The late pre-colonial site of Komkans 2 (KK002) and an evaluation of the evidence for indigenous copper smelting in Namaqualand, southern Africa

Abstract

Excavations at the late Holocene archaeological site KK002 are described. This small rock shelter, 17 km from the coast in southern Namaqualand, South Africa, contained a shallow deposit with a rich assemblage. Limited evidence of mid-Holocene occupation occurs, but the majority of occupation took place within the last 2000 years and can be split into two primary layers. The finds included stone artefacts with many clear quartz backed tools, whole, broken and partly made ostrich eggshell beads, pottery, worked wood and reeds, wood shavings, metal artefacts of indigenous and European origin, glass trade beads and a variety of subsistence remains, including those of marine animals. All three copper-containing artefacts are of European origin. With so much having been said about the possibility of an indigenous source of copper in Namaqualand, further investigation of this suggests that copper was not mined locally, but that lumps of native copper were collected at times. There is also no evidence of copper-smelting south of the Orange River, although this was practised in central Namibia.