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This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.

When material objects are recovered in a place different from their presumed place of origin, archaeologists usually fix attention on those objects and places themselves. Material objects do not, in themselves, however, have intrinsic value, and underlying the material variables of objects and their loci of origin and deposition is a more fundamental actuality of their translocation, the regimes of value in which things were assessed and in which they moved. Fundamental to this is that things have exchange value as well as consumption value and may also have spiritual value in specific circumstances. I argue that these are particularly important considerations when material objects are translocated from a distinct socio-geographic region, with its internal regime of values, to another quite different region, with probably diverse local regimes of value, as is the case when Early-Middle Iron-Age (300-1300 CE) sumptuary goods, mainly glass beads, moved from the East African Indian Ocean sphere to interior southern Africa, which had its own distinct regimes of value. In this article, I present data for this movement and premises regarding regimes of value, to address the trajectory of such beads into the southern region. I suggest that marine gastropod shells, cowrie and conus, are equally significant markers of interior-coastal associations, and their presence at 7th-11th-century southern sites with no glass beads suggests that different regimes of value were held by southern African peoples. This offers clues to bead and shell distributions. Several concrete instances demonstrate the point.

Jacobson's pioneering study of ostrich eggshell (OES) beads as possible relative dating or stylistic markers for distinguishing herder and pre-herder or hunter-gatherer archaeological sites initiated an interest in OES beads among southern African archaeologists. The legacy is still with us, because it appeared to offer resolutions of particularly vexing problems in southern African archaeology concerning the introduction of herding economies and the identities of peoples involved either as agents or bystanders. A number of studies soon followed; their interpretations are summarised here along with a tabulation of the metrical data upon which the interpretations are based. A quarter century of increasing rigour and comprehensiveness in the analysis of OES beads in southern Africa, however, has not led to increasing confidence in the results obtained. These studies, while technically sound, did not have a reliable interpretive base as little was understood about OES variability. An overview of ostrich physiology and eggshell development along with an analysis of recent and archaeological beads and bead articles reveals that a bead's size is a function of a complex interplay between a shell's original chemical structure, environmental influences pre- and post-bead fabrication, and a bead maker's original intent for the use to which the bead was to be put. Some statistical and presentational deficiencies in OES bead analyses are examined.

Homologous origin myths concerning the Tsodilo Hills in north-western Botswana, Polombwe hill at the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika in Zambia and Kaphiri-Ntiwa hill in northern Malawi are examined. Parallels are drawn between the myths, where, in the process of creation, a primal pair in undifferentiated space and time passes through a series of liminal states, thereby bringing structure to the landscape and legitimacy to society in Iron Age Central and Southern Africa. These myths narrate the instituting of social legitimacy in their respective societies based on a resolution of the inherent contradiction between the concepts of authority and power, lineage and land. The structure of rights to possession of land is examined, and the text considers the role of sumptuary goods such as glass beads and metonymic signifiers such as birds within this structure. This study examines the prominence of hilltops as the residence of paranormal power and its association with human authority, and relates this to the archaeological interpretation of the Iron Age site Nqoma (Tsodilo Hills); this is compared with Bosutswe (eastern Botswana), Mapungubwe (Shashe-Limpopo basin), and the Shona Mwari myth recorded by Frobenius as used by Huffman in his analysis of Great Zimbabwe. Cet article examine les mythes d'origine homologues concernant les collines de Tsodilo dans le nord-ouest du Botswana, la colline de Polombwe à la pointe sud du lac Tanganyika en Zambie et la colline de Kaphiri-Ntiwa dans le nord du Malawi. Il établit des parallèles entre ces mythes, avec au sein de leur processus de création un espace-temps primitif indifférencié traversant une série d’états liminaux, conférant par là-même une structure au paysage et une légitimité à la société de l’âge du Fer en Afrique centrale et australe. Ces mythes narrent le processus d'institution de la légitimité sociale dans leurs sociétés respectives, basé sur une résolution de la contradiction inhérente entre les concepts d'autorité et de pouvoir, de lignage et de terre. L'article étudie la structure des droits à posséder des terres, et s'interroge sur le rôle des objets somptueux comme les perles de verre, et des signes métonymiques comme les oiseaux, dans cette structure. Cette étude examine l'importance des collines en tant que résidence du pouvoir paranormal et son association avec l'autorité humaine, et fait la relation avec l'interprétation archéologique du site de Nqoma (collines de Tsodilo) qui remonte à l’âge du Fer; elle fait ensuite la comparaison avec Bosutswe (dans l'est du Botswana), Mapungubwe (bassin du Shashe-Limpopo) et le mythe de Shona Mwari rapporté par Frobenius et utilisé par Huffman dans son analyse du Grand Zimbabwe.

Abstract Current potters in Manaledi village in the Tswapong Hills of Botswana aver that they and their ancestors for five generations have made pottery exclusively with clay from nearby sources. We begin with an examination of Manaledi and its clay mine to uncover current dialectics between village, landscape, clay, potters, and ancestors. Archaeological sherds found around the village and clay sources document occupation by makers of Early Iron Age (ca. AD 500-750), Middle Iron Age (ca. AD 750-1050), Late Iron Age (ca. AD 1420-1800), and 18th-20th century wares related to current Manaledi pottery. The proximity of archaeological deposits, clay sources, and village made it possible to conduct simultaneously what might otherwise be considered three separate projects. As a consequence, we are able to document that Manaledi clays have been used to make pottery for some 1500 years and to consider long-standing constraints on potting this implies.

