UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

The beginnings of the iron age in southern Africa
south, beyond the southernmost penetration of the early iron age, appear
to have adopted certain new cultural traits which are best seen as
derived from contact, both direct and indirect, with early iron age settlers.
These iate stone age' and related populations are discussed by J. E.
Parkington in Chapter 26 of the present volume.
Reconstruction of the early iron age in southern Africa must be based
first and foremost on archaeological evidence. Unlike events of the later
periods of the iron age, those of this time - which corresponds broadly
with the first millennium of our era - lie effectively beyond the range of
oral tradition. As has been shown in an earlier chapter, attempts have been
made to base historical reconstructions of the pre-literate early iron age
societies of this region on purely linguistic evidence. In the present state of
our knowledge, however, it seems preferable generally to admit the conclusions
of historical linguistics as secondary evidence for comparison with
a sequence which has first been established on the basis of archaeology.
Regional survey of archaeological evidence
Southern Zambia, Angola, Malawi
A regional survey of the Zambian early iron age has recently been
undertaken by the present writer; and a number of distinct groups have
been recognized primarily on the basis of the typology of the associated
pottery. 6 Here, we are only concerned with the evidence from the
southern part of the country. Two closely related groups may be discerned
in the Copperbelt region and on the Lusaka plateau. The Chondwe group
of the Copperbelt is characterized by pottery vessels with thickened or undifferentiated
rims, the most frequent decorative motifs being lines of
alternately facing triangular impressions forming a chevron design in false
relief and also chardate areas of comb-stamping delineated by broad
grooves. The score of village sites which have so far yielded pottery of this
type are distributed alongside rivers and streams, generally close to the treelines
of the dambos which fringe the upper reaches of the Kafue headwater
tributaries. Radio-carbon dates for the Chondwe group sites of
Kangonga and Chondwe cover the sixth to the eleventh centuries of our
era, but study of pottery typology suggests that certain other sites may be
earlier. Iron and copper working is evident throughout the time range of
the known sites. However, exploitation of the area's copper deposits appears
to have been on a small scale in early iron age times, although it
attracted widespread trade contacts. 7
To the south, centred on the Lusaka plateau, are the early iron age sites
attributed to the Kapwirimbwe group, the pottery of which is distinguished
6. D. W. Phillipson, 1968a, pp. 191-211.
7. E. A. C. Mills and N. T. Filmer, pp. 129-45; D. W . Phillipson, 1972a, pp. 93-128.
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