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An early date for cattle from Namaqualand, South Africa: implications for the origins of herding in southern Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jayson Orton ,
Peter Mitchell ,
Richard Klein ,
Teresa Steele  and
K. Ann Horsburgh
Jayson Orton
Affiliation:
1Archaeology Contracts Office, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa; School of Archaeology & St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6LE, UK (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Peter Mitchell
Affiliation:
2School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, St Hugh's College, Oxford OX2 6LE, UK; School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa (Email: [email protected])
Richard Klein
Affiliation:
3Program in Human Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA (Email: [email protected])
Teresa Steele
Affiliation:
4Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8522, USA (Email: [email protected])
K. Ann Horsburgh
Affiliation:
5Department of Anatomy and the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, PO Box 913, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand (Email: [email protected]); School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
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Abstract

When did cattle come to South Africa? Radiocarbon dates on a newly found cow horn indicates a time in the early first millennium AD. In a study of the likely context for the advent of cattle herding, the authors favour immigrants moving along a western route through Namibia.

Keywords

South AfricaNamaqualandcattleearly herdingdispersal routes
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 335 , March 2013 , pp. 108 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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