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INTRODUCING ARCHAEOLOGY
Second Edition
ROBERT J. MUCKLE
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Copyright © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2014
Higher Education Division
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All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means,
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the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Muckle, Robert James, author
Introducing archaeology / Robert J. Muckle.—Second edition.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-4426-0788-0 (bound).—ISBN 978-1-4426-0785-9
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Archaeology—Textbooks. I. Title.
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The University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government
of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.
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CONTENTS
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
List of Text Boxes xiii
Note to Instructors xv
Note to Students xvii
Acknowledgments xix
About the Author xxi
vi CONTENTS
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CHAPTER 7: RECONSTRUCTING CULTURE HISTORY 133
Introduction 133
Determining Antiquity 133
Conceptualizing Time 140
World Prehistory 145
Ancient Civilizations 152
Key Resources and Suggested Reading 154
CONTENTS vii
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Evaluating Competing Explanations 209
Key Resources and Suggested Reading 213
Glossary 231
Bibliography 245
Index 255
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viii CONTENTS
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FIGURES
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6.6 Male and Female Human Pelvis 128
6.7 Working in the Lab 130
7.1 Profile of Flores Island Site 141
7.2 Homo erectus 146
7.3 Acheulean Hand Axes 147
7.4 Olorgesailie, Kenya 150
7.5 Egyptian Pyramid 153
8.1 Elephants on the Savannah 159
8.2 Turkana Village, Africa 162
8.3 Masaii Village, Africa 163
8.4 Butchery in a Village 170
9.1 Burial with Grave Goods 176
9.2 Keatley Creek, Canada 177
9.3 Roman Coliseum 182
9.4 Japanese Artifacts in a Canadian Logging Camp 184
9.5 Venus Figurine 190
9.6 Trepanated Skulls from South America 193
10.1 Agriculture in Egypt 203
10.2 Tikal, Guatemala 207
10.3 Hummingbird Glyph on the Nasca Desert 211
10.4 Statues of Rapa Nui 213
11.1 The Archaeology of Homelessness 220
11.2 Archaeology of Undocumented Migration 222
11.3 Archaeology Students Sorting Contemporary Trash 224
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x FIGURES
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TABLES
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7.3 Geological Epochs 142
7.4 Major Time Frames in Archaeology 143
8.1 Reasons for Reconstructing Palaeoenvironments 158
8.2 Types of Settlement Pattern Studies in Archaeology 161
8.3 Methods to Estimate Population 165
8.4 Major Subsistence Strategies 167
8.5 Criteria for Distinguishing Domestic versus Wild Plants and Animals
(of the same species) 169
9.1 Reconstructing Categories of Societies in Archaeology 178
9.2 Reconstructing Identity in Archaeology 182
9.3 Archaeological Indicators of Ritual 187
9.4 Major Areas of Archaeological Interest in Art 189
9.5 Types and Archaeological Indicators of Cannibalism 191
10.1 Three Levels of Archaeological Research 195
10.2 Major Areas of Grand Theoretical Interest in Archaeology 196
10.3 Conceptual Frameworks in Archaeology 200
10.4 Explanations for the Collapse of Civilizations 205
10.5 Major Kinds of Bias in Archaeological Explanations 208
10.6 Criteria for Evaluating Archaeological Explanations 210
11.1 Defining Attributes of Disaster Archaeology 223
11.2 American Trash 224
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xii TABLES
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TEXT BOXES
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NOTE TO INSTRUCTORS
This book is designed as a textbook for introductory archaeology courses as they are
taught in most colleges and universities in North America: with the focus on methods.
It is deliberately concise, offering the option of combining it with a package of read-
ings or a case study. The concise nature of this text also makes it suitable to be used
as one of multiple books in introductory courses that combine methods with world
prehistory, archaeology with biological anthropology, or all four branches of anthro-
pology together (archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and
linguistics). But the coverage is broad enough that some instructors may wish to use
it as the sole required reading for a course.
The development of the book has been guided by the principles of curriculum
reform articulated by the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). To bring the
teaching of archaeology more into line with the reality of archaeology in the world
today, the SAA promotes seven principles for curriculum reform at all levels of college
and university education, which revolve around making students explicitly aware of
(i) the nonrenewable nature of the archaeological record, (ii) the fact that many other
groups besides archaeologists have vested interests in the archaeological record,
(iii) the socially relevant contributions of archaeology in the present and future,
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(iv) the ethical principles that guide archaeologists, (v) the importance that archae-
ologists be effective communicators, (vi) the basic cognitive and methodological skills
used by archaeologists, and (vii) real-world problem solving by archaeologists.
