Ancient Southern African irrigation technology unearthed

Abstract

Irrigation history irrigation systems have either been washed away by floods or destroyed to make way for modern agriculture. The focus on ancient communities’ pastoralist natures have also resulted in the role of irrigation being downplayed, notes Prof Tempelhoff. “While there is clear evidence today that practices of mixed pastoral and agricultural activity prevailed in many parts of southern Africa, there remains a somewhat superficial impression that pastoralism dominated about two millennia ago. The overall effect of this perception was that agricultural activity, specifically irrigation farming, hardly enjoyed attention in broader historical discourse.” Prof Tempelhoff points to a number of examples of irrigation technologies being practiced by Iron Age communities unearthed in southern Africa. These include the sites at Nyanga in eastern Zimbabwe, the Limpopo River catchment area, the Lowveld and the Drakensberg escarpment region of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. “At these sites are traces of past cultural activities that relate to irrigation technological innovation.

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