The size of indigenous Venda cattle during the Late Iron Age in South Africa

Abstract

Very little data exist on shoulder heights of cattle from archaeological contexts in eastern, central and southern Africa, in no small part due to the virtual absence of complete long bones. We report on complete metapodia of cattle from Mutokolwe, a Late Iron Age site in South Africa that was occupied by Venda-speakers. The shoulder height of cattle from Mutokolwe ranges between 106.90 and 129.49 cm indicating the presence of a small breed of cattle. We present shoulder heights for a number of cattle breeds from eastern, central and southern Africa to show that indigenous, unimproved cattle from this region are often small in stature, well within the range for that recorded at Mutokolwe. Dwarf cattle have previously been reported from Nyanga in eastern Zimbabwe dating from the Late Iron Age. The size of cattle at Nyanga, although small, is within the range of other indigenous cattle from the subcontinent.