 Nasura Pillar Site in Turkana, Kenya | |
  Nasura Pillar Site in Nasura kangatotha ward Turkana, Kenya | |
| Location | Lake Turkana, Kenya |
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| Region | kangatotha ward |
| Coordinates | 3°25′22″N35°48′10″E / 3.422778°N 35.802778°E /3.422778; 35.802778 |
TheNasura Pillar Site, registered as GcJh3 and also known as Namoratunga II, is anarchaeological site on the west side ofLake Turkana in Kenya dating to thePastoral Neolithic. Namoratunga means "people of stone" in theTurkana language. The site was originally believed to have been created around 300 BC, but recent excavations have yielded an older radiocarbon sample dating to 2398 +/- 44 years BC.[1]
The site is located 50 Kilometres off the Lodwar – Kalokol highway, an it is easily visible on 30 metres (98 ft) from the road. The Kalokol Pillar Site contains 19 basalt pillars which are surrounded by a circular formation of stones. A number of other pillar sites surround Lake Turkana as well and date to the same time period;Lothagam North andManemanya, for example, are communal cemeteries. These sites were likely built by the region's earliest herders.[2] Another burial site with stone cairns, Namoratunga I,[3][4] also known asLokori, does not have stone pillars.[5][6][7]
Archaeologists Mark Lynch and L.H. Robbins described the Kalokol Pillar Site in 1978 and identified it as a possiblearchaeoastronomical site.[8] Lynch believed the basalt pillars tie the constellations or stars to the 12-month 354-day lunar calendar ofCushitic speakers of southernEthiopia. The pillars were said to align with seven star systems:Triangulum,Pleiades,Bellatrix,Aldebaran, CentralOrion,Saiph, andSirius. Other archaeologists have reanalyzed the archaeoastronomical evidence,[9] and an older radiocarbon date from the Kalokol Pillar Site now calls into question these interpretations.[1]
 Archaeological sites in Kenya | |
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| Sites | |
