Original Research - Special Collection: Celebrating Cultural Heritage within National Parks

Animal diversity and procurement strategies at Schroda, Limpopo Valley, South Africa

Annie R. Antonites
Koedoe | Vol 66, No 2 | a1790 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koedoe.v66i2.1790 | © 2024 Annie R. Antonites | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 03 September 2023 | Published: 30 August 2024

About the author(s)

Annie R. Antonites, Department of Archaeozoology and Large Mammals, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa; and, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, United States; and, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This article presents a broad overview of excavated animal taxa and methods of procurement at the Middle Iron Age site of Schroda (AD 900–1100), located in the Mapungubwe National Park. Here, a diverse animal resource base was exploited through various strategies – some of which drew on individual participation, while others relied on group effort and resource pooling. Cattle, sheep and goat herds provided a reliable supply of meat, milk and skins throughout the year, while a range of wild mammals, birds, reptiles and fish were also hunted, trapped and collected. Although procurement strategies and animals targeted generally remained unchanged for about 200 years, there is a small shift in the proportion of livestock relative to other animals and a related increase in the exploitation of wild animals. Reliance on a broad spectrum of subsistence strategies is often done as a risk management strategy in areas with unpredictable environmental conditions. Erratic rainfall patterns, evident at the end of the first millennium in the middle Limpopo Valley, would have necessitated such an approach. In addition, the updated taxonomic list for Schroda provides a deep-time record of animal presence and expands the former distribution ranges for some taxa in the Mapungubwe National Park area.

Keywords

Middle Iron Age; Mapungubwe National Park; African zooarchaeology; subsistence economy; animal resources; zoogeography; past distribution; animal geography.

Sustainable Development Goal

Goal 15: Life on land

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