UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

East Africa before the seventh century
gatherers using bows and arrows and advanced stone-working techniques
(principally of the broad tradition which archaeologists have called Wilton,
for which see Volume I). These people were generally of a physical type
which is represented now by the so-called San and Khoi-Khoi inhabiting
the Kalahari and its margins. Their language would have been of the
Khoisan family, distinctive for its 'clicks'. Nowadays these languages are
confined to the Khoi and San of southern and south-western Africa, and
in East Africa to two small separate groups living in north-central Tanzania
— the Sandawe and Hadza. 1
The Hadza remain hunters and gatherers, few in number, fairly mobile
and expert in finding and winning the wild food resources of their territory. 2
The Sandawe, on the other hand, have for some time been growing crops
and keeping goats and cattle, but they maintain a marked cultural
attachment to the bush and an instinctive knowledge of its potential.
Physically, both of these tribes are negroid, in general type; however, some
observers detect traces of another ancestry in the Sandawe and possibly
in the Hadza too. Their intermarriage with the surrounding negroid peoples
would explain a drift in the latter's direction.
Interesting again is the observation that this very territory of the Hadza
and Sandawe and that which lies between them contains, unlike the rest
of eastern Africa, numerous examples of hunter rock art, painted on the
inner walls of natural shelters which were used from time to time during
the late stone age as temporary camps and family bases. These paintings 3
have a social and often religious significance which is as yet poorly
understood; but they also provide valuable indications of hunting methods,
diets and daily life. Now, hunter art of this same period similarly painted
on rock-shelter walls occurs again in several parts of southern Africa; and,
though there are some obvious regional differences, a number of parallels
in style, subject matter and technique are observable between the southern
African and central Tanzanian examples. These artistic parallels are
complemented by the general relationship of the Wilton stone-working
techniques employed by the rock-shelter occupants of the two regions.
Although neither Hadza nor Sandawe are known to paint in a serious way
these days - just as both have given up making stone tools - the message
of the evidence is that at some time during the late stone age this region
shared an ethnic and cultural tradition with the countries to the south.
This extensive savannah hunter-gatherer way of life had a cultural
sophistication and economic viability of its own. If it was the gathering
side which produced the bulk of the food consumed (as recent studies
i. These Hadza are often known by the less precise name 'Tindiga'. The classification
of their language as Khoisan has been disputed, but is probably correct. There are no serious
doubts about the classification of Sandawe in the Khoisan family.
2. A 'villagization' scheme with agricultural instruction is presently being attempted by
the Tanzanian government for the Hadza.
3. See Volume I, Chapter 26.
571