WEBVTT

00:00:03.083 --> 00:00:05.750
Mpumalanga, South Africa.

00:00:05.750 --> 00:00:09.041
A place of infinite
and diverse beauty.

00:00:09.041 --> 00:00:11.999
Of abundant
natural resources.

00:00:11.999 --> 00:00:14.999
From the vast expanses
of the Highveld,

00:00:14.999 --> 00:00:18.500
down into the rolling hills
and open valleys

00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:19.999
of the majestic
escarpment

00:00:19.999 --> 00:00:23.959
it is no surprise
that many over time

00:00:23.959 --> 00:00:27.625
have settled here
and called it home.

00:00:27.625 --> 00:00:29.917
But beyond its
immediate beauty

00:00:29.917 --> 00:00:34.417
there is something even more
remarkable about this place.

00:00:34.417 --> 00:00:36.834
Look closely
and you will notice

00:00:36.834 --> 00:00:38.542
bits of building
and stone,

00:00:38.542 --> 00:00:42.917
sections of stonewalling
amongst clusters of trees

00:00:42.917 --> 00:00:45.250
and long lines
of stone ridging

00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:47.125
along the hillsides.

00:00:47.125 --> 00:00:48.999
Take a walk through
the space

00:00:48.999 --> 00:00:52.166
and you may come across
mysterious engravings

00:00:52.166 --> 00:00:53.250
in the stone.

00:00:53.250 --> 00:00:56.875
And then if you fly over
these rolling hills

00:00:56.875 --> 00:00:59.166
you will see
the same engravings

00:00:59.166 --> 00:01:02.166
mirrored in endless
stone circles

00:01:02.166 --> 00:01:04.291
set in mystifying mazes,

00:01:04.291 --> 00:01:07.375
linked by long,
stone passages.

00:01:07.375 --> 00:01:10.375
A ghostly web
of intricate patterns

00:01:10.375 --> 00:01:15.583
that blanket the Mpumalanga
Escarpment and beyond.

00:01:15.583 --> 00:01:24.417
♪

00:01:24.417 --> 00:01:27.417
As a teenager
I grew up around uh,

00:01:27.417 --> 00:01:32.999
these stone walls
of this mission station here.

00:01:32.999 --> 00:01:37.291
That is something which
I thought was unique

00:01:37.291 --> 00:01:38.667
of *.

00:01:38.667 --> 00:01:40.166
But lo and behold,

00:01:40.166 --> 00:01:42.999
my attention was drawn
to the existence

00:01:42.999 --> 00:01:46.667
of these stone walls
on the escarpment.

00:01:46.667 --> 00:01:50.500
And I was taken on
a helicopter,

00:01:50.500 --> 00:01:55.500
bird\'\'s eye view
of those stone walls.

00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:58.500
♪

00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:01.333
It was a
mystic discovery

00:02:01.333 --> 00:02:05.000
that I was eager

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.792
to know and understand.

00:02:07.792 --> 00:02:11.542
Those who were responsible
for those structures

00:02:11.542 --> 00:02:17.999
that lavishly string over
the entire escarpment

00:02:17.999 --> 00:02:20.917
of Mpumalanga.

00:02:20.917 --> 00:02:22.625
And the way it
presents itself,

00:02:22.625 --> 00:02:25.999
you can see that here
there was quite

00:02:25.999 --> 00:02:30.291
a civilization
that we do not know about.

00:02:30.291 --> 00:03:14.667
♪

00:03:14.667 --> 00:03:18.166
Historian Peter Delius
has spent the better part

00:03:18.166 --> 00:03:20.458
of his academic career
making sense

00:03:20.458 --> 00:03:23.917
of the history of Mpumalanga
and its people.

00:03:23.917 --> 00:03:25.917
When I started
asking people

00:03:25.917 --> 00:03:27.959
what they were about
and what they were

00:03:27.959 --> 00:03:30.458
I discovered that there
was an enormously powerful

00:03:30.458 --> 00:03:32.625
popular narrative
in the area

00:03:32.625 --> 00:03:34.166
which started from
the assumption

00:03:34.166 --> 00:03:36.709
that because these were
stone structures

00:03:36.709 --> 00:03:39.458
they couldn\'\'t possibly be
built by Africans because,

00:03:39.458 --> 00:03:40.999
of course, Africans,
I was assured,

00:03:40.999 --> 00:03:44.583
never built in stone which is,
of course, complete nonsense.

00:03:44.583 --> 00:03:47.166
And that therefore
they could only be explained

00:03:47.166 --> 00:03:51.125
as a result of the work
of people who came from afar.

00:03:51.125 --> 00:03:53.917
And there were a variety
of candidates for that,

00:03:53.917 --> 00:03:55.709
one of the most dominant
is the suggestion

00:03:55.709 --> 00:03:57.999
that ancient Indians
had settled here,

00:03:57.999 --> 00:04:01.041
colonized the area and that
these were their temples.

00:04:01.041 --> 00:04:04.834
But there\'\'d been a variety
of variations on that

00:04:04.834 --> 00:04:06.999
including,
at the more exotic end,

00:04:06.999 --> 00:04:09.667
the idea that these were
sites constructed

00:04:09.667 --> 00:04:11.875
by people from
outer space

00:04:11.875 --> 00:04:14.083
or that they are portals
where people move

00:04:14.083 --> 00:04:16.000
between spiritual zones.

00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.166
So there\'\'s this
extraordinary

00:04:17.166 --> 00:04:21.375
vibrant literature out there
which has books and websites

00:04:21.375 --> 00:04:23.166
and lots of adherence.

00:04:23.166 --> 00:04:26.959
which is firmly wedded to
what we\'\'ve come to describe

00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.999
as the exotic theory.

00:04:28.999 --> 00:04:31.792
There is an underlying notion
that links

00:04:31.792 --> 00:04:33.458
these exotic theories.

00:04:33.458 --> 00:04:36.500
That because these sites
represent change

00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:38.291
and that they are built
in stone

00:04:38.291 --> 00:04:40.999
they certainly cannot be
the work of Africans.

00:04:40.999 --> 00:04:44.000
Because they see African
culture aesthetic

00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.542
they assume that change
or development in Africa

00:04:47.542 --> 00:04:49.291
must have come from
outside.

00:04:49.291 --> 00:04:53.500
Now, of course, that\'\'s
a deeply racist perception

00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:55.999
and it\'\'s one which is
strongly associated

00:04:55.999 --> 00:04:56.917
with colonial rule.

00:04:56.917 --> 00:04:59.625
And it\'\'s been trotted out
over and over again

00:04:59.625 --> 00:05:02.083
to explain everything
from the Benin Bronzes,

00:05:02.083 --> 00:05:04.458
to great Zimbabwe,
to the Pyramids.

00:05:04.458 --> 00:05:06.375
This perception often
goes hand in hand

00:05:06.375 --> 00:05:11.083
with a belief that Africans
practiced rudimentary farming

00:05:11.083 --> 00:05:13.041
and lived semi nomadic lives.

00:05:13.041 --> 00:05:14.792
An idea at odds
with the prolific

00:05:14.792 --> 00:05:19.999
and enduring stone structures
that blanket this landscape.

00:05:19.999 --> 00:05:23.000
The exotic narrative
has almost drowned out

00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:24.917
other explanatory voices,

00:05:24.917 --> 00:05:27.667
voices rooted in almost
a century\'\'s worth

00:05:27.667 --> 00:05:31.834
of academic research
and work in the area.

00:05:31.834 --> 00:05:35.750
Over the last decade
important new discoveries

00:05:35.750 --> 00:05:36.709
have been made.

00:05:36.709 --> 00:05:39.667
New understandings
that are reshaping thought

00:05:39.667 --> 00:05:45.166
about the past and future
of African societies.

00:05:45.166 --> 00:05:48.333
I first got interested
or aware of these sites

00:05:48.333 --> 00:05:51.458
in about 2005 when I was
first asked

00:05:51.458 --> 00:05:54.208
by the Mpumalanga government
to do a major project

00:05:54.208 --> 00:05:56.000
on the history and heritage
of the area.

00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.834
Started traveling throughout
and looking at sites.

00:05:58.834 --> 00:06:00.999
So I started asking
more broadly about it

00:06:00.999 --> 00:06:03.375
and got in contact
with archaeologists

00:06:03.375 --> 00:06:06.417
who put me in contact
with a longstanding

00:06:06.417 --> 00:06:08.750
archeological record
of these sites

00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:09.792
and archeological research,

00:06:09.792 --> 00:06:11.959
but also expressed the view
that these sites

00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:15.458
had been much neglected in
recent years by archaeology.

00:06:15.458 --> 00:06:17.625
Certainly historians
had neglected them.

00:06:17.625 --> 00:06:20.875
So we put together
a project which would involve

00:06:20.875 --> 00:06:22.125
historians and
archaeologists

00:06:22.125 --> 00:06:24.417
and a much wider group
of academics

00:06:24.417 --> 00:06:27.208
to try and better understand
the nature of these sites.

00:06:27.208 --> 00:06:30.875
And really, ever since then
we\'\'ve been working together

00:06:30.875 --> 00:06:32.417
trying to create
a more substantial,

00:06:32.417 --> 00:06:36.999
credible view of what
these sites are all about.

00:06:36.999 --> 00:06:38.999
The pieces of this
astonishing puzzle

00:06:38.999 --> 00:06:41.417
are finally
coming into view,

00:06:41.417 --> 00:06:43.959
thanks to a team
of investigators

00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:47.999
and their work.

00:06:47.999 --> 00:06:51.375
Written evidence collected
about this stonework

00:06:51.375 --> 00:06:53.750
dates back to the 1860s

00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:56.000
when German missionaries
began to collect

00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.500
oral traditions from the people
living in the area.

00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:03.125
Academics were first
drawn to the region in 1918

00:07:03.125 --> 00:07:07.208
by these curious engravings
on the farm, Boomplaats,

00:07:07.208 --> 00:07:08.999
just outside Lydenburg.

00:07:08.999 --> 00:07:12.000
In 1936 a young
linguistic student,

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:15.625
CW Prinsloo,
recorded local oral histories

00:07:15.625 --> 00:07:18.583
and produced a map
to illustrate the movement

00:07:18.583 --> 00:07:19.667
of people from the south.

00:07:19.667 --> 00:07:23.208
But it was only in 1939
that the first comprehensive

00:07:23.208 --> 00:07:26.917
archaeological investigation
was undertaken

00:07:26.917 --> 00:07:27.875
by EC von Hoepen.

00:07:27.875 --> 00:07:30.917
Who, after mapping ruins
and recording engravings,

00:07:30.917 --> 00:07:34.917
concluded that they were built
by black Africans.

00:07:34.917 --> 00:07:36.834
Fast forward to the 1960s

00:07:36.834 --> 00:07:39.166
and the next substantial
research program

00:07:39.166 --> 00:07:43.500
where archaeologists plotted
the distribution of sites

00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:44.999
using aerial photographs.

