Browsing by Author "Hall, Simon"
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- ItemOpen AccessAn archaeological perspective on the nineteenth century development of land, landscape and sheep farming in the Karoo(2012) Smuts, Troy Nathaniel; Hall, SimonThe nineteenth century was one of considerable change within the Cape Colony. There was the change from Dutch VOC control to a British government early in the nineteenth century which exposed small scale Trekboer sheep farmers of the Karoo to a wider mercantile capitalism, especially with the adoption of Merino sheep for the global export market. This thesis charts the early nineteenth century history of colonial Trekboer society into the Karoo with a specific focus on the region to the north of the Roggeveld Mountains and west of the Nieuweveld Mountains. Of particular importance in this history is the change in land rights whereby title deeds and ownership were introduced by the British early in the nineteenth century. The distribution and chronology of title deeds are explored in this area of the Karoo using GIS to map and determine the chronological spread of deeded farms and possible links with environmental and ecological variability. While some correlations can be made under the assumption that better areas were claimed earlier in the nineteenth century other factors were also important. In particular the spread of Merino sheep, for wool production, from the Eastern Cape accounts for some of the geographic emphasis in title deed chronology, while technological innovations may underpin others. Furthermore, the thesis also examines the relationship between the title deeds and the distribution of corbelled buildings, a unique nineteenth century vernacular architecture associated with the Trekboer farmer.
- ItemOpen AccessAn archaeological study of the Zimbabwe culture capital of Khami, south-western Zimbabwe(2016) Mukwende, Tawanda; Chirikure, Shadreck; Hall, SimonThis study sought to understand the archaeology of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami through synchronic and diachronic analyses of its material culture. The research employed a number of methodological approaches that included a review of historic documents, surveying and mapping, excavations, museum collection analysis, and artefact studies, in order to collect datasets from various sections of the site, including the walled and the nonwalled areas. The main indication is that there is a great deal of similarity in material culture distribution across the whole site. An analysis of objects by stratigraphic sequence exposes continuity and change in local and imported objects. Dry stone-wall architectural data suggests that the site was constructed over a long period, with construction motivated by a number of expansionary factors. The study confirms that Khami began as a fully developed cultural unit, with no developmental trajectory recorded at Mapungubwe or Great Zimbabwe, where earlier ceramic units influenced later ones. Consequently, this study cautiously suggests that Khami represents a continuity with the Woolandale chiefdoms that settled in the south-western parts of the country and in the adjacent areas of Botswana. On the basis of the chronological and material culture evidence, Khami is unlikely to have emerged out of Great Zimbabwe. However, more research is needed to confirm these emergent conclusions, and to better understand the chronological and spatial relationships between not just Woolandale and Khami sites but also Khami and the multiple Khami-type sites scattered across southern Zambezia.
- ItemOpen AccessArchaeology and Identity In the 19th Century Northern Cape Frontier: the Xhosa of the Pramberg(2013) Zachariou, Nicholas Alexander; Hall, SimonThis dissertation examines the identity of the Xhosa communities that settled in the frontier zone of the Northern Cape during the first half of the 19th century. It does this through the archaeology, and ethnographic and historical accounts. The concept of a baseline Nguni identity in the Eastern Cape is examined with an emphasis on settlement, mobility and cultural interaction. The historical background and a brief history of the of the Xhosa in the Northern Cape will be detailed, focusing on the Pramberg community. The archaeology of three Xhosa sites in the Pramberg will be described and analysed, and then contrasted and compared with the ethnographic and historical evidence. The result of this comparison is a discussion of the identity change and continuity of the Pramberg Xhosa in the context of the cultural milieu of the frontier and the appropriation of land by the expanding Cape colony.
- ItemOpen AccessThe archaeology and technology of metal production in the Late Iron Age of the Southern Waterberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa(2013) Bandama, Foreman; Chirikure, Shadreck; Hall, SimonThe inception of metallurgy in southern Africa was relatively late, compared to other regions in Africa, and as a result, this part of the sub-continent was mistakenly thought to have been less innovative during the Iron Age. On the contrary, dedicated materials analyses are showing that starting from the terminal first millennium AD, southern Africa is replete with innovations that include the growth of state systems, specialised long-distance trading, the re-melting of glass beads, the working of ivory, and the weaving of cotton using ceramic spindle whorls. Additionally, the appearance of gold and tin production, against a background of on-going iron and copper metallurgy, has been interpreted by some as intimating innovation in metal technology. While some research energy has been invested into these novelties, there has only been incidental concern with the innovation in tin and bronze production. This study investigates the context of this novelty in the metallurgy of the Southern Waterberg, an area that hosts one of the unequivocal cases of pre-colonial tin mining in southern Africa. Recent trace element studies have indicated that bronzes from several elite sites in the region, were produced using tin that was sourced from the Southern Waterberg. The current chronology from the Southern Waterberg does not capture the full tin sequence that is implicated by the trace-element analyses of tin and bronze from dated contexts elsewhere and falls short by at two centuries. To bridge this gap, the present study sought, to explore the visibility of tin production in the Southern Waterberg at sites that are contemporary with the appearance of tin and bronze in southern Africa, and to investigate how this innovation was integrated into on-going iron and copper production. Rigorous methodological and theoretical approaches that include ethno-historical, archaeological and archaeometallurgical studies were employed in order to glean relevant information required to address these issues. Ceramic typological and settlement pattern studies were used to establish the culture-historical context, while Optical Microscopy, X-ray Fluorescence Analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy of metallurgical remains were used to identify the metals and techniques that were employed. Ceramic technological studies were used to establish relationships between the metallurgy and the ceramic typological identities. The results suggest that the Southern Waterberg may have participated in the innovation of tin production in southern Africa. More research may strengthen this observation but it is entirely appropriate, in view of several metallurgical and non-metallurgical innovations that were on-going in societies throughout the region at large. Researchers now need to engage more with innovations and actively explore the various novelties that southern Africa exhibited during the Iron Age.
- ItemOpen AccessBuried beyond Buitengracht : interrogating cultural variability in the historic 'informal' burial ground of Prestwich Street, Cape Town(2006) Finnegan, Erin R; Hall, SimonIncludes bibliographical references.
- ItemOpen AccessClimate change and agropastoralist settlement in the Shashe-Limpopo River Basin, southern Africa: AD 880 to 1700(2007) Smith, Jeannette; Lee-Thorp, Julia; Hall, SimonThe expansion and decline of complex socio-political farming systems in the Shashe-Limpopo River Basin, southern Africa, has been linked to large-scale climate shifts in which increased rainfall favoured intensified agropastoral production and expanded settlement, while the onset of arid conditions led to collapse and abandonment of the area. This study uses stable nitrogen isotope ratios (C5Nf4N) from modern and archaeological fauna to construct a proxy-rainfall sequence for the region from AD 880 onwards. The resulting sequence provides a revised climatic context for agropastoral settlement of the river basin and evidence of greater climatic variation than previously documented. Stable nitrogen isotope data from the bone collagen of archaeological fauna show that settlement by Zhizo agropastoralists between AD 880 and 1010 took place under semi-arid conditions, with average annual rainfall of <500 mm. Results for sites dating between AD 1010 to 1290 are consistent with previous interpretations that the Leopard's Kopje A and B cultural period 'capitals' of K2 and Mapungubwe, respectively, rose to prominence under a trend towards increased average annual rainfall that was 2500 mm. The data indicate also that the phase of increased moisture extended beyond the abandonment of Mapungubwe at AD 1290 and continued to be evident in fauna dating to the Moloko/Icon cultural period between AD 1310 and 1415. Data from the Moloko/Khami cultural period sites suggest that markedly drier conditions were not evident in the area until after AD 1450. Based on the isotope data, increased rainfall appears to have coincided with the expansion and intensification of settlement in the Shashe-Limpopo River Basin. Reconsideration, however, needs to be given to the correlation between the abandonment of Mapungubwe with the onset of arid conditions unfavourable for agropastoralism; other explanations, encompassing socio-economic and political choices, also must be sought.
