MONUMENTALIZATION OF  PLACE

 

 

Short history of the indigenous peoples of South

Africa

(Hull 1981)

 

Stone age people probably evolved into the Khoisan

ethnic stock.  The San (Bushmen) were hunters and

gatherers.  They moved around in small groups, hunting

and collecting plants, insects and honey.  They did

not domesticate animals or grow crops, except

marijuana.  The Khoikhoi were kept sheep and cattle,

which became the basis of wealth, pride and social

status. Neither the Khoi nor San were sedentary

cultivators or ironworkers.  Little or no hierarchy

existed in the San groupings, but "the historically

known Khoikhoi of the western subcontinent clearly had

a form of social organisation which can be seen as an

example of a chiefdom.  These chiefdoms were often

ranked, with some owing allegiance to more powerful

groups.  But chiefs only held power by consent of

their councils." (Hall 1987)

 

Probably between 180-333 A.D., small parties of

Bantu-speaking Iron Age peoples, originating between

East and Northwest sub-Saharan Africa, filtered

southward; bringing with them the ability to make

tools and weapons from iron ores, and sometimes

superior breeds of cattle.  Their population rapidly

expanded - excavations suggest their reaching the

Zululand coast by the fourth century. Conflicts with

the resident Khoisan tribes were inevitable, and the

Khoisan were easy prey.  There is; however, evidence

of a degree of cultural fusion and interaction.  The

Khoi prevailed in the religious and linguistic spheres

as invokers of rain and as purveyors of the click

languages.  The San found it more difficult to

co-exist and many fled or were driven off into the

inhospitable Kalahari Desert.

 

The Bantus developed into two distinctive cultures -

the Sotho-Tswana in the interior and the Nguni along

the eastern coastlands.  They were organised into

autonomous and politically organised chieftains and

introduced settled agriculture to produce food.  With

the resulting accumulation of wealth (in the form of

cattle) came the establishment of a hierarchy that

placed individual chieftains within a wider framework

of allegiance.  Individual villages were economically

self-sufficient - timber, thatch and clay for pots

were readily available from the enviroment - yet

"there is evidence for early economic specialisation,

suggesting that some communities were making a living

by bartering from other villages." (Hall 1987) This

created even larger opportunities for increased

economic power.   

 

Chiefship was hereditary, but the chiefs were "leaders

among equals".  However, as the wealth of a society is

systematically directed to, and retained by, a ruling

group in the chiefdom becomes a state, and the leaders

of such a state become part of a distinct economic and

political class.  (Hall, 1987: 75)

 

At Mapungubwe, the hierarchy is for the first time

visually expressed - the ruling class occupied the

summit of the hill overlooking the rest of the

settlement.  A commercial element of considerable

significance is evident; firstly with the east coast,

and indirectly with other states on the far sides of

the Indian Ocean. (Hall, 1987: 78) 

 

By 1250, the political and economic power of

Mapungubwe started waning; presumably as a result of

overgrazing and the subsequent reduction in livestock

productivity.  Linked to this factor are shifts in the

international trade patterns that enabled communities

on the Zimbabwe plateau to capture vital markets from

Mapungubwe. (Hall, 1987:102)  Hence, migration took

place northwards to the madzimbahwes which were

usually elevated on hilltops and often consisted of

stretches of walling connecting boulders and other

natural features to form an enclosed space, containing

sometimes only a few mud-and-plaster houses.    (Hall,

1987: 92)   The walls served to set those living

inside the dzimbahwe aside from the majority of the

population, who lived in small villages that fell

under the domain of the regional centres.  Great

Zimbabwe, the monumental centre of the madzimbahwes,

reached its zenith by the 15th century. 

 

The persistence of Great Zimbabwe and the rural

madzimbahwe as places of importance indicates that the

ruling class "held the means to prevent the desertion

of their subjects and the fission of their realms."

(Hall 1987:94)  Archaeologically, the most obvious of

these was the monumental architecture.  According to

Garlake, the walls were clearly not built for defence

and would have been of little value for that purpose -

they were rather a statement of the power of the

ruling class and their ability to control labour.

