An archaeozoology of the Ndzundza Ndebele in the Steelpoort River Valley, Mpumalanga, South Africa, c. 1700 AD - 1883 AD

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the faunal remains from three farmer or Late Iron Age sites in the Steelpoort River Valley, occupied c. AD 1700–1900 by Ndzundza Ndebele. The Ndzundza were forced, successively, to relocate from KwaMaza and Esikhunjini toKoNomtjarhelo as a result of continual fighting among themselves, other farmer communities, and with the British and the Boers. I examine their subsistence behaviour during this period through an archaeozoological analysis, identifying what species, sex and age of animals were utilized by the Ndzundza. This examination of daily life through animal procurement, during a violent and unstable political period in South African history has produced a 200 year trajectory that shows people trying to perpetuate cultural norms in ever more abnormal conditions until they broke with tradition and followed necessity by abandoning cattle, hunting wild game on a larger scale, and exclusively tending small herds of small stock.