- ItemOpen AccessFrom missionary to merino: Identity, economy and material culture in the Karoo, Northern Cape, South Africa, 1800 - ca. 1870(2017) Zachariou, Nicholas; Hall, SimonThis thesis addresses the 19th century sequence of Kerkplaats, a farm in the central Karoo, Northern Cape, South Africa. Over this period different colonialisms of varying power and effect were introduced. The first was to local Khoe, San and Griqua communities in the form of one of the first London Missionary Society stations in the early 19th century. A second phase between 1830 and 1860 was to sheep farmers of German, Dutch and mixed descent, who absorbed and moulded the increasing impacts of British influence and materiality into older worlds of cultural resilience and practice. From 1860, a third phase saw a flood of mass produced British goods enter the region, similar to other colonial contexts around the world. Amount, availability and choice changed significantly and provided the material substrate in which rural stock farmers re-expressed themselves within the growing stature of Empire. It is suggested that for some rural farmers, expressive cultural practice worked to underpin increased affluence brought by merino sheep farming for global markets. Through this sequence different expressions of identity, domesticity, and economic scale are assessed through a close reading of documentary and archaeological evidence. While the material opportunities through the 19th century are the result of global processes, how this material is understood has to consider local context. It is suggested that material expression and identity change is most dramatic from the middle of the 19th century, when patterns of consumption reflect the globalisation of British production.
- ItemOpen AccessThe historical archaeology of Marothodi : towards an understanding of space, identity and the organisation of production at an early 19th century Tlokwa capital in the Pilansberg region of South Africa(2009) Anderson, Mark Steven; Hall, SimonThis thesis advocates the application of an interdisciplinary approach to the historical archaeology of Tswana towns of the late Moloko period in South Africa, and asserts the importance of examining such sites on a case by case basis against the defined backdrop of their unique historical, political and biophysical contexts. The early 19th century Tlokwa capital of Marothodi, in the Pilanesberg region of South Africa, forms the focus of a study through which the value of this approach is demonstrated. The historical, political and biophysical context of the site is explored, with an emphasis on Tlokwa oral traditions. Archaeological investigation reveals details of settlement organisation, while preliminary ceramic analysis contributes to an understanding of ancestral identity, indicating a possible affinity with early Fokeng lineages stemming from Northern Nguni origins. All of the above is relevant to one particular aspect of production. The organisation of both iron and copper production at Marothodi is explored and analysed against the wider contextual backdrop of the capital. The intensification of metallurgical output, and the adaptation of Tswana cultural codes to the unprecedented demands of living in an aggregated community, demonstrate the degree to which historical context could influence the organisation of production, and consequently the archaeological expression of the town. In summary, this research suggests a period of ascendant political status for the Tlokwa at this time in the history of the chiefdom; a conclusion that could only have been reached through a combination of historical, biophysical, ethnographic and archaeological data.
- ItemOpen AccessThe history, form and context of the 19th century corbelled buildings of the Great Karoo(2012) Kramer, Patricia Anne; Hall, SimonThe major objective of this thesis was to record, document and describe the corbelled buildings of the Great Karoo, a form of 19th century vernacular architecture. The thesis builds on the pioneering descriptive work of James Walton in the 1960s. Description of these structures lays the foundation for a more contextual interpretation of them. This focuses on the 19th century trekboer small stock farmers who occupied these buildings, and whose cultural history dates back to their 18th century movement onto the VOC Cape frontier that resulted in ongoing interaction with indigenous people and the Karoo habitat. The thesis specifically suggests that these corbelled buildings were an outcome of these cultural exchanges and interactions with Khoe and southern Sotho-speaking farmers. The research examines evidence for the chronology of these structures between the 1820s and 1870s, reasons for their discrete distribution in the Karoo and the engineering of construction.
- ItemOpen AccessAn investigation of the regional expression of the vernacular architecture and cultural landscape in the Sandveld(2016) Thomas, Guy; Hall, SimonMuch of the work undertaken in the field of Vernacular Architecture on the West Coast of South Africa has focused on the Verlorenvlei settlement. The buildings of this small settlement have come to define the Vernacular Architecture of the Sandveld. The Sandveld, however, is a relatively poorly understood region in terms of historical research, particularly in the 19th century, but forms an important link between events in the Cape and events on the Northern Frontier in the late 18th and 19th Century. The purpose of this study is to explore, modify and expand the characteristics of Sandveld Vernacular Architecture and build on the empirical and theoretical work done at Verlorenvlei and elsewhere through increasing the sample of buildings recorded. Additionally, the study seeks to pay attention to specific historical and biophysical contexts and considers the development of the vernacular landscape at three analytical scales, a broad, macro-scale, a midscale, and the detailed micro-scale. To do this I have drawn on multiple strands of evidence in both the documentary and archaeological record. These multiple strands of evidence contribute to an understanding of the Vernacular Architecture of the Sandveld that confronts variability that defies a singular definition of a Sandveld Vernacular.
