, and a dimple base finish. The decorative markings are adapted to and emphasise the shape of the vase with its 4 components, often seen on the little vase in simplified form. Conversely, these '4 component' patterns are all stuck on the bowl; regardless of its '3 components' shape. One proposed hypothesis suggests the bowl was developed later than the vase. Support for this comes from the identification, in terms of Bantu linguistics, of a new term first appearing around 1000 B.C. meaning "frying pan" probably serving as a clue to a change in cooking techniques reflecting adaptation to a more sedentary lifestyle when Bantu-speaking people began to settle in the Rwanda and Burundi hills.
The ironsmelting furnace associated to these Urewe ceramics comprised a basin filled with fresh green leafy branches and herbs which served as a filter for the slag deposit at the base. Above the basin was a cone-shaped shaft, not unlike a chimney, made by superimposing rolls of damp clay. The decorated furnace, with its fluted patterns on the upper roll and deeply incised criss-cross or s-shaped patterns on the outer surface, may be reminiscent of the rim or neck of the ceramic pottery. Analyses carried out on the ironworking residue have not yet provided data on the efficiency of these furnaces, or whether they were a measure of their technical nature. Iron ore and fuel were readily available. The word "ubutare" meaning "iron" still crops up in many place names. The wooded crown cover was used to produce charcoal. As new wood was always used for this purpose, radiocarbon dating of this material is relatively reliable.
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Urewe
The Urewe culture developed and spread in and around the Lake Victoria region of Africa during the African Iron Age. The culture's earliest dated artefacts are located in the Kagera Region of Tanzania, and it extended as far west as the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as far east as the Nyanza and Western provinces of Kenya, north into Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and south into Southern Africa. Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD. The Urewe people certainly did not disappear, and the continuity of institutional life was never completely broken. One of the most striking things about the Early Iron Age pots and smelting furnaces is that some of them were discovered at sites that the local people still associate with royalty, and still more significant is the continuity of language.
This civilisation emerges in the region during the transition from the second to the first millennium B.C. and seems to have thrived in various sites well into the second millennium A.D. It underwent its greatest period of expansion, allied to an important metalworking activity, from the first to the sixth century A.D. and covered the Kivu region (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to the west up to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in north-west Tanzania and south-west Kenya.
Urewe seems to be a fully developed civilisation recognizable through its distinctive, stylish earthenware and highly technical and sophisticated iron working techniques. Their pottery incorporated such distinctive features as dimples and concentric lines. However, minor local variations in the ceramic ware can be observed.
The origins of the Urewe culture are thought to ultimately be in the Bantu expansion originating in Cameroon. [citation needed] Research into early Iron Age civilisations in sub-Saharan Africa has been undertaken concurrently with studies on Niger–Congo linguistics on Bantu expansion. The Urewe culture may correspond to the Eastern subfamily of Bantu languages, spoken by the descendants of the first wave of Bantu peoples to settle East Africa. The inhabitants were likely cattle herders and millet and sorghum farmers.
The Urewe tradition has also been recognised as the first Iron Age community to reach Southern Africa, via the Kwale and Nkope branches. The Kwale branch is associated with areas along the eastern coast of Africa, particularly from Kenya down to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, while the Nkope branch is associated with a central stream extending from southern Tanzania through Malawi and eastern Zambia into Zimbabwe. Pioneers from the Kwale Branch reached the KwaZulu-Natal area between 200 and 300 AD, and evidence of the Nkope branch reaching the Limpopo Province dates to 400 AD.
The people of the Urewe Culture spoke the Proto-Great Lakes Bantu language.
Urewe ceramics are modest in size, measuring from 30 cm up to a maximum of 36 cm in height. Three distinct shapes have been observed: vases, small vases, both closed s-shaped pieces, open-bowls on which stereotyped patterns have been crafted: and bevelling on the rim, hatching on the neck surface for ease of handling, the body decorated with a ribboned pattern of crafted geometrical designs, and a dimple base finish. The decorative markings are adapted to and emphasise the shape of the vase with its 4 components, often seen on the little vase in simplified form. Conversely, these '4 component' patterns are all stuck on the bowl; regardless of its '3 components' shape. One proposed hypothesis suggests the bowl was developed later than the vase. Support for this comes from the identification, in terms of Bantu linguistics, of a new term first appearing around 1000 B.C. meaning "frying pan" probably serving as a clue to a change in cooking techniques reflecting adaptation to a more sedentary lifestyle when Bantu-speaking people began to settle in the Rwanda and Burundi hills.
The ironsmelting furnace associated to these Urewe ceramics comprised a basin filled with fresh green leafy branches and herbs which served as a filter for the slag deposit at the base. Above the basin was a cone-shaped shaft, not unlike a chimney, made by superimposing rolls of damp clay. The decorated furnace, with its fluted patterns on the upper roll and deeply incised criss-cross or s-shaped patterns on the outer surface, may be reminiscent of the rim or neck of the ceramic pottery. Analyses carried out on the ironworking residue have not yet provided data on the efficiency of these furnaces, or whether they were a measure of their technical nature. Iron ore and fuel were readily available. The word "ubutare" meaning "iron" still crops up in many place names. The wooded crown cover was used to produce charcoal. As new wood was always used for this purpose, radiocarbon dating of this material is relatively reliable.