Bokoni

Bokone translates to "northern region", and with the class 2 prefix {Ba-} it takes the meaning "people from the north'. == Description ==

Settlement It is thought in recent studies that the Koni are not a single ethnic entity, and should not be counted as such. Archaeological studies conducted on early Koni sites may actually study a selection of groups, bearing different origins and ethnicities, that arrived in the same region around the same time. At some point between then and the more recent stages of Bokoni's history, these groups merged and formed a collective identity. It has been theorized that Roka groups made up part of this merged identity. A number of scholars note that some of the groups making up the Koni came from the east of the area, while others came from the northwest. Other academic sources note that modern Koni groups reference Swaziland (modern-day Eswatini) to be the location of their ancestral origin. Bokoni communities generally consisted of centralized, large villages, found on valley hills; with smaller settlements bearing similarities surrounding them. The largest of the villages associated with Bokoni have been measured at over 5 kilometers across. There are a few notable outliers to these patterns: including clusters of sites in the nearby southern Komati Valley, and within the Crocodile Tributaries. A single cluster of sites can also be found to the west of the general Bokoni region, in the Steelpoort Valley; but these sites do not bear the same characteristics as other Bokoni sites, and have been somewhat ignored in various analyses. The Bokoni region has also been described more generally as being between the Leolu Mountains, the Spekboom River, and the Badfontein Valley. Settlements across the Bokoni region are also seen to span a considerable range of altitudes. Population estimate studies have placed the Bokoni population at the society's height to be somewhere in the range of 19,000 and 57,000 individuals. Occupational phases Four main occupational phases have been identified in Bokoni history. All dates are A.D. • Pre-18th Century: Centered within the Komati River Valley, small chiefdoms engaged in light construction of the first stone terraces. • Early-18th - Mid-18th Centuries: At this point in time, structures start to take a more defensive form. This aligns with a shift of population center from Moxomatsi to Mohlo-Pela. It has been theorized that these correlate with violence from the nearby Mapono. This phase also sees the creation of many villages that remain into later periods. • Mid-18th - Mid-19th Centuries: This period is marked by frequent conflict: most commonly with the Pedi, or Maroteng. Resulting from the scattering of the Koni people during this period in time, most data comes from oral histories as opposed to archaeological data. • Late-19th Century: After a very brief revival at the start of this phase, Bokoni saw decline and eventual loss of autonomy in the face of larger local groups at this point in time. Sites are generally abandoned between this point and the present. == Stone-walled features ==

Iconic to Bokoni sites and considered unique to this region of Africa is the presence of significant stone terracing and stonecrafting. Locally sourced stones both surround and compose a number of features: including homesteads, roads, and a variety of enclosures for animals; as well as other, less common features that have been seen to vary on a site-by-site and region-by-region basis. In most studied cases, it seems that terrace walls were not built up all at once; after buildup of otherwise lost soils, certain sections of previously-stone rows were expanded upwards to further prevent soil loss. Clustering patterns of enclosures within homesteads have also been tied to family structure in some studies: as the homestead is developed further to accommodate an expanding familial group, the physical structure would depict ties and family size. These petroglyphs are known to be of high detail, and present artistically stylized depictions of structures in a manner that many other forms of South African Iron Age community engravings do. There is also an aspect of 'masculinity' argued by some to be present in the engravings of the Boomplaats area and beyond, potentially created by young male artists during cattle tending activities. Due to their classification as rock art, the Bokoni homestead engravings are protected under South Africa's National Heritage Resources Act of 1999. == Society and culture ==

