Undated
Southern Africa, especially western South Africa, southern Angola, South-West Africa, Botswana, and the Cape Province
Khoi-speaking peoples were Late Stone Age communities of southern Africa, including hunters and gatherers as well as herders of long-horned cattle and fat-tailed sheep. Their languages and cultural practices differed from Bantu and San traditions. Archaeological evidence from the southern Cape suggests that some Khoi-speaking groups practiced herding by roughly two thousand years ago, while their distribution extended across dry regions west and south of the Kalahari.
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The Story
Khoi-speaking communities formed a major Late Stone Age population across the western half of southern Africa. They occupied dry lands west and south of the Kalahari, including parts of southern Angola, South-West Africa, Botswana, and the Cape Province. Some groups remained hunters and gatherers, while others herded long-horned cattle and fat-tailed sheep in landscapes where cultivation was largely limited to areas near streams and watercourses.
Their survival as distinct linguistic and cultural communities was associated with a partial adoption of food-producing practices. Cave deposits in the southern Cape containing pottery and domestic sheep bones dated to about two thousand years ago suggest that herding techniques had been practiced by Khoi-speakers since Late Stone Age times. This evidence complicates older traditions that explained Khoi presence primarily through a large migration from the north-east.
Khoi-speaking groups interacted with neighbouring hunter-gatherers and later with Bantu-speaking food-producers. Stock-raisers possessed a more dependable food supply, and hunting bands sometimes entered patronage relationships with cattle-owning communities, settling among them or exchanging products while retaining elements of their own culture. These interactions contributed to linguistic and cultural change across southern Africa.
Undated
Southern Africa, especially western South Africa, southern Angola, South-West Africa, Botswana, and the Cape Province
Khoi-speaking peoples were Late Stone Age communities of southern Africa, including hunters and gatherers as well as herders of long-horned cattle and fat-tailed sheep. Their languages and cultural practices differed from Bantu and San traditions. Archaeological evidence from the southern Cape suggests that some Khoi-speaking groups practiced herding by roughly two thousand years ago, while their distribution extended across dry regions west and south of the Kalahari.
Continue exploring
The Story
Khoi-speaking communities formed a major Late Stone Age population across the western half of southern Africa. They occupied dry lands west and south of the Kalahari, including parts of southern Angola, South-West Africa, Botswana, and the Cape Province. Some groups remained hunters and gatherers, while others herded long-horned cattle and fat-tailed sheep in landscapes where cultivation was largely limited to areas near streams and watercourses.
Their survival as distinct linguistic and cultural communities was associated with a partial adoption of food-producing practices. Cave deposits in the southern Cape containing pottery and domestic sheep bones dated to about two thousand years ago suggest that herding techniques had been practiced by Khoi-speakers since Late Stone Age times. This evidence complicates older traditions that explained Khoi presence primarily through a large migration from the north-east.
Khoi-speaking groups interacted with neighbouring hunter-gatherers and later with Bantu-speaking food-producers. Stock-raisers possessed a more dependable food supply, and hunting bands sometimes entered patronage relationships with cattle-owning communities, settling among them or exchanging products while retaining elements of their own culture. These interactions contributed to linguistic and cultural change across southern Africa.