Early Pottery and Other Finds from Kisii District, Western Kenya

Summary An archaeological reconnaissance of Kisii District revealed traces of lithic industries of “Late Stone Age” affinity, of rock engravings, and of two previously unrecorded pottery wares. Kisii Soft Ware is a crude ware with varied rim-forms and decoration. Button-Necked Pottery is less frequently encountered and is characterised by applique bosses in the concave necks of the vessels. BNP is incontrovertibly associated with iron-working technology: KSW less certainly so. Two radiocarbon dates for KSW indicate an age in the first millennium A.D. or even earlier. The single date for BNP falls in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century A.D.