Intensification in Context: Archaeological Approaches to Precolonial Field Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa

Abstract

The extensive stonewalled sites dating to the late second millennium AD from Mpumalanga in South Africa have prompted discussions of similar questions to those posed for analogous sites in eastern Africa and for the abandoned agronomy at Nyanga, Zimbabwe. These questions range from historical and archaeological enquiries into the ethnic/linguistic origin of the earliest inhabitants, to attempts to reconstruct site-specific political, economic, and environmental histories through archaeological investigations. Drawing primarily on the evidence from previous excavations at Nyanga, Zimbabwe, and at Engaruka, Tanzania, this article argues for the central importance of establishing inter- and intra-site chronologies to many if not all of these questions. Moreover, given that previous investigations of abandoned stonewalled terraces in eastern and southern Africa demonstrate marked differences in their form and function, it will further be argued that targeted excavation of these features is required at Bokoni sites.

Keywords:

• intensive agriculture
• archaeology
• Engaruka
• Nyanga
• Mpumalanga
• Bokoni

Notes

Thanks are due to Alex Schoeman and Peter Delius for the invitation to attend to the third 500 Year Initiative (FYI) workshop at the University of the Witwatersrand in July 2009, and to Alex, Peter and Tim Maggs for their introduction to the history and archaeology of Mpumalanga during the fieldtrip that preceded it. Thanks too to Sam Dymond and Amanda Esterhuysen for organising the meeting. The discussion presented here has benefited enormously from conversations and site visits during the FYI workshop, and from the numerous previous conversations with many of the people who attended this meeting. The comments made by Robert Soper and two anonymous reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged.

Crops for which there are confirmed evidence from archaeobotanical remains comprise sorghum (Sorghum bicolour) and cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) recovered from contexts associated with house floors at a Bokoni site to the west of Alexanderspruit at the northern end of the Badfontein valley (Collett 1982:35, 40); multiple finds of sorghum found throughout the occupation sequence at Engaruka (Sassoon 1967:207); and sorghum, millets (eleusine and pennisetum), ground bean (Voandziea subterranae), cowpeas, castor oil plants (Ricinus communis) and various cucurbits recorded from settlement contexts at Nyanga (Summers 1958:175–7; Soper 1996:29; Jonsson 2002). Faunal remains attesting to the keeping of both cattle and sheep/goat comprise teeth recovered by Collett (1982:37) from a small Bokoni enclosure of the type later interpreted by Maggs (2008:35 Figure 1, 42) as a possible stallage compound; the recovery of a large assemblage of faunal remains at Engaruka by Sassoon (1966, 1967) and Robertshaw (1986) that includes domestic stock and shows a complete absence of hunted species (Thorp 1986); and evidence from Nyanga indicating the keeping of small stock within settlement houses whilst dwarf cattle were stalled in sunken stock pits (Plug et al. 1997; Plug and Badenhorst 2002).

An approach currently being undertaken by Rosenstein, personal communication.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daryl Stump

1