The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History

Archaeological data, oral traditions and documentary evidence are combined to elucidate the Late Iron Age Moloko sequence in the Marico region of South Africa's North West Province and its bearing on early Tswana history. A settlement chronology based on radiocarbon dates from Early Moloko sites in central Marico correlates closely with Tswana oral traditions, which recall that the Hurutshe first moved into the Tswenyane area in the 15th century AD. Early Moloko settlements were small, confirming research results from other localities that the pioneer Sotho-Tswana did not initially congregate in large towns. The inception of the Late Moloko in the second half of the 17th century AD witnessed the shift of settlements from the foot of hills to hillsides and spurs. This change in settlement location, which was marked by the increased use of stone for building purposes, coincided with the end of a warmer and wetter spell in the 'Little Ice Age' and major population movements in the South African interior. The principal section of the Hurutshe began to aggregate at their capital Mmakgame in the second half of the 18th century AD before they finally relocated to the more defensible hilltop site of Kaditshwene, which was shortly afterwards destroyed during the so-called difaqane. Contemporary written accounts suggest that the western Tswana adopted maize as a staple only after the invasion of Mzilikazi's Ndebele in the 1820s, thus long after the process of aggregation had started. The disintegration of these populous settlements cannot, on present evidence, be linked to the cultivation of and dependence on maize during a period of drought and political instability. The different data sets, which serve as independent controls over each other, attest to cultural continuity as well as significant changes in the nature and scale of precolonial Tswana society.