Authority figures Across Mpumalanga, the role of chiefs between societies show frequent similarities. This extends even to terms of reference: four different terms for a chief across the region, kgoši, kgosi, inkosi, and ihosi, show remarkable likeness to one another, as well as additional evidence towards the fact that chiefdoms extend back significantly into the past for almost all cultures here. In terms of duties, group chiefs were generally responsible for society-wide dealings such as security and migration when necessitated. The tasks of group chiefs were aided by councillors, as well as 'headmen', drawn from the diverse subgroups of each chiefdom. Both councillors and headmen were representative of their respective sub-groups ontologies and politics, and was selected based on age, rank, and skill. Group chiefs also experienced a high freedom of autonomy, as the greater Koni society saw very little centralization of power. It is recognized via archaeology and by oral history that at some point in the 18th century, maize was introduced - which would end up displacing sorghum. Maize would prove easier to produce, but less valuable. Agriculture provided the primary source of food supplies for the Koni, proving exceptionally vital in a society where cattle were not a constant. Farming was usually seen as women's work, and was a job delegated to the women of a homestead. The ability of the chief to create and distribute land in such a manner represented a method of communal land ownership. At some point in the 19th century, possibly coinciding with a brief visit by David Livingstone, missionaries introduced plows and oxen as farming technologies to various groups of the Bokoni. It is unknown whether these methods proved effective in conjunction with stone terracing in agriculture. Before this development in technologies, hoes saw extensive use in the region as the farming implement of choice. These were usually modified with bored stones as weights. Cattle herding was usually a man's job. Known for their efficiency, a small group of Koni males could keep watch over and successfully herd a large number of cattle at once. In spite of the fact that cattle could be used as bride price for a wife, women were explicitly banned from interacting with cattle in some nearby areas. Their presence was deemed unsafe to cattle, and new wives in nearby southern Nguni groups could not drink milk of the herds. It is also thought, presently, that nearby Phalaborwa could have been a source for imported iron. More recent research has unearthed the true possibilities and potentials of trading cattle, something absolutely associated with Bokoni. This may have been amplified by, and catalysing to, conflicts with Pedi herders in areas to the northeast of Lydenburg. Salt was also a common export for the Koni. This was produced from local alkaline springs, access to which could be bought by means of tithe to the residing local chief. It is thought that beads were one of the first imports to reach the region, as hinted at by archaeological evidence from the nearby 17th-19th century Ndzundza capital of KwaMaza. and the Pedi. Early analysis of pottery has received some criticism from modern academics. These 'poor' methods continued on into the 1970s, argued by some to coincide with a general lack of reference to oral histories. In 1982, Collet proposed the name "Marateng" for the style of pottery associated with Bokoni. This is the name for a local mountain in the Badfontein region, and has been used by archaeologists in order to refer to not just the ceramics but the entire material culture package associated with the region. The name has received mild criticism, in sounding similar to the Maroteng. Pottery for this region is thought to have been developed for purposes of cooking, storage, and water. == Oral histories of the Koni ==

Initially collected by Berlin Missionaries in the 1860s and later by local officials and academics starting around the year 1900, oral histories of the Koni and Bokoni are considered somewhat questionable, and are known for the poor collection strategies and practices associated with them. Winter and Hunt also collected oral histories, in 1912 and 1931 respectively, but these were mostly from the perspectives of the Pedi. Their notes on Bokoni are not as helpful as Prinsloo's. Motivations for this conflict vary between oral histories, but there is general agreement in that the Maroteng were interested in expanding, and sought to do so after the Koni-associated death of Mohube. This was the son of the Pedi chief Moukangwe, and at the time had been acting as chief in the increasing frailty and age of his father. The Kgomane sought the assistance of the Mongatane in ceasing the violence of the Maroteng. It is thought that this catalyzed the Maroteng creation of the Pedi Kingdom, in order to oppose the alliance between the Mongatane and the Koni. Regrouping efforts and Marangrang After the departure of the Ndwandwe from the area around 1825, historical accounts reveal two chiefly individuals, Patane and Moss, emerging as new Bokoni chiefs. Resulting from quarreling between these two, a particularly strong commoner soldier named Marangrang (or Morangrang) rallied the Bokoni forces, deposed the two, and became the new Bokoni leader. This account is notable in listing Marangrang as a king instead of as a chief, implying a new form of identification for the Koni as a Kingdom. Marangrang was successful in defeating both cannibal Makchema groups; but also Bapeli groups to the north. It is mostly agreed that following these successes, Marangrang and followers departed the Lydenburg area for Khutwaneg, the Machadodorp-area fortress. While initially gaining seemingly-universal support from his Bokoni groups, it is noted that Marangrang was a cruel ruler. Dinkwanyane, moving out to accept the offer, set up Mafolofolo, north of Lydenburg. Mafolofolo is noted by archaeologists to be significant in both its construction and cultural significance. A modern Koni site, found among the stone walls here are openings for the use of firearms. The groups here are seen to be a mixture of Koni, Pedi, and even mission workers. This site, highly fortified as a fortress, was one of the last associated with the Koni (established in the second half of the 19th century). == Archaeology of Bokoni sites ==

