Although based on strong historical, linguistic and ethnographic evidence, the conclusion that immigrant Khoekhoe pastoralists introduced the first livestock to southernmost Africa finds no convincing archaeological support. This may be for a number of reasons. Perhaps nomadic pastoralists leave no archaeological traces; or migrations are difficult to detect. Archaeology and the other disciplines may not be looking at the same thing. Or maybe the migrations date to the second millennium AD, long after the first livestock had reached southernmost Africa. It is not easy to tell: Later Stone Age animal bones, stones and pots do not broadcast the language and identity of the people who discarded them.

Invisible herders? The archaeology of Khoekhoe pastoralists

When did cattle come to South Africa? Radiocarbon dates on a newly found cow horn indicates a time in the early first millennium AD. In a study of the likely context for the advent of cattle herding, the authors favour immigrants moving along a western route through Namibia.

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An Early Date for Cattle from Namaqualand, South Africa: Implications for the Origins of Herding in Southern Africa

This paper is a response to the growing reference to archaeological evidence by linguists and geneticists interested in the spread of early farmers and pastoralists in southern Africa. It presents two databases. The first contains the archaeological evidence for pastoralism and farming in southern Africa, for the period 550 BC to AD 1050. This is the first time that the seven different types of archaeological evidence that have traditionally been used to identify both spread events are presented together at this scale. This was stimulated by our interest in investigating the antiquity of an early ‘Iron Age package’ relative to the spread of single archaeological traits. The analysis shows that the package appears approximately 700 years after sites containing pottery, cattle and sheep, without agriculture, appear in the drier parts of the sub-continent. It post-dates the appearance of earlier sites with pottery associated with farmers, metal-working and cultivation in the eastern half of the sub-continent. While poor preservation undoubtedly explains the absence of some parts of the package, the analysis suggests that other explanations should be considered. The second database is a quantitative, spatial study of archaeological publications on southern African farming and pastoralism for the period 1950 to 2016, covering the same geographical area and archaeological timeframe. This is presented as a proxy for research-intensive areas in attempt to show the gaps in archaeological fieldwork and knowledge.

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The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa

Die Sprachen der Hamiten

The Southern African Radiocarbon Database (SARD) is a new online, open-access database of published radiocarbon dates from southern African archaeological contexts Compatible with the calibration, Bayesian modelling and mapping functionality of the OxCal software, the SARD will greatly assist in the documentation and analysis of chronological trends across the subcontinent This article introduces the database and presents two case studies that demonstrate its utility and its integration with OxCal, comparing the temporal distribution of radiocarbon dates in two archaeologically well-investigated regions, and assessing the timing of Middle to Later Stone Age technological developments across the African subcontinent

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An archaeological radiocarbon database for southern Africa

Archaeologists commonly cite the high mobility of pastoralists and destruction by modern development and agriculture to explain the low number of herder sites known to date. This paper presents an alternative explanation. Here it is argued that the type of research itself is at least partly responsible for the limited results. The focus on deeply stratified archaeological deposits in caves and coastal middens at the expense of open landscape surveys, the persistence of typological classification and the lack of research into the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Khoekhoen are presented as causal factors. A dominant theoretical model links all three. The cultural identity or 'dichotomy model' requires deep deposits and large numbers of artefacts in order to classify assemblages as either produced by hunters or by herders. The dominant model also encourages a focus on the pre-colonial period, as hunter and herder identities are thought to have become less distinct after colonial settlement. In contrast, results of recent work suggest that the best methods for recognising herders in the archaeological record may involve open landscape survey and the study of low-density sites, the study of spatial and technological organisation and the use of a wider range of historical sources, including those from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To cite this article: Arthur, C. 2008. The archaeology of indigenous herders in the Western Cape of southern Africa.  Southern African Humanities 20 : 205-20.

Charles Arthur

Papers

The archaeology of indigenous herders in the Western Cape of South Africa