A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 1995. / The main concern of this study is the investigation of the events which initiated the symbolic construction of communities in the south-eastern Cape during the Holocene Later Stone Age. To understand and to explain the relationships which existed between different groups in this region a social approach was followed. The data presented in this thesis are a summary of the results obtained from a large number of open-air shell middens, a coastal shelter, Kabeljous River Shelter 1, two coastal caves, Klasies River Caves 1 and 5 along the Cape St Francis coast and The Havens Cave, one of several sites excavated in the adjacent Cape mountains. Lithic evidence from the coastal sites indicates that during the past ·+500 years two distinctly different stone tool industries co-existed side by side along the south-eastern Cape coast. Caves were first occupied between 5800 and 4200 BP by groups with a typical Wilton Industry. At ca 3000 BP the Wilton Indu.rry was 'replaced' in the caves by a macro lithic quartzite cobble industry, named the Kabeljous Industry, but was still present in open-air shell middens until ca 1900 BP. At Klasies River Cave 5 both industries were Pl esent in the cave from 4200 BP to ca 3000 BP. There are no marked differences in the subsistence activities between the two different lithic industries and therefore it is argued that the Kabeljous industry does not reflect technological adaptation to a coastal environment. Instead I argue that the stone tools, as part of material culture production, played an active role in communicating information between groups. Central to the understanding of these social relationships are the concepts of power relations and inclusion. Style was the medium through which groups expressed symbolic group identity and maintained social boundaries. Important however, is the fact that the power rclutinns generated by symbolic identity expression was not aimed at excluding ether groups from their territory, but rather at. inclusion.

Artefacts acquire/embody migratory meanings according to contexts of raw material manipulation, use, discard and discourse. First-Millennium Agriculturist ceramics and concomitant private and public significances/use values are placed within aspects of a deep past Stone Age history of space and artefact usage in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Some thought paradigms and cultural contexts are examined as having directly influenced discourse, what artefacts were foregrounded, and in which manner writers of southern African prehistory considered them. Thereafter ceramic artefacts and associated technologies are focussed upon as being intimate to personal/ community lifeways and worldviews. Domestic and ceremonial utilityware, figurines and masks, as well as clay usage in homebuilding and metalworking, and urges to apply a mark to malleable clay, or deliberately alter and/or bury ceramic artefacts; are explored as manifestations of medium and usage well suited to regularly reconfigured meanings . / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (Art History)

Text in English with abstracts in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa / The collections-based research reported upon in this dissertation focuses on three sites in the Eastern Cape: Huntley Street in Grahamstown, Farmerfield, a nearby Wesleyan mission station, and Fort Double Drift, a British fortification on the Great Fish River. The collection, which is housed in the Albany Museum, derives from Patrice Jeppson’s excavations, completed in the 1980s. Analyses of the excavated glass and metal, augmented by a close reading of tender and shopkeepers’ advertisements in The Graham’s Town Journal, chronicle how merchants, settlers, soldiers, missionaries and local African communities were involved in, and affected by, trade between 1820 and 1860. The study explores aspects of the mercantile economy, consumerism and military provisioning relating to a wide range of imported glass and metal merchandise. The burgeoning trade linked various enterprises, groups and individuals through monetary and social transactions, reflecting the steady incorporation of the Eastern Cape into the British colonial trading network. / Die versamelingsgebaseerde navorsing waaroor in hierdie verhandeling verslag gedoen word, fokus op drie terreine in die Oos-Kaap: Huntley-straat in Grahamstad, Farmerfield, ’n nabygeleë Wesleyaanse sendingstasie, en Fort Dubbeldrif ’n Britse vesting aan die Groot-Visrivier. Die versameling, wat in die Albany-museum gehuisves word, is afkomstig van Patrice Jeppson se opgrawings, wat in die 1980's voltooi is. Ontledings van die opgegraafde glas en metaal, aangevul deur ’n grondige studie van tender- en winkelieradvertensies in The Graham’s Town Journal, boekstaaf hoe handelaars, setlaars, soldate, sendelinge en plaaslike Afrika-gemeenskappe by handel tussen 1820 en 1860 betrokke was, en daardeur beïnvloed is. Die studie verken aspekte van die handelsekonomie, verbruikerisme en militêre bevoorrading met betrekking tot ’n wye verskeidenheid ingevoerde glas- en metaalhandelsware. Die bloeiende handel het verskeie ondernemings, groepe en individue deur monetêre en sosiale transaksies met mekaar verbind, wat die geleidelike opname van die Oos-Kaap in die Britse koloniale handelsnetwerk weerspieël. / Uphando lwezinto eziqokelelweyo ekunikwe ingxelo ngalo kule disetheyishini, lugxile kwiindawo ezintathu eziseMpuma Koloni ezizezi: eHuntley Street eRhini, eFarmerfield, esisitishi seMishini yamaWesile, naseFort Double Drift, eyinqaba yamaBhilitane ekwiGreat Fish River. Le ngqokelela, egcinwe eAlbany Museum, isuka kwizinto ezazigrunjwe nguPatrice Jeppson, grunjo olo olwagqitywa phaya koo1980. Uphononongo lweeglasi neentsimbi ezagronjwayo, oluxhaswa nakukufundwa kweentengiso ezakhutshwayo zeethenda nezoonovenkile kwi-The Graham’s Town Journal, lunika iinkcukacha zeendlela abarhwebi, abemi ababesuka kwamanye amazwe aphesheya kweelwandle, abefundisi ababesuka kwamanye amazwe, amajoni noluntu olumnyama lwaloo mimandla ababebandakanyeka ngayo nebabechatshazelwa ngayo lurhwebo olwaqhubeka phakathi ko-1820 no-1860. Olu phando luvelela imiba yoqoqosho lorhwebo, ukhuselo lwabathengi, nobonelelo lwezinto zomkhosi lwezinto eziliqela zeeglasi nezentsimbi. Olu rhwebo olwaluhlumile lwahlanganisa amashishini ahlukileyo, amaqela kunye nabantu nje abazimeleyo ngokuthi barhwebelane ngeemali nangezinto zentlalo, yaye oku kubonisa ukungeniswa kweMpuma Koloni kuthungelwano lorhwebo lobukoloniya lwamaBhilitane. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Archaeology)

Artefacts acquire/embody migratory meanings according to contexts of raw material manipulation, use, discard and discourse. First-Millennium Agriculturist ceramics and concomitant private and public significances/use values are placed within aspects of a deep past Stone Age history of space and artefact usage in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Some thought paradigms and cultural contexts are examined as having directly influenced discourse, what artefacts were foregrounded, and in which manner writers of southern African prehistory considered them. Thereafter ceramic artefacts and associated technologies are focussed upon as being intimate to personal/ community lifeways and worldviews. Domestic and ceremonial utilityware, figurines and masks, as well as clay usage in homebuilding and metalworking, and urges to apply a mark to malleable clay, or deliberately alter and/or bury ceramic artefacts; are explored as manifestations of medium and usage well suited to regularly reconfigured meanings . / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Art History)