Earliest Times of Humankind in South Africa

There seems to be general agreement among scholars that humankind had its earliest origins in Africa. It is especially South Africa which is rich in fossil evidence of the evolutionary history of the human family, going back several million years. The discovery of the skull of a Taung child in 1924; recent discoveries of hominid fossils at Sterkfontein Caves, recently declared a world heritage site; and the groundbreaking work done at Blombos Cave in the southern Cape, have all put South Africa at the forefront of palaeontological research into the origins of humanity.

Modern humans have lived in the region for over 100 000 years. The small, mobile bands of Stone-Age hunter-gatherers, who created a wealth of rock art, were the ancestors of the Khoekhoe and San of historical times. The Khoekhoen and San (the 'Hottentots' and 'Bushmen' of early European terminology), although collectively known as the Khoisan, are often thought of as distinct peoples.

The former were those who, some 2 000 years ago, adopted a pastoralist lifestyle herding sheep and, later, cattle. Whereas the hunter-gatherers adapted to local environments and were scattered across the subcontinent, the herders sought out the pasturelands between modern-day Namibia and the Eastern Cape, which, generally, are near the coast. At around the same time, Bantu-speaking agropastoralists began arriving in southern Africa, bringing with them an iron-age culture and domesticated crops. After establishing themselves in the well-watered eastern coastal region of southern Africa, these farmers spread out across the interior plateau, or 'highveld', where they adopted a more extensive cattle-farming culture.
Chiefdoms arose, based on control over cattle, which gave rise to systems of patronage and hence hierarchies of authority within communities. Cattle exchanges formed the basis of polygamous marriage arrangements, facilitating the accumulation of social power through control over the labor of kin groups and dependants.