The Early Farming Communities of Southern Mozambique

Abstract

 The thesis covers extensive and mostly unpublished archaeological evidence of the early farming communities of southern Mozambique. Environmental patterns and present-day human interactions are assessed, and the potentials of available ethno-historical source materials briefly estimated. The developments, aims and methodologies of the Archaeological Research Programme from 1976 to 1984 are described as providing the first contextual work from which we derive most of our present data. The individual archaeological sites are evaluated within particular physiographic units conformable to location and environmental setting and described accordingly. The archaeological evidence is presented and discussed in relation to associated sites in the region, as well as related to commonly accepted archaeological traditions in southern Africa. An interpretative view of the data is put forward in relation to regional, physical and cultural parameters, and reconstructions of historical entities are suggested by discreet archaeological pottery traditions. An outline of the early farming community economy and organization is proposed. A review of the archaeology of the early farming communities of eastern and southern Africa is presented as providing a comparative frame of reference of overall historical processes of relevance to local developments.