Background to the Transvaal Iron Age-new discoveries at Olifantspoort and Broederstroom R. J. MASON*, Ph.D. (Visitor) SYNOPSIS The work being done on Iron Age sites in the Transvaal is described, with particular reference to the finds at Olifantspoort and Broederstroom. The material so far found provides evidence for the production of iron and copper, the farming of cattle and sheep, and the construction of large villages by people who were probably ancestral to the present Bantu population. The material dates from as early as A.D. 270, but clear indications occur from AD. 460 onwards. SAMEVATTING Die werk wat op die terreine uit die Ystertydperk in die Transvaal gedoen word, word beskryf, met spesiale verwysing na die vondse by Olifantspoort en Broederstroom. Die materiaal wat tot dusver gevind is, dui op die produksie van yster en koper, bees- en skaapboerdery, en die bou van groot dorpe deur mense wat waarskynlik die voorvaders van die huidige Bantoebevolking was. Die materiaal gaan so ver terug as 270 n.C., maar daar is duidelike aanduidings vanaf 460 n.C. en later. INTRODUCTION site 24/73 and here discovered the evidence means that we now have The phrase 'Iron Age' in the South remains of the only relatively intact evidence for the production of iron African context refers to a tech- village dating to the Early Iron Age and copper, the farming of cattle and nology that led to the earliest yet found south of the Sahara. We sheep, and the construction of large major transformation of human so- have to date exposed the well-pre- villages by people who were most ciety in South Africa. Iron Age served remains of twelve huts distri- probably ancestral to the present technology was based on farming buted over an area of approximately Bantu-speaking population of South and metal production, which led to 5 acres, together with many thou- Africa, for at least as early as fundamental changes in the South sands of potsherds, two large ac- A.D. 270 but clearly indicated from African economy, South African cumulations of iron slag and furnace A.D. 460 onwards. This would mean politics, and South African social debris (Plate I), teeth of cattle and that the Iron Age of the Transvaal is relationships. Before the Iron Age, sheep, and, most important of all, partly contemporary with the later everything was on a small scale in a pot burial containing the mandible stages of the Roman Empire. An South Africa so far as human of a six to twelve year old child and elderly person living at the Broeder- beings were concerned. After the the maxilla of a young adult, stroom Iron Age site could even Iron Age, the way was open for the identified by Professor J. F. van have witnessed the sack of Imperial emergence of our present large- Reenen, of the Witwatersrand Uni- Rome by the Visigoth King Alaric scale South African society. versity Dental School, as repre- the Bold in A.D. 410. senting persons with teeth 'con- One of the Broederstroom iron WHEN DID THE SOUTH siderably larger than the mean slag floors, 24/73K, preserves a pile AFRICAN IRON AGE values for Bushmen and South of yellowish iron ore approximately BEGIN? African Bantu Negroids. They fall, 50 kg in weight. The precise geo- however, within the range of mea- logical nature and source of the During the last few years, im- surements recorded for Bantu portant discoveries of evidence for 24/73K iron ore have not yet been Negroids'. identified, but its fresh surfaces the earliest Iron Age penetration of The Broederstroom and other suggest that the 24/73K iron smelt- South Mrica have been made by TABLE I . Mr Menno Klapwijkl in the Tzaneen CARBON-14 DATES TO IRON AGE FINDS IN THE TRANSVAAL area at the site 'Silverleaves', dated by Dr J. C. Vogel in Pretoria at Author Site Date Lab. No. A.D. 270; by Mr L. van Bezing at Klapwijk, M. Silver Leaves A.D. 270 :J: 55 Pta-901 Sterkspruit outside Lydenburg, pro- 1nskeep, R. R. Sterkspruit A.D. 490 :J: 50 Pta-328 visionally dated to A.D. 490 by (Lydenburg Heads) Dr Vogel; by Dr A. van Genderen at Protsch, R. Broederstroom 24/73K A.D.460:J: 50 UCLA-179lB Fagg, B. Taruga 440 :J: 140 B.C. 1-2960 Broederstroom 24/73 on the south Mason, R. J. Olifantspoort 29/72A A.D. 1240 :J: 120 RL.-199 bank of Hartbeespoort Dam, dated Mason, R. J. Olifantspoort 27/71G A.D. 1580 :J: 90 RL.-197 Mason, R. J. Melville Koppies A.D. 1060 :J: 50 Y-1338 by Dr R. Protsch at A.D. 460. The Upper Furnace carbon-14 dates allotted to various Mason, R. J. Olifantspoort 20/71 A.D. 1550 :J: HO RL.