History of archaeology While there was mild interest by academics during and around 1918 regarding the region's petroglyphs, Ironically, P.W. Prinsloo had already identified the Bokoni sites to be the work of the Koni people, a few years earlier. Mason's definition of a 'settlement' differed from that of other experts, as was seen in later decades of research. Mason's interest in continuing research in the area resulted the creation of the Iron Age Program at the University of Witwatersrand, which in turn increased interest in the area until Mason's departure from the university a few decades later. The 1970s saw much greater interest in these sites. Inspired by the works of Revil J. Mason, Timothy Michael Evers (frequently cited as T.M. Evers) conducted another aerial survey of the region, discovering what he later identified as 166 stone-walled sites (these 166 would have translated to around 5,000 sites, using the logic found in Mason's works). Evers also sought to analyze the patterns of construction and clustering in these sites. Following R.J. Mason's departure from the University of Witwatersrand, interest in the area once again froze. The most notable study of the decades following was Tim P Maggs's 1990s analysis of the previously-unconsidered settlement engravings from Hoepen's 60-year old accounts. Debate over site residents It was once thought that the Pedi were responsible for making these sites, but radiocarbon dating has revealed that Lydenburg Bokoni sites (dated to the late 17th or early 18th centuries) seem to predate Pedi sites and the Pedi hegemony. Another common theory is that the ancestors of the Koni occupied the lowveld of the Mpumalanga - occupying sites like Phalanorwa and Bokgaga near Leysdorp - at some unspecified point in time. When this group fragmented into many smaller groups in the 15th and 16th centuries, the largest of these groups (the Bokoni) fell under the leadership of the Matlala lineage. Some groups remained here in the lowveld, while others moved west and south: gathering in settlements in the regions of present-day Ohrighstad, Lydenburg, and Middelburg. The dominant group at this point in time was referred to as the Matlala-a-Thaba ('Matlala of the Mountain'). This concurred with older but less prominent reports from D.R. Hunt, who recognized the stronghold site (albeit not the other stone-walled sites) with the 18th-century Koni. These ideas have been mostly rejected in the present, and as a whole have become referred to by local researchers as 'the exotic theory'. There are also a number of theories that sites are ancient observatories, frequently linked to theories of non-African construction. Early theories regarding site construction, especially those by van Hoepen in the late 1930s, attributed Bokoni to native populations of sub-saharan Africa. == Present-day Bokoni ==

Current state of the sites As of the present, no sites have been recognized as official heritage sites and are thus facing serious threats in terms of preservation. Many are on private land, and some of these have been destroyed to provide materials for new projects. In spite of legislation, petroglyphs are frequently damaged by visitors: touching, scratching and graffitiing; but also by the natural movements of cattle and fires as well as illegal looting operations. Current state of the Koni While the sites of the Koni are generally considered abandoned in the modern era, the Bokoni landscape has been continuously occupied through all phases and into the present. In 1952, a Koni tribe was noted by the Pedi as being independent (resulting from political assistance) and was headed by a leader known as Maserumule. H.O. Mönnig, in 1967, noted the presence of around 50 groups that identified as Koni within the area. These groups carried totems that included the scaly-feathered finch, hyena, elephant, duiker, buffalo, crocodile, leopard, lion, and baboon. Some groups of Koni are noted to have found refuge and new lifeways at local missions, as highlighted at Botshabelo in the 2015 documentary Forgotten World. ==References==