New radiocarbon dates and the herder occupation at Kasteelberg B, South Africa [NEW RADIOCARBON DATES SHED LIGHT ON THE HERDER OCCUPATION SEQUENCE AT KASTEELBERG B, SOUTH AFRICA]
- Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa). Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies
- Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa). Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies; Texas State University, San Marcos, TX (United States). Department of Anthropology
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
- iThemba LABS (South Africa); Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa). School of Physics
- Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa). School of Physics
- Univ. of Cape Town (South Africa). Department of Archaeology
In this paper, we present that five centuries ago, the first European mariners rounding the Cape of Good Hope encountered Khoekhoe-speaking people who occasionally supplied beef and mutton in return for iron, tobacco, alcohol and other exotic goods. The origin of their livestock, as well as of the Khoekhoen themselves, continues to intrigue academics. We now know the first livestock were introduced from the north and that they reached southern Africa over 2000 years ago (Robbins et al. 2005; Pleurdeau et al. 2012). Y-chromosome E3b1f-M293 (Henn et al. 2008) and lactase persistence allele -14010*C (Macholdt et al. 2014) indicate that some Khoe-speakers are distantly related through the male lineage to pastoralists in East Africa (Barbieri et al. 2014); a conclusion that is supported by linguists who locate the origins of proto-Khoe languages in that part of the continent (e.g., Güldemann 2008). But it remains unclear whether the earliest livestock in southern Africa arrived with immigrant Khoespeakers, or whether the Khoe-speakers arrived later: the first livestock may have been traded down the line or infiltrated among southern African San hunter-gatherers (e.g., Sadr 2015).
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- OSTI ID:
- 1393349
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-708788; applab
- Journal Information:
- Antiquity, Vol. 91, Issue 359; ISSN 0003-598X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Atop Kasteelberg: Social Complexity in the Later Stone Age of South Africa
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