Swaziland: Early human occupation (c2 million BP - c1750 CE)

Updated June 2008

In common with much of east and southern Africa, there is evidence of early hominid occupation stretching back to 1.5 million, perhaps even 2 million years ago, in the form of early Stone Age hand axes and cleavers made of quartzite, chert or rhyolite (Forrester 2005a; Price Williams 1980, 13). Little more can be said of this period with any degree of confidence, for the artifacts themselves are devoid of stratiographic context and can only be approximately dated by comparison with others found elsewhere, while the limestone necessary for fossil formation is absent (Forrester 2005a; Price Williams 1980, 13, 15).

Evidence of the Middle Stone Age, and occupation by anatomically modern humans, has been found in a large number of sites throughout Swaziland, primarily in open air sites, though rock shelters that could be excavated were also found (Price Williams 1980, 15). Significant among these is the Ngwena Mines first probed in 1964 (Dart & Beaumont 1969, 127). Initial dating placed mining of iron ore for red ochre to at least 28 000 BP, but subsequent work has pushed this back to about 43 000 BP, making this the oldest known mine to date (Dart & Beaumont 1969, 127; Forrester 2005a). The significance of ochre use lies in the widespread belief amongst scholars that it was used for ritual purposes which indicated uniquely human symbolic behaviour. Lyn Wadley (2006, 49-63) points out that, aside from use for art or body decoration, red ochre could well have been used for tanning hides, warding off insects or producing mastics for tool making, and its presence alone does not necessarily imply ritual and symbolism.

Nevertheless, there is evidence of red ochre being used in a ritual fashion from excavations at Border Cave, where the corpse of an infant was found buried with a shell pendant and sprinkled with ochre (Leonard van Schalkwyk and Beth Wahl cited in Montgomery 2004, 20). Border Cave, in the Lubombo Mountains lies just on the KwaZulu-Natal side of Swaziland's border with South Africa. Here the earliest known tallying devise was found, a 7.7 cm long bone piece from the fibula of a baboon with 29 notches on it and was dated to about 35 000 BP (Bogoshi et al 1987). Also here have been found ostrich eggshell beads dated to 38 000 BP (Mitchell 2002, 7). The Sibebe Shelter has yielded evidence of later Middle Stone Age activity, possibly of a seasonably occupied hunting camp, tentatively dated to about 22 850 BP (Price Williams 1981, 26).

Investigation of the Siphiso Shelter, a seasonal single family camp in the Lubombo Mountains in the north-east of Swaziland, has yielded Stone Age finds that indicate occupation of the site between roughly 15 000 and 6500 BP (Barham 1989, 33; 1992, 46). The earliest assemblage of tools and artifacts (15 000 to 13 500 BP), despite the late dates, displays puzzling technique characteristics of the late Middle Stone Age found at Sibebe and elsewhere in Southern Africa at much earlier dates (Barham 1989, 41). The second assemblage (12 000 to 9500 BP) is Early Microlithic and also "late" in terms of technological development by comparison with other sites in the region that have dates of between 18 000 and 12 000, though a date of c10 200 BP at Ravenscraig has also been attested (Barham 1989, 41). The third assemblage (9500 to 7600 BP) shows strong continuity with the second and strong affinity with contemporaneous assemblages in Southern Africa (Barham 1989, 41). The fourth assemblage (7300 to c6500) is characterised by small fine grained scrappers, small flakes and bladelets, as well as small beads (Barham 1989, 41, 42). The Late Stone Age people here, as elsewhere in Southern Africa, were the ancestors of the Bushmen (JR Masson, cited in Forrester 2005b).

There is a period of about 4000 years when there is no human occupation, between 6000 to 2000 BP, at Siphiso and a similar hiatus has been found at Nyonyane Shelter from 8000 BP to 3300 BP (Barham 1989, 35; JR Masson, cited in Forrester 2005b). It is believed that the withdrawal of the Bushmen from the area was due to a period of climate cooling and as conditioned warmed, about 3000 years ago, they returned (Forrester 2005a). The new occupation saw the flowering of rock art across the country as the Bushmen gave visual expression to their shamanism (Forrester 2005a).

From about 400 CE evidence of an Iron Age culture begins to emerge in Swaziland, with finds of pottery and iron smelting and working (Price Williams 1980, 16). It is believed that this is evidence of the penetration of the area by Black people, bringing with them agriculture and animal husbandry (Forrester 2005a). It is uncertain what the cultural or language affiliations these early settlers had, but from about 1400 AD it is thought that Sotho speaking groups had occupied and least the Highveld sections of Swaziland (Forrester 2005a; Price Williams 1980, 16). A number of stone walled sites have been found in the Highveld parts of the country, linked by Swazi oral tradition to the Sotho (Price Williams 1980, 16). This may represent a generalization of the pre-Nguni situation in the country, for an analysis of an infant burial at Simunye dated to 1688-1730 CE was attributed to people related to the Tsonga by Ohinata & Steyn (2001).

References

BARHAM, LS 1989 "A Preliminary Report on the Later Stone Age Artefacts from Siphiso Shelter in Swaziland", The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 44(149), June, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3888317 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

BARHAM, LS 1992 "Let's Walk before We Run: An Appraisal of Historical Materialist Approaches to the Later Stone", The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 47(155), June, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3888991 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

BOGOSHI, J, NAIDOO, K & WEBB, J 1987 "The Oldest Mathematical Artefact", The Mathematical Gazette, 71(458), December, [www] http://www.jstor.org/page/termsConfirm.jsp?redirectUri=/stable/pdfplus/3617049.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

DART, RA &38; BEAUMONT, P 1969 "Evidence of Iron Ore Mining in Southern Africa in the Middle Stone Age", Current Anthropology, 10(1), February, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/2740688 [opens nwe window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

FORRESTER, R 2005a "Outline archaeological chronology" IN Swaziland National Trust Commission, [www] http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/archsd.asp [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

FORRESTER, R 2005b "Cultural Resources - Mlawula Archaeology, Siphiso Rock Shelter", [www] http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/mlaarch.asp [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

MITCHELL, P 2002 "Hunter-gatherer archaeology in southern Africa: recent research, future trends" Before Farming, 1 (3), [www] http://www.waspress.co.uk/journals/ beforefarming/journal_20021/abstracts/papers/20021_03_s.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

MONTGOMERY, D 2004 "Book Two: African Eve at Home" IN Aquatic Ape and African Eve, [www] http://faculty.mdc.edu/jmcnair/EveA4.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

OHINATA, F & STEYN, M 2001 "Report on Human Skeletal Remains from a Later Iron Age Site at Simunye (Swaziland)", South African Archaeological Bulletin, 56(173/174), December, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3889028 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

PRICE WILLIAMS, D 1980 "Archaeology in Swaziland", The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 35(131), June, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3888718 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

PRICE-WILLIAMS, D 1981 "A Preliminary Report on Recent Excavations of Middle and Late Stone Age Levels at Sibebe Shelter, North-West Swaziland", The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 36(133), June, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3888015 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

WADLEY, L 2006 "Revisiting cultural modernity and the role of ochre in the Middle Stone Age" IN Soodyall, H The Prehistory of Africa: Tracing the lineage of Modern Man, Jonathan Ball Publishers.