Keeping up alliances
Multifaceted values of pottery in eighth- to seventeenth-century eastern Botswana as reconstructed by optical petrography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6041723 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edwin Wilmsen (University of the Witwatersrand), Edwin Ν Wilmsen (University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author), David Killick (0000-0002-8787-7651, University of Arizona), James Denbow (0000-0003-2260-0421, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas-Austin, 2201 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712 United States of America), Adrianne Daggett (Florida Department of Historical Resources, 1112 S Magnolia Drive, J104, Tallahassee, FL 32301, United States of America), Phenyo C Thebe, Phenyo Thebe (University of Botswana) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 369-408 |
| Publication date | 2019-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Azania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0067270x.2019.1650523 |
| OpenAlex | W2972450636 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 29 |
Many sites with Zhizo, Leopard's Kopje and Khami pottery have been identified around the southern and eastern margins of Sowa Pan, eastern Botswana. This paper presents results of the analysis of sherds from the three largest such sites — Kaitshàa, Thabadimasego, Tora Nju — plus clay from 39 geological deposits. Sherd fabrics identified by optical petrography reveal that pots were made of clays from several lithological terrains. This suggests associations with other sites. We demonstrate a north-south axis of pottery vessel movements — and thus of people — beginning about AD 900–1000 and extending from sites in the Chobe-Zambezi waterveld along Sowa Pan to Kaitshàa and onward to the Kalahari margins at Bosutswe; a later east-west axis connected Tora Nju with Bosutswe and the Khami regional centre at Domboshaba. Identical sherd fabrics, plus specific vessel design parallels, firmly establish the existence of alliances between these sites. This entailed a network of affiliations between potters whereby each preserved their own socially relevant precepts of potting, including potter-ancestor dynamics, while adapting alterations in new contexts of potting praxis. Sherds should thus be seen in terms of alliances rather than as an indicator merely of commodity-exchange. Our study demonstrates, on the basis of vessel fabric rather than of decorative data, that such interactions routinely took place in Botswana from Zhizo times onward. This paper therefore adds independent insights into studies of social alliance maintenance and pottery style syncretism in pre-colonial southern Africa
Ancient history · Archaeology · Geography · Mineralogy · Petrography · Pottery · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Geology · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History
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| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |