The Archaeology and Technology of Metal Production in the Late Iron Age of the Southern Waterberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

The inception of metallurgy in southern Africa was relatively late, compared to other regions in Africa, and as a result, this part of the sub-continent was mistakenly thought to have been less innovative during the Iron Age. On the contrary, dedicated materials analyses are showing that starting from the terminal first millennium AD, southern Africa is replete with innovations that include the growth of state systems, specialised long-distance trading, the re-melting of glass beads, the working of ivory, and the weaving of cotton using ceramic spindle whorls.Additionally, the appearance of gold and tin production, against a background of on-going iron and copper metallurgy, has been interpreted by some as intimating innovation in metal technology. While some research energy has been invested into these novelties, there has only been incidental concern with the innovation in tin and bronze production. This study investigates the context of this novelty in the metallurgy of the Southern Waterberg, an area that hosts one of the unequivocal cases of pre-colonial tin mining in southern Africa. Recent trace element studies have indicated that bronzes from several elite sites in the region, were produced using tin that was sourced from the Southern Waterberg. The current chronology from the Southern Waterberg does not capture the full tin sequence that is implicated by the trace-element analyses of tin and bronze from dated contexts elsewhere and falls short by at two centuries. To bridge this gap, the present study sought, to explore the visibility of tin production in the Southern Waterberg at sites that are contemporary with the appearance of tin and bronze in southern Africa, and to investigate how this innovation was integrated into on-going iron and copper production.Rigorous methodological and theoretical approaches that include ethno-historical, archaeological and archaeometallurgical studies were employed in order to glean relevant information required to address these issues.

‘Phalaborwa where the hammer is heard’: crafting together the political economy of Iron Age communities in southern Africa, AD 900–1900

“…About 250 kilometres northwest of Phalaborwa lies Rooiberg (Fig. 11.1), a locality that is archaeologically well known as the site of large scale tin mining (Chirikure et al 2010;Bandama 2013). The uniqueness of Rooiberg is derived from the observation that it is one of the only two known sources of the tin ore exploited in precolonial sub Saharan Africa.…”

“…Metals were exploited by Iron Age communities for over two millennia, in a variety of changing socio-political contexts (Maggs 1982(Maggs , 1992Miller and van der Merwe 1994;Calabrese 2000;Swan 1994Swan , 2008Miller 2010;Chirikure 2015). Increased social stratification from the terminal first millennium is correlated with an increase in mining, the specialised production of iron and copper (Swan1994; Calabrese 2000;Miller 1995Miller , 2001Chirikure 2007), and new innovations in metal working, particularly the production of tin bronze (Miller 2001;Killick 2009;Bandama 2013). The settlement of densely occupied hilltop sites, and the associated change in social and political differentiation in the early second millennium, represented the emergence of a class-based hierarchy and the manifestation of early states (Sinclair 1987;Pwiti 1991;Calabrese 2000;Pikirayi 2001;Huffman 2000Huffman , 2007Huffman , 2009Sinclair et al 2012;Chirikure et al 2013Chirikure et al , 2016a.…”

“…4.3). Elsewhere in the Highveld, Moloko ceramics appear to replace Eiland ceramics in the 14th century (Mason 1975;Huffman 2007), and overlap between Eiland and Moloko is noted by some scholars (Hall 1981;Bandama 2013;Biemond 2014). Moloko ceramics are thought to be related to the identity of ancestral Sotho-Tswana speakers (Huffman 2007).…”

Eiland crucibles and the earliest relative dating for tin and bronze working in southern Africa

“…The site is significantly eroded and its northern boundary is poorly defined because of the possible stratigraphic overlap between this site and Rhenosterkloof 5. No dateable samples were collected from Rhenosterkloof 3, but decorated pottery places it in the Eiland phase, which has been well dated elsewhere to between AD1000 and 1300 (Hall, 1981;Huffman, 2007: 226e229;Bandama, 2013). Eiland ceramics also occur at Rhenosterkloof 5 in a mixed context with Madikwe ceramics that postdate the 15th century.…”

“…Furthermore, it is suggested that the distribution of Eiland ceramics is a proxy for even wider interactions and networks that facilitated trade and exchange opportunities (Bandama, 2013). This evidence provides a context within which to search for a longer chronology for tin production at Rooiberg.…”