Natalie Swanepoel is an archaeologist at the University of South Africa, Pretoria.Amanda Esterhuysen is Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Phil Bonner was Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he held the National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Local Histories and Present Realities.

• Preface1 Introduction Section 1 Disciplinary Identities: Methodological Considerations2 Historical archaeologies of southern Africa: precedents and prospects J. Behrens and N. Swanepoel3 South Africa in Africa more than five hundred years ago: some questions N. Parsons4 Towards an outline of the oral geography, historical identity and political economy of the Late Precolonial Tswana in the Rustenburg regionS. Hall, M. Anderson, J. Boeyens and F. Coetzee5 Metals beyond frontiers: exploring the production, distribution and use of metals in the Free State grasslands, South AfricaS. Chirikure, S. Hall and T. Maggs6 deTuin, a 19th-century mission station in the Northern Cape A.G. Morris7 Reinterpreting the origins of Dzata: archaeology and legends E. HanischSection 2 Material Identities8 Revisiting Bokoni: populating the stone ruins of the Mpumalanga Escarpment P. Delius and M.H. Schoeman9 The Mpumalanga Escarpment settlements: some answers, many questions T. Maggs10 Post-European contact glass beads from the southern African interior: a tentative look at trade, consumption and identitiesM. Wood11 Ceramic alliances: pottery and the history of the Kekana Ndebele in the old TransvaalA.B. EsterhuysenSection 3 ‘Troubled Times’: Warfare, State Formation and Migration in the Interior12 Rediscovering the Ndwandwe kingdom J. Wright13 Swazi oral tradition and Northern Nguni historical archaeology P. Bonner14 Mfecane mutation in Central Africa: a comparison of the Makololo and the Ngoni in Zambia, 1830s-1898A. KanduzaList of contributors Index

Natalie Swanepoel is an archaeologist at the University of South Africa, Pretoria.Amanda Esterhuysen is Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Phil Bonner was Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he held the National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Local Histories and Present Realities.

• Preface1 Introduction Section 1 Disciplinary Identities: Methodological Considerations2 Historical archaeologies of southern Africa: precedents and prospects J. Behrens and N. Swanepoel3 South Africa in Africa more than five hundred years ago: some questions N. Parsons4 Towards an outline of the oral geography, historical identity and political economy of the Late Precolonial Tswana in the Rustenburg regionS. Hall, M. Anderson, J. Boeyens and F. Coetzee5 Metals beyond frontiers: exploring the production, distribution and use of metals in the Free State grasslands, South AfricaS. Chirikure, S. Hall and T. Maggs6 deTuin, a 19th-century mission station in the Northern Cape A.G. Morris7 Reinterpreting the origins of Dzata: archaeology and legends E. HanischSection 2 Material Identities8 Revisiting Bokoni: populating the stone ruins of the Mpumalanga Escarpment P. Delius and M.H. Schoeman9 The Mpumalanga Escarpment settlements: some answers, many questions T. Maggs10 Post-European contact glass beads from the southern African interior: a tentative look at trade, consumption and identitiesM. Wood11 Ceramic alliances: pottery and the history of the Kekana Ndebele in the old TransvaalA.B. EsterhuysenSection 3 ‘Troubled Times’: Warfare, State Formation and Migration in the Interior12 Rediscovering the Ndwandwe kingdom J. Wright13 Swazi oral tradition and Northern Nguni historical archaeology P. Bonner14 Mfecane mutation in Central Africa: a comparison of the Makololo and the Ngoni in Zambia, 1830s-1898A. KanduzaList of contributors Index

Natalie Swanepoel is an archaeologist at the University of South Africa, Pretoria.Amanda Esterhuysen is Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Phil Bonner was Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he held the National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Local Histories and Present Realities.

• Preface1 Introduction Section 1 Disciplinary Identities: Methodological Considerations2 Historical archaeologies of southern Africa: precedents and prospects J. Behrens and N. Swanepoel3 South Africa in Africa more than five hundred years ago: some questions N. Parsons4 Towards an outline of the oral geography, historical identity and political economy of the Late Precolonial Tswana in the Rustenburg regionS. Hall, M. Anderson, J. Boeyens and F. Coetzee5 Metals beyond frontiers: exploring the production, distribution and use of metals in the Free State grasslands, South AfricaS. Chirikure, S. Hall and T. Maggs6 deTuin, a 19th-century mission station in the Northern Cape A.G. Morris7 Reinterpreting the origins of Dzata: archaeology and legends E. HanischSection 2 Material Identities8 Revisiting Bokoni: populating the stone ruins of the Mpumalanga Escarpment P. Delius and M.H. Schoeman9 The Mpumalanga Escarpment settlements: some answers, many questions T. Maggs10 Post-European contact glass beads from the southern African interior: a tentative look at trade, consumption and identitiesM. Wood11 Ceramic alliances: pottery and the history of the Kekana Ndebele in the old TransvaalA.B. EsterhuysenSection 3 ‘Troubled Times’: Warfare, State Formation and Migration in the Interior12 Rediscovering the Ndwandwe kingdom J. Wright13 Swazi oral tradition and Northern Nguni historical archaeology P. Bonner14 Mfecane mutation in Central Africa: a comparison of the Makololo and the Ngoni in Zambia, 1830s-1898A. KanduzaList of contributors Index