-186 finds are listed in Table I. Base of ash heap 6 Vogel, J. Olifantspoort 20/71 A.D. 1850 :J: 20 Se-I In May 1973 we commenced the Ash heap I (converted) excavation of Dr van Genderen's Mason, R. J. Uitkomst Cave A.D. 1650 :J: 80 Y-1323B Bed 2 Furnace .Head, Department 'of Archaeology, Uni- Mason, R. J. Klipriviersberg 18/69 A.D.1723:J: 46 Pta-136 versity of the Witwatersrand, Johan- South Ash Heap nesburg. JOURNAL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGY JANUARY 1974 211 I I " Plate I-Earliest trace of iron smelting in the Transvaal. Tuyeres, iron slag, and Iron ore at 24J73K, Broederstroom (south bank of Hartbeespoort Dam), dated Nok sites as a whole as representing A.D. 460. Depth 25 cm below present surface level. one of the centres of origin of the African Iron Age. The pottery from ers actually mined the ore, in con- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Nok represents a type of pottery trast to mere surface collection of SOUTH AFRICAN IRON very similar indeed to generalized naturally weathered ore fragments. AGE South African Iron Age pottery. The 24J73K ore pile therefore repre- The most spectacular discoveries in sents the earliest mining of iron ore In the South African context, the the Nok area are the remains of yet found in the Transvaal. Of Iron Age prepared South African beautifully sculpted clay heads, society for rapid adjustment and course, Transvaal Middle Stone Age representing the earliest appearance interlocking with complex Western hunters had been using iron ores as a of the great West African art style. technology, leading to the present colouring material since at least In 1962, Mr L. van Bezing found the explosively productive South 33 000 B.C. as I was able to demon- remains of a quantity of remarkable strate2 in my excavation of Olie- African economy. South Africa today clay heads on the surface of a donga could not have been built without boompoort Cave in the Western at Sterkspruit near Lydenburg de. the foundation of human aptitudes Transvaal in 1954. scribed by him and Mr. R. Inskeep4. for complex industrial labour created Contacts between the A.D. 460 A charcoal line in the donga gave a by the Iron Age. iron smelters of Broederstroom and date of A.D. 490, which may relate to Stone Age hunters are suggested by I;' the heads5. The heads are similar in hundreds of Stone-Age-style grooved ORIGIN OF THE SOUTH style to Central and West African sandstone pieces on the Broeder- representations of the human face, :1 AFRICAN IRON AGE stroom floors, used for the making of and the ear on one of the heads carries ;1 ! Stone-Age-style shell beads. Dr A. Several years ago, Mr Bernard broad line incision very similar to van Genderen found at least one Fagg excavated an Iron Age smelting the broad line incision motifs on Early 1 cowrie shell and one Conus hebraicu8 site at Taruga, near Nok on the edge Iron Age pottery in South Africa in shell eroding from the Broederstroom of the central plateau system of general, and Broederstroom in par- soils, indicating contact with the Nigeria, dated 440 :!: 140 B.C.3 ticular. East Coast. Archaeologists generally accept the A large number of Iron Age sites 212 JANUARY 1974 JOURNAL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGY dating from early in the first mil- Iron Age sites in the Transvaal floors, we found teeth of sheep or lenium A.D. are now known north earlier than the Broederstroom A.D. goats and cattle, identified by Mr R. of the Transvaal. Mr Tom Huffman 460 site is now on. Welbourne as the earliest cattle interprets the sites as due to the The Guthrie-Greenberg linguistic south of the Zambesi. The huts were dispersal of Iron Age settlers from history hypothesis explaining Bantu substantial pole-and-daga construct- an East Congo centre 6. Certainly, expansion in sub-Saharan Africa is ions, approximately 2 metres in the Sterkspruit clay heads and the outlined by Clarkll. diameter. There are remains of two general data from Broederstroom slab-supported beds on a raised floor suggest a derivation from Central IRON AGE SETTLEMENT- in one hut. The iron slag floors are and West Africa. The Broeder- WITW ATERSRAND AND larger than other slag accumulations stroom pottery closely resembles MAGALIESBERG VALLEY excavated in the southern Transvaal, pottery excavated by Mr K. Robin- The main focus of modern mining but in size resemble some of the son at Nkopi in Malawi7, 8, and the and metallurgy in Africa is in the Palabora slag lenses. The size of the Broederstroom pot burials are very southern Transvaal. Historians may Broederstroom slag lenses suggests similar to burial ritual recorded by wish to relate present-day and pre- that the furnace operators were pro- Knut Odner at Usangi in the North historic mining developments in this ducing iron for trade with other Pare Mountains (north-eastern Tan- region to one another.