Before Farming: the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers

ref: Before Farming 2007/1 article 1

Shared symbols: cross-cultural clothing motifs in the rock art of the Central Limpopo Basin, southern Africa

Edward B Eastwood
rockart@mweb.co.za

Keywords: Rock art, clothing, San, Khoekhoen, Northern Sotho, initiation rites

Abstract

In the Central Limpopo Basin, San hunter-gatherers, Khoekhoe herders and Bantu-speaking farmers coexisted in the same landscape for about 1500 years. In each of their rock painting traditions there are paintings of women’s aprons associated with a limited range of geometric forms. Common themes are sought in the ethnographies of these three cultural groups in order to outline the significance of aprons and geometric forms to each of them. Because San-authored paintings of clothing are absent from areas where the paintings were made before Khoekhoe settlement, it is likely that the San only began to paint aprons after contact with the Khoekhoen. Similarly, the apparent pre-farmer origins of the Khoekhoe apron motif and associated geometric paintings, together with similarities between Khoekhoe and Northern Sotho geometric paintings, suggests that the Northern Sotho also only began painting aprons after contact with the Khoekhoen. Parallels and commonalities in the ethnographies and rock paintings of the three groups suggest cross-cultural influences with a strong focus on a specific facet of interaction. An examination of the location of sites in the landscape and the interaction between paintings on the rock face made by the various groups show how the apron motif may have become a focus for cross-cultural communication. This study has implications for understanding the complexity of interaction, and for a more nuanced consideration of the Kalahari Revisionist Debate in San rock art studies.

ref: Before Farming 2007/1 article 2

New radiocarbon dates of human and bird bones from Zvejnieki Stone Age burial ground in northern Latvia

Kristiina Mannermaa
kristiina.mannermaa@helsinki.fi
Ilga Zagorska
izagorska@yahoo.com
Högne Jungner
hogne.jungner@helsinki.fi
Gunita Zarina
gunitaz@latnet.lv

Keywords: Latvia, Neolithic, Mesolithic, AMS radiocarbon dating, burials, birds

Abstract

A total of 317 burials, mostly from the Stone Age, have been detected in the Zvejnieki archaeological complex in northern Latvia. Animal bones are often found in Zvejnieki graves. Some of them are modified into artefacts like pendants and can be associated with the human burials as grave goods. However, the behavioural interpretation of unmodified animal bones is less straightforward. By dating human and animal bones with the radiocarbon method it is possible to investigate whether animal bones were intended as grave goods or deposited in the grave area due to other activities. Bird bones are present in sixteen Mesolithic and Neolithic burials at Zvejnieki. We dated six unmodified bird bone and three human bone samples from Zvejnieki in order to investigate whether bird bones are contemporary with humans and thus most likely part of the grave. Four of the bird specimens are of markedly different age from the human remains dated in this study or in previous studies and cannot be interpreted as grave goods. The age of one bird bone is similar to that of the human sample. The dates obtained from human bones in general fit quite well within the previously given archaeological dates for the cemetery.

ref: Before Farming 2007/1 article 3

Yes, there is a ‘shamanism and rock art debate’

Response to Before Farming 2006/4 article 7, ‘Is there a shamanism and rock art debate?’
by David Whitley

Patricia A Helvenston
Patscholar@aol.com

Paul G Bahn
pgbahn@anlabyrd.karoo.co.uk