Magaliesberg Snippets
Archaeology (2)
Stan & Desiré Kantor
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE 19TH CENTURY TSWANA SETTLEMENT SITE AT MMAKAU NEAR BRITS
Udo Kusel and Anton Pelser
1. INTRODUCTION
During 2002 Udo Kusel was contracted for a heritage impact assessment on the Hoekfontein water pipeline. When he visited the site, the contractor had already dug the 2 metre deep trench for the pipeline. In this process some 700 metres of archaeological sites on the Swartkoppies Mountain on the farm Hoekfontein 432 JQ had been destroyed. On the positive side the trench had exposed the stratigraphy over a distance of 700 metres. In the walls of the trench some nine human remains were exposed.
After a permit for excavations was approved, two small excavations were done. The department of Anatomy of the University of Pretoria was contacted to handle the human remains, which later were reburied near the site. Some interesting aspects of the first excavations were the fact that the site dated from 1433 to 1900. The other aspect was that the stonewalling associated with the Late Tswana settlement was only present in the top 20cm. This site thus had a long history of occupation before stonewalling was introduced.
2. HOEKFONTEIN SURVEY
Shortly afterwards Udo Kusel was contracted by Keeley Granite to survey the whole Swartkoppies Mountain on the farm Hoekfontein 432 JQ. During this survey 470 individual archaeological sites were recorded. This included some 13 stone heaps or Isivivanes and twelve waterholes. The Hoekfontein sites cover an area of about 1000 hectares. This is most probably one of the richest Late Iron Age sites in South Africa. When the survey was undertaken some 110 sites had already been partially destroyed by mining. To protect and possibly develop some of the sites the Mmakau Heritage Site Steering Committee was formed by the Madibeng (Brits) Municipal Council. All possible role players were invited to participate in the project.
3. THE MMAKAU HERITAGE SITE
The biggest concentrations of archaeological sites occur on the northern foot of the Swartkoppies Mountain. Eventually it was decided that one of the larger sites should be developed for the public to see. The site that was chosen lies between two small granite hills with a beautiful view over the Springbok flats.
All the archaeological sites are severely overgrown by Dichrostachys cinerea (Sickle bush) which is a pioneer shrub, and grows extremely well in over exploited areas. To clear the development site was a tough task. After bush cleaning individual structures like floors, granaries and large stone anvils were visible. Here after the site was surveyed and mapped (see Mmakau Heritage Site Map). The site basically consists of four interlinked settlements A, B, C and D. Of these B is most probably the older site, which eventually was extended to A C and D. Another interesting feature of the site was that the last inhabitants who occupied the site, had already contact with Europeans and had build square houses in the old site and thus partially destroyed the original layout.
3.1 Stone Walling
The first step in the reconstruction of a Late Tswana archaeological site is the rebuilding of stonewalls. Stonewalls slowly collapse over a long period of time especially because of baboons searching for insects. The bottom half of stonewalls is nearly always intact. By removing all the stones, which have been displaced, the original wall and building style is exposed. It is important to rebuild stonewalls in the same style as the original.
On the site there are at least two stonewall styles present. The important areas of higher status are clearly distinguishable from the less important areas. In the areas of high status the stones used had been specially selected to build walls of a good quality. Stones scattered all over the site made it impossible to properly clear the site or to excavate. In some instances large heaps of stones were found which originally made no sense to us. These heaps were left till the end of the project. Stone by stone was removed to reveal hidden structures, which were deliberately closed or hidden before the site was abandoned. These hidden structures included the tribal fireplace at the entrance to the main site as well as the chief's two fireplaces and a group of smithies.
It is clear that the inhabitants had time to abandon the site in an orderly way by closing up all-important tribal activity areas. This process of rebuilding stonewalls proved to be a very rewarding process as it revealed important structures which otherwise would not have been discovered.
3.2 The Archaeological Excavations
Around 23 excavations have been conducted so far. Of these 12 were on huts, 9 of which were completely reconstructed while 3 have been left open for archaeological display purposes. A number of excavations (test trenches) were also conducted in certain areas on the site to test the depth of the cultural deposit, while a number of other features, exposed by the rebuilding of the stonewalls, were also excavated. These included a number of stone circles, or enclosures, as well as a historic house (square built structure) and the so-called chief's fireplace.
Hut excavations
Besides a fairly large amount of (mostly undecorated) pottery and faunal remains, the excavations of the various hut floors recovered also some other interesting artefacts. These include ostrich egg-shell (oes) fragments and small numbers of oes beads, mussel shell pendants, bone needles and other bone tools, metal objects such as belt buckles, buttons and spears and fragments of European ceramics. Stone objects included grinding and rubbing stones, hammer stones and a number of scrapers.
The most important aspect of the hut excavations is the fact that it provided us with details regarding the layout, size and construction of these structures. This was of great help during the reconstruction part of the work. What is clear from the excavations is that each hut had a stone packed floor smeared with dung and clay. Each hut also had a veranda, except the cooking huts. The sizes of the huts vary between just less than 3 meters in diameter (the inner part) to nearly 4 meters, while the verandas were rarely more than 1 m wide. Three of the huts also had stone packed backbenches or platforms that were also plastered. Two of the huts, the chief's hut and one other, also had a third compartment (a stone walled enclosure) in front. This is probably an indication of the status of its occupant.
Other features revealed by the excavations, forming part of the huts, include built-in grinding stones, granary platforms, storage pits and fireplaces. All the huts had sliding doors, evidenced by stone or clay sliding-door grooves and wooden door-stays. What is interesting is the fact that all the doors opened to the left, except one (could this person have been left-handed?) Another interesting find from the floors is that each hut had, in its centre, a magnetite (iron stone) block. According to informants this could have been used for protection against lightning, something that is still used in certain areas today.
The excavations of the huts also helped with the interpretation of settlement organization. This part of the settlement complex (Settlement A) contained approximately 5 or 6 individual family units, each with around 3 to 5 houses, including a cooking hut. The reconstruction of each hut (including the cooking huts) was done on the original hut floor exposed by the excavations, after detailed and proper documentation of the archaeological remains were completed. Besides the archaeological evidence, historical and ethnographic records were also utilized during the reconstruction, while skilled workers, knowledgeable in the building of traditional huts were also employed.
Other excavations
Test Trenches
A relatively large amount of pottery, faunal remains, metal and stone artefacts, and other cultural material were recovered from these trenches. More importantly, however, is the evidence of at least two, and maybe three, phases of human occupation revealed by these excavations. Radiocarbon dates from excavations at other sites in the area indicate that it could be as much as 400 years of continuous settlement.
One of the trenches will also be kept open for display purposes, with a roof built over it and steps going down into the trench so that visitors can see the various occupational layers exposed in its profile.
Historic house
A number of square-built structures are present on the site. One of these, a one¬-roomed house located in Settlement A and next to the main cattle enclosures, was also excavated. The walls were built of dressed stone and mud. Besides buttons, beads, metal, glass and ceramics, the excavations showed that the structure had a veranda that ran right around the house, it had plastered walls and a plastered floor and it had a wooden door (remains of the door were found). A "step", paved with pieces of pottery, was also found at the entrance of the house. This entrance, in contrast to the other huts, faced away from the centre of the settlement (to the outside).
Stone circles/enclosures and chief's fireplaces
During the rebuilding of the stonewalling, a number of features, including some smaller stone circles and other enclosures, were uncovered. They were completely covered (seems intentionally) by stones. This is one of the unique opportunities provided to us in a project of this nature and scale. Under normal circumstances these smaller, but equally important, features would not have been visible, and therefore would have escaped our scrutiny. It is clear that a total, and to some extent correct interpretation, of the settlement layout/organization of such a site is not wholly possible without the repacking of collapsed stone walling. It should of course be remembered that this will not always be possible.
The excavation of a number of these intentionally covered/collapsed circles, enclosures and platforms provided us with the opportunity to study some of the micro settlement features at the site. On a platform, close to the southern entrance of the chief’s homestead, two well-constructed packed stone circles were found, both filled with fine white ash and some bone. According to ethnographic records, both the location, shape and number of these features indicate that they functioned as the chief's fire-places. The platform was also seemingly paved and plastered.
A large stone packed circle situated near the main kgotla and cattle kraal was also excavated. This feature is one of several alongside the kgotla and cattle enclosures, all filled with stones. The excavation recovered not only pottery and faunal remains, but also evidence that this feature might have been used as a smithy. At least 20 anvils, some hammer stones, as well as metal slag and a number of adzes and hoe blades were also recovered from here. The remains of an earlier hut was found underneath, further evidence of earlier settlement at the site.
3.3 Reconstruction of Structures
At this stage of the project the reconstruction focused on the rebuilding of 12 houses. For this process local wood collected during the clearing of archaeological site was used. The reconstruction of the houses includes the construction of the wooden framework for the walls and roofs. As the Tswana people have for long been influenced by missionaries, today all of them build square houses. The people working on the site had to be taught how to build a traditional Tswana house.
After the wooden frames were built the walls had to be plastered. We re-used the soil from the excavations but added a small amount of cement as binding agent. The plastering of the walls is done in three stages. The first stage is to plaster the wall by throwing clay into the openings of the wooden framework. A second layer is then added to smooth off the walls. A final layer of red clay was added as decoration (paint).
Thereafter the thatching followed. African people thatch with the grass seed to the outside of the roofs where as in European thatching the stems of the grass are on the outside.
The following step was to install the floor. Finally on the outside of the house the whole area is covered with a layer of clay and cow dung. This firstly protects the archaeological deposits underneath and secondly gives a smart courtyard, which is easy to maintain. This is also the way it was done traditionally.
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