Customs and settlement patterns in the first millennium AD: evidence from Nanda, an Early Iron Age in the Mngeni Valley, Natal

Abstract

Nanda, an Early Iron Age site in the Mngeni River valley, was excavated as part of a Cultural Resource Management project. The site yielded pits, adult burials with dental alteration and the remains of at least one cattle byre. In this paper the significance of dental alteration is discussed, a tentative explanation for the characteristic Early Iron Age pit fillings is provided, and the evidence for settlement patterns is reported. The Nanda evidence suggests that a form of the Central Cattle Pattern and its associated social structure existed as long ago as the seventh century AD. However, relations between men and women may have been more liberal than they are among some southern African agriculturists today.

To cite this article: Whitelaw, G. 1993. Customs and settlement patterns in the first millennium AD: evidence from Nanda, an Early Iron Age in the Mngeni Valley, Natal. Natal Museum Journal of Humanities 5: 47-81.