Iron Age farmers, AD 4001000

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Iron Age farmers, AD 4001000
Archaeologists use the term Iron Age to refer
to iron-producing farmers who first settled in
South Africa around 1700 years. These people
spoke languages related to Shona, Zulu and Sotho,
and brought crops and domestic animals to
southern Africa. Their communities included
skilled potters and specialists who manufactured
iron and copper for tools and jewellery.
The farmers built homesteads and villages close
to rivers in the bushveld of southern Africa.
These areas provided good soils, year-round
grazing and wood for fuel. This photo shows the
location of an Iron Age site next to the Mngeni
River.
Iron Age farmers kept cattle, sheep and goats.
Archaeological research shows that they used the
cattle as bridewealth.
The potters made pottery decorated with
distinctive designs. Archaeologists can use this
pottery to map the settlement and movement of
various groups of farmers on the landscape.
Sorghum, millets, cowpeas, and calabashes are
summer crops. For this reason, Iron Age farmers
settled only where summer rains fell. The photo
shows an archaeological team excavating the
remains of a grain store.
The pale grey earth in this photo is in fact
1200-year-old cattle dung in an archaeological
excavation.
Beads made from the shell of large land snails
(above) and iron (below). The beads are between 3
and 10 mm in diameter.
Two bone beads (left, compare with decoration on
the pots above) pendant in the form of a
carnivore canine, shaped from bone bone tablet,
probably used for divination.
Bone points, possibly used as awls or arrow tips.