Thomas Huffman

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Thomas N. Huffman
Born
Thomas Neil Huffman

(1944-07-17)17 July 1944
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Died30 March 2022(2022-03-30) (aged 77)
Johannesburg, South Africa
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Denver (BA)
University of Illinois (MA) (PhD)
Known for Culture history
Central Cattle Pattern
Scientific career
Fields Archaeology
Institutions University of Witwatersrand

Thomas N. Huffman (17 July 1944 – 30 March 2022) [1] [2] was Professor Emeritus of archaeology in association with the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He specialised in pre-colonial farming societies in southern Africa. Huffman is most well known for his identification of the Central Cattle Pattern at Mapungubwe, a pre-colonial state in southern Africa. This, in turn he argued as the main influence in the formation of the Zimbabwe Pattern at Great Zimbabwe. [3] Arguably his seminal contribution to the field was A Handbook to the Iron Age: The Archaeology of Pre-Colonial Farming Societies in Southern Africa (2007), which has contributed to the understanding of ceramic style analysis and culture history focusing on these groups. [4]

Contents

Biography

Personal history

Huffman was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on 17 July 1944. As a child, he and his family moved to Texas and then again to Oklahoma where they settled. Since the Oklahoma state was former Native American territory, he became especially interested in the Native American past. As a result he became interested in the field of archaeology. At the age of 13, Huffman and his family moved to Colorado for employment opportunity reasons.

Career

In 1966 he attended University of Denver where he received a BA in Anthropology. He then went on to do his MA and PhD at the University of Illinois in 1968 and 1974 respectively. While at Illinois, he studied under Brian Fagan whom he accompanied to Zambia in 1967, an event that piqued his interest in pre-colonial farming societies in southern Africa. For his doctoral thesis, Huffman examined a southern African Middle Iron Age group (Leopard's Kopje). [5]
Huffman joined the Historical Monuments Commission in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1970, acting as Keeper/Inspector of Monuments. Seven years later he relocated to South Africa, where he took up the position of Head of Department in Archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He remained based at the University of the Witwatersrand until 2009, at which point he retired as Professor Emeritus. Huffman was still active in research, however.

Influences

Huffman's work has been influenced by scholars such as David Lewis-Williams, Donald Lathrap and Adam Kuper.

Theoretical underpinnings

As a cultural anthropologist, Huffman makes use of ethnographic data from descendant groups as well as outside, colonial sources, to understand the beliefs and practices of past peoples. This avenue of research is augmented with the use of multiple hypothesis testing. It was proposed by Huffman that settlement patterns could provide insight into understanding these prehistoric societies. It was this realisation that led to the creation of the Central Cattle Pattern. [3]
Physical manifestations of prehistoric beliefs and values through the organisation of spaces and ritual areas provide insight into beliefs and practices. Huffman argues that this is possible because peoples divide their spaces into specific areas reserved for various activities. These spaces shape cultural relationships. For Huffman this is evidenced and supported by the study of ethnographic data.

Contributions to the field

Iron Age archaeology in southern Africa
Huffman's main contributions to southern African Iron Age archaeology are his analysis of ceramic styles to understand cultural processes and the analysis of settlement patterns as a means of understanding the worldviews of pre-colonial cultures. This research was employed by Huffman to argue for the origins of the Zimbabwe Pattern as coming from the Central Cattle Pattern at Mapungubwe. [3]
By using these culture-historical approaches, Huffman reconstructs major drought episodes within the Iron Age. Examination of burnt grain bins and houses, led Huffman to argue that the practice of this burning was linked to rituals whereby these structures were burnt to cleanse the possessions of those who were thought to be responsible for drought. [6] Independent data correlated with these rituals, and this data was employed to discuss episodes of drought in both southern Africa and South America.
Critiques
Huffman's research on Bantu agro-pastoralist society and his interpretations of the archaeology of Great Zimbabwe has sparked much debate. Some scholars have highlighted concerns that Huffman's use of broad structuralist models when arguing the Central Cattle Pattern place too much emphasis on the general, therefore not closing in on more specific questions of individual Early Iron Age settlements. [7]
Others have taken issue with the argument that Early Iron Age settlements were able to remain much the same throughout the Early Iron Age, and call for explanations as to how these agro-pastoralist groups were able to maintain similar structural relationships for two thousand years. [8] [9] This model also excludes problems of interactions with outside foraging groups.
Later research
Huffman’s later research in southern Africa follows two main veins: population dynamics and cultural boundaries/changes. This research is being conducted within the Mapungubwe ‘core area’ (as defined by Huffman himself). This area, physiographically, covers the Karoo environment, granites and a metamorphic zone. His work on population dynamics involves a systematic survey of the area for Iron Age sites. From this Huffman charts population changes through time.
In terms of his work on the origins of Venda identity he examines ceramic styles and changes therein and the cultural boundaries between Shona and Sotho-Tswana, which may have led to the development of this Venda identity.
  1. Huffman, T.N. 1970. The Early Iron Age and the spread of the Bantu. South African Archaeological Bulletin 25(07): 3–21.
  2. Huffman, T.N. 1974. The Leopard's Kopje Tradition. Salisbury: National Museums and Monuments (Memoir 6). 150p.
  3. Huffman, T.N. 1982. Archaeology and ethnohistory of the African Iron Age. Annual Review of Anthropology 11:133 50.
  4. Huffman, T.N. 1984. Expressive space in the Zimbabwe culture. Man (NS) 19(4): 593–612.
  5. Huffman, T.N. 1986. Iron Age settlement patterns and the origins of class distinction in southern Africa. Wendorf, F.and Close, E. (eds). Advances in World Archaeology 5: 291–338.
  6. Huffman, T.N. 1986. Archaeological evidence and conventional explanations of Southern Bantu settlement patterns. Africa 56(3):280–298.
  7. Huffman, T.N. 1989. Iron Age Migrations: The ceramic sequence in southern Zambia. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Press.
  8. Huffman, T.N. and J.C. VOGEL. 1991. The chronology of Great Zimbabwe. South African Archaeological Bulletin 46(154):61–70.
  9. Huffman, T.N. 1993. Broederstroom and the Central Cattle Pattern. South African Journal of Science 89:220–226.
  10. Huffman, T.N. and R.K. HERBERT. 1994/1995. New perspectives of Eastern Bantu. AZANIA 29–30: 27–36.
  11. Huffman, T.N. 1996. Archaeological evidence for climatic change during the last 2000 years in southern Africa. Quaternary International 33: 55–60.
  12. Huffman, T.N. 1996. Snakes and Crocodiles: Power and symbolism in Ancient Zimbabwe. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
  13. Huffman, T.N. 2000. Mapungubwe and the origins of the Zimbabwe culture. South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 8: 14–29.
  14. Huffman, T.N. 2001. The Central Cattle Pattern and interpreting the past. Southern African Humanities 13: 19–35.
  15. Huffman, T.N. 2002. Regionality in the Iron Age: the case of the Sotho-Tswana. Southern African Humanities 14: 1–22.
  16. Huffman, T.N. and Murimbika, M. 2003. Shona ethnography and Iron Age burials. Journal of African Archaeology 1(2):237–246.
  17. Huffman, T.N. 2004. The archaeology of the Nguni past. Southern African Humanities 16: 79–111.
  18. Huffman, T.N. 2005. Mapungubwe: Ancient African Civilisation on the Limpopo. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. 63 pp.
  19. Huffman, T.N. 2006. Maize grindstones, Madikwe pottery and ochre mining. Southern African Humanities 18:51–70.
  20. Huffman, T.N. 2007. A Handbook to the Iron Age: The Archaeology of Pre-Colonial Farming Societies in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 540 pp.
  21. Huffman, T.N. 2008. Climate change during the Iron Age in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 2032–2047.
  22. Huffman, T.N. 2009. Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The origin and spread of social complexity in southern Africa. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 28: 37–54.
  23. Huffman, T.N. 2009. A cultural proxy for drought: ritual burning in the Iron Age of Southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 991–1005.
  24. Huffman, T.N. 2010. Intensive El Nino and the Iron Age of South-Eastern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 37: 2572–2586.
  25. Huffman, T.N. & Du Piesanie, J. 2011. Khami and the Venda in the Mapungubwe landscape. Journal of African Archaeology 9 (2): 189–206.
  26. Neukirch, L.P., J.A. Tarduno, T.N. Huffman, M.K. Watkeys, C.A.Scribner and R.D. Cottrell 2012. An archaeomagnetic analysis of burnt grain bin floors from ca. 1200–1250 AD Iron-Age South Africa. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 190–191: 71–79.
  27. Huffman T.N. 2012. Historical archaeology of the Mapungubwe area: Boer, Birwa, Sotho-Tswana and Machete. Southern African Humanities 24: 33–59.
  28. Huffman, T.N. 2012. Ritual space in pre-colonial farming societies in southern Africa. Journal of Ethnoarchaeology 5(4): 119–146.
  29. Huffman, T.N., Elburg, M. AND M. Watkeys 2013. Vitrified cattle dung in the Iron Age of Southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 3553–3560.
  30. Huffman, T.N. and Frank Lee Earley 2022. Paradigms in Conflict: Archaeology on the High Plains. New York, Nova Science Press Publications.

Related Research Articles

Until roughly 2,000 years ago, what would become Zimbabwe was populated by ancestors of the San people. Bantu inhabitants of the region arrived and developed ceramic production in the area. A series of trading empires emerged, including the Kingdom of Mapungubwe and Kingdom of Zimbabwe. In the 1880s, the British South Africa Company began its activities in the region, leading to the colonial era in Southern Rhodesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Zimbabwe</span> Ruins of a medieval city in southeast Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a kingdom during the Late Iron Age. Construction on the city began in the 11th century and continued until it was abandoned in the 15th century. The edifices were erected by ancestors of the Shona people, currently located in Zimbabwe and nearby countries. The stone city spans an area of 7.22 square kilometres (2.79 sq mi) and could have housed up to 18,000 people at its peak, giving it a population density of approximately 2,500 inhabitants per square kilometre (6,500/sq mi). It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bantu expansion</span> Postulated millennia-long series of migrations

The Bantu expansion is a hypothesis about the history of the major series of migrations of the original Proto-Bantu-speaking group, which spread from an original nucleus around Central Africa. In the process, the Proto-Bantu-speaking settlers displaced, eliminated or absorbed pre-existing hunter-gatherer and pastoralist groups that they encountered.

The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was a medieval state in South Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, south of Great Zimbabwe. The name is derived from either TjiKalanga and Tshivenda. The name might mean "Hill of Jackals" or "stone monuments". The kingdom was the first stage in a development that would culminate in the creation of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe in the 13th century, and with gold trading links to Rhapta and Kilwa Kisiwani on the African east coast. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe lasted about 80 years, and at its height the capital's population was about 5000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mapungubwe Collection</span> Archaeology museum in Gauteng, South Africa

The Mapungubwe Collection at the University of Pretoria Museums comprises archaeological material excavated by the University of Gauteng at the Mapungubwe archaeological site since its discovery in 1933. The archaeological collection comprises ceramics, metals, trade glass beads, indigenous beads, clay figurines, and bone and ivory artefacts as well as an extensive research collection of potsherds, faunal remains and other fragmentary material. The University of Gauteng established a permanent museum in June 2000, thereby making the archaeological collection more widely available for public access and interest beyond the confines of academia. The collection is kept on site for tourism purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bantu peoples of South Africa</span> Ethnic descriptor in South Africa

South African Bantu-speaking peoples represent the overwhelming majority ethno-racial group of South Africans. Occasionally grouped as Bantu, the term itself is derived from the English word "people", common to many of the Bantu languages. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English describes "Bantu", when used in a contemporary usage or racial context as "obsolescent and offensive", because of its strong association with the "white minority rule" with their apartheid system. However, Bantu is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa and is still used in South Africa as the group term for the language family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venda people</span> Ethnic group in South Africa and Zimbabwe

The Venḓa are a Southern African Bantu people living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The Venda language arose from interactions with Sotho-Tswana and Kalanga initiates during the 15th century in Zimbabwe.

The Prehistory of South Africa lasts from the Middle Stone Age until the 17th century. Southern Africa was first reached by Homo sapiens before 130,000 years ago, possibly before 260,000 years ago. The region remained in the Late Stone Age until the first traces of pastoralism were introduced about 2,000 years ago. The Bantu migration reached the area now South Africa around the first decade of the 3rd century, over 1800 years ago. Early Bantu kingdoms were established by the 11th century. First European contact dates to 1488, but European colonization began in the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nguni people</span> Southern African Bantu cultural group

The Nguni people are a cultural group in southern Africa made up of Bantu ethnic groups from South Africa, with offshoots in neighboring countries in Southern Africa. Swazi people live in both South Africa and Eswatini, while Ndebele people live in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe lasted until the British government granted colonial status to Southern Rhodesia in 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urewe</span>

The Urewe culture developed and spread in and around the Lake Victoria region of Africa during the African Iron Age. The culture's earliest dated artefacts are located in the Kagera Region of Tanzania, and it extended as far west as the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as far east as the Nyanza and Western provinces of Kenya, and north into Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD. The Urewe people certainly did not disappear, and the continuity of institutional life was never completely broken. One of the most striking things about the Early Iron Age pots and smelting furnaces is that some of them were discovered at sites that the local people still associate with royalty, and still more significant is the continuity of language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalanga people</span> Bantu ethnic group

The Kalanga or BaKalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, and parts of the Limpopo Province in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thimlich