I don’t think it was the intention of the SAA that each principle necessarily guide
the formation of each course or text used in archaeology education, but I have incor-
porated each into this book. The nonrenewable nature of the archaeological record is
emphasized through such topics as the rise of cultural resource management, heritage
legislation, and the destruction of sites through looting and warfare. The vested inter-
ests in the archaeological record by non-archaeologists are covered by examining
Indigenous archaeology and the many parts of the heritage industry, including tour-
ism. Making archaeology socially relevant is included in many areas, such as studies
of contemporary garbage. Archaeological ethics is made explicit, as is communication,
with the sharing of information built into research designs. Real-world problem
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solving is explored in such topics as forensics and the use of archaeologists in design-
ing markers for nuclear waste sites.
Besides being guided by the SAA principles of curriculum reform, many charac-
teristics of this book set it apart from competitors. It situates archaeology in the
contemporary world much more than others. This includes contextualizing archaeol-
ogy in academia, industry, global social movements, politics, and popular culture. It
places more emphasis on the management of heritage resources and includes sections
on legislation and international agreements concerning archaeology. Unlike most text-
books for courses focusing on methods, this book includes a brief section outlining
world prehistory and ancient civilizations, providing a frame of reference for students.
Most books avoid the disagreements, ambiguities, and gray areas within the discipline,
instead presenting information as if there was consensus among archaeologists. This
book explicitly identifies these areas, ranging from differences in definitions of archae-
ology to explanations of the collapse of civilizations.
Introducing Archaeology, Second Edition, is accompanied by a website from the text,
for students, including learning objectives, chapter summaries, study questions, exhib-
its weblinks, and a glossary. Instructor ancillaries for Introducing Archaeology include
an instructor’s manual, PowerPoint slides, and a testbank. Visit www.introducing
archaeology.com.
For those who wish to supplement the text with a reader, Reading Archaeology: An
Introduction (Muckle 2008) is a good fit. Many of the key resources and suggested
readings mentioned in Introducing Archaeology are included in the reader.
Comments and suggestions for future editions from instructors are welcome and
can be directed to the author at bmuckle@capilanou.ca
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people deserve thanks for guiding and assisting me in the development of this
book. The first edition was published by Broadview Press and I am indebted to com-
pany founder Don LePan, then president Michael Harrison, and then anthropology
editor Anne Brackenbury. I initially identified the niche for this book, but did not
want to be the one to write it. They confirmed the niche and convinced me I was the
one to write it. Several of Broadview’s titles, including Introducing Archaeology, as well
as senior editor Anne Brackenbury, moved to the University of Toronto Press and the
transition for me has been seamless. The editorial, production, and marketing people
in the Higher Education Division of the University of Toronto Press have made it easy
to write this new edition. They are all very professional and easy to work with. I think
it must take a special kind of person to work in the textbook publishing business, and
the University of Toronto Press has cornered the market for the best. I also acknowl-
edge the copy-editing undertaken by Beth McAuley and Sara Rozenberg of The
Editing Company, who have made me appear to be a better writer than I really am.
I appreciate the work of those teaching archaeology who made constructive com-
ments on the manuscript for the first edition and the several anonymous reviewers of
the proposal for the second. I am equally grateful for the feedback of hundreds of my
Copyright © 2014. University of Toronto Press. All rights reserved.
own students who have used the book and let me know, often indirectly, which parts
of the first edition worked well and which didn’t. I kept the comments of reviewers
and my experience with students foremost in mind when working on the second
edition.
I am grateful for the overall supportive environment at Capilano University. In
particular, I wish to acknowledge the support of the other members of the department
of anthropology: Gillian Crowther, Maureen Bracewell, and Cassandra Bill. I am
especially grateful for their support of my archaeological field projects, taking on more
than their fair share of department responsibilities when I wish to concentrate on
fieldwork, writing, and conferences, and frequent discussions on matters relating to
archaeology and pedagogy, all of which have made me a better archaeologist and
educator.
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I am very appreciative of my many colleagues who have provided photographs for
use in this edition, including Gillian Crowther, Austin Chad Hill, Barry Kass, Alexa
Love, Jason De León, Mark Galvani, Nadine Ryan, Suzanne Villeneuve, and Larry
Zimmerman.
Of course none of this would have been possible without the support of my family.
My wife Victoria and I have raised six kids in a blended—yours, mine, and ours—
family. The first edition was written when four were still living at home, and this
second was written when there was only one. Both editions were written during what
was supposed to be my leisure time, mostly on evenings and weekends. Consequently,
I had less family time and did fewer chores than if I wasn’t writing the book. They
never complained.
