UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
There are no undoubted fish-hooks at coastal sites in southern Africa,
and no convincing harpoon heads, though wooden versions of the latter are
mentioned by Barrow from the lower Orange river. 46 His actual words are:
'we found several harpoons of wood, some pointed with bone, and fixed
to ropes made apparently of some sort of grass'. These appear to have been
wooden-shafted and bone-pointed but not necessarily barbed. Two barbed
bone points have been found in the dunes of the Agulhas area, but the contexts
are not published, though one was found to have penetrated the
lumbar vertebra of an adult female skeleton of 'Khoisan' affinities. 47
Perforated ceramic and stone objects from sites along the southern Cape
coast have been described as net sinkers which if accurate would document
net fishing by coastal San. In view of the abundance of fibrous twine and
the undoubted existence of netting at inland sites, this is perhaps not
surprising.
The techniques used to catch or collect other coastal resources are not
well documented. Spatulate bone artefacts are found at some sites and may
have been the implements used to detach limpets from their rocky perches,
but there is no compelling evidence. Nor can it be demonstrated how
lobsters, sea-birds or seals were caught, though there is one historical record
of the shooting of seals with the bow 48 and another of Khoi Khoi
clubbing seals to death at an isolated rocky point near Saldanha Bay. 49
Perhaps the highly fragmented nature of the skull parts found at Elands
Bay Cave and other sites reflects the latter practice.
Although the San were generally not given to domestication and cultivation,
there seems to be some evidence that at least by the seventeenth
century they kept dogs, apparently for hunting. Dapper, who never visited
the Cape but was well informed by those who had, reported in 1668 that the
Sonqua 'keep many hunting dogs trained to hunt the rock rabbits which
are their principal food'. 50 There certainly are quantities of dassie or rock
rabbit bones in excavated rock shelters of the western Cape, and there is
some indication 5 ' that there may be domestic dog bones amongst the larger
faunal assemblages.
In addition to foods actively hunted, there seems little doubt that
scavenging played a useful part in San subsistence. In particular, dead fish
or stranded whales are reported to have been eaten by those living
along the coast. Another, obviously important, technique is the making of
the variety of containers used to carry water. Ostrich eggshell water-bottles,
sometimes decorated with incisions, are described in the historical accounts
and have been recovered, albeit usually fragmented, from numerous sites.
46. J. Barrow, p. 300.
47. J. E. Parkington, unpublished PhD.
48. W . Paterson.
49. H. B. Thom.
50. I. Schapera, 1933.
51. K. Scott, personal communication.
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