This is the study of the material remains of man’s past. It is highly specialised work carried out by archaeologists. Through their excavations at sites such as Olduvai in North-Eastern Tanzania and Biggo in Uganda, they have been able to tell us a great deal about the life and culture of the people of that time.

Some, like Dr Leakey, have concentrated on the period of Early Man, others like Dr Posnansky have worked on sites relating to the Chwezi Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while Chittick and Kirkman have excavated coastal sites of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. What they have found has been of immense value in attempting to piece together the past in East Africa.

Perhaps you wonder how archaeologists know where to start their excavations. In many cases they will look for a place where erosion or some geological fault has exposed a stratum of rock and soil well below the surface- Sometimes they may be guided by local tradition or evenby partly visible remains, as at Gedi.

Excavation is a long and laborious process, each piece of material found has to be carefully examined and recorded so that the archaeologist can give as complete a reconstruction as possible of what he has found.

In the process of excavating buildings or burial sites he will often find the remains of pottery, household implements, ironware, weapons and even coins. All thesehelp us to learn more about the past.

Activity 1.5.

Click on this link to take you to the different pictures of items we find in the  National Museums of Uganda to find out more about the archaelogical site mentioned above.

2. Find out from other books that have the History of Uganda, other archaelogical sites in other parts of our country.

3. Draw a map of Uganda to show the above mentioned archaeological site.