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xx ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Muckle, or Bob, as he prefers to be called, has been doing archaeology for more
than 20 years. He discovered archaeology while a student at a community college and
remains passionate about both archaeology and undergraduate education. He has done
fieldwork in Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Egypt, and Kenya and has taught
archaeology at several different colleges and universities. Currently, he is a professor
at Capilano University, where he has been teaching full time since 1995. In addition
to teaching and since his university days as a student, Bob has been active doing
contract archaeology under the auspices of his own cultural resource management
firm; he has spent long periods in the realm of Indigenous archaeology, working with
and for First Nations, and he has directed multiyear historical and community-
oriented field projects. He is a Registered Professional Archaeologist and a member of
the American Anthropological Association, the Canadian Archaeological Association,
the Society for American Archaeology, and the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Besides this book, Bob has edited Reading Archaeology: An Introduction (2008) and
written The Indigenous Peoples of North America: A Concise Anthropological Overview
(2012), both published by the University of Toronto Press. Forthcoming books include
Through the Lens of Anthropology: An Introduction to Human Evolution and Culture,
Copyright © 2014. University of Toronto Press. All rights reserved.
co-authored with Laura Tubelle de González, also with (in press) the University of
Toronto Press; and The First Nations of British Columbia, third edition, to be published
by the University of British Columbia Press.
Bob is fairly clean living, although he does have a penchant for lagers, ales, porters,
and stouts. Since January 1, 2006, when he went for a dip in the chilly waters of the
northern Pacific Ocean, Bob has been a proud member of the Vancouver Polar Bear
Swim Club.
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13
5 3
12
6 1
7
4
11
8 9
SITUATING ARCHAEOLOGY
Introduction
Archaeology is everywhere in the early twenty-first century. It is part of the
multibillion-dollar heritage industry; taught as a scholarly discipline in colleges and
universities throughout the world; and firmly embedded in politics, global social move-
ments, and popular culture. It has been defined in dozens of ways and is commonly
referred to as a scholarly or intellectual endeavor, a profession, a practice, a craft, and
a hobby. It is rationalized in many different ways and relies on several basic concepts.
This chapter introduces archaeology by clarifying these definitions, contexts, ratio-
nalizations, and concepts. It begins with a brief description of two of the many archae-
ological sites that have come to symbolize archaeology—the Acropolis of Athens in
Greece and the Inka site of Machu Picchu in Peru.
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Images of Archaeology
In many people’s minds, archaeology is correlated with architectural ruins in fabulous
settings. In addition to the Acropolis and Machu Picchu, these sites include the pyr-
amids from Egypt and Central America, the Great Wall of China, cliff dwellings of
the American Southwest, and Britain’s Stonehenge.
The Acropolis and Machu Picchu are excellent starting points for the study of
archaeology because they represent so many of the things archaeologists in the early
twenty-first century are interested in, such as politics and tourism. The Acropolis is
certainly among the most famous archaeological sites in the world. Comprising the
Parthenon and surrounding buildings, the Acropolis has come to symbolize Western
civilization. Based primarily on its preservation of ancient Greek art and architecture,
it has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. It also symbol-
izes the beginnings of archaeology, which, as outlined in Chapter 2, is rooted in the
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FIGURE 1.1 The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens,
Greece. A UNESCO
designated World
Heritage Site, the
Acropolis symbolizes
Western civilization,
the beginnings of
archaeology, the politi-
cal nature of the disci-
pline, Greek identity,
and archaeotourism.
collection of antiquities from ancient Greece and Rome. The Acropolis further rep-
resents the increasingly explicit political nature of archaeology and archaeology sites
(discussed later in this chapter), insofar as the Acropolis is firmly tied to Greek iden-
tity, and because it receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, it is a heritage
management concern (see Chapter 3).
Located high in the Peruvian Andes, the Inka site of Machu Picchu was abandoned
in the early 1500s and rediscovered in 1911. Its population is estimated at several hun-
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dred, and its principal function was probably as a summer retreat for a ruling Inka
family. Like the Acropolis, Machu Picchu has been designated a World Heritage Site
by the United Nations. Insofar as it has become a national symbol of Peru, even having
been used for the inauguration of the president in 2001, it is symbolic of the political
nature of archaeology. And as one of the most popular heritage tourism destinations
in South America, it is visited by close to 500,000 people annually.
Defining Archaeology
A rough translation of the term archaeology from ancient Greek and Latin is “the study
of ancient things or stories.” The term does not appear in English language dictionar-
ies until the 1600s however, and since that time, has been defined and described in
many ways (see Table 1.1).
INTRODUCING ARCHAEOLOGY
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.