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Biography
Dr. Philbert Katto is a Tanzanian archaeologist with Bachelor and Master’s degree in archaeology from the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Alberta, Canada. His PhD focused on the mode of interactions for Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and Iron Age agropastoralists in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam teaching, researching, and doing consultancies in the area of archaeology/anthropology. Katto specifically focuses on prehistoric migration and interactions, emergence of agriculture and Iron technology in the Eastern Africa. Dr. Katto is a recipient of many academic scholarships including the PAGES Inter-Africa Mobility Research Fellowship at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa working with Dr. Thembi Russell, Wenner-Gren Global Initiatives Grant, Alberta Graduate Student Excellence Scholarship, Graduate Student Engagement Scholarship, University of Alberta Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship, Volkswagen Foundation Fellowship, and many others. Katto has participated in a number of projects both small and large one including the Iringa Region Archaeological Project (IRAP).
Research Interest
Archaeology of Iron Age and pastoralism in East Africa; Heritage Management and conservation
Contacts
Email:
Projects
January 2025: Tanzanian Local collaborator for the preliminary Research involving extraction of Protein sample from the ancient Ostrich Shell Beads (OSB) at the National Museum of Tanzania. The project is lead by Drs. Jennifer Miller and Shevan Wilkin from the Center for Social Sciences at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Shenzhen, China.
2025: participating in the Project about contemporary, small-scale, subsistence farmers in southern Africa and the examination of grain storage methods and qualities specific to indigenous crops that evolved with the migration of farmers into southern Africa approximately 2000 years ago, to address current issues of sustainability in farming in the face of climate change today. The project is lead by Dr. Thembi Russell of Wits University, South Africa.
April 2025-April 2026: Principal Investigator Project titled “Modelling Bantu Migration in Southern Tanzania: Focusing on routes, environmental determinants, and Distribution of Ceramic Traditions” under the Inter-Africa Mobility Research Fellowship Program. Implemented at Wits University under the supervision of Dr. Thembi Russell.
Participating in the Iringa Region Archaeological Project (IRAP) directed by Prof. Pamela Willoughby
July 2022: Ethnographic research and public archaeology in Iringa and Njombe Regions, Southern Highlands of Tanzania (under IRAP).
August 2020-June 2022: Archaeological research involving analysis of museum collections at the National Museum of Tanzania (NMT), Isimila Stone Age Museum, Iringa Region field research, and documentary reviews for my PhD thesis (under IRAP).
June-August 2019: Pilot field study about the LSA-Iron Age interaction and material culture in Southern Highlands of Tanzania (under IRAP).
February 2017-March 2017: I participated on the Research Project pertaining to Privatization and Social Justice: The Rights to Education for the Grassroots Communities. This was under Mwalimu Nyerere Chair on Pan African Studies. The research took place in Mara Region, Tanzania.
Publications
Katto and Willoughby (under review). The Ethnoarchaeology of ceramic production and uses in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeological Review.
Katto, P. (2022). [Review of the book Consuming Ivory: Mercantile Legacies of East Africa and New England by A. C. Kelly]. University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2021, 255 pp., ISBN 9780295748818 (hardcover), 9780295748825 (ebook). African Archaeological Review. https://rdcu.be/cE1WW
Katto, P. and Willoughby, P. (2021). An examination of pottery from Iringa Region, Southern Highlands of Tanzania: A preliminary archaeological report. Nyame Akuma 95: 42- 54. https://safarchaeology.org/resources/Documents/nyame_akuma/95/95_Nyame_Akuma_vol%2095%20June%202021_6%20Philibert%20Katto%20et%20al%20website.pdf
Biginagwa, T.J and Katto, P. (2020). Archaeological Perspective on the Impacts of Caravan Trade Expansion in East Africa: Emerging Alternative Histories. Journal of Education, Humanities and Science, Vol. 9 (3): 35-58. http://jehs.duce.ac.tz/index.php/jehs/article/view/73
Elliot Niboye, Shukrani Mbirigenda, Colman Msoka, Lilian Mtasingwa, Philbert Katto, Paul Japhet, Imani Majenda, Salma Emmanuel, Jones Helbert, Exaud Joel, Gelas Rubakula, Alex Peter and Erick Nganoga (2020). The 2020 General electionsobservation in Tanzania: Reflections from Morogoro Region. Institute of Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam.
Katto, P. (2024). The Later Stone Age and Iron Age in Southern Highlands of Tanzania: An Examination of Interaction and Material Culture. Unpublished PhD thesis: Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta.
Katto, P. (2018): Welcome to Africa: Explore the Bantu migration Story (blog)https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=d8dc2768481b447b848591e34ea6826a
Katto, P. et al. (2017): A report about privatization and social justice: the right to education for grassroots Communities in Tanzania. This report was presented as a part of the project directed by the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan-African Studies of the University of Dar es Salaam. I participated in conducting the literature review for the project. I also participated in collecting data for this project at Buhemba Gold Mine and the Iringa Region. Kigoda Publication.
Katto, P. (2017): "Child labor in Tanzania: Reflection on Policies, Institutional and Legal Framework" (Page 4-7). I presented this paper on the Grassroots Community Dialogue held at the University of Dar es Salaam in 2017. This paper was compiled and released on the Kigoda Rapporteurs Report of 2017 titled Grassroots Community Dialogue on the effects of mines and cash crop production on the rights to education for children in grassroots communities in Tanzania. Kigoda Publication.
Katto, P. (2016).Coast-Interior Connectivity during nineteenth century: Archaeological evidence of the caravan trade from southern Tanzania. A Dissertation Submitted in (Partial) Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Archaeology) of the University of Dar es Salaam.