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Archaeological evidence and conventional explanations of southern Bantu settlement patterns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Thomas N. Huffman
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Extract

The settlements of Bantu-speaking people in Southern Africa vary widely in size and distribution, ranging from the dispersed homesteads of the Nguni to the large towns of the Tswana. These two extremes have interested Africanists since the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Europeans first encountered the Thlaping at Dithakong near present-day Kuruman. Today the contrast between Tswana and Nguni settlements are most often attributed to differences in social stratification, cultural preference or environmental conditions.

These conventional explanations provide a focus for considering the meaning of settlement patterns among the southern Bantu. I first develop a model of political and settlement hierarchies to isolate the essential differences between Nguni and Tswana communities, and then I present archaeological evidence that calls into question the conventional explanations.

Résumé

Preuves archéologiques et explications conventionnelles des types de villages des Bantous du Sud

Le contraste qui existe entre le type de village aggloméré de ceux qui parlent le Sotho-Tswana et le type de village dispersé des Ngqunis s'est d'habitude expliqué par des différences dans l'environnement, les préférences culturelles ou la stratification sociale. Cependant, toutes ces explications conventionnelles sont réfutées par les données archéologiques. Un modèle archéologique met en lumière le caractère unique du type aggloméré et attribue ses origines à des évènements particuliers qui se sont déroulés au cours du dix-huitième et du dix-neuvième siècle.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , July 1986 , pp. 280 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1986

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