- ItemOpen AccessLiving on the margins: an archaeology of 19th century Karoo rural dwelling(2021) Lupuwana, Vuyiswa Thembelihle; Hall, SimonThe 19th century corbelled houses of the Karoo are an architectural type conventionally attributed to Trek Boer pastoralism. Consequently, mid-20th century scholarship tends to view them as an architecture type that embodies the ideology of whiteness on the frontier. However, recent research emphasises that Cape frontiers in the early stages of development were zones of interaction rather than simply boundaries that defined racial and cultural binaries. Consequently, research on corbelled houses of the Karoo has explored that they are a creole architectural type that came about through the frontier processes of the Cape, particularly between people with mixed Khoe and settler ancestry. Specifically, it has been suggested that the domed ‘igloo' form reproduces the basic indigenous architecture of the pastoralist matjieshuis. Kramer (2012) established a timeline for the building of these structures and estimated that they emerged from the 1830s and were built up until the mid-tolate 19th century. Furthermore, Kramer (2012) and Lupuwana (2017) have linked these structures as the dwellings of pastoralists of Baster descent. This thesis broadens the discussion of these corbelled houses and argues that with the closing of the Northern Cape frontier later in the 19th century, this architectural type straddled multiple social and class identities. In order to explore this issue, archaeological and documentary evidence are combined to interrogate the biographies of three corbelled structures built in the 1860/70s on the farm Gorras in the Carnarvon district of the Karoo, during a period of agricultural, pastoralist and mercantile intensification. Architectural additions, spatial change or inertia, combined with household debris indicates different scales of consumption, degrees of material indulgence and the purchasing power of different households.
- ItemOpen AccessManaging underwater cultural heritage at Mozambique Island: in situ conservation, mitigation and monitoring strategies for Nossa Senhora da Consolação (IDM-003) shipwreck (1608)(2021) Mahumane, Cézar Sebastião; Hall, SimonThe problem of treasure hunting on underwater archaeological wrecks has been discussed since the formal development of maritime archaeology as a field and countries have been fighting against the illegal destruction of important shipwrecks and removal of scientific evidence. The underwater cultural heritage of Mozambique is no exception and is emerging from almost two decades of destructive treasure hunting that has heavily impacted this heritage, particularly around Mozambique Island and adjacent areas. In 2014, the Mozambican Government cancelled treasure hunter permits, opening up opportunities to develop proper methodologies for research on this heritage that will contribute to its management and protection. Importantly, the focus is on building capacity and developing policies and institutions concerned with underwater heritage management. This dissertation contributes to this development. First, it explores the factors impacting the deterioration of underwater cultural heritage at Mozambique Island, with a particular emphasis on the wreck Nossa Senhora da Consolação (IDM-003), lost in 1608 during a Dutch siege of the island. The operations carried out by treasure hunters on this wreck are discussed and these underpin my research on the deterioration of the site and its current preservation status. Having done this, I analyse and discuss the origin of the ship and the associated material culture in order to reinterpret and contextualize its history. The consideration of the material culture additionally contributes to identifying the gaps in the collection left by the treasure hunters. Second, the dissertation assesses environmental factors affecting the site and formulates interventions and a range of in situ preservation, mitigation and monitoring methodologies. The results and conclusion highlight both the environmental and human factors that have, and continue to influence the rate of degradation of the site and the long term actions required to mitigate this degradation
- ItemOpen AccessMaterial realities, belief and aspiration in the later 19th century rock engravings of the Williston District of the Karoo(2017) Lupuwana, Vuyiswa Thembelihle; Hall, SimonThis dissertation interrogates the process of culture change and continuity among the 19th century Khoesan in the Karoo who were the descendants of precolonial hunter-gatherer and pastoralist populations. It looks at how local Karoo dwellers experienced and possibly mediated global impacts through 'older' cultural practice and belief. These impacts started in the 18th century in the Northern Cape when the trickle of Trek Boers of Dutch and German descent began to interact with, displace and disrupt San hunter-gatherers and Khoe pastoralists. This trickle turned