The Irrigation and Manuring of the Engaruka Field System: Further Observations and Historical Discussion of a Later Iron Age Settlement in the Northern Tanzanian Rift

A previous account of the abandoned irrigated field system of Engaruka, situated at the dry foot of the rift escarpment between Lakes Natron and Manyara, Tanzania (In: Azania, Vol. 13 (1978); p. 37-70), was based on work of 1971-1972. In 1982 and 1984 new observations and measurements of the Engaruka field system and its furrows were made. These are described, together with a further consideration of the unsolved problem of Engaruka’s water supplies. Finally, the author reviews Engaruka in its regional setting, indicating the state of thinking on the ethnic identity of this recent but ‘vanished’ irrigation-agricultural population and on its place in East African history. Appended to the article (p. 49-51) is a note by W.M. ADAMS on the Engaruka irrigation furrows and river discharges. Notes, ref.