Recent archaeological investigation along the Sondu Miriu river, Kenya

The purpose of this note is to draw attention to a number of discoveries along the Sondu Miriu River, made during a recent Archaeological Impact Assessment (AIA) conducted by the National Museums of Kenya (NMKJ, with assistance from the British Institute in Eastern Africa. The ALA formed part of a wider, ongoing programme of Cultural Resource Management and environmental assessment of the areas likely to be affected by the construction of a 60Mw hydro-electric dam, headrace tunnel, power station and other associated works between the Odino Falls and the foot of Nyakach Hills (fig. 1). The construction project is being undertaken by Nippon Koei Consulting Engineers and Konoike on behalf of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen). As part of the broader Environmental Impact Assessment, the contract to undertake the work reported here was awarded by the developers KenGen to the NMK in 1999. This forms the first major example of 'developer funded' archaeology to have been undertaken in Kenya