Iron Age Material Culture Package

The material-culture package Iron Age people brought.

(By Wendy Carstens, information taken from:

Huffman, T.N. (2007) Handbook to the Iron Age, University of Kwazulu-Natal Press, Scottsville)

Contents:

Introduction.

1. Central cattle pattern

1.1. Stone walling

1.2. Huts

1.3. Storage

1.4. Crops

2. Skills.

2.1. Pottery

2.2. Iron making

3. Way of life.

3.1. Lobola

3.2. Courts

3.3. Ideology of pollution

3.4. Burial customs.

4. Why the culture disappeared in the 1800’s.

Introduction. There were three Iron Age periods in Southern Africa, early (200 to 900), Middle (900 to 1300) and late (1300 to 1800’s). Melville Koppies falls into the late period. Iron Age immigrants came into southern Africa via three routes, the eastern stream from West Africa, the middle stream through Zimbabwe and the eastern stream along the east coast. The western stream into Kwazulu gave rise to the Nguni languages, which spread NW to spread the Ndebele related culture after the 1800s. Sotho Tswana were in the Melville Koppies Area. Shona is the only language to have developed directly from the Iron Age.

Their routes were determined by archaeologists using two methods

· They carbon dated the organic remains of settlements

· They have made extensive studies of pottery.6 of Huffman’s 21 chapters relate to a very scientific study of pottery

1. Central cattle pattern.

This is associated with the Iron Age settlements at Melville Koppies which fall into the late Iron Age period, AD 1300 – 1800

(Early age AD 200 – 900, middle 900 to 1300)

Mapungubwe was middle IA, and Great Zimbabwe was the transition between middle and late. Great Zimbabwe did not have a central cattle pattern. Instead they had a hierarchy system, where the most important people lived in huts high up on slopes and the commoners lived at the foothills near the agricultural lands. This hierarchy was perpetuated by marriage. It had sacred leadership and the way to pray for rain was through the leader to God.

The Shona language was the only Bantu language to evolve directly out of the Iron Age. The other Bantu languages were introduced from western Africa.

In the central cattle pattern, the centre of the homestead /settlement is the most important place. Here all the important things are concentrated, e.g. the cattle kraal, main underground storage huts, grain storage bins on the surface, the area where men gathered to hold courts. The great hut was at the back, wives were to the left and right of this with the right hand side reserved for the most senior wives. Followers were bunched in the front of the kraal. The whole area looked like a pansy formation as each hut and its surrounds made a little loop.

Each hut in turn was divided into areas. The inner area was a male area and the outer area was for wives, right hand most senior again. The back of the hut was for private sacred purposes and the front was for secular activities.

1.1. Stone walling.

Huts and the kraals were surrounded by stone walling. The more important wives had higher walls. The technique of walling is not definite. Some walls had rocks cut and packed neatly in rows as is seen at Great Zimbabwe. Others had two vertical faces filled with rubble in between. Others were packed and wedged.

Our kraal wall at Melville Koppies was reconstructed by David Mpilo according to what was done at his village.

Remains of walls can often be seen from aerial photos. The ruins also trapped water and silt and are often covered in dense vegetation. Walls seem to have been for privacy and also for defence. Some walls are like fortifications.

1.2. Huts.

The Nguni in Kwazulu made beehive huts. The Tswana Sotho at Melville Koppies made circular huts with daga floors. Daga is a mixture of dung and mud. The inner walls were made with upright saplings tied together, slapped with handfuls of clay to get purchase, then covered with more clay when that was dry, and finally smeared with more clay to get a smooth finish. Each hut took about 500 saplings so the area must have become denuded of trees.

The outer poles encompassed a veranda.

The roof had circular strips of wood tied to a frame work. This was covered with thatching grass that hung in a fringe over the veranda. The veranda was to keep the house cool and also to keep rain off the mud walls of the hut. The hut was cool in summer and warm in winter. The thatch was thin at the top to allow smoke to escape, otherwise the smoke from cooking fires in inclement weather stung eyes. The roof of the hut was not high. Height was limited by the height of saplings, and it was also for defence. People had to crawl into the hut so it was difficult for an armed intruder to be aggressive while on his knees.

1.3. Storage units.

Grain and root storage bins took different forms. Each hut had its own private storage bin. Some were built on a layer of rocks, covered with a platform of poles and then covered with a thick daga floor. The walls were made of daga. Grain was piled in from the top and then completely sealed in to keep out termites. Methane gas from the dung killed insects. When they wanted grain, they mad a hole at the bottom, took out what was needed, and then daga-ed up the hole again.

Woven baskets and pottery jars were also used for storage.

Underground storage pits were dug in the centre of the cattle kraal. They were deep and lined with dung. Food stored here was good for up to three years provided it didn’t get wet. When the grain was finished, the pit became a rubbish dump to prevent people from falling into the hole. Archaeologists love these pits because they provide a wealth of evidence. The central storage pit was a store for hard times. Visitors were also fed from raised storage bins in the centre kraal. It was the chief’s duty to see that this was filled so that he could provide for his followers in difficult times. They expected the chief to be wealthy so that he could perform his duties properly.

Shallow storage pits were made for root crops. Early rains caused the roots to sprout, and these eyes were then cut out and used for the next season’s crops.

1.4.Crops

Indigenous crops seem to have been insect and disease resistant. Perhaps this is because they didn’t practise mono culture and did not cultivate vast fields at a time. Sorghum and millet were the two main crops before maize was introduced. The millets were pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana). They needed about 500mm of rain annually to flourish and night temperatures should not drop below 15 degrees.

Other crops were gourds, melons, pumpkins, ground nuts (Voandzia subterranea), cow peas (Vigna unguiculata), sweet potatoes (yams), and leafy crops.

A flat pitted grindstone was used to grind maize. A grooved one with channels was used to grind sorghum.

There were periods of warm wet years alternating with cold dry ones. In the good years, 1500 to 1700’s, over 50 years of good rainfall occurred and people moved into previously cold windy places like the Highveld. Maize was also introduced and this led to an increase in population. Maize also required more water that millet and sorghum.

However, in early 1800, there was a dip in temperature and about five years of harsh cold dry conditions led to famine, political unrest and migration of people from Kwazulu to the Highveld.

2. Skills they brought.

2.1. Pottery.

Huffman has made detailed studies of pottery. Pottery gives a good indication of the movement of peoples because different groups practised different techniques. The technique for decorating pots was by using a stylus, probably a porcupine quill, to make lines, pricks, squiggles etc.

The motifs were mostly geometric, unlike Attic red pottery which had figures. Iron Age motifs included straight lines, herring bone patterns, triangles, blocks of lines going alternate ways, sometimes with infilling.( Modern potters are not restrained by these traditions, lizards etc adorn pottery and good work is sold for a fortune in craft shops). Decorations could cover the lip, neck, shoulder and/or bowl of the pot.

The uses of the pot determined its shape. Some groups used different pots for everything, e.g. a pot for making beer and a pot for drinking beer. Water storage and a drinking bowl. A meat platter. A grain bowl. Bowl for porridge, relish. Shapes included thin tall lips, flat squat shapes, thin walls, thick walls.

Other groups used the same pots for a variety of purposes.

Women traditionally made pots and beer.

2.3. Iron making.

Bloom from smelting is the ‘child’ and must be raised in a public place. That is why the forging then took place in the centre of the homestead.

Carbon dating, used from the 1960’s must be done in situ from material found there. I.e. the charcoal used to fire the furnace. Pottery from the area also helps dating. Radio carbon dating is a span of time, rather than a significant date point. The mid point is as accurate as any other point in the span.

During harsh periods, Iron Age settlements would retract and move, but mining activities would stay because the materials were local. They then traded for what was needed.

3. Way of life

3.1. Lobola

It is not certain when this custom started but it became very much part of Iron Age culture. Bride wealth was measured in cattle. Marriages created and cemented alliances. Cattle represented the wealth of the community. The chief was expected to have many cattle, some had over 5 000 head of cattle (think of the Khamas of Botswana) Cattle and wives were the main avenue to status and power.

3.2. Burials

These were a very important ritual. Adults were buried on an east west axis, with heads pointing west, the direction of death. They were laid in a foetal position, as they were in the womb, and as they slept in the home. They lay on their right side, the side of seniority. Thus home, birth and death were closely linked. Prepubescent children could be buried in any position because they hadn’t learned the rules of life yet. Chiefs were buried sitting up, because they were only resting, not sleeping.

Ancestors played a positive role in daily life, so the proper place to bury people was in the settlement. The location and mode was dependant on age, sex and status.

Important people were buried in the central cattle kraal. This was the place for chiefs, and sometimes even a whole family of the chief. Married women who had children were buried at the back of their huts. Children who had not reached puberty were buried in the front of the huts where they had played.

People who died in HOT circumstances, e.g. still birth, murder etc had to be buried in a COLD place so the spirits did not come back for vengeance. The ash midden was a cool place because the heat of the fire was now gone.

Death was only temporary for adults. After a year, the spirits returned and took their place as ancestors. (A lot of people have another ceremony after the first anniversary of a death in western culture, ashes on koppies) (However, in Zimbabwe, the dead were buried outside the kraal and spirits were not welcomed back as they could be evil.)

If a person died elsewhere, his head, fount of knowledge and emotion, should be brought back to be buried in the kraal. If this was not possible, a goat could be buried in his place.

Death was a great leveller, and what wealth there is should be spent on the funeral. Hence lots of people and much beer and meat necessary, a custom which still persists today)

3.3 Legislation about remains.

Archaeologists want to excavate, descendants want ancestors undisturbed. The South African National Heritage Resources Act (No 25 of 1999) protects remains that are over 100 years old. It distinguishes between affected parties, the descendents, and interested parties, the Archaeologists. If descendants can’t be traced, SAN Parks acts on their behalf. Archaeologists study the remains and then return them to the exact place that they were found if they are less than 100 years old. If they are older, they are put in a recognised institution. Affected communities are partners in decisions.

3.4. Ideology of pollution.

· It was important to expel unclean elements from the body, by vomiting, enemas and blood.

· A headman was expected to rise early every morning and vomit against the kraal wall to purify himself.

· Blood was removed from abscesses to remove alien objects placed in the body by witchdoctors/ancestors.

· Spit could channel evil influences away

· Urine was an essential ingredient in medicines to counteract negative social actions, e.g. adultery.

3.4. Courts.

Courts were held where men met to discuss political matters, resolve disputes and family matters. The extent of the courts jurisdiction depended on the rank and status of the head. Small homesteads had headmen, different neighbourhoods had chiefs, and very large areas had paramount chiefs (500 000 people). Only the paramount chief could order the death penalty, (witch craft, treason).

The senior leader got death duties, court fines, forfeits, tributes, booty from raids and a high bride price for his daughters.

4. Why the Iron Age culture was lost.

Possible reasons are

Political

· The Difaqane caused by famine, drought and political unrest.

· Mzilikazi’s arrival in the MK area in the 1820’s from Natal. Some say he brought law and order to a disturbed area. Others say he brought more mayhem.

· Raids from the Cape area by armed mounted Griquas caused unrest.

· The arrival of voortrekkers/landverhuisers from the Cape culminating in the battle of Vegkop 1836. After this Mzilikatsi moved westwards and then into present day Zimbabwe. This led to the present day division between Matabele (Nguni) and Shona.

New technology

· The import of ploughs from Europe during the Industrial revolution. Women preferred to marry a man who could offer her a plough drawn by an ox than a man who offered her a hoe for her to till the soil with.

· Guns were more effective weapons than Iron Age spears.