Before Farming: the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers

ref: Before Farming 2005/4 article 1

‘Improving their lives’. State policies and San resistance in Botswana

Sidsel Saugestad
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromso, N- 9037, Tromsø, Norway
sidsels@sv.uit.no

Keywords: San, Botswana, game reserve, relocation, indigenous peoples, land claim

Abstract

A court case raised by a group of San (former) hunter-gatherers, protesting against relocation from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, has attracted considerable international attention. The Government of Botswana argues that the relocation was done in order to ‘improve the lives’ of the residents, and that it was in their own best interest. The residents plead their right to stay in their traditional territories, a right increasingly acknowledged in international law, and claim that they did not relocate voluntarily. The case started in 2004 and will, due to long interspersed adjournments, go on into 2006.

This article traces the events that led up to the case, and reports on its progress thus far. The case is seen as an arena for expressing and negotiating the relationship between an indigenous minority and the state in which they reside. The article discusses different aspects of this relationship as illuminated by the current court case, concluding that the favoured development ideals of a modern homogenous state have shaped policies that are unwilling to accommodate alternative development models favoured by the San.

The analysis shows how international solidarity and support have been essential for the San to be able to present their grievances, but at the same time argues that Survival International’s campaign against Botswana diamonds may sidetrack the work for necessary changes in the national development policy.

ref: Before Farming 2005/4 article 2

Modern human behaviour and the implications of small-bodied hominin finds from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia

Paul SC Taçon
School of Arts, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, PMB 50, Gold Coast Mail Centre, Queensland 9726, Australia
p.tacon@griffith.edu.au

Keywords: H floresiensis, stone tools, modern human behaviour, Asia, cultural evolution

Abstract

Recent publications by various authors have presented three alternative views about the taxonomy and anatomy of recently recovered hominin remains from the island of Flores, Indonesia. No matter what the exact taxonomy, Homo floresiensis exhibits an incredible range of complex modern human behaviour for an individual with such a small cranial capacity. If we are to accept that the archaeological material associated with H floresiensis resulted from H floresiensis activity, and that the interpretations of the material by the H floresiensis team are correct, then there will be an enormous impact on current thinking about the evolution of modern behaviour. The interpretations force us to question what defines an archaic or modern human in relation to other creatures and in terms of certain characteristic behaviours that have archaeological signatures. There are profound implications for archaeology as a discipline as well as our understanding of human potential and creativity in relation to brain size and structure.