Test excavations at Genadendal Dam and Wonderboom, Madikwe Reserve, South Africa

Abstract

Two Late Iron Age sites in the Madikwe Reserve yielded a new pottery facies. Now known as Madikwe, this sixteenth century style was produced by Western Sotho-Tswana in an area later recalled in oral traditions as their origin centre. Traditions also remember a troubled period caused by severe drought and famine, leading to the widespread burning of whole villages. In addition to burnt houses, the two sites yielded evidence for the secondary refinement of copper ores mined in the near vicinity. Lithic dumps, one behind a furnace, attest to direct interaction with foragers.