Over the last 30 years Wilmsen and Denbow have recovered and studied pottery from 28 sites in Botswana dated between ca cal AD 200 and AD 1885. Some sherds in several of these assemblages appear, on stylistic evidence, to have been made in other sub-regions of Botswana than where they were found. These inferences are confirmed in this paper by use of an independent archaeometric technique, optical petrography. We are able to demonstrate the transport of pots from the Okavango Delta to Bosutswe in the eastern hardveld, some 400–600 km distant, as early as cal AD 900–1100, and of others over equal distances to the Tsodilo Hills probably before that time. We are also able to demonstrate several shorter itineraries at contemporary and later times in the Tsodilo-Delta-Chobe region as well as in the hardveld. Furthermore, we demonstrate that clays were transported from geological deposits to sites where pots were made from them. We consider some implications of these findings for a deeper appreciation of the movement of peoples and goods at several time periods of the past and present as well as further implications for understanding the participation of the region in the Indian Ocean trade during the 8th–10th centuries.

The Tora Nju site in Botswana has a small Khami Level-3 stone-walled structure, a moderate midden area, and several small hut and grain-bin mounds. Sampling excavations were carried out in all these areas by Denbow and Wilmsen, recovering 1780 faunal specimens. Plug identified 197 (11%) of these to taxa. The inventory is overwhelmingly dominated by cattle (Bos taurus) with 65% (n = 128) of all identified specimens and 93% of identified domesticates. Remains of other domesticates are fewer, with 4% (n = 5) sheep/goats (Ovis/Capra) and 3% (n = 4) chickens (Gallus domesticus). Domesticates account for 70% of the entire inventory which compares favourably with the Hill midden at the Khami site. Tora Nju fauna are compared with other Khami sites in eastern Botswana, Selolwe and Vumba, and the contemporary Lose phase at Bosutswe. Probable cattle management strategies are considered, while ritual and regional implications of the faunal assemblage are suggested.

Tora Nju is the local name for a collapsed stone walled enclosure situated approximately 20km from Sowa Spit, 200 m south of the Mosetse River, and 7 km east of the present strandline of Sowa Pan. The site that takes its name from this ruin includes several midden areas containing pottery, stone tools, and faunal remains along with house structures and grain bins. Excavations were carried out in parts of all these site components. The middens contained a moderately rich suite of materials including sherds, glass and shell beads, metal, and animal bones. The enclosure, however, yielded very little. Consequently, we concentrate here first on the middens before turning to the enclosure. Typical Khami vessel forms predominate throughout the midden stratigraphy; a few midden sherds are comparable with Lose wares in part contemporary with Khami ceramics. A possible earlier Leopard's Kopje presence is also indicated. Glass beads characteristic of Khami Indo-Pacific series were also recovered from all midden levels. Three charcoal samples yielded contradictory radiocarbon dates for the middens, and we have no direct means for dating the enclosure. We evaluate evidence for a takeover of Sowa salt production by the Khami state sometime in the early 15th century. Finally, we examine historical records and incorporate current linguistic and dna studies of Khoisan and Bantu speakers to illuminate the social history of the Tora Nju region. Tora Nju est le nom local pour une pierre enceinte fortifiée effondrée située à environ 20 km de Sowa Spit, à 200 m au sud de la rivière Mosetse, et à 7 km à l'est de la ligne de rivage actuel de Sowa Pan. A la proximité de le site on trouve plusieurs des zones de petite tertres contenant de la poterie, des outils en pierre et des restes fauniques ainsi les structures des maisons et des silos à grains. Des fouilles ont été effectuées dans des parties de tous ces composants de site. Les tertres contenaient une modérément riche gamme de matériaux, y compris tessons, perles de verre et coquille, le métal et des os d'animaux. L'enceinte, cependant, a donné très peu. Par conséquent, nous nous concentrons d'abord sur les tertres avant de se tourner vers l'enceinte ruine. Khami formes de la céramique vaisseaux typiques - jarres de jante roulées avec le cou légèrement évasement vers l'extérieur ou verticales avec des surfaces lisses, noirs ou rouges bruni - prédominent dans toute la stratigraphie du tertre cependant, quelques tessons de tertres sont comparables avec des céramiques de le site de Losi, qui sont en partie contemporaine avec des céramiques de Khami. La présence de quelques céramique du type Leopard's Kopje est aussi possible. Perles de verre, fluxé d'un carbonate de sodium minéraux, sont caractéristique de la série Khami Indo-Pacifique décrite par Wood ont également été récupérés à partir de tous les niveaux de tertres. Trois échantillons de charbon de bois a donné les datation de radiocarbone contradictoires pour les tertres, et nous n'avons aucun moyen direct pour la datation de l'enceinte; Nous évaluons la preuve pour une prise de contrôle de la production de sel Sowa par l'Etat Khami parfois au début du 15ème siècle. Enfin, nous examinons des documents historiques et intégrer des études linguistiques et génétiques de les actuelles parleurs de langues Khoisan et Bantoues pour éclairer l'histoire sociale de la région de Tora Nju. This article is in English.