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arrow was not very great, the San developed hunting techniques to get as
close as possible to their prey. Many rock art paintings in the Makgabeng
illustrate this important aspect of the life of the San in a very special way.
In the course of time the San also used arrowheads made of iron which they
most probably bartered with the Khoikhoi and the Bantu-speaking
communities, because they themselves did not have the technology to smelt
and process iron. The archaeological evidence indicates the remains of the
Bantu-speaking iron smelting furnaces found around the Makgabeng area
which were used to produce iron objects some of which they traded with the
San. The Makgabeng San therefore had the advantage of developing and
shaping their lives due to their proximity and accommodative interaction with
groups which later arrived in that area.
The San also used traps to get hold of their animal preys which were
roaming the Makgabeng area in abundance at that time. The traps or
snares were made of various types of plants, branches, or skin thongs and
were mostly used to catch smaller kinds of animals 146 . Unlike the San in
other areas with lack of food supplies, the Makgabeng San also lived on
gathered food such as fruit, vegetables, bulbs, tubers and roots which came
in various species in the Makgabeng mountains. These were mostly
gathered by women with special implements with which they dug
146 H. J. Van Aswegen, History of South Africa, p. 19.
96