into a torrent in the 19th century when the British displaced the Dutch East India company as administrators of the Cape and Empire asserted itself on the Cape hinterlands. In this context new creole identities were formed, especially that of 'Bastaards' whose attempt to adapt, progress and particularly to own land, were progressively marginalized. This intensified through from the 1830s when merino wool production increasingly pulled the Cape into a global export economy that was intensified by the rush to the Northern Cape diamond fields in the late 1860s. As the lattice of colonial roads, towns and railways gathered pace, the networks and nodes of Khoe and San dwelling withered. Most often classified as 'coloured', they were reduced to physical and social immobility as rural farm workers. This dissertation addresses aspects of this experience using their engraved rock art that is thematically dominated by the materiality of a colonial landscape. Horses, wagons, houses, steam engines and clothes are prominent motifs. At a glance these images seem to be disconnected from the precolonial styles and motifs of Khoekhoen and San artists. This dissertation, consequently, asks questions about the nature of this representation and the dislocation between the marginality and poverty of the artists and the material abundance and progress of the colonial world and the evidence of continuity of 'older' social practice that was expressed in new ways. It is argued that because of the diverse context of the 19th century and the undoubted continuity of Khoesan belief and practice, some of these images cannot be taken at face value and that they should be seen as creole expressions and continuities of Khoesan beliefs. Equally, however, there are aspects of these representations that are difficult to read in this way, and engravers are expressing the immediacy of their context and material marginality.
- ItemOpen AccessPastoralist systems of the Roggeveld in the 18th and 19th centuries(2016) Regensberg, Rae Marilyn; Hall, SimonEighteenth and nineteenth century Karoo history has received relatively little archaeological attention. This is despite the fact that the area underwent a major economic transformation in the nineteenth century. The pastoralists of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century Roggeveld predominantly practiced small-scale subsistence farming. This changed rapidly with the introduction of merino wool sheep in the region in the mid 1800s. The region went from small-scale subsistence pastoralism to commercial and global scale Merino wool production, which fully integrated the Roggeveld into the economy of the colony. This dissertation looks at this sequence through the identification and mapping of the infrastructure of pastoralism using Google Earth and begins the process of linking this survey data with refined research on the ground by excavating at one of the sites located on Google Earth.
- ItemOpen AccessPlaatberg on the Caledon Bastaards: hunters, raiders and traders or pious converts of the Wesleyan Missionary Society?(2023) Klatzow, Shelona; Hall, Simon; Chirikure ShadreckPlaatberg mission station was established in 1833 by the Wesleyan Missionary Society specifically to minister to a group of people known as Bastaards, under the leadership of Carolus Baatje. As new arrivals in Transorangia who had crossed the boundary from the Cape Colony, the Plaatberg Bastaards came equipped with wagons, horses, guns and ammunition. They showed great skill in adapting to the volatile frontier world in the way that they negotiated the move from colonial farm workers, servants, slaves or disposed Bastaards in the colony to successful traders, raiders and farmers in the Caledon River Valley. Using both written and archaeological evidence, this thesis examines the way that the creolized Plaatberg Bastaards, as inhabitants of the Plaatberg mission station, responded to the Christianising efforts of the Wesleyan Missionaries. The Wesleyans main objective was to transform the Plaatberg Bastaards from “heathen” inhabitants into “civilized” Christian converts, by the imposition of a variety of rules and regulations to achieve this aim. I consider how the very nature of being a creolized mobile group may have influenced the Plaatberg Bastaards responses to the Wesleyan missionaries. These responses may be reflected in the material culture and their use of private and public spaces within the mission as well as in the wider landscape beyond the mission station boundaries. As “heathen” inhabitants of the Wesleyan mission station, the Plaatberg Bastaards had to negotiate their way between and through the aspirations of the missionaries for Christian converts, and the continuity of their own frontier way of life and belief systems. I examine the missionary aspirations for order and control as physically expressed in the public gridlike layout of the mission village itself, being the centre of colonial and religious power. At