00:07:44.999 --> 00:07:48.999
This offered a first overview
of the distribution

00:07:48.999 --> 00:07:50.500
of stone ruins.

00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:55.542
The first excavations produced
pottery, iron implements,

00:07:55.542 --> 00:07:58.999
sorghum seeds, and bones
of cattle and sheep.

00:07:58.999 --> 00:08:02.000
Helpful to get a sense of who
might have occupied

00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.667
these settlements.

00:08:03.667 --> 00:08:05.999
So there was a history
of archaeological work

00:08:05.999 --> 00:08:07.583
which could be gone back to.

00:08:07.583 --> 00:08:09.500
But there was also
a massive collection

00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:12.625
of archival
and oral material

00:08:12.625 --> 00:08:14.291
which I\'\'d been through
over the years,

00:08:14.291 --> 00:08:17.375
but with a primary focus
on the Pedi kingdom.

00:08:17.375 --> 00:08:20.875
So I went back to that
and reworked my way

00:08:20.875 --> 00:08:22.583
through all of that
material

00:08:22.583 --> 00:08:24.917
and found,
to my consternation,

00:08:24.917 --> 00:08:26.417
that actually if you were
reading it

00:08:26.417 --> 00:08:28.625
with a different
question in mind

00:08:28.625 --> 00:08:30.333
there was a huge amount
of material

00:08:30.333 --> 00:08:32.750
on these societies
to the south

00:08:32.750 --> 00:08:35.709
and they were clearly
enormously significant

00:08:35.709 --> 00:08:36.917
because they keep
cropping up

00:08:36.917 --> 00:08:39.999
at critical moments
in the history of this region.

00:08:39.999 --> 00:08:42.999
But as so often with
the losers in history,

00:08:42.999 --> 00:08:44.667
the people that get defeated,

00:08:44.667 --> 00:08:46.917
the people who don\'\'t are not
in a position

00:08:46.917 --> 00:08:49.417
to tell their stories
in the present.

00:08:49.417 --> 00:08:50.917
That history gets lost.

00:08:50.917 --> 00:08:53.999
So part of what we\'\'ve been
in the process of doing

00:08:53.999 --> 00:08:55.709
is by bringing historical
evidence

00:08:55.709 --> 00:08:57.750
and archaeological
evidence together

00:08:57.750 --> 00:09:00.875
recovering this
extraordinary history

00:09:00.875 --> 00:09:05.041
of this extraordinary world
which has been lost

00:09:05.041 --> 00:09:11.041
for so long to a contemporary
understanding about the past.

00:09:11.041 --> 00:09:12.417
♪

00:09:12.417 --> 00:09:14.999
So now what exactly
are we looking at?

00:09:14.999 --> 00:09:17.208
Well, this beautiful
stone walled world

00:09:17.208 --> 00:09:20.999
is a vivid reminder
of extraordinary achievement.

00:09:20.999 --> 00:09:22.999
It is the visible legacy
of a period

00:09:22.999 --> 00:09:24.999
of innovation
in farming methods

00:09:24.999 --> 00:09:27.999
based on a massive
and ongoing investment

00:09:27.999 --> 00:09:31.375
in infrastructure
fashioned from stone.

00:09:31.375 --> 00:09:34.291
The use of extensive
terracing and fertilizer

00:09:34.291 --> 00:09:35.959
by these farmers
and herders

00:09:35.959 --> 00:09:37.458
is unique
in South Africa

00:09:37.458 --> 00:09:40.166
and allowed them to create
the largest system

00:09:40.166 --> 00:09:43.417
of intensive farming
in pre-colonial Southern

00:09:43.417 --> 00:09:44.999
and Eastern Africa.

00:09:44.999 --> 00:09:47.166
The world they crafted
from a pioneering use

00:09:47.166 --> 00:09:50.917
of local resources lasted
for hundreds of years

00:09:50.917 --> 00:09:53.333
and left this indelible
mark on the land

00:09:53.333 --> 00:09:56.250
which has at long last
started to attract

00:09:56.250 --> 00:09:58.999
the attention
it deserves.

00:09:58.999 --> 00:10:02.041
All evidence to date
points to the stone circles

00:10:02.041 --> 00:10:05.583
as homesteads where people
actually lived

00:10:05.583 --> 00:10:07.667
and where they kept
their cattle.

00:10:07.667 --> 00:10:09.999
Some homesteads
are small and simple.

00:10:09.999 --> 00:10:12.875
Others are elaborate
and complicated.

00:10:12.875 --> 00:10:13.917
Some are isolated.

00:10:13.917 --> 00:10:16.709
But many are set among
an intricate network

00:10:16.709 --> 00:10:19.999
of terraces where land
was cultivated

00:10:19.999 --> 00:10:22.999
and the walled pathways
that link the homesteads

00:10:22.999 --> 00:10:25.291
are roads
running between them.

00:10:25.291 --> 00:10:30.417
Ways of moving cattle
in and out.

00:10:30.417 --> 00:10:32.625
Having pioneered research
on pre-colonial

00:10:32.625 --> 00:10:35.417
black farming communities
throughout Southern Africa

00:10:35.417 --> 00:10:38.999
since the 1960s,
archaeologist Tim Maggs

00:10:38.999 --> 00:10:41.208
has spent many hours
in Mpumalanga

00:10:41.208 --> 00:10:43.999
making sense of
settlement patterns.

00:10:43.999 --> 00:10:46.250
What we\'\'re looking at
down here, of course,

00:10:46.250 --> 00:10:50.250
is one of the typical
cattle road systems.

00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:52.999
You don\'\'t bother to build
stone walls like that

00:10:52.999 --> 00:10:54.208
unless you\'\'re protecting
something.

00:10:54.208 --> 00:10:56.999
If it was open felt
you wouldn\'\'t build a road there.

00:10:56.999 --> 00:11:01.000
So we can be quite sure that
on both sides of this road

00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.583
it was cultivated.

00:11:03.583 --> 00:11:06.667
This is about uh,
100, 150 meters long

00:11:06.667 --> 00:11:11.959
of cattle road coming through
cultivated areas and uh,

00:11:11.959 --> 00:11:14.959
around here you can see
one of the little stone lines,

00:11:14.959 --> 00:11:19.625
not really a terrace, but
the same effect as a terrace,

00:11:19.625 --> 00:11:22.125
to catch the soil
and prevent erosion.

00:11:22.125 --> 00:11:23.750
And there\'\'s a whole string
of them

00:11:23.750 --> 00:11:25.625
running up this hill here.

00:11:25.625 --> 00:11:27.333
In pre-colonial
Southern Africa

00:11:27.333 --> 00:11:28.999
straight lines
and right angles

00:11:28.999 --> 00:11:31.208
were not the way in which
people arranged

00:11:31.208 --> 00:11:33.000
the spaces
they lived in.

00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:36.999
Instead circular shapes
dominated the arrangement

00:11:36.999 --> 00:11:38.333
of domestic space.

00:11:38.333 --> 00:11:41.125
The individual house,
the cattle pen,

00:11:41.125 --> 00:11:42.917
and the homestead as a whole.

00:11:42.917 --> 00:11:45.417
While the layout of parks,
roads and fields

00:11:45.417 --> 00:11:48.291
followed the contours
and other natural features

00:11:48.291 --> 00:11:50.417
of the landscape.

00:11:50.417 --> 00:11:54.917
So the road carries on
right into the homestead.

00:11:54.917 --> 00:11:57.999
Road is still here
because on both sides,

00:11:57.999 --> 00:11:58.999
now we\'\'re inside
the homestead,

00:11:58.999 --> 00:12:00.999
but we\'\'re in the outer ring
of the homestead

00:12:00.999 --> 00:12:03.999
and this is where the domestic
areas would have been.

00:12:03.999 --> 00:12:06.999
The houses and the grain stores,
et cetera.

00:12:06.999 --> 00:12:11.458
And then the road
carries on through.

00:12:11.458 --> 00:12:14.999
And it ends up
in this central cattle pen.

00:12:14.999 --> 00:12:17.667
This was right in
the center of the homestead.

00:12:17.667 --> 00:12:19.999
Every homestead has
a central pen.

00:12:19.999 --> 00:12:23.999
This one has, in addition,
a series of uh,

00:12:23.999 --> 00:12:25.999
surrounding attached pens

00:12:25.999 --> 00:12:28.208
attached to the outside
of this ring uh,

00:12:28.208 --> 00:12:31.999
forming four or five,
one, two, three, four,

00:12:31.999 --> 00:12:36.917
five additional enclosures
attached to the outside of the,

00:12:36.917 --> 00:12:39.291
of the central one.

00:12:39.291 --> 00:12:41.999
Connecting over
10,000 square kilometers

00:12:41.999 --> 00:12:45.250
of the Mpumalanga Escarpment
from Carolina

00:12:45.250 --> 00:12:46.999
to Ohrigstad and beyond

00:12:46.999 --> 00:12:51.333
these settlements were inhabited
between around 1500

00:12:51.333 --> 00:12:52.291
and 1820.

00:12:52.291 --> 00:12:54.999
A period which has not
previously attracted

00:12:54.999 --> 00:12:57.166
the attention it deserves.

00:12:57.166 --> 00:12:59.417
Recent research suggests
that the story

00:12:59.417 --> 00:13:02.667
of these times and settlements
played an important part

00:13:02.667 --> 00:13:04.875
in setting the scene
for the emergence

00:13:04.875 --> 00:13:06.625
of powerful
African states

00:13:06.625 --> 00:13:09.917
as well as new labor
and farming systems.

00:13:09.917 --> 00:13:12.999
So now, who were
these innovative farmers?

00:13:12.999 --> 00:13:17.959
There\'\'s a word that\'\'s
embedded in some language,

00:13:17.959 --> 00:13:20.792
in Northern and Southern
language

00:13:20.792 --> 00:13:23.875
which is Bokoni.

00:13:23.875 --> 00:13:25.917
Fed into a group of people.

00:13:25.917 --> 00:13:30.041
But it is also used
in its singular,

00:13:30.041 --> 00:13:30.999
Bokoni.

00:13:30.999 --> 00:13:32.542
Bokoni,
Bokoni.

00:13:32.542 --> 00:13:34.583
It is very much there.

00:13:34.583 --> 00:13:37.583
When I inquired
someone said to me,

00:13:37.583 --> 00:13:43.375
no, Bokoni is from Bokoni,
Bokoni means south.

00:13:43.375 --> 00:13:47.625
So Bokoni means
people of the south.

00:13:47.625 --> 00:13:50.000
But south of where?

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:51.999
And where is
that south?

00:13:51.999 --> 00:13:54.041
It\'\'s never been clear
to me.

00:13:54.041 --> 00:13:56.542
And I wish
somebody could come

00:13:56.542 --> 00:13:59.959
with a more

00:13:59.959 --> 00:14:04.709
plausible explanation
of where

00:14:04.709 --> 00:14:08.417
Bokoni is,
who Bokoni are,

00:14:08.417 --> 00:14:10.959
and what it means to be
a Bokoni.

