Morphological analysis of first millenium thin walled pottery from southern Africa

Abstract

This study tests the hypothesis that Khoe speaking herders from northern Botswana brought pottery to the southern tip of Africa. Stylistically in terms of lip types, rim orientations, vessel size, shape and decoration no homogeneity was noted between and within samples from several sites in Southern Africa thus refuting the idea that these vessels were made by the same population. Noted was the fact that during the LSA the technology behind the manufacturing pots and probably the idea of using these pots was the same but each group decorated their variously shaped pots according to their own choices influenced probably by their cultural beliefs. This study argues for a need to shift the mindset that for every new tradition in the southern African archaeological record appearing it has to involve massive movement of people introducing it. Therefore this study brings forth the idea that pottery probably reached the tip of Africa by diffusion.