The origins of Herding in Southern Africa

The origins of Khoekhoen herding society in southern Africa is contentious. Two competing theories: 1) when domestic animals arrived in southern Africa they were absorbed into aboriginal hunting societies by internal exchange mechanisms, who later became pastoralists; 2) immigrating herders arrived from East Africa to the northern Kalahari with their stock, and spread to the southwestern Cape. This book debates the 'Neolithic' model and suggests that animal husbandry would not have easily been taken up by hunters who not only had plenty of game animals at their disposal, but would had to have been able to nurture and sustain herd sizes of more than 60 animals exotic to southern Africa, and where poisonous plants were a threat. The concept of private ownership was also antithetical to their way of life. Equally, the movement of domestic stock throughout southern Africa was very rapid, so this would further suggest immigration, rather than absorption by hunters.

Andrew B. Smith, Archaeology Department, University of Cape Town. PhD 1974 University of California, Berkeley. Research interests: the origins of herding societies in Africa. Publications: Pastoralism in Africa (London: Hurst 1992); African Herders (Walnut Creek: Altamira Press 2005).