The river and its catchment provided food resources like edible plants, fish and hunting opportunities. In the 1960s researchers of early humankind in Africa associated the arid parts of central southern Africa’s Kalahari and Karoo, as areas in which Late Stone Age people lived since 45 000 years ago.
Archaeological, ethnographic and modern DNA techniques were used to report on these ‘Bushmen’ (now San) who hunted and foraged in communities with notable technological and communications skills.
In the 1990s the research focus shifted to the Drakensberg – the highest mountain region south of East Africa’s Kilimanjaro.
In 2018 Brian Stewart and Peter Mitchell, reported on Stone Age communities who had lived in parts of the Maloti Drakensberg in Lesotho and the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
The archaeologists located ancient ecological footprints and fossilised remnants of communities living in the mountain valleys some 40 000 years ago. They flourished in grassland valleys close to water streams and nearby areas containing resembling Karoo veld types, at relatively high mountain altitudes.
Lesotho’s Senqu-Orange River is situated close to the archaeological sites of Sehonghong, Pitsaneng and Likoaeng where researchers have been doing meticulous excavations since the 1990s.
The 2018 report explains that local human settlements lived in places with an average temperature of 15.5 degrees Celsius during the Pleistocene epoch (2.5 million to 11 700 years ago). Moreover, the settlers, probably nomads, thrived on fishing.
Even regional rock art sites contain vivid illustrations of how locals conducted fishing in gorges and streams with large shoals of large-mouth and small mouth yellow fish, and Orange River mudfish. In some gorges they used bone fish hooks, harpoons and spears, as well as basketed weirs, traps and drag screens. Some fishermen even used small boats from which they would spear or harpoon fish.
Large human populations resided locally between 45 and 24 000 years ago. The high fat content of the fish was a desirable source of protein.
Then came climate change. Local residents relocated from cold to warmer climes. With the onset of the Holocene epoch, about 11 600 years ago, warmer conditions once again set in. The area became populated by springbok, bluebuck, blesbok and reedbuck. New local human settlers now resorted to mainly hunting wildlife, largely as a result of moderately warmer and more moist conditions that provided wildlife with edible plants.
What can we learn from evidence of the early modern human footprint in the Drakensberg?
Firstly, climate change is not new. It has played a significant role in the formation of human settlements along water ways in mountainous areas. In colder drier periods, fishing communities would be mobile and relocate to warmer areas, where they relied on hunting and edible plant foods.
In warm moist times, people would fish at high altitudes. Previously, archaeologists had assumed these areas were unsuitable for early modern humans like the San.
We also become more aware of human migrations in and out of Africa. Larger numbers of Africans migrated from north-east Africa to Eurasia, the Middle East and the Fertile Crescent as of 70 000 years ago. Climate conditions determined movement. In cold glacial climate periods the sea level on continental shorelines were lower because. Masses of iced seawater were stored in polar regions. People could easily cross to other continents.
Humans, plants and animals naturally migrated northwards into Eurasia and the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East.
Secondly, the modern human migrations out of Africa were communities who had mastered many technological skills. Earlier groups of African migrants were probably less skilled at cultivating and optimally using ideal sites and local resources, than the newer migrants.
Thirdly, African migrants moving into these lands maintained good communications skills. Researchers found evidence of scattered communities of hunter gatherers in sub-Saharan Africa who had been able to maintain active and well-connected ties. They shared languages, cultural values and technologies that nurtured comfortable lifestyles.
Fourthly, modern humans adjusted to local conditions and flourished. They even incorporating Neanderthal and Denisovan communities (earlier African settlers) in Europe and Asia.
Finally, suitable climate conditions in water-rich areas, such as the Vaal catchment, have been ideal for people with appropriate technologies and communication skills. Communities could proliferate.
In the 20th century, thanks to modern engineering technologies, more water resources of Lesotho have been directed to us in South Africa via the Vaal, to stimulate urban and industrial development. We remain indebted to the Vaal and its valued water resources.
- The author is an extraordinary professor at North-West University’s Vanderbijlpark campus.
- https://vaalweekblad.com/61972/the-value-of-vaals-water-has-deep-history/
