Variabilities and Anomalies: An Archaeological Study of Early Iron Age Agriculturist Communities at the Emseni Site in the Thukela River Basin of the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Underhill, Anne

Abstract

This dissertation studies the spatial layout, settlement patterns and economic organisation of a first-millennium AD agriculturist settlement in the interior region of the Thukela River Basin in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Archaeological studies in Southern Africa have provided evidence suggesting that in the first millennium AD, agriculturists with mixed economies moved and expanded into the region at least two to three thousand years ago. This movement and expansion have been traced through the lens of the cultural package concept known as the Bantu Package or the Bantu Cultural Package. The appearance of permanent settlements along and near river valleys with evidence of agricultural and pastoral practices and associated technologies and tools form the main components of the package. In addition, evidence of ironworking technologies and tools resembles the complete Bantu Cultural Package, which confirms the movement and expansion of first-millennium AD agriculturists into Southern Africa. Moreover, models such as the Central Cattle Pattern have been added to the Bantu cultural package to demonstrate this movement and expansion while highlighting the shared similarities in the spatial layout and settlement organisations at these early sites. The present study investigates the variabilities and anomalies within the archaeological record that are often masked using concepts and models such as the Bantu Cultural Package and the Central Cattle Pattern. Archaeological research at the Emseni site provides evidence that suggests subtle, yet apparent variabilities and anomalies often not accounted for and discussed by these concepts and models. This evidence emanates from data collected by an extensive archaeological pedestrian surface survey, which mapped and recorded 283 archaeological features associated with the Emseni site. These features include pits with various fills, burial pits, middens, ceramic scatters, a stone platform, ironworking areas, and furnace debris. In addition, daga architectural features such as granaries and hut floors were identified, mapped, and recorded. Based on the ceramic analysis, the Emseni site was occupied during the Msuluzi (AD 600 to AD 800) and Ndondondwane (AD 800 to 950) periods. Excavations of one of the ironworking areas with artefact classes such as iron ore, slag material, tuyère fragments and solid ceramic figurines provided data that infers variabilities in how the Emseni site was organised. In addition, excavations of domestic spaces associated with daga architectural features further suggest that these variabilities are recorded in the distribution patterns of the various classes of material culture. The artefacts retrieved from daga architectural features included ceramic sherds that confirmed the two occupational periods. Moreover, other artefact classes included faunal remains, shell disc beads, and ceramic sculptures. So far, the Emseni site is the only archaeological example in Southern Africa with evidence of in situ ceramic sculptures associated with daga architectural features, particularly remains of granaries. This evidence is unique and the first to be reported; it provides an opportunity to revisit some of the earlier interpretations associated with ceramic sculpture context and the use and discard patterns of these objects. The compelling evidence provides an opportunity to rethink the meaning of granaries by formulating testable hypotheses on the symbolic meanings of granaries, and these meanings are manifested and associated with the discard patterns of ceramic sculpture. Moreover, the data from the various classes of archaeological material culture at the Emseni site exemplifies and highlights subtle anomalies and variabilities in the spatial layout, settlement patterns, and economic organisation of these first-millennium AD agriculturist sites. The findings from this study indicate that the anomalies and variabilities in the spatial layout, settlement patterns, and organisation need further investigation. Data from such studies could answer additional questions about the movement and expansion of first-millennium AD agriculturists into the region and the social changes and shifts that formed part of the expansion. Furthermore, problematised concepts such as the Bantu Cultural Package and the Central Cattle Pattern should not be entirely disregarded and discarded. Instead, archaeological research should move towards formulating testable hypotheses to investigate some of the assumed patterns demonstrated by these concepts and models. These studies should consider addressing how and why these anomalies exist and what social dynamics and processes could create these variabilities. In addition, these studies could provide insights into whether these anomalies are evidence of possible early expressions of power that later inform the development of socio-political complexities in the region.

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