a finer scale, I address the archaeology of a single domestic precinct and assess the material evidence of dwelling forms, layout and the artefactual mix. At this scale, the order and control desired of the Plaatberg Bastaards by the missionaries was clearly inflected by the layout and utilization of domestic space and hinted at in the use of traded British goods. Additionally, evidence from a rock shelter outside the immediate boundary of the mission, and of hunting, raiding and trading further afield, indicates the private continuity of frontier practice and belief. Selective resistance by the Plaatberg Bastaards to missionary control was strategic and reflected the economic benefits of prior practice, but also the advantages of new practical skills for life within the rapidly changing political landscape of the Northern Cape frontier
- ItemOpen AccessPopulation variation within the Iron Age of southern Africa: an assessment using dental anthropological and cranio-mandibular metric techniques(2013) Warren, Kerryn Ashleigh; Ackermann, R R; Hall, SimonEvidence for iron smelting, agriculture, elaborate pottery styles and increased sedentism appears abruptly in areas previously inhabited by hunter-gatherers and herders during the Early Iron Age (EIA) of southern Africa from around 250CE. Ceramic evidence connects these (cultural) populations to the second millennium Iron Age sites in eastern Botswana. This material culture differs from second millennium Late Iron Age (LIA) sites in South Africa which are attributed to migrations from east Africa and are connected, via the material culture, to modern Sotho-Tswana and Nguni speakers. Although the material culture of this period is well-studied, there is a gap in correlating Iron Age biological identity with the established cultural identity. Here I present an analysis of metric and nonmetric dental and cranial variation to better understand biological relationships among these samples. Specimens from the LIA, EIA and Eastern Botswana are compared with each other, and to specimens from Iron Age Zambian sites, modern Bantu-speakers and a historic Ndebele site from the midnineteenth century. This research indicates few differences between the EIA and LIA groups, although surprisingly a sample from eastern Botswana is more similar to the LIA group than the EIA group. The Iron Age samples are significantly different from the modern sample, while the historic sample lies intermediate to the Iron Age and modern samples, indicating that Iron Age peoples had a pattern of dental and cranio-mandibular variation that differs from what is seen in modern (admixed?) descendants. This research has important implications for our understanding of the sub-Saharan African dental complex, showing population differences within this complex (between Khoesan and Iron Age peoples) as well as variation over time (between Iron Age peoples and modern Bantuspeakers). This indicates that, while farmers within the Iron Age of southernmost Africa are generally homogenous, there are important differences between populations in sub-Saharan Africa that reflect complex and differing histories.
- ItemOpen AccessSequence and settlement at the rural farm of Blaauwbergsvalley in the Western Cape during the 18th and 19th century(2017) Breytenbach, Marius Ebersohn; Hall, SimonThe farm Blaauwbergsvalley, situated on the Cape west coast just outside Cape Town, has been identified as the place where a field hospital was set up for the casualties from the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806. The significance of the site, however, extends beyond this specific event and includes a longer sequence of colonial and precolonial occupation. This is because a vlei provided a continuous supply of fresh but brackish water. Documentary evidence is discussed that draws attention to the growing importance of the western Cape Slagtersveld from 1652 as a region for livestock production to supply that VOC and its trading fleet. This contrasts with the Stellenbosch and Franschoek areas that developed more broadly around agriculture. More specifically, while it is likely that Blaauwbergsvalley, was a node in the 18th century development of this livestock landscape, it only formally appears in the documentary record from the late 18th century. The documents suggest that Blaauwbergsvalley, never fully functioned as a livestock farm but that it served as an outspan and a place that served the wider region and the flow of livestock and goods between the Table Valley settlement and the western Cape interior. The documented character of Blaauwbergsvalley is cautiously assessed against the archaeology of one area associated with the vlei. It is suggested that the archaeological evidence supports the transient, outspan function of Blaauwbergsvalley particularly in the period between 1800 and 1837 and that its material signature is not typical of other farms and werfs in the region. This needs to be assessed through future research.