(Hall 1987:94) "They are therefore essentially a

political statement."  (Hall 1987:110) Huffman

suggested that the hilltop locations further

accentuated this symbolism.  (Hall 1987:94)  Other

symbols of power were the stone monoliths, which

Huffman argued to be symbols of authority - the "horns

of the ruler", who could defend his people with his

spear as a bull defends his herd with his horns. (Hall

1987: 94)

 

The collapse of Great Zimbabwe by the end of the 15th

century can possibly be ascribed to the exhaustion of

the gold deposits, which had provided the ruling class

with the wealth that was crucial to their political

power. (Hall 1987: 118)  Also, it is likely that the

"network of regional centres had become too wide and

the power of the central authority too thinly spread

to prevent the tendencies towards fission which are

endemic to state organisations." (Hall 1987: 118)

Political power passed to new states on the northern

and south-western margins of the high plateau. (Hall

1987: 117) 

 

The Karanga - a group of leading families dominated by

the Mutapa dynasty - built up control of the northern

centres, while a southern state - Torwa - was

established on the southern margins of the Zimbabwe

plateau with the capital on the banks of the Khami

River. (Monomotapa refers to the ruler of Mutapa.) The

distinctive architecture of Khami and subsequent

centres consists of house platforms and low,

free-standing walls, often intricately decorated with

chequered and herringbone patterns.  At Khami, like at

Great Zimbabwe, a central group of buildings with

stone walls mark the court and residences of the

important members of society.  At the centre of the

town is the "Hill Ruin", which has "three platforms,

built one above the other in an imposing tiered

structure above cliffs that fall away to the Khami

River." (Hall 1987: 119)

 

Portuguese expansion inland along Zambezi - first half

C16 - renegades moved away from coast and participated

in trade as middlemen.  Permanent settlements

established under surveillance of local chiefs. Formed

alliances with rulers on Zimbabwe Plateau.  Portuguese

Crown granted land titles, renegades became

landholders and war-lords.  Did not remove established

chiefs, but imposed new set of political institutions.

 Parasitic system - drawing profit from population

while holding subjects of the estate to a closed

market in imported commodities.  Dependent on large

armies of slaves, who collected tribute from the

estate's population, provided protection etc.  Islamic

communities on East Coast also demanded slaves.  (Hall

1987: 132…)

 

 

A !Xõ burial (Khoisan)

A burial witnessed in 1974 took place as follows: The

man responsible for the burial selected a shady site

and the men present dug a rectangular pit, oriented

north-south with a burial chamber in the eastern wall.

 The deceased's body, wrapped in a blanket, was

lowered horizontally and placed on its side in the

chamber with the head on a pillow and facing west.

The grave was then covered with grass and branches and

two vertical poles were erected to mark the grave.

Each person present filed past the grave and threw

sand into it.  A third pole was placed horizontally

between the two vertical ones.  Finally, branches were

placed over the grave and the men who had performed

the burial sat to say a short prayer and departed,

flicking their hands in the air.  The !Kung burial

practices are similar, but they surround the entire

area of the grave with a thornbush fence.   (Barnard )

 

 

 

 

Stone cairns (Khoikhoi)

Reference is made to the custom of placing stones over

graves in an effort to protect the bodies from hyenas

and other scavengers.  Stow attributes these cairns

(heaps of stone) to the "Bushmen" - i.e. Khoisan - but

they are now believed to be of Khoikhoi origin.  In

time, the heaps of stone became associated with the

memory of the deceased and the belief arose that the

spirits of the dead could be either propitiated or

offended by the manner in which passers-by treated

these stone cairns.  It became every passer-by's

imperative duty to make some addition to the sacred

heap in order to secure prosperity for himself and his

family.  Even later it was considered that it was

necessary to make an offering to the cairns to

propitiate the favour of the departed kinsman.  Thus,

every passer-by would add a stone or branch to the

sacred heap.  Sparrman in his travels met such cairns

near the Fish River.   -  - They were from three to

four and a half feet high and the bases measured six

to ten feet in diameter.  They lay at intervals of ten

to two hundred feet, but always between two particular

points of the compass; hence in straight lines, and

these always running parallel to one another.  (Stow

1910)

 

 

 

 

Driekopseiland

Site is in the Riet River, close to Hope Town.  This

site, with more than 3600 engravings, is the second

largest in South Africa.  It is unique in that 90 % of

the representations consist of geometric designs. The

density exceeds 2/square meter over vast areas, which

is exceptional.  The engravings are found on two

andesite surfaces that form the channel floor of the

Riet River.  Engravings could only be executed when

river ran directly over bedrock, probably ca.

2500-2200 B.P. or after 1300 B.P.  Concentrations of

engravings more related to availability of exposed

rock than to deliberate choice.  Concentrations mainly

found on relatively high and convex surfaces, or ones

that rise gently in a downstream direction. 

