Sheep ( Ovis aries ) of Venda speakers during the second millennium AD in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12371194 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shaw Badenhorst (0000-0002-6651-9660, Evolutionary Studies Institute University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, corresponding author), Munyadziwa Magoma (Department of Anthropology and Archaeology University of Pretoria Hatfield South Africa) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 944-950 |
| Publication date | 2022-05-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/oa.3115 |
| OpenAlex | W4280545382 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 25 |
Little 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
Animal production · Animal science · Archaeology · Biology · Breed · Domestication · Fauna · Geography · Ovis · Sheep farming · Veterinary medicine · Zooarchaeology · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Medicine · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Ecology
Zooarchaeology
A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites
Cattle, Sheep and Horses
Archaeology and Early Venda History
Exploitation of sheep (Ovis aries) and goats (Capra hircus) by Iron Age farmers in southern Africa
Finding the ephemeral
The size of indigenous Venda cattle during the Late Iron Age in South Africa
Recent archaeological research at Toteng, Botswana
The Effect of Castration and Age on the Development of the Shetland Sheep Skeleton and a Metric Comparison Between Bones of Males, Females and Castrates
Goats (Capra hircus), the Khoekhoen and Pastoralism
Descent of Iron Age Farmers in Southern Africa During the Last 2000 Years
Transvaal Museum Monograph 12
Settlement hierarchies in the Northern Transvaal
An African Survey, Revised 1956
Feasting among Venda-speakers of South Africa
Archaeological Studies
The Advent of Herding in Southern Africa
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |