Where are the gardens? Early Iron Age horticulture in the Thukela River Basin of South Africa

Abstract

Despite substantial botanical evidence for the kinds of plants and cereals cultivated by early farming communities in southern Africa during the first millennium ad, there remains a poor understanding of where gardens would have been located. Data from archaeological sites in the Thukela Basin of South Africa (e.g. Ndondondwane) are presented in support of the hypothesis that many small plots of vegetables, cucurbits and cereals were planted within settlements as a complement to larger fields placed outside settlements.

Keywords:

• Horticulture
• tropical riverine ecology
• palaeobotanical remains
• spatial organization
• Early Iron Age
• South Africa
• Ndondondwane

Acknowledgements

We extend our appreciation to the staff of the Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali (Heritage KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) in Ulundi and Pietermaritzburg, the Department of History and Archaeology at the Natal Museum and eThembeni (Pietermaritzburg), each of whom graciously offered the use of their facilities during the field and laboratory analysis of the data for this paper. Financial support from the University of Manitoba (UM/SSHRC), the University of Alberta, the Social Science Research Foundation of Canada (Greenfield: Grant No. 410-96-1153; Fowler: Grant Nos. 752-99-1163 and 756-2002-0381), Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali and the South African National Research Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. Tina L. Jongsma, Tim Maggs, Jannie Loubser, Gavin Whitelaw, Matthew Singer and the reviewers (anonymous and otherwise) have all contributed to the development of the analysis and thoughts expressed in this paper and their contributions are greatly appreciated.

Notes

Biographical Notes

Kent Fowler, PhD, University of Alberta, 2002, is a Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has worked on the evolution of social complexity in the Neolithic of Greece (Neolithic Mortuary Practices in Greece, BAR, Archaeopress, 2005) and more recently on EIA ceramic production in southern Africa. His most recent research is on the ethnoarchaeology of ceramic production among the amaZulu of eastern South Africa.

Haskel J. Greenfield, PhD, CUNY, 1985, is currently a Full Professor of Anthropology at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. His research focuses on the evolution of early agricultural and complex societies in the Old World, specializing in archaeological faunal analysis, spatial analysis, archaeological geophysics and ancient butchering technology. Aside from his research on the Early Iron Age societies of southern Africa, he has also conducted extensive research on the secondary products revolution, Neolithic-Bronze Age subsistence systems and the spatial dynamics of Early Neolithic societies in S.E. Europe. Most recently, he has been studying the origins and spread of metallurgy to the Near East.

Len van Schalkwyk is currently the co-owner of the eThembeni Cultural Heritage Management firm (Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). He has an MA in archaeology from the University of Cape Town, and was previously employed as Archaeologist and Assistant Director of Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali, the provincial cultural heritage authority, and Deputy Director of the KwaZulu and the KwaZulu-Natal Monuments Council. His research focuses on the Early Iron Age society in southern Africa, specializing in ceramic and botanical analyses, and cultural resource management in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Haskel J Greenfield

Biographical Notes Kent Fowler, PhD, University of Alberta, 2002, is a Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has worked on the evolution of social complexity in the Neolithic of Greece (Neolithic Mortuary Practices in Greece, BAR, Archaeopress, 2005) and more recently on EIA ceramic production in southern Africa. His most recent research is on the ethnoarchaeology of ceramic production among the amaZulu of eastern South Africa. Haskel J. Greenfield, PhD, CUNY, 1985, is currently a Full Professor of Anthropology at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. His research focuses on the evolution of early agricultural and complex societies in the Old World, specializing in archaeological faunal analysis, spatial analysis, archaeological geophysics and ancient butchering technology. Aside from his research on the Early Iron Age societies of southern Africa, he has also conducted extensive research on the secondary products revolution, Neolithic-Bronze Age subsistence systems and the spatial dynamics of Early Neolithic societies in S.E. Europe. Most recently, he has been studying the origins and spread of metallurgy to the Near East. Len van Schalkwyk is currently the co-owner of the eThembeni Cultural Heritage Management firm (Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). He has an MA in archaeology from the University of Cape Town, and was previously employed as Archaeologist and Assistant Director of Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali, the provincial cultural heritage authority, and Deputy Director of the KwaZulu and the KwaZulu-Natal Monuments Council. His research focuses on the Early Iron Age society in southern Africa, specializing in ceramic and botanical analyses, and cultural resource management in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.