- ItemOpen AccessSotho/Tswana stone-wall settlements : investigating the nature of aggregation and variability in late iron age settlements in the Vredefort Dome : a geographic information systems application(2008) Nkhasi, Mamakomoreng Exinia; Hall, SimonThe Vredefort Dome is a meteorite impact site (S26°51'36", E27°15'36") approximately 120km south-west of Johannesburg and about 300km north-east of Bloemfontein. It is one of South Africa's eight World Heritage Sites and straddles both North West and Free State provinces. Apart from its remarkable geology, the Vredefort Dome also has great faunal and floral biodiversity, as well as a wealth of cultural heritage. The Late Iron Age stone-walled settlements built by Sothoffswana speakers form part of this rich cultural heritage, and it is these that are under investigation in this study. Previous archaeological survey and research has shown that Sotho/Tswana speaking peoples densely populated this area during Late Iron Age (from 1400 -1800 AD). While settlement survey has identified three stone-wall settlement types (Group I, Group II and Group III) in the Vredefort Dome, this previous survey had been limited in extent. This research used aerial photographs to survey the whole Vredefort Dome and thereby expanded the sample. This research has focused mainly on the two dominant settlement types, namely Group I and Group II. This work has allowed a more detailed description of settlement preferences and an understanding of site location in relation to biophysical factors such as geology, topography and veld types. Additionally, it has been possible to identify relatively discrete clusters of settlements and through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), homesteads and cattle enclosures have been mapped and measured. The extent of homestead aggregation has also been measured and with this data, comparisons between settlements within clusters have been assessed in relation to possible political and social hierarchies. It is concluded that among Group I settlements and using some appropriate ethnography, there is no obvious settlement hierarchy. In the case of Group II settlement, larger aggregations represent the defensive response to the conditions of the early 19th century difaqane. While these must be underpinned by more centralised political control, on the basis of cattle enclosure and homestead sizes, central authority is not obvious. In contrast, these aggregations are briefly compared with the large Western Tswana towns, where political centralisation can be more easily identified. This research is organized in five chapters: Chapter one introduces the background literature review which has influenced my research interest, and outlines the methodology followed in obtaining relevant data. The outline and discussions of the results are represented in chapter two, exploring is the distribution of different stone-walled sites within the ecological and biophysical context. Chapters three and four closely examine the distribution and locality of specific stone-wall settlement patterns, Group I and Group II respectively. And lastly chapter five represents the concluding discussion.
- ItemOpen AccessStories of war and restitution Curating the narratives of the !xun storyteller Kapilolo Mahongo (1952 – 2018)(2021) Winberg, Marlien; Hall, SimonSouthern Africa's San people have embodied the sub-human other in colonial and Apartheid historiography and has lived fractured, often traumatised lives as a result. The aftermath of dispossession, genocide and war has echoed down the generations and still manifests itself in visible and intangible ways. Previous research has not addressed the personal stories of the immigrant !xun community living on the San farm, Platfontein, near Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province. My thesis works towards filling this gap. The focus of my research was to open up a space in which the !xun leader and storyteller, Kapilolo Mario Mahongo, could actively engage the energy of storytelling in representing his personal history and for the first time, record an Indigenous !xun perspective of the regional wars during the latter part of the 20th century - and its aftermath. By focusing on his personal stories, I demonstrate how anti-colonial narratives are embodied in specific and multiple histories and cannot be collapsed into homogenized narratives. Kapilolo Mahongo died at the age of 68, on May 12th 2018 while working with me on curating his own and his community's stories. My thesis thus evolved to question his place in the San corpus, asking how his memoirs, and the ways in which we produced it over a period of more than twenty years, may contribute toward our knowledge – not only of his personal life, but of the !xun community's history and southern Africa's San people as a whole. With our colonial and apartheid background of discrimination, my role as fellow storyteller and researcher assumes a compelling resonance. I address this directly by engaging an autoethnographic voice to tell my story parallel to the stories by Mahongo and other !xun storytellers, with the intention of creating a record of coming together against the background of our otherness, showing how we lived our difference (through the methodology of storytelling), to create new narratives of truth. My findings report on how storytelling in indigenous epistemologies are knowledge producing and disruptive of colonial narratives, while supporting recovery from the posttraumatic effects of dispossession and war among indigenous communities.
- ItemOpen AccessThe story of a Clanwilliam farm : the history and archaeology of Warmhoek(2011) Viljoen, Yvonne; Hall, Simon; Parkington, JohnThe purpose of this dissertation is twofold. The first is to develop an understanding of the local historical context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and to situate the material record within it. The second is to collate and describe the archaeological materials and records for the site.