Sheep (Ovis aries) of Venda speakers during the second millennium AD in South Africa

dc.contributor.authorBadenhorst, Shaw
dc.contributor.authorMagoma, Munyadziwa
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-14T10:53:17Z
dc.date.available2023-03-14T10:53:17Z
dc.date.issued2022-07
dc.description.abstractLittle remains known about the physical size of local sheep from southern Africa during the distant past. Early Venda speakers settled in the region during the middle of the second millennium AD, and an early site associated with them, Mutokolwe B, yielded 11 complete metapodia of sheep. This is the largest find of this nature in the southern African region for farming communities. The fauna from Mutokolwe B dates to between AD 1450 and 1550. Measurements of archeological sheep bones can help tease apart questions of breed development and socio-economic organization in the past. We used these metapodials to calculate the shoulder height of sheep. Sheep from Mutokolwe B ranged between 61.69 and 71.17 cm in shoulder size (average 66.28 cm), which is similar to other local sheep breeds such as the Nguni found in South Africa. In addition, the size of the sheep from Mutokolwe B falls within the variation of modern sheep found in southern and Eastern Africa.en_US
dc.description.departmentAnthropology and Archaeologyen_US
dc.description.librarianhj2023en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe National Research Foundation (NRF), the Department of Arts and Culture and the South African National Parks (SANParks).en_US
dc.description.urihttp://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/oaen_US
dc.identifier.citationBadenhorst, S., & Magoma, M. (2022). Sheep (Ovis aries) of Venda speakers during the second millennium AD in South Africa. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 32(4), 944–950. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3115.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1047-482X (print)
dc.identifier.issn1099-1212 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1002/oa.3115
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/90106
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rights© 2022 The Authors. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.en_US
dc.subjectCaprinesen_US
dc.subjectSheepen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmenten_US
dc.subjectFarmersen_US
dc.subjectOsteometryen_US
dc.subjectSoutpansbergen_US
dc.subjectWithers heighten_US
dc.subjectVenda speakersen_US
dc.subjectSouth Africa (SA)en_US
dc.titleSheep (Ovis aries) of Venda speakers during the second millennium AD in South Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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