 

Place was also known as Blaauwbank and Bloem's

Homestead.  Bloem was a chief of the Korana - a

herder-nomadic people who moved along the Riet- ,

Vaal- and Orange Rivers.  Driekopseiland may have been

used as a winter habitation.  (Fock 1989)

 

.

 

Early Venda settlements - the Dzata Ruins

The Venda reached the Limpopo Valley around 1750 A.D.

All the early Venda sites have a main stonewalled

enclosure for the chief, usually on a koppie (hill),

with the habitation area of his people adjoining.  The

history of the old village at Dzata is still preserved

in the Venda tribal traditions. (Walton 1956)

 

Dzata is an irregular enclosure bounded by a perimeter

wall of rubble foundations and lengths of stone wall.

The centre of the chief's kraal (camp/enclosure) is an

open space surrounded by short lengths of curved wall.

 These walls have a central niche as a seat for the

chief, and monoliths along the top which served as

backrests for the headmen during council.  Like all

the other walls, the cores of these walls are built of

local rubble, but the facing stones are quite

different and have no counterpart in the vicinity.

According to tradition, Karanga people carried the

stones from Vembe, north of the Limpopo, as a tribute

to Chief Thoho-ya-Ndou, who wished to demonstrate his

power by making the Karanga carry the stones over such

a distance.  Oberholster speculates that the stones

were carried to Dzata in payment of tax.  (Oberholster

1972.)

 

 

Thulamela

A South African National Heritage site near 5the

border of SA, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, in Northern

part of Kruger National Park.  Thought to be an

offshoot of the Great Zimbabwe culture.  Archaeologist

Sidney Miller and his team started reconstruction of

fallen walls.  Stone walls thought to show high status

of royal family, demarcate living areas and provide

privacy.

 

From middens (rubbish dumps), gold jewellery, Iron-Age

implements, ceramic pot sherds, glass beads, spinning

whorls and a piece of Chinese porcelain were

unearthed, confirming hypothesis that gold, iron and

other metals were smelted at Thulamela by a

technologically advanced community who in some way had

access to the Trade with the Far East.  Two graves

were discovered inside the Royal enclosure, one

containing the remains of a man bedecked in gold

jewellery, the other the remains of a tall woman

buried in the foetal position and wearing a golden

bracelet.  Nicknamed "King Ingwe" and "Queen Losha"  

 

 

 

 

Cross/padrão erected by Bartolomeu Dias - Kwaaihoek,

Alexandria, near Grahamstown

 

Bartolomeu Dias left Portugal in August 1487 with two

small vessels in search of a naval route around the

southern tip of Africa to India.  In January 1488 he

was unknowingly carried around the Cape by storms and

only sighted land again in the vicinity of Mosselbay.

He continued his expedition past Algoabay (now Port

Elizabeth) until his unwilling crew forced him to turn

around.  On the way back, he planted the cross of St

Gregory at Kwaaihoek.  This cross served as a beacon

to Portuguese seafarers for more than a century.

(Oberholzer 1972)

 

THUS

We find a few common threads:

o     In order to monumentalize a place, the place is

marked with stones, plant material etc. which is taken

from the natural enviroment but rearranged to have a

specific cultural meaning.

o     These "monuments" grow and change with time -

passersby add to stone cairns, visitors bring tributes

o     Authority is visually expressed by physical

structures, elevation of royal enclosures above the

level of the populace's habitation

o     Decorative stone work, drawings/engravings and

physical structures such as monoliths often indicate a

place of cultural importance, although they may have

had other, even primary, functions. 

 

 

 

SOURCES

 

BARNARD, A.  Hunters and Herders of Southern Africa.

A comparative ethnography of the Khoisan peoples.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

FOCK, G.J.and FOCK, D. 1989. Felsbilder in Südafrika,

Teil III. Köln: Böhlau Verlag.

HALL, M. 1987. The changing past: Farmers, Kings and

Traders in southern Africa, 200-1860. Cape Town: David

Philip.

HULL, R.W. 1981. Southern Africa: Civilizations in

Turmoil. New York: New York University Press.

OBERHOLSTER, J.J. 1972. Die Historiese Monumente van

Suid-Afrika. Kaapstad: Die Kultuurstigting Rembrandt

van Rijn.

STOW, G.W. 1910. The Native Races of South Africa.

London: Swan Sonneschein & Co. Ltd.

WALTON, H. 1956. African Village. Pretoria: J.L. van

Schaik Ltd.