Landscape archaeology of the later farming communities of the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, eastern Botswana : land use diversity and human behaviour
This study investigates the archaeological contribution of the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, (SLB), a prehistoric landscape with an extraordinary dynamic environment. Research has remained heavily skewed and sites explicitly targeted for investigation were those deemed important for their ability to contribute towards our understanding of the development of social complexity. This study demonstrates that the development of complex social formations represents settlement structures that epitomise interaction of both long and short-term cultural and economic processes and that the organisation of such structures is randomly distributed throughout the landscape. Using remote sensing techniques, archaeological sites on the eastern Botswana side of the SLB have been located, and these attest to the long-term attraction of the basin for human settlement. This is due to the attributes possessed by the landscape and the land-use management strategies employed by the inhabitants in order to cope with the demands of such a structured society in spite of changing climatic conditions. This study argues that the area remained unexplored because of its geomorphological setting and the otherwise poor visibility of archaeological
Mothulatshipi, Sarah Mantshadi
Landscape archaeology of the later farming communities of the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, eastern Botswana : land use diversity and human behaviour. This study investigates the archaeological contribution of the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, (SLB), a prehistoric landscape with an extraordinary dynamic environment. Research has remained heavily skewed and sites explicitly targeted for investigation were those deemed important for their ability to contribute towards our understanding of the development of social complexity. This study demonstrates that the development of complex social formations represents settlement structures that epitomise interaction of both long and short-term cultural and economic processes and that the organisation of such structures is randomly distributed throughout the landscape. Using remote sensing techniques, archaeological sites on the eastern Botswana side of the SLB have been located, and these attest to the long-term attraction of the basin for human settlement. This is due to the attributes possessed by the landscape and the land-use management strategies employed by the inhabitants in order to cope with the demands of such a structured society in spite of changing climatic conditions. This study argues that the area remained unexplored because of its geomorphological setting and the otherwise poor visibility of archaeological
landscape_archaeology later farm_community basin eastern land_use diversity human_behaviour study_investigate archaeological basin prehistoric_landscape extraordinary dynamic environment remain heavily skew site explicitly target investigation deem important ability contribute_towards development social_complexity study_demonstrate development complex social_formation represent settlement structure epitomise interaction long short_term cultural_economic process organisation structure randomly distribute throughout landscape using remote_sense technique archaeological_site eastern side locate attest long_term attraction basin human_settlement due attribute possess landscape land_use management_strategy employ inhabitant order cope demand structure society spite change climatic condition study argue area remain unexplored geomorphological set otherwise poor visibility archaeological