00:14:10.959 --> 00:14:15.291
♪

00:14:15.291 --> 00:14:19.750
By the time we\'\'ve come to
describe this area as Bokoni

00:14:19.750 --> 00:14:21.999
because what we\'\'re
describing is an area,

00:14:21.999 --> 00:14:26.792
we\'\'re talking about
the area of the settlements.

00:14:26.792 --> 00:14:29.999
So African history tends to be
seen in terms of tribes

00:14:29.999 --> 00:14:32.709
moving to and fro
with fixed cultures,

00:14:32.709 --> 00:14:35.583
static, unchanging over
long periods of time.

00:14:35.583 --> 00:14:39.083
What we\'\'re seeing here is
groups moving into this area,

00:14:39.083 --> 00:14:41.834
probably from a variety
of different regions,

00:14:41.834 --> 00:14:45.166
adjusting to this environment
and this lifestyle,

00:14:45.166 --> 00:14:47.999
becoming part
of this farming world,

00:14:47.999 --> 00:14:49.667
and developing,
to some extent,

00:14:49.667 --> 00:14:52.875
a common culture
in the process.

00:14:52.875 --> 00:14:55.542
We have evidence of forms
of chieftainship in this area,

00:14:55.542 --> 00:14:58.333
we\'\'re pretty sure that
the societies were organized

00:14:58.333 --> 00:14:59.166
in those terms,

00:14:59.166 --> 00:15:01.875
but there\'\'s very little evidence
of a highly centralized

00:15:01.875 --> 00:15:06.375
political system of a king
that dominated the whole area.

00:15:06.375 --> 00:15:10.417
And part of what\'\'s remarkable
about Bokoni area

00:15:10.417 --> 00:15:12.458
is this combination of,
in fact,

00:15:12.458 --> 00:15:15.166
a relatively uncentralized,

00:15:15.166 --> 00:15:17.999
not highly politically
centralized area

00:15:17.999 --> 00:15:20.999
with an area of enormous
economic innovation.

00:15:20.999 --> 00:15:22.166
I mean, these people are
doing really

00:15:22.166 --> 00:15:24.125
very interestingly
different things

00:15:24.125 --> 00:15:28.083
with the kind of farming
that they\'\'re practicing.

00:15:28.083 --> 00:15:31.709
Many black farming communities
of the last five, six,

00:15:31.709 --> 00:15:36.917
700 years expanded from
lower lying countryside,

00:15:36.917 --> 00:15:37.875
savannah, essentially.

00:15:37.875 --> 00:15:39.999
Gradually moved into
the grassland areas

00:15:39.999 --> 00:15:41.291
which presented problems
for them

00:15:41.291 --> 00:15:43.959
because from a structural
point of view

00:15:43.959 --> 00:15:45.583
there\'\'s very little
timber.

00:15:45.583 --> 00:15:47.999
And one of the things they had
to do in these areas

00:15:47.999 --> 00:15:50.208
was to find alternative
building materials

00:15:50.208 --> 00:15:52.583
and hence,
all the stone walls.

00:15:52.583 --> 00:15:55.041
Building in stone,
as one might imagine,

00:15:55.041 --> 00:15:56.291
is labor intensive.

00:15:56.291 --> 00:15:59.999
It suggests permanence
and investment in the land.

00:15:59.999 --> 00:16:02.333
It makes sense then that
the people of Bokoni

00:16:02.333 --> 00:16:05.834
were aiming not to have to go
anywhere in a hurry.

00:16:05.834 --> 00:16:07.625
The availability of stone,
perhaps,

00:16:07.625 --> 00:16:11.999
also ultimately contributed
to successful farming.

00:16:11.999 --> 00:16:15.208
The reason why this is such
a densely built up area

00:16:15.208 --> 00:16:17.041
is because of
these rocks.

00:16:17.041 --> 00:16:18.250
These are volcanic rocks

00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:20.750
and when they break down
into soil

00:16:20.750 --> 00:16:24.750
they produce the richest soils
in this part of the world.

00:16:24.750 --> 00:16:27.625
Mats Widgren
is a professor of geography

00:16:27.625 --> 00:16:28.999
at Stockholm University.

00:16:28.999 --> 00:16:31.959
Since the mid 1970s he has
researched

00:16:31.959 --> 00:16:34.667
agricultural landscapes
from the Iron Age

00:16:34.667 --> 00:16:36.709
to the present
in Scandinavia

00:16:36.709 --> 00:16:39.792
and in Eastern
and Southern Africa.

00:16:39.792 --> 00:16:42.917
Their farming system
is unique in the way

00:16:42.917 --> 00:16:46.083
that they have combined
arable agriculture

00:16:46.083 --> 00:16:46.750
with livestock.

00:16:46.750 --> 00:16:49.999
Everything points to
the direction that the arable

00:16:49.999 --> 00:16:52.959
and the livestock
is integrated.

00:16:52.959 --> 00:16:54.041
These cattle roads.

00:16:54.041 --> 00:16:57.000
They indicated that there must
have been a daily movement

00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:00.166
of cattle in and out,
back to the homestead,

00:17:00.166 --> 00:17:01.999
out on the common
grazings.

00:17:01.999 --> 00:17:04.999
This shows that they\'\'re
invested

00:17:04.999 --> 00:17:07.917
in this process
of bringing cattle

00:17:07.917 --> 00:17:09.458
in and out,
in and out, in and out.

00:17:09.458 --> 00:17:13.333
And that\'\'s why we think
that there was manuring.

00:17:13.333 --> 00:17:16.750
Because uh, why did they
bring these cattle in

00:17:16.750 --> 00:17:17.583
every time
all the time?

00:17:17.583 --> 00:17:20.709
Why didn\'\'t they just keep them
out on the common grazing?

00:17:20.709 --> 00:17:24.542
And we also do not find
any manure remnants

00:17:24.542 --> 00:17:25.250
or anything like that.

00:17:25.250 --> 00:17:25.917
So they must be,

00:17:25.917 --> 00:17:28.709
assume they must have
used it on their fields.

00:17:28.709 --> 00:17:32.792
And that is real unique
for Southern Africa.

00:17:32.792 --> 00:17:34.041
The Bokoni settlements
are the remains

00:17:34.041 --> 00:17:38.000
of just one of many farming
communities in this region.

00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.250
What sets them apart
are the vast amounts

00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:41.709
of walling,
terracing,

00:17:41.709 --> 00:17:44.000
and modification
to the landscape

00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.583
to make it
more productive

00:17:45.583 --> 00:17:48.000
that the people
of Bokoni initiated.

00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.417
It\'\'s one of
the very biggest,

00:17:49.417 --> 00:17:52.291
it\'\'s a very large
farming community

00:17:52.291 --> 00:17:54.458
that has disappeared.

00:17:54.458 --> 00:17:55.999
They eventually left
this land,

00:17:55.999 --> 00:17:58.917
but not without leaving
clues about their world.

00:17:58.917 --> 00:18:03.166
Just beyond Lydenburg you will
find evocative expressions

00:18:03.166 --> 00:18:04.542
of this society.

00:18:04.542 --> 00:18:08.166
These prolific engravings
have prompted wild speculation,

00:18:08.166 --> 00:18:11.583
but they have been much
more credibly interpreted

00:18:11.583 --> 00:18:15.125
as representing the way
some people of Bokoni thought

00:18:15.125 --> 00:18:16.999
about how and where
they lived.

00:18:16.999 --> 00:18:21.000
This is one of the larger rocks
engraved here in Boomplaats.

00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:23.959
There are hundreds of
engravings

00:18:23.959 --> 00:18:24.667
on different boulders.

00:18:24.667 --> 00:18:28.667
The site is very extensive,
probably a couple of kilometers

00:18:28.667 --> 00:18:29.208
in that direction,

00:18:29.208 --> 00:18:33.999
and maybe even more extensive
than we\'\'ve yet explored.

00:18:33.999 --> 00:18:34.999
When van Hoepen was here

00:18:34.999 --> 00:18:37.458
and the community hadn\'\'t been
disturbed yet,

00:18:37.458 --> 00:18:38.667
they were still
living here,

00:18:38.667 --> 00:18:41.999
they were quite ready
to explain to van Hoepen

00:18:41.999 --> 00:18:43.999
what these engravings
were all about.

00:18:43.999 --> 00:18:46.250
So they told him that
these circular,

00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:48.375
concentric patterns
were homesteads.

00:18:48.375 --> 00:18:51.458
And they told him that
these lines going down

00:18:51.458 --> 00:18:52.083
were the cattle tracks

00:18:52.083 --> 00:18:54.999
going down to watering places
in the valleys.

00:18:54.999 --> 00:18:56.583
So they,
they\'\'re not mysterious,

00:18:56.583 --> 00:18:59.542
they are perfectly
comprehensible.

00:18:59.542 --> 00:19:02.999
One of the things in general
about these engravings

00:19:02.999 --> 00:19:05.667
is that there seems to be
a masculine emphasis.

00:19:05.667 --> 00:19:08.999
It\'\'s the homesteads,
but often just a circle

00:19:08.999 --> 00:19:11.542
which may just be
the central cattle pen.

00:19:11.542 --> 00:19:15.417
This was a kind of pastime
that boys and young men did

00:19:15.417 --> 00:19:17.166
when they were out
in the landscape.

00:19:17.166 --> 00:19:19.999
Their duties would have been
looking after the herds,

00:19:19.999 --> 00:19:21.999
but herds don\'\'t move
very rapidly

00:19:21.999 --> 00:19:25.250
so you were sitting,
whiling away your time

00:19:25.250 --> 00:19:28.500
and it\'\'s very frequent
in child art, generally,

00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:32.125
that at a certain
developmental stage

00:19:32.125 --> 00:19:36.999
you illustrate the kind of
built environment

00:19:36.999 --> 00:19:38.875
that controls your life.

00:19:38.875 --> 00:19:42.999
And so modern children draw
pictures of houses

00:19:42.999 --> 00:19:44.709
and the typical thing
is a house

00:19:44.709 --> 00:19:45.792
with a front door
in the middle

00:19:45.792 --> 00:19:47.208
and window each side
and the chimney

00:19:47.208 --> 00:19:48.125
with smoke
coming out of it.

00:19:48.125 --> 00:19:51.458
Now, that isn\'\'t really
a photographic representative

00:19:51.458 --> 00:19:52.208
of their own house.

00:19:52.208 --> 00:19:54.417
But it is a house
as they understand it.

00:19:54.417 --> 00:19:56.625
And that\'\'s the same
sort of thing here.

00:19:56.625 --> 00:19:58.250
These are not accurate maps,

00:19:58.250 --> 00:20:02.750
they are conceptual ideas
of how those,

00:20:02.750 --> 00:20:04.333
probably younger people,
younger men,

00:20:04.333 --> 00:20:07.999
conceived the space
that they lived in.

