TY - JOUR
T1 - The Manaledi Clay Mine
T2 - A ca. 1500 Year-Long Record of Potting from a Single Clay Source in the Tswapong Hills, Eastern Botswana
AU - Wilmsen, Edwin N.
AU - Griffiths, Anne
AU - Killick, David
AU - Thebe, Phenyo
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments. The authors acknowledge the support of the Research Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Texas at Austin.
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the support of the Research Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Texas at Austin.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Current potters in Manaledi village in the Tswapong Hills of Botswana aver that they and their ancestors for five generations have made pottery exclusively with clay from nearby sources. We begin with an examination of Manaledi and its clay mine to uncover current dialectics between village, landscape, clay, potters, and ancestors. Archaeological sherds found around the village and clay sources document occupation by makers of Early Iron Age (ca. AD 500-750), Middle Iron Age (ca. AD 750-1050), Late Iron Age (ca. AD 1420-1800), and 18th-20th century wares related to current Manaledi pottery. The proximity of archaeological deposits, clay sources, and village made it possible to conduct simultaneously what might otherwise be considered three separate projects. As a consequence, we are able to document that Manaledi clays have been used to make pottery for some 1500 years and to consider long-standing constraints on potting this implies.
AB - Current potters in Manaledi village in the Tswapong Hills of Botswana aver that they and their ancestors for five generations have made pottery exclusively with clay from nearby sources. We begin with an examination of Manaledi and its clay mine to uncover current dialectics between village, landscape, clay, potters, and ancestors. Archaeological sherds found around the village and clay sources document occupation by makers of Early Iron Age (ca. AD 500-750), Middle Iron Age (ca. AD 750-1050), Late Iron Age (ca. AD 1420-1800), and 18th-20th century wares related to current Manaledi pottery. The proximity of archaeological deposits, clay sources, and village made it possible to conduct simultaneously what might otherwise be considered three separate projects. As a consequence, we are able to document that Manaledi clays have been used to make pottery for some 1500 years and to consider long-standing constraints on potting this implies.
KW - Botswana
KW - Iron Age
KW - optical petrography
KW - pottery
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077560379&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1163/21915784-20190013
DO - 10.1163/21915784-20190013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85077560379
SN - 1612-1651
VL - 17
SP - 121
EP - 149
JO - Journal of African Archaeology
JF - Journal of African Archaeology
IS - 2
ER -