[2] Between 12,000 and 5,000 years ago, tropical Africa experienced significant climate change resulting in increased humidity and a northward shift of vegetation zones and fauna.

[6] The Lothagam North Pillar Site, situated in the Lake Turkana Basin of East Africa, provides extensive evidence of Early and Middle Holocene pastoralism and adaptations.

The site shows that people adjusted to various ways of living, including ceramic use and the hunting and gathering of aquatic resources, as well as relying on livestock and herding.

[5] During the African Humid Period, the Lothagam North Pillar Site displayed a unique and distinctive monumental tradition amongst significant environmental shifts.

[1] The changing climate caused the lake to recede revealing fertile land for herbivores to feed on, and people began to migrate into northwest Kenya, bringing cattle and herding practices.

[1] Towards the end of the African humid period, when drier conditions began, nomadic peoples of pastoralist hunter-gatherer communities would return to the site to bury their dead.

[3] It is also possible that social changes and other factors played a role in the decrease in communal burial practices, as these customs were not observed in other herding populations in the Lake Turkana region.

[1] The Lothagam North Pillar site situated in Kenya features two volcanic ridges oriented in a north-south direction and a trough between them containing deposits ranging from the Pliocene to the Holocene era.

[8] The platform surrounded by boulders on the western side of the Lothagam site covers an area of 700 square meters and contains a mortuary cavity, which is estimated to hold anywhere from 585 to 1,053 individuals.

The stone circle, a 16 square meter ring of sandstone and basalt cobble, covers a small, central bedrock pit containing remains and artifacts of at least three persons of distinct ages.

Most of the vessels are closed-mouth bowls that range from 5-22 cm in diameter, and some are decorated with grooves or incisions, Classic Nderit patterns, or burnished ripples.

Contemporary mortuary archaeologists use a mix of these theories, recognizing the complex social factors within material and cultural perspectives that shape funerary practices.

With unpredictable resource and trade distributions following the end of the African Humid Period, incoming herders faced challenges such as new landscapes, forage patterns, rainfall cycles, predators, diseases, and water sources.

[6] The first herders in any area would have faced various challenges when adapting livestock strategies to new or changing environments, such as uncertain resources, unfamiliar weather patterns, and diverse hunter-gatherer communities.

They describe motivations for construction, including ceremonial, cultural, and religious practices that involved the establishment of social statuses and the gathering of mobile populations.

[11] The construction of monumental sites and mortuary customs indicate complex social forms that involve cooperative efforts of large groups to create reminders of shared history and cultural values.

[11] Furthermore, the archaeological record can enrich anthropological understanding of the strategies that led to pastoralist success, which can offer solutions to challenges that exist today, such as globalization, climate change, and urban development.