Abstract
Stone Structures in the Western Transvaal, A number of stone structures ascribed to “the ancients“have been investigated by Dr. Ir. E. C. N. van Hoepen and Dr. A. C. Hoffman (Argeologiese Navorsing van die Nasionale Museum, Bloemfontein, Dl. 2, St. 1). These structures are situated at Buispoort, 24 miles north-west of Zeerust, and consist of stone walls which have served for huts, enclosures around huts and for cattle. There are also walls which served as storage platforms for grain-bins, semi-circular to nearly completely circular stone-rings surrounding threshing-floors, small structures for storing grinding stones, furnaces for smelting iron ore, heaps of slag, ash-heaps and remarkable graves. On the evidence of both Campbell and Moffat, and taking into account the reputation of the Bahurutsi for iron-working, it is concluded that these structures are the work of the ancient Bahurutsi, especially as skulls found here are similar to recent Bahurutsi skulls from Braklaagte. These structures corroborate and substantiate for the first time the fact that the Bantu did build with stone. This has an important bearing on the problem of the Zimbabwe culture. The graves found were all covered-in fissures between rocks. Many bones show signs of burning, which may be due to their burial after a Matabili raid in which the houses with their occupants were burned. A number of furnaces, without doubt for the production of iron, have been found. Potsherds and two or three broken pots were found. The material is coarse; and it contains foreign matter which does not improve the clay. It was probably introduced without clear understanding of its operation in firing. Three or four definitely globular pots were found. These are rare among the modern Bahurutsi. Pots with three legs had reached a culminating point, the legs being of enormous size. A pot with a gradually thinning lip may have been introduced by strangers.
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Research Items. Nature 135, 660–662 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135660a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135660a0