00:20:07.999 --> 00:20:12.041
♪

00:20:12.041 --> 00:20:14.999
Alex Schoeman\'\'s
archeological work in Bokoni

00:20:14.999 --> 00:20:16.667
is focused on how
people lived

00:20:16.667 --> 00:20:19.000
and making sense of their
agricultural adaptation

00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.792
of communities living in
the central region of Mpumalanga

00:20:22.792 --> 00:20:25.959
from the 16th century
into the colonial era.

00:20:25.959 --> 00:20:29.083
The specific site is on
the edge of this village.

00:20:29.083 --> 00:20:31.709
It is probably in
the worst location

00:20:31.709 --> 00:20:33.333
that it could be
archaeologically.

00:20:33.333 --> 00:20:35.083
They\'\'re sitting right
on the quartzites.

00:20:35.083 --> 00:20:36.999
And it\'\'s just the quartzites
and the die base,

00:20:36.999 --> 00:20:39.083
they have the worst role,
this poor person.

00:20:39.083 --> 00:20:40.375
And that\'\'s why we\'\'re
looking at it.

00:20:40.375 --> 00:20:42.500
So we\'\'ve looked at homesteads
that are

00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:43.999
in really prime positions.

00:20:43.999 --> 00:20:45.999
Very near homesteads that are
being set up

00:20:45.999 --> 00:20:47.166
at the edge of
the village,

00:20:47.166 --> 00:20:48.999
and it\'\'s all those things
together

00:20:48.999 --> 00:20:50.834
that help us understand
how everybody lived.

00:20:50.834 --> 00:20:53.458
So we don\'\'t just go and dig
the biggest, nicest one

00:20:53.458 --> 00:20:54.792
that\'\'s the easiest
to map.

00:20:54.792 --> 00:20:57.792
It is the worst, the best,
the newest, the oldest

00:20:57.792 --> 00:20:59.999
and it\'\'s those things together
that make the village.

00:20:59.999 --> 00:21:02.999
So in this specific village
we\'\'ve been able to establish

00:21:02.999 --> 00:21:06.667
that there\'\'s seven
occupation phases or layers

00:21:06.667 --> 00:21:07.125
that overlie.

00:21:07.125 --> 00:21:09.375
So it\'\'s not necessarily
that we get each layer

00:21:09.375 --> 00:21:11.417
in the excavations
we do,

00:21:11.417 --> 00:21:13.417
but the stone walls articulate.

00:21:13.417 --> 00:21:16.166
And so this homestead
is resting on another,

00:21:16.166 --> 00:21:18.041
older homestead
that we\'\'re standing on,

00:21:18.041 --> 00:21:20.583
which is again resting
on another, older homestead.

00:21:20.583 --> 00:21:24.083
And so it\'\'s those layers
and how people reuse space

00:21:24.083 --> 00:21:27.291
that also makes the excavations
quite interesting.

00:21:27.291 --> 00:21:27.999
It\'\'s a mess.

00:21:27.999 --> 00:21:30.625
Because these settlements are
sitting on top of each other

00:21:30.625 --> 00:21:32.625
and the roads are sitting
on top of each other

00:21:32.625 --> 00:21:35.291
and one road is closed
and the other is open.

00:21:35.291 --> 00:21:35.999
What does that tell us?

00:21:35.999 --> 00:21:38.792
It tells us that they\'\'ve
been here for quite a while

00:21:38.792 --> 00:21:41.208
and that period has been
dynamic.

00:21:41.208 --> 00:21:41.875
People die,

00:21:41.875 --> 00:21:44.999
some families will have
lack of labor power,

00:21:44.999 --> 00:21:46.458
another will take over,
et cetera.

00:21:46.458 --> 00:21:50.834
So we see this very,
very dynamic picture

00:21:50.834 --> 00:21:52.250
when we see
these overlays.

00:21:52.250 --> 00:21:54.667
It\'\'s problematic because
you would like,

00:21:54.667 --> 00:21:56.999
as an archaeologist
and historical geographer

00:21:56.999 --> 00:22:00.208
to see one,
this is how it worked.

00:22:00.208 --> 00:22:09.166
♪

00:22:09.166 --> 00:22:13.375
No, no, that\'\'s the bush here.

00:22:13.375 --> 00:22:14.250
Okay.

00:22:14.250 --> 00:22:16.000
Let\'\'s check this out.

00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.458
The team is working in
the Rietvlei area

00:22:18.458 --> 00:22:22.208
to better understand how
the settlements were laid out,

00:22:22.208 --> 00:22:23.834
how the land was used,

00:22:23.834 --> 00:22:29.083
and how the people of
Bokoni might have lived.

00:22:29.083 --> 00:22:32.625
We have this stone wall,
this massive stone wall

00:22:32.625 --> 00:22:35.458
that is one leg or one arm
of the funnel

00:22:35.458 --> 00:22:40.125
that funnels the livestock
into the rest of the settlement.

00:22:40.125 --> 00:22:42.999
That\'\'s why we have
this funnel.

00:22:42.999 --> 00:22:45.417
Which opens up to the lands
in that direction.

00:22:45.417 --> 00:22:48.083
So we have the wall
which are drawn in blue.

00:22:48.083 --> 00:22:52.792
But then on the other side
is also walling.

00:22:52.792 --> 00:22:54.041
But if you look
carefully at them

00:22:54.041 --> 00:22:56.333
they are the,
they are terracing

00:22:56.333 --> 00:22:59.625
and they have agricultural land
in between them.

00:22:59.625 --> 00:23:02.709
But then we have another thing
also, down there,

00:23:02.709 --> 00:23:03.709
we can\'\'t see it here.

00:23:03.709 --> 00:23:06.333
We have some faint
terracing.

00:23:06.333 --> 00:23:08.291
It\'\'s almost like this.

00:23:08.291 --> 00:23:11.041
The interpretation then
is that from the beginning

00:23:11.041 --> 00:23:13.542
there was faint terracing
all over

00:23:13.542 --> 00:23:16.999
and later on they decided
to build this funnel

00:23:16.999 --> 00:23:17.792
or enlarge it, perhaps,

00:23:17.792 --> 00:23:22.458
and they built that on top
of those agriculture terraces.

00:23:22.458 --> 00:23:23.667
So this is just one
of the spots

00:23:23.667 --> 00:23:27.250
where we have this kind of
very clear over layering.

00:23:27.250 --> 00:23:29.999
One structure sitting
on top of another,

00:23:29.999 --> 00:23:32.250
we can understand
the historical sequence.

00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:34.667
And that\'\'s just
a very simple one,

00:23:34.667 --> 00:23:36.834
but most of the other
that you will find

00:23:36.834 --> 00:23:38.750
in the interior of
this settlement

00:23:38.750 --> 00:23:40.208
are much more complicated.

00:23:40.208 --> 00:23:41.959
Because of the long use
of the settlement

00:23:41.959 --> 00:23:45.375
and the constant reworking
that they\'\'ve been doing there.

00:23:45.375 --> 00:23:48.999
But this shows that it\'\'s
possible to find out

00:23:48.999 --> 00:23:50.583
the order of things.

00:23:50.583 --> 00:23:55.208
This was a real challenge
to do a good map of this area

00:23:55.208 --> 00:23:57.999
because, because
it\'\'s very large.

00:23:57.999 --> 00:24:01.999
And on the other hand
we wanted to have the detail

00:24:01.999 --> 00:24:03.417
because the devil
is in the detail,

00:24:03.417 --> 00:24:04.750
you have to understand
the details

00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:06.959
and you can\'\'t just do it
from aerial photography.

00:24:06.959 --> 00:24:11.000
What I did was that I used
printouts from Google Earth,

00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:13.166
images,
the best images.

00:24:13.166 --> 00:24:17.375
And then marked,
made field notes on them.

00:24:17.375 --> 00:24:20.500
And in that way
I came back to camp

00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:25.458
with a good field notes
for every small area.

00:24:25.458 --> 00:24:28.917
From this picture I think
I have a good base

00:24:28.917 --> 00:24:33.083
for trying to reconstruct
the three different

00:24:33.083 --> 00:24:34.792
land geos in the area.

00:24:34.792 --> 00:24:38.999
So many people would think
this is just a mess,

00:24:38.999 --> 00:24:40.625
and I\'\'ve put it like this,

00:24:40.625 --> 00:24:43.875
it starts to get
a little bit more clear.

00:24:43.875 --> 00:24:44.500
Right.

00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:46.999
Mats specializes in
the reconstruction

00:24:46.999 --> 00:24:50.250
of settlement, land use,
and how societies

00:24:50.250 --> 00:24:50.917
were organized.

00:24:50.917 --> 00:24:53.750
After carefully recording
settlements, terraces,

00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:56.166
and road networks
Mets understands

00:24:56.166 --> 00:24:58.999
how the people of Bokoni
used their land.

00:24:58.999 --> 00:25:02.041
The orange areas indicate
residential space

00:25:02.041 --> 00:25:05.542
and enclosures where cattle
were kept overnight.

00:25:05.542 --> 00:25:08.542
Next the arable land in yellow
based on the occurrence

00:25:08.542 --> 00:25:11.291
of terracing with roads
to protect the farmland

00:25:11.291 --> 00:25:13.999
from grazing cattle,
lead them to water,

00:25:13.999 --> 00:25:17.500
and funnel them into outerlying
grazing land.

00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:19.999
From this reconstruction
we get a sense

00:25:19.999 --> 00:25:20.999
that there were
many people

00:25:20.999 --> 00:25:22.917
living in this concentrated
area.

00:25:22.917 --> 00:25:28.999
That every piece of land had
its specific use.

00:25:28.999 --> 00:25:30.417
We can only get
that far

00:25:30.417 --> 00:25:34.375
with historical and special
sources of archaeologists

00:25:34.375 --> 00:25:35.166
very often.

00:25:35.166 --> 00:25:37.667
The way we really start
to grapple

00:25:37.667 --> 00:25:39.667
with how people lived,
what they did

00:25:39.667 --> 00:25:42.417
and how households functioned
because, ultimately,

00:25:42.417 --> 00:25:45.417
your household is
your core unit of any world.

00:25:45.417 --> 00:25:48.125
And it\'\'s in that household
that the world is shaped.

00:25:48.125 --> 00:25:51.000
It\'\'s in that household
that choices are made

00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:51.875
that shapes the world.

00:25:51.875 --> 00:25:54.792
So whether one decides
to put her terraces

00:25:54.792 --> 00:25:56.041
below the house because
she believes

00:25:56.041 --> 00:25:58.417
that\'\'s the best place
to put them or, in fact,

00:25:58.417 --> 00:26:00.959
that\'\'s the best place
where things grow.

00:26:00.959 --> 00:26:03.083
All those things are done
very locally.

00:26:03.083 --> 00:26:05.458
So as archaeologists
we excavate the homesteads

00:26:05.458 --> 00:26:08.333
to see specifically where
people did what

00:26:08.333 --> 00:26:10.208
and how those things
occurred.

00:26:10.208 --> 00:26:12.250
So we\'\'ve excavated the terraces
on this side

00:26:12.250 --> 00:26:15.458
and a number of homesteads
starting grapple

00:26:15.458 --> 00:26:19.125
with how normal people
in this world lived.

00:26:19.125 --> 00:26:21.000
So you\'\'ve got the big
Bokoni but, in fact,

00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:25.000
it\'\'s the everyday actions
of people living on this site

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.875
that is making that site
and it\'\'s making that world.

00:26:28.875 --> 00:26:31.083
I wanted to turn this
into um,

00:26:31.083 --> 00:26:36.166
sort of an artist\'\'s impression
of how it uh,

00:26:36.166 --> 00:26:37.917
might have looked.

00:26:37.917 --> 00:26:41.792
So from that to that
giving it a perspective

00:26:41.792 --> 00:26:44.667
as if it\'\'s
a bird\'\'s eye view.

00:26:44.667 --> 00:26:48.125
Then I start to make
my additions.

00:26:48.125 --> 00:26:49.999
We don\'\'t know the exact
position of the houses,

00:26:49.999 --> 00:26:52.333
but we do know the houses
would have been

00:26:52.333 --> 00:26:54.999
in this outer
domestic zone.

00:26:54.999 --> 00:26:58.333
But, of course, the actual
sizes and shapes and positions

00:26:58.333 --> 00:27:00.834
we don\'\'t know exactly.

00:27:00.834 --> 00:27:03.667
And so from there

00:27:03.667 --> 00:27:05.834
to the finished project.

00:27:05.834 --> 00:27:07.999
In this way you can see
this is the way the cattle

00:27:07.999 --> 00:27:09.999
would come in and out
through this cattle road.

00:27:09.999 --> 00:27:13.999
We have a couple of chaps
building the stone wall.

00:27:13.999 --> 00:27:16.208
Agriculture being
essentially women\'\'s work,

00:27:16.208 --> 00:27:18.500
men tend to build
the stone walls.

00:27:18.500 --> 00:27:19.999
That tends to be their job
and, of course,

00:27:19.999 --> 00:27:23.999
looking after the cattle
and other livestock.

00:27:23.999 --> 00:27:26.750
In this homestead we\'\'ve got
a series of divisions

00:27:26.750 --> 00:27:29.999
that demarcate the different
areas in this homestead

00:27:29.999 --> 00:27:32.417
including this terrace
at the back.

00:27:32.417 --> 00:27:34.375
And we\'\'re finding a lot
of pottery.

00:27:34.375 --> 00:27:37.792
The potter style in Bokoni
is known as Marateng.

00:27:37.792 --> 00:27:39.250
Pots found in the area
have a row

00:27:39.250 --> 00:27:42.417
of diagonal impressions
just below the rim.

00:27:42.417 --> 00:27:45.625
Some are plain while others
are beautifully decorated

00:27:45.625 --> 00:27:47.208
in contrasting colors.

00:27:47.208 --> 00:27:49.291
The simpler pots were
everyday vessels

00:27:49.291 --> 00:27:51.999
for fetching water, cooking,
or storage

00:27:51.999 --> 00:27:53.959
more than likely made
by the women

00:27:53.959 --> 00:27:57.417
and closely associated
with work done by them.

00:27:57.417 --> 00:27:59.875
But Marateng pottery
is not unique

00:27:59.875 --> 00:28:00.917
to Bokoni alone.

00:28:00.917 --> 00:28:03.709
This world did not exist
in a vacuum.

00:28:03.709 --> 00:28:05.500
And so this is a massive
regional style,

00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:08.917
it\'\'s not about ethnicity,
it\'\'s about other networks.

00:28:08.917 --> 00:28:09.999
Probably women\'\'s networks

00:28:09.999 --> 00:28:12.999
or networks that they were
establishing

00:28:12.999 --> 00:28:13.750
between communities

00:28:13.750 --> 00:28:16.250
and it talks about that
integration of economy

00:28:16.250 --> 00:28:20.667
and the very intense interaction
between these communities.

00:28:20.667 --> 00:28:23.000
So this specific shard, well,

00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:24.792
reconstructed areas from
an excavation

00:28:24.792 --> 00:28:27.999
that had come out
of the gorge earlier

00:28:27.999 --> 00:28:32.834
as is this very large um,
pot that we found.

00:28:32.834 --> 00:28:36.333
And in this excavation
we started finding

00:28:36.333 --> 00:28:37.667
very similar pottery.

00:28:37.667 --> 00:28:38.999
So this one is
from a wall.

00:28:38.999 --> 00:28:40.667
It\'\'s, again,
that very red,

00:28:40.667 --> 00:28:43.417
round little tummy pot
with an incised arc

00:28:43.417 --> 00:28:46.250
on the shoulder within
the planar section there.

00:28:46.250 --> 00:28:48.834
So it\'\'s that continuity
in pottery making.

00:28:48.834 --> 00:28:54.083
And this site, obviously, it\'\'s
relatively early in the period

00:28:54.083 --> 00:28:57.750
so it\'\'s brilliant that we\'\'re
finding the same pottery.

00:28:57.750 --> 00:29:00.417
These communities
are about change,

00:29:00.417 --> 00:29:02.000
not about static
tribal systems.

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:05.999
They\'\'re about merging,
mixing into acting cultures,

00:29:05.999 --> 00:29:09.375
not about separate,
static cultures.

00:29:09.375 --> 00:29:12.291
Along with the image
of tribal Africa

00:29:12.291 --> 00:29:15.999
goes an image of an Africa
in which farming

00:29:15.999 --> 00:29:19.542
was rudimentary, mobile,
slash and burn.

00:29:19.542 --> 00:29:23.792
These were underdeveloped
or undeveloped systems.

00:29:23.792 --> 00:29:26.250
And I think very often when
people have thought about

00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:28.458
issues of transformation
and development

00:29:28.458 --> 00:29:31.375
and how we build different
kinds of societies

00:29:31.375 --> 00:29:33.875
they tended to operate
from that assumption

00:29:33.875 --> 00:29:36.125
of a tribal,
static past.

00:29:36.125 --> 00:29:37.458
In fact, of course,
if we look at

00:29:37.458 --> 00:29:39.250
the history of Bokoni
what we see

00:29:39.250 --> 00:29:43.083
is a fascinating example
of agricultural innovation,

00:29:43.083 --> 00:29:45.792
of societies using
local resources,

00:29:45.792 --> 00:29:49.125
local possibilities in new
and different ways,

00:29:49.125 --> 00:29:51.875
and of dynamic processes
of change.

00:29:51.875 --> 00:29:55.542
Later Bokoni becomes
probably a group

00:29:55.542 --> 00:29:56.999
with some coherence.

00:29:56.999 --> 00:29:58.999
And archaeologically
we can see it

00:29:58.999 --> 00:30:01.166
through the very specific
settlement pattern,

00:30:01.166 --> 00:30:02.999
little flower with
the petals on

00:30:02.999 --> 00:30:05.083
and the stem going up
which is the road

00:30:05.083 --> 00:30:07.500
and then the terraces
around that.

00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:10.417
In the early period
it\'\'s not as coherent.

00:30:10.417 --> 00:30:13.750
The internal arrangement
of the homestead

00:30:13.750 --> 00:30:16.083
where people are staying
is much,

00:30:16.083 --> 00:30:18.375
much more variable than it is
in the later phase.

00:30:18.375 --> 00:30:22.417
So we have a couple of sites
in the southern part

00:30:22.417 --> 00:30:24.959
where the settlement pattern
is reminiscent

00:30:24.959 --> 00:30:27.999
of stonewalling in other parts
of South Africa.

00:30:27.999 --> 00:30:30.208
So you had people
from all over

00:30:30.208 --> 00:30:32.792
joining people in
the southern region

00:30:32.792 --> 00:30:33.999
and together they shaped
this thing

00:30:33.999 --> 00:30:37.999
that eventually becomes
the pattern of occupation

00:30:37.999 --> 00:30:38.834
in Bokoni as a whole.

00:30:38.834 --> 00:30:41.959
We can see that
it developed over time.

00:30:41.959 --> 00:30:44.999
They did not decide to build
terraces from the beginning,

00:30:44.999 --> 00:30:46.999
they decided to
farm the land.

00:30:46.999 --> 00:30:49.083
And as they were
farming the land

00:30:49.083 --> 00:30:50.999
they made farmland.

00:30:50.999 --> 00:30:58.542
♪

00:30:58.542 --> 00:30:59.999
The terracing at
Verlorenkloof

00:30:59.999 --> 00:31:02.999
is a beautiful example
of how the people of Bokoni

00:31:02.999 --> 00:31:07.333
adapted and farmed
their land.

00:31:07.333 --> 00:31:09.959
Terracing serves
several purposes.

00:31:09.959 --> 00:31:13.834
One thing is to create
flat land on sloping ground.

00:31:13.834 --> 00:31:16.792
And once you have done that
the water will be

00:31:16.792 --> 00:31:17.333
better preserved.

00:31:17.333 --> 00:31:20.875
When the rain comes the water
will stay on the ground.

00:31:20.875 --> 00:31:23.458
On the other hand
if much water comes,

00:31:23.458 --> 00:31:25.999
if the much rain comes
you will not get

00:31:25.999 --> 00:31:29.333
erosion gulleys because
the water will be preserved

00:31:29.333 --> 00:31:30.625
on the farmland.

00:31:30.625 --> 00:31:34.041
So this is a very natural way
to make

00:31:34.041 --> 00:31:38.000
and to preserve farmland
for long term use.

00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:40.999
And in colonial times
it was often thought

00:31:40.999 --> 00:31:43.999
that this was something
that had to be learned.

00:31:43.999 --> 00:31:45.458
So in many other
African countries

00:31:45.458 --> 00:31:48.083
the colonial officers,
the agriculture officers,

00:31:48.083 --> 00:31:52.250
they wanted the local farmers,
the black farmers to be taught

00:31:52.250 --> 00:31:53.291
to preserve their land.

00:31:53.291 --> 00:31:56.625
And what\'\'s so unique
about Bokoni is that it shows

00:31:56.625 --> 00:32:00.792
that this was something
the people invented themselves,

00:32:00.792 --> 00:32:02.041
developed by themselves.

00:32:02.041 --> 00:32:03.792
There was no need
for agriculture officers

00:32:03.792 --> 00:32:07.542
or extension officers
to, to make people understand

00:32:07.542 --> 00:32:09.792
such a rather
simple measure.

00:32:09.792 --> 00:32:10.999
But once they started
to do it

00:32:10.999 --> 00:32:13.750
they became more
and more skilled.

00:32:13.750 --> 00:32:16.750
For many it would be
natural to assume

00:32:16.750 --> 00:32:18.583
that they had to put in
a building process

00:32:18.583 --> 00:32:19.999
before they can build
a cultivation.

00:32:19.999 --> 00:32:23.083
So there would be
terrace builders coming first

00:32:23.083 --> 00:32:25.166
and then they would start
cultivate.

00:32:25.166 --> 00:32:27.375
I\'\'ve always been
skeptical against that

00:32:27.375 --> 00:32:29.417
because we have so many
examples

00:32:29.417 --> 00:32:34.208
of these kind of systems
being built incrementally.

00:32:34.208 --> 00:32:37.417
But it took me some time
to understand

00:32:37.417 --> 00:32:39.834
that this was the case here,
also.

00:32:39.834 --> 00:32:41.500
And I did that by
walking around

00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:44.417
looking at the different
sorts of terracing

00:32:44.417 --> 00:32:45.750
that we find here.

00:32:45.750 --> 00:32:47.999
And the first one,
first, most simple one

00:32:47.999 --> 00:32:51.000
is just a simple line
of stones like this.

00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:55.166
Very often it\'\'s like
upright slabs.

00:32:55.166 --> 00:32:55.999
Here.

00:32:55.999 --> 00:32:56.999
Shoulder to shoulder.

00:32:56.999 --> 00:32:59.208
And you can see that it serves
as a terrace

00:32:59.208 --> 00:33:03.834
in the sense that soil erosion
from that end

00:33:03.834 --> 00:33:06.291
is stopped by this line
of stones.

00:33:06.291 --> 00:33:12.709
And if we move on
to this end of terrace

00:33:12.709 --> 00:33:15.750
we can see that, yes,

00:33:15.750 --> 00:33:17.709
they have these
upright slabs,

00:33:17.709 --> 00:33:22.750
they may even have two rows
of upright slabs here.

00:33:22.750 --> 00:33:26.542
Which are put in place
to prevent erosion from there.

00:33:26.542 --> 00:33:31.000
But if you just move
a little bit in this direction

00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:35.999
we can see the terrace
is slightly higher.

00:33:35.999 --> 00:33:38.999
It\'\'s slightly higher
than the other,

00:33:38.999 --> 00:33:43.625
but they have made
a nice uh,

00:33:43.625 --> 00:33:44.999
facing of it.

00:33:44.999 --> 00:33:47.999
To keep all the smaller stones
inside there.

00:33:47.999 --> 00:33:51.250
And now we have almost
reached the final staged

00:33:51.250 --> 00:33:53.834
so that the terrace
that we see up there,

00:33:53.834 --> 00:33:56.458
they are of this kind.

00:33:56.458 --> 00:33:57.333
I think this is
the first time

00:33:57.333 --> 00:34:01.125
that anyone had ever excavated
right through a wall,

00:34:01.125 --> 00:34:03.417
actually chopped a whole wall.

00:34:03.417 --> 00:34:04.875
Of course, we restored it
again afterwards,

00:34:04.875 --> 00:34:07.166
we didn\'\'t want to leave
a gaping hollow there.

00:34:07.166 --> 00:34:11.792
And um, we showed that
your hypothesis was correct

00:34:11.792 --> 00:34:13.999
because here\'\'s the section.

00:34:13.999 --> 00:34:16.417
And you can see the um,
well,

00:34:16.417 --> 00:34:18.999
you can\'\'t see the lower
upright slabs

00:34:18.999 --> 00:34:19.875
because they\'\'re buried.

00:34:19.875 --> 00:34:23.999
But there\'\'s the line of
upright slabs, the upper one.

00:34:23.999 --> 00:34:25.834
So the two rows there.

00:34:25.834 --> 00:34:28.625
And then a very nice face
of wall with one, two,

00:34:28.625 --> 00:34:30.375
three, four, five,
six, seven,

00:34:30.375 --> 00:34:32.667
about eight stones high.

00:34:32.667 --> 00:34:35.999
Obviously at a late stage
of the whole process.

00:34:35.999 --> 00:34:39.375
To practice this intensive
farming and grow these crops

00:34:39.375 --> 00:34:42.625
the people of Bokoni would have
needed iron tools.

00:34:42.625 --> 00:34:44.999
The hoe is the basic
agricultural implement

00:34:44.999 --> 00:34:47.709
throughout sub Saharan Africa.

00:34:47.709 --> 00:34:50.417
The normal African hoe
has a wooden handle

00:34:50.417 --> 00:34:51.500
and a steel blade.

00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:55.999
The tang is rather narrow
and broadens out into the blade

00:34:55.999 --> 00:34:57.999
which does the actual digging.

00:34:57.999 --> 00:35:01.834
The difference
and the uniqueness in Bokoni

00:35:01.834 --> 00:35:03.834
is that often these giant
bored stones

00:35:03.834 --> 00:35:09.083
which were made locally
were added on as extra weight.

00:35:09.083 --> 00:35:12.458
Although there are certain
areas where iron was made,

00:35:12.458 --> 00:35:15.834
there are no large iron smelting
sites in the area,

00:35:15.834 --> 00:35:18.999
which suggests that
the people of Bokoni traded

00:35:18.999 --> 00:35:21.917
with other groups.

00:35:21.917 --> 00:35:24.709
This area of Bokoni had
a long history

00:35:24.709 --> 00:35:27.999
of being part of wider
regional trading systems.

00:35:27.999 --> 00:35:31.291
We think that particularly
significant for Bokoni

00:35:31.291 --> 00:35:33.375
would have been the trade
to the north

00:35:33.375 --> 00:35:35.166
with the areas
around Phalaborwa

00:35:35.166 --> 00:35:37.250
which were major
iron producing areas

00:35:37.250 --> 00:35:39.375
and could, in the environment,
produce very little

00:35:39.375 --> 00:35:40.792
in the way of cattle
and crops.

00:35:40.792 --> 00:35:43.417
So their lifestyle was
based around iron.

00:35:43.417 --> 00:35:45.625
To the south we have
the Bokoni

00:35:45.625 --> 00:35:47.625
whose lifestyle is based
on agriculture,

00:35:47.625 --> 00:35:49.875
but if you needed huge amounts
of iron goods

00:35:49.875 --> 00:35:52.625
to work the particularly
difficult soils.

00:35:52.625 --> 00:35:55.291
So it seems probable
that in fact

00:35:55.291 --> 00:35:58.999
there was an ongoing system
of exchange between them.

00:35:58.999 --> 00:36:00.875
From the ninth century
Southern Africa

00:36:00.875 --> 00:36:03.083
became a vital source of
the world\'\'s supply of gold

00:36:03.083 --> 00:36:05.542
which underpinned
money and trade.

00:36:05.542 --> 00:36:08.458
From the 16th century
a much wider part of the region

00:36:08.458 --> 00:36:11.834
was drawn into an expanding
ivory trade with the coast

00:36:11.834 --> 00:36:15.041
fueled by increasing demand
for elephant tusks

00:36:15.041 --> 00:36:16.500
in the Indian Ocean world.

00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:21.500
This whole area of what is now
the Lowveld and the escarpment

00:36:21.500 --> 00:36:23.999
was enormously rich
in elephants.

00:36:23.999 --> 00:36:28.542
And became a critical source
of an ivory trade which,

00:36:28.542 --> 00:36:30.417
from the 1600s onwards,

00:36:30.417 --> 00:36:33.999
becomes an increasingly
dominant trade connection

00:36:33.999 --> 00:36:35.375
to the coast.

00:36:35.375 --> 00:36:38.208
For ivory good art Africans
mainly received

00:36:38.208 --> 00:36:39.999
imported cloth and beads.

00:36:39.999 --> 00:36:41.999
Seemingly
an unfair exchange.

00:36:41.999 --> 00:36:44.375
But with cloth and beads
in short supply

00:36:44.375 --> 00:36:47.375
and with little practical use
for gold and ivory

00:36:47.375 --> 00:36:49.999
they became symbols
of power and wealth

00:36:49.999 --> 00:36:52.417
and means of exchange
and currency.

00:36:52.417 --> 00:36:55.583
In the context of escalating
trade to the coast

00:36:55.583 --> 00:37:00.166
competition emerged between
different African chiefdoms.

00:37:00.166 --> 00:37:09.250
♪

00:37:09.250 --> 00:37:11.750
One of the things we know
quite a lot about

00:37:11.750 --> 00:37:14.041
from Bokoni traditions
we\'\'ve collected

00:37:14.041 --> 00:37:17.500
is the political history
of the Bokoni from about

00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:19.625
the late 17th century onwards.

00:37:19.625 --> 00:37:23.375
Now we know that the Bokoni
settled in the Machadodorp area

00:37:23.375 --> 00:37:24.208
and probably south of there,

00:37:24.208 --> 00:37:27.500
started to find themselves
increasingly under attack

00:37:27.500 --> 00:37:30.291
from groups that they described
as Mapono.

00:37:30.291 --> 00:37:32.125
Which, if you look at it
in context,

00:37:32.125 --> 00:37:34.458
seems to mean Nguni
speaking groups

00:37:34.458 --> 00:37:35.999
coming from the south.

00:37:35.999 --> 00:37:38.250
And those attacks became
so severe

00:37:38.250 --> 00:37:41.750
that the major settlements
of the Bokoni are moved

00:37:41.750 --> 00:37:42.208
to the north.

00:37:42.208 --> 00:37:45.709
And they move over
the escarpment into this valley.

00:37:45.709 --> 00:37:48.250
Once settled further north
the people of Bokoni

00:37:48.250 --> 00:37:50.792
created sheltered sites
in the deep gorges

00:37:50.792 --> 00:37:52.500
found along
the escarpment.

00:37:52.500 --> 00:37:55.792
The most formidable and
famous of these was Khutwaneng.

00:37:55.792 --> 00:37:59.834
At times of heightened danger
communities could retreat

00:37:59.834 --> 00:38:00.375
into them.

00:38:00.375 --> 00:38:01.999
But security came
at a price.

00:38:01.999 --> 00:38:04.999
For the longer groups spent
in these places of refuge

00:38:04.999 --> 00:38:07.417
the less time they had
out in the fields

00:38:07.417 --> 00:38:08.959
to look after crops
and cattle.

00:38:08.959 --> 00:38:12.709
And limited sunlight made
cultivating in the gorges

00:38:12.709 --> 00:38:13.834
extremely difficult.

00:38:13.834 --> 00:38:17.500
From the 1650s the expansion
of the powerful Pedi kingdom

00:38:17.500 --> 00:38:19.625
in the north created
new pressures

00:38:19.625 --> 00:38:21.375
for the people of Bokoni.

00:38:21.375 --> 00:38:22.792
The Pedi kings were
more interested

00:38:22.792 --> 00:38:25.333
in bringing Bokoni resources
within their sphere

00:38:25.333 --> 00:38:27.709
of economic
and political control

00:38:27.709 --> 00:38:29.999
rather than in
plundering them.

00:38:29.999 --> 00:38:33.125
By the late 1700s competition
and conflict

00:38:33.125 --> 00:38:35.375
in the wider region
intensified

00:38:35.375 --> 00:38:38.291
and new raiding groups
became more militarized

00:38:38.291 --> 00:38:39.291
and predatory.

00:38:39.291 --> 00:38:42.917
The Ndwandwe, the Swazi,
the Mthethwa and, ultimately,

00:38:42.917 --> 00:38:45.375
the Zulu kingdom vied
for control,

00:38:45.375 --> 00:38:49.625
raiding into and settling near
the escarpment.

00:38:49.625 --> 00:38:50.667
Bokoni communities

00:38:50.667 --> 00:38:53.375
organized around farming
rather than fighting,

00:38:53.375 --> 00:38:56.375
found themselves subject
to mounting attack.

00:38:56.375 --> 00:38:59.959
Their large fields and
easily accessible livestock

00:38:59.959 --> 00:39:01.583
made them easy
and tempting targets

00:39:01.583 --> 00:39:04.999
for the drilled regiments
of the Ndwandwe, Ndebele

00:39:04.999 --> 00:39:06.458
and others.

00:39:06.458 --> 00:39:07.875
And that mounting attack
is of

00:39:07.875 --> 00:39:09.208
a particularly
devastating kind

00:39:09.208 --> 00:39:12.041
because these raiding groups
are not simply prepared

00:39:12.041 --> 00:39:15.792
to take some cattle,
to take some grain and move on.

00:39:15.792 --> 00:39:17.917
They literally devastate
whole communities.

00:39:17.917 --> 00:39:20.000
They move in,
they take the cattle,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:20.999
they take the grain,

00:39:20.999 --> 00:39:23.834
they take large numbers
of women and children

00:39:23.834 --> 00:39:27.291
who are press ganged into
these new societies.

00:39:27.291 --> 00:39:30.959
The people of Bokoni
were ill equipped to withstand

00:39:30.959 --> 00:39:32.917
such a formidable onslaught.

00:39:32.917 --> 00:39:35.041
And the dwindling groups
of survivors

00:39:35.041 --> 00:39:37.875
eventually abandoned
the area.

00:39:37.875 --> 00:39:42.917
By the 1830s the stone walls
of Bokoni stood empty,

00:39:42.917 --> 00:39:46.750
never to be
settled again.

00:39:46.750 --> 00:39:48.208
One of the most
telling symptoms

00:39:48.208 --> 00:39:50.999
of the extent of
dislocation in this area

00:39:50.999 --> 00:39:52.959
is we have detailed
oral traditions

00:39:52.959 --> 00:39:56.000
and many of them talking about
widespread cannibalism

00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:59.999
taking place in this area
in this period of the 1820s.

00:39:59.999 --> 00:40:03.375
And the stories of cannibalism
were, of course,

00:40:03.375 --> 00:40:05.333
much beloved by the missionaries
and others

00:40:05.333 --> 00:40:08.250
because it proved to them
just how barbarous

00:40:08.250 --> 00:40:10.750
African people were when
left alone.

00:40:10.750 --> 00:40:12.542
But, in fact, the more
you look at them

00:40:12.542 --> 00:40:14.000
there probably wasn\'\'t
a huge amount

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:17.834
of actual consumption
of human flesh going on.

00:40:17.834 --> 00:40:19.709
But when you look at
the traditions what you see

00:40:19.709 --> 00:40:22.583
is that people are remembering
a time when societies

00:40:22.583 --> 00:40:24.083
lived off other societies.

00:40:24.083 --> 00:40:26.166
They actually consumed
other societies

00:40:26.166 --> 00:40:28.999
and they consumed the people
of those other societies

00:40:28.999 --> 00:40:31.333
and drew them into
their own societies

00:40:31.333 --> 00:40:31.999
and carried them away.

00:40:31.999 --> 00:40:35.917
And in the traditions we have
both Pedi and colony traditions.

00:40:35.917 --> 00:40:37.500
This area is remembered
as being an area

00:40:37.500 --> 00:40:41.500
which particularly suffered
from these kind of cannibal,

00:40:41.500 --> 00:40:43.166
emergence of
these cannibal groups

00:40:43.166 --> 00:40:45.625
which we now think were
primarily raiding groups,

00:40:45.625 --> 00:40:48.750
groups that lived by
raiding off other people.

00:40:48.750 --> 00:40:51.208
The heavily forested gorges
we can see today

00:40:51.208 --> 00:40:54.999
are a consequence of
this abandonment and, perhaps,

00:40:54.999 --> 00:40:57.999
a beautiful testament
to the dynamism

00:40:57.999 --> 00:41:03.458
and innovation
of Bokoni.

00:41:03.458 --> 00:41:07.999
Botanist John Burrows manages
this beautiful nature reserve,

00:41:07.999 --> 00:41:10.333
the largest patch of
privately owned

00:41:10.333 --> 00:41:12.583
indigenous forest
in the area.

00:41:12.583 --> 00:41:15.999
As a center for research
it is an exquisite

00:41:15.999 --> 00:41:17.291
open air laboratory.

00:41:17.291 --> 00:41:21.083
What we can see here
is a lovely example of forest

00:41:21.083 --> 00:41:22.999
which clothes both sides
of the cliff.

00:41:22.999 --> 00:41:25.417
You\'\'d be forgiven for thinking
that these forests

00:41:25.417 --> 00:41:26.875
have been here for
hundreds of years,

00:41:26.875 --> 00:41:29.417
but in reality when we go
into these forests

00:41:29.417 --> 00:41:33.250
it\'\'s terraced on both sides
from the river up to the cliffs.

00:41:33.250 --> 00:41:36.250
So everywhere where we see
forest here

00:41:36.250 --> 00:41:39.999
was once upon a time covered
in terracing.

00:41:39.999 --> 00:41:42.625
And we know that the crops
that would be grown

00:41:42.625 --> 00:41:45.999
on the terraces couldn\'\'t
have grown in shade.

00:41:45.999 --> 00:41:49.208
So therefore these slopes
were in full sun

00:41:49.208 --> 00:41:51.834
a relatively short
period ago.

00:41:51.834 --> 00:41:53.166
This little bush
we\'\'ve got here

00:41:53.166 --> 00:41:55.000
is the glossy karir.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.999
And this is one of the main
indicator species

00:41:57.999 --> 00:42:02.500
that we\'\'re using to
identify areas in the forest

00:42:02.500 --> 00:42:04.458
which were once
in sunshine.

00:42:04.458 --> 00:42:06.291
Most forest species
need shade.

00:42:06.291 --> 00:42:10.667
This species always grows
and germinates in full sun.

00:42:10.667 --> 00:42:15.125
♪

00:42:15.125 --> 00:42:18.166
Here we\'\'ve got a growing
in deep shade

00:42:18.166 --> 00:42:21.333
and the tree is now dying
because it is being shaded out.

00:42:21.333 --> 00:42:23.542
And here we\'\'ve actually got
a fine example

00:42:23.542 --> 00:42:25.999
of a terraced wall here.

00:42:25.999 --> 00:42:28.999
And this would have provided
a shelter from fire.

00:42:28.999 --> 00:42:32.333
The fires here would have
always crept down the hillside

00:42:32.333 --> 00:42:33.999
and when they got
to the terraces

00:42:33.999 --> 00:42:34.999
they would have stopped.

00:42:34.999 --> 00:42:37.417
That allowed this tree
to grow

00:42:37.417 --> 00:42:38.083
and it would have grown,

00:42:38.083 --> 00:42:41.667
for the first hundred years it
would have been very vigorous.

00:42:41.667 --> 00:42:45.709
And now it\'\'s been overtopped
by the forest trees

00:42:45.709 --> 00:42:48.917
for which it provided
that initial shade.

00:42:48.917 --> 00:42:51.542
And where I\'\'m standing is
the route

00:42:51.542 --> 00:42:54.834
on which the cattle
and the goats and the sheep

00:42:54.834 --> 00:42:56.333
would have been taken
every day

00:42:56.333 --> 00:42:57.542
up to the top
for grazing

00:42:57.542 --> 00:42:58.291
and brought back
every night.

00:42:58.291 --> 00:43:03.125
So when the Bokoni moved out
we had the perfect situation

00:43:03.125 --> 00:43:03.999
for these trees
to grow well.

00:43:03.999 --> 00:43:07.250
We had protection from fire
created by the terrace,

00:43:07.250 --> 00:43:11.291
we had nutrient rich soil
from the old cattle track.

00:43:11.291 --> 00:43:15.875
These trees would have grown
very, very quickly.

00:43:15.875 --> 00:43:17.458
Here we\'\'re looking at
a situation

00:43:17.458 --> 00:43:20.208
that the whole ground surface
in this cliff

00:43:20.208 --> 00:43:22.250
was disturbed
to grow crops.

00:43:22.250 --> 00:43:26.333
When the people left
we suddenly saw the emergence

00:43:26.333 --> 00:43:26.999
of this forest.

00:43:26.999 --> 00:43:32.834
Which is a lovely example
of how nature can heal itself.

00:43:32.834 --> 00:43:34.999
It\'\'s a nice, heartwarming
example

00:43:34.999 --> 00:43:37.917
of what can actually happen
if the earth is allowed

00:43:37.917 --> 00:43:39.999
to heal itself
without the wounds

00:43:39.999 --> 00:43:45.875
on the surface of the earth
being too big.

00:43:45.875 --> 00:43:50.083
Now you may wonder what happened
to the people of Bokoni.

00:43:50.083 --> 00:43:53.999
How is it possible
that such a dynamic world

00:43:53.999 --> 00:43:56.083
could just disappear?

00:43:56.083 --> 00:43:59.999
As a result of the deadly
onslaughts in the 1820s

00:43:59.999 --> 00:44:02.999
Bokoni groups scattered
throughout the region

00:44:02.999 --> 00:44:06.041
looking for new possibilities
and security

00:44:06.041 --> 00:44:08.500
in a dangerous
and changing world.

00:44:08.500 --> 00:44:12.417
Some groups eventually found
refuge at mission stations.

00:44:12.417 --> 00:44:16.208
The most prominent of these
in the area was Botshabelo.

00:44:16.208 --> 00:44:20.542
Established in 1865
by German missionaries.

00:44:20.542 --> 00:44:23.750
Once again the people of Bokoni
had to adapt,

00:44:23.750 --> 00:44:26.999
but elements of their
way of life lived on.

00:44:26.999 --> 00:44:29.999
It is perhaps no coincidence
that within two years

00:44:29.999 --> 00:44:34.250
of its establishment Botshabelo
became a major center

00:44:34.250 --> 00:44:39.999
of agricultural production
and innovation.

00:44:39.999 --> 00:44:44.999
I was born here in Botshabelo
some 57 years ago.

00:44:44.999 --> 00:44:48.999
I was born into a family
that were descendents

00:44:48.999 --> 00:44:54.583
of people who came here
in 1865.

00:44:54.583 --> 00:44:58.709
This whole place here,
this was an orchard.

00:44:58.709 --> 00:44:59.709
Pears, apples.

00:44:59.709 --> 00:45:02.917
The community was very much
self sufficient.

00:45:02.917 --> 00:45:06.458
They had cattle,
they were plowing fields,

00:45:06.458 --> 00:45:07.417
they had everything.

00:45:07.417 --> 00:45:10.792
My father had a few cattle,
I think I remember,

00:45:10.792 --> 00:45:14.166
three or four which forced me
to be looking after cattle.

00:45:14.166 --> 00:45:17.166
And out there
and across the river

00:45:17.166 --> 00:45:20.333
where it was
grazing land

00:45:20.333 --> 00:45:23.875
you find stone walls.

00:45:23.875 --> 00:45:26.750
That technique of building
a stone wall,

00:45:26.750 --> 00:45:31.291
I learned to do it myself
as a youngster.

00:45:31.291 --> 00:45:34.291
Now and again, you know, the
cattle will jump over the thing,

00:45:34.291 --> 00:45:38.542
the old part, I must go there,
like you know, build it.

00:45:38.542 --> 00:45:41.999
So I knew exactly the technique
of playing around

00:45:41.999 --> 00:45:44.792
with the ordering
of these bricks

00:45:44.792 --> 00:45:48.333
such that the structure
remains intact.

00:45:48.333 --> 00:45:50.999
Botshabelo prospered
thanks to the hard work

00:45:50.999 --> 00:45:51.999
of the residents.

00:45:51.999 --> 00:45:56.959
But over time deep conflict
began to surface.

00:45:56.959 --> 00:46:00.750
Johannes Dinkwanyane,
brother of Pedi king Sekhukhune,

00:46:00.750 --> 00:46:02.500
one of the first Pedi converts,

00:46:02.500 --> 00:46:04.667
was the leader of the group
who rejected

00:46:04.667 --> 00:46:08.208
the missionary domination
of their lives.

00:46:08.208 --> 00:46:12.208
Over time those conflicts
bubbled to the surface

00:46:12.208 --> 00:46:15.375
and Dinkwanyane
and others around him

00:46:15.375 --> 00:46:16.166
said to the missionaries,

00:46:16.166 --> 00:46:17.999
\"We want to continue
to be Christian,

00:46:17.999 --> 00:46:20.417
but we don\'\'t want to live
under mission control.

00:46:20.417 --> 00:46:23.999
We want to go somewhere
where we can have our own land.\"

00:46:23.999 --> 00:46:24.750
The missionaries,

00:46:24.750 --> 00:46:27.542
horrified at the mere suggestion
of an independent

00:46:27.542 --> 00:46:31.500
African Christian society
refused to give in

00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:32.583
to these demands.

00:46:32.583 --> 00:46:35.625
And so Dinkwanyane
and his followers,

00:46:35.625 --> 00:46:36.959
including some Koni,

00:46:36.959 --> 00:46:40.750
left Botshabelo
in search of a new home.

00:46:40.750 --> 00:46:42.000
The assimilation
of Koni groups

00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:45.500
into new societies contributed
to the transformation

00:46:45.500 --> 00:46:46.750
of stonewalling.

00:46:46.750 --> 00:46:49.000
In the 19th century
it took on a new form

00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:51.999
in the context of pressure
from Boer settlers

00:46:51.999 --> 00:46:55.000
and increasing importance
of firearms.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:57.500
New fortified strongholds
emerged

00:46:57.500 --> 00:46:59.291
making use of
natural features,

00:46:59.291 --> 00:47:02.458
elaborated with stonewalling
and shooting holes

00:47:02.458 --> 00:47:05.250
to accommodate
these anxious times.

00:47:05.250 --> 00:47:07.250
After their exodus from
Botshabelo

00:47:07.250 --> 00:47:10.999
Dinkwanyane, along with his
Pedi and Koni followers,

00:47:10.999 --> 00:47:14.625
eventually established
Mafolofolo.

00:47:14.625 --> 00:47:16.999
♪

00:47:16.999 --> 00:47:19.291
What we\'\'re looking at here
is one section

00:47:19.291 --> 00:47:21.999
of the much bigger settlement
of Mafolofolo.

00:47:21.999 --> 00:47:23.792
And you can see
the stonewalling,

00:47:23.792 --> 00:47:25.542
you can see the shooting holes.

00:47:25.542 --> 00:47:27.709
Behind the walls is also
a cave system

00:47:27.709 --> 00:47:30.709
and within the cave system
is a set of tunnels

00:47:30.709 --> 00:47:32.750
which seem to be both
an escape route

00:47:32.750 --> 00:47:36.041
and perhaps lead to
the other settlements.

00:47:36.041 --> 00:47:38.125
Behind us is a steep drop
into

00:47:38.125 --> 00:47:39.834
the Spectrum Valley Gorge.

00:47:39.834 --> 00:47:42.542
Around us is extraordinary
rugged terrain.

00:47:42.542 --> 00:47:48.792
So this was an enormously
difficult place to penetrate.

00:47:48.792 --> 00:47:51.208
We are standing in
the main cattle corral

00:47:51.208 --> 00:47:51.999
at Mafolofolo.

00:47:51.999 --> 00:47:55.709
And behind me is the grave
of Johannes Dinkwanyane,

00:47:55.709 --> 00:47:56.542
a quite extraordinary figure.

00:47:56.542 --> 00:47:59.208
A man who looked forwards
and backwards in his life,

00:47:59.208 --> 00:48:01.999
and yet is hardly remembered
to the present.

00:48:01.999 --> 00:48:04.417
In fact so little remembered
that his grave

00:48:04.417 --> 00:48:07.166
is no more than
a jumble of stones.

00:48:07.166 --> 00:48:09.999
Mafolofolo represented
a remarkable attempt

00:48:09.999 --> 00:48:13.458
to bind together the traditions
of Koni communities

00:48:13.458 --> 00:48:15.250
of the world of
the mission stations

00:48:15.250 --> 00:48:17.125
and of the world
of the Pedi kingdom.

00:48:17.125 --> 00:48:20.166
It was an attempt to take
the best of that world,

00:48:20.166 --> 00:48:21.834
it was an attempt that failed,

00:48:21.834 --> 00:48:24.417
but it was an attempt that has
enormous meaning

00:48:24.417 --> 00:48:26.750
for the way in which
our societies developed

00:48:26.750 --> 00:48:27.834
in the longer term.

00:48:27.834 --> 00:48:29.999
Because in a sense what
Dinkwanyane

00:48:29.999 --> 00:48:31.999
and what this community
were trying to do

00:48:31.999 --> 00:48:33.875
is a great deal of what
we\'\'re trying to do

00:48:33.875 --> 00:48:34.542
in the new South Africa.

00:48:34.542 --> 00:48:38.583
Take the best from the old
and build us into the new.

00:48:38.583 --> 00:48:42.000
♪

00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:44.999
And so the work of our team
continues

00:48:44.999 --> 00:48:47.999
to make sense of this
remarkable world.

00:48:47.999 --> 00:48:52.208
A world that without
protection and preservation

00:48:52.208 --> 00:48:55.041
will be lost forever.

00:48:55.041 --> 00:48:58.959
There are a small number
of local landowners and farmers

00:48:58.959 --> 00:49:02.999
who are committed to protecting
and preserving the site,

00:49:02.999 --> 00:49:05.125
but as they remain unrecognized

00:49:05.125 --> 00:49:07.458
by the South African Heritage
System

00:49:07.458 --> 00:49:11.999
most of them lie behind
locked gates on private farms.

00:49:11.999 --> 00:49:13.208
They are not signposted

00:49:13.208 --> 00:49:17.542
and no information is publically
available about them.

00:49:17.542 --> 00:49:20.667
Such a critical part
of South African history

00:49:20.667 --> 00:49:26.250
left to vandals and litter.

00:49:26.250 --> 00:49:27.917
It\'\'s a sad story.

00:49:27.917 --> 00:49:29.709
What you see here

00:49:29.709 --> 00:49:33.999
are the ruins of what
was indeed

00:49:33.999 --> 00:49:38.542
a very vibrant
community.

00:49:38.542 --> 00:49:42.333
As government
much must be done

00:49:42.333 --> 00:49:44.166
to provide
the necessary support

00:49:44.166 --> 00:49:46.917
to bring this place
back to life.

00:49:46.917 --> 00:49:49.458
None of these sites
are declared

00:49:49.458 --> 00:49:50.375
National Heritage Sites.

00:49:50.375 --> 00:49:54.709
So they don\'\'t have the most
rudimentary legal protection.

00:49:54.709 --> 00:49:58.959
A number of them are
in a serious state of disarray,

00:49:58.959 --> 00:50:00.125
dereliction, collapse.

00:50:00.125 --> 00:50:04.750
All of that needs to be
stabilized at the very least,

00:50:04.750 --> 00:50:06.166
reversed where possible.

00:50:06.166 --> 00:50:08.166
So we need an emergency plan,
really,

00:50:08.166 --> 00:50:12.041
to try and insure that we don\'\'t
lose more of these sites.

00:50:12.041 --> 00:50:14.208
But we need to find ways
of making these sites

00:50:14.208 --> 00:50:16.999
accessible to
a much wider audience.

00:50:16.999 --> 00:50:18.834
And we need, therefore,
I think to develop

00:50:18.834 --> 00:50:23.917
sections of these sites
as areas where people can go,

00:50:23.917 --> 00:50:24.792
they can walk the sites.

00:50:24.792 --> 00:50:26.999
They\'\'re, as we know,
in beautiful areas,

00:50:26.999 --> 00:50:27.999
beautiful locations.

00:50:27.999 --> 00:50:30.792
They\'\'re on the route from
Johannesburg to the Kruger Park.

00:50:30.792 --> 00:50:34.041
Thousands and thousands
of tourists and South Africans

00:50:34.041 --> 00:50:35.999
every year
travel this area.

00:50:35.999 --> 00:50:38.999
If only we could make them
stop their cars,

00:50:38.999 --> 00:50:39.834
pause for a bit.

00:50:39.834 --> 00:50:42.041
The whole world could
open up in front of them

00:50:42.041 --> 00:50:44.375
which otherwise
would be lost.

00:50:44.375 --> 00:50:54.500
♪

00:50:54.500 --> 00:50:57.999
This is the story
of a dynamic people.

00:50:57.999 --> 00:51:01.999
A forgotten world of innovation
and resourcefulness.

00:51:01.999 --> 00:51:05.709
A community of people
who respected the land

00:51:05.709 --> 00:51:08.417
and harnessed all it offered.

00:51:08.417 --> 00:51:11.333
It is a story about
African society,

00:51:11.333 --> 00:51:15.999
not limited to racist ideas
about tribal Africa.

00:51:15.999 --> 00:51:19.375
And holds powerful lessons
for us all.

00:51:19.375 --> 00:51:22.999
The people of Bokoni lived
gently on the land.

00:51:22.999 --> 00:51:26.999
How many of us can say
we do the same?

00:51:26.999 --> 00:51:56.417
♪

00:51:56.417 --> 00:52:01.834
Captioned by
Video Caption Corporation
www.vicaps.com