Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Early Iron Age Social and Economic Organization in Sowa Pan, Botswana

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Professor Larry Robbins, Ms. Adrianne Daggett will conduct archaeological survey and excavation at two sites near the present-day village of Mosu in northeastern Botswana. This project will investigate subsistence and trade behaviors as well as settlement organization patterns of the Early Iron Age to understand the relationship between the Mosu-area prehistoric farming community and the emerging state-level societies of the time. The project will also investigate whether hunter-gatherers interacted with the Mosu farming community, and if so, how they may have contributed to the regional political economy. The research will take a critical look at the late first millennium AD, a crucial period of southern African prehistory during which complex societies and intercontinental trading networks were emerging. Current understanding of socioeconomic traditions of this time period depends heavily on the spatial modeling of settlement patterns encountered in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, the area generally considered to be the center of cultural developments for this time period. However, these spatial models and their cultural implications have not been systematically evaluated for applicability on a broad regional basis. Mosu is located far from the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, and as such is generally considered a frontier. Comparing subsistence, trade, and spatial patterning of Mosu settlements with those of other contemporary communities, particularly those of the Shashe-Limpopo, will improve understanding of the relationship between populated areas in prehistoric southern Africa as well as of localized processes of social and economic development. The fundamental value of the research rests on the insight it will provide into processes of cultural interaction and change among traditional societies which differ in multiple ways. Similar interactions are occurring in many parts of the world today and archaeology provides the opportunity to trace interactions over intervals which may span centuries and millennia. Ms. Daggett will employ surface survey and augur sampling to investigate the extent of archaeological material on and around the two sites, and to inform placement of excavation units on both sites. The survey area, both sites, and important natural features of the landscape, such as water sources, will be mapped with GPS-enabled equipment and this information will be digitized using ArcGIS. Excavations will focus on concentrations of evidence for past subsistence activities, such as cooking hearths, trash middens, and cattle kraals. Ceramic and organic samples will be collected for radiocarbon dating, and soil samples for optically-stimulated luminescence dating. These dates will establish a timeline of occupation for the sites and help to refine understanding of settlement history in the area. Following fieldwork, faunal and botanical remains recovered during excavations will be analyzed to provide information about the dietary habits of the area's prehistoric occupants. Detailed spatial information on finds from the survey and the excavations will be added to the digital ArcGIS database. The resulting GIS will present a framework for spatial analysis of the Mosu-area prehistoric settlement system and provide a basis of comparison for settlement patterns of other contemporary locales in the pre-state southern African regional exchange system. This research will form the basis of Ms. Daggett's doctoral dissertation. Through careful documentation and promotion of the Mosu area's cultural heritage value, this project will also support the preservation of the Mosu Escarpment, for which the Government of Botswana has applied for UNESCO World Heritage status and which is being considered for tourism development.