Synopsis
Between the last centuries BC and the early second millennium AD, central southern Africa witnessed massive social change. Several landscapes hosted a variety of socio-political developments that led to the establishment of state-level society at Mapungubwe, c. 1220 AD in the middle Limpopo Valley. These different landscapes were connected through various forms of circuitry, including social, political, economic and topographic networks. While most often these systems and developments are discussed in the context of farmer societies, local forager communities also saw associated shifts. They were present from before the arrival of farmers and not only witnessed but also participated in local systems leading to the appearance of complex society. Despite numerous studies in the valley, this has not been explored; generally, forager involvement in socio-political developments has been ignored and only farmer sequences have been considered. However, from the early first millennium AD, foragers themselves transformed their own society. Changes have been noted in settlement patterns, craft production, trade relations, social interactions, wealth accumulation, and status. Moreover, these changes occurred unevenly across the landscape; at different forager sites, different responses to shifting social networks have been recorded. When viewed together, the spectrum of change suggests that valley foragers developed social complexity.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Interactions, frameworks and complexity
Chapter 2: Forager contexts in the middle Limpopo Valley
Chapter 3: Continuities and discontinuities across the contact divide
Chapter 4: Early socio-political change
Chapter 5: Foragers during and after state formation
Chapter 6: Networks of Change in the valley and beyond
Chapter 7: Redressing perspectives of foragers interactions
Chapter 8: References
About the Author
Tim Forssman was born in Johannesburg in 1986. He began cultivating a passion for prehistory and nature at school. Having completed an archaeology degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, he is now studying his PhD at the University of Oxford in England. He is currently researching ancient Bushmen who once lived in the remote parts of eastern Botswana. His research interests include the Iron Age, experimental archaeology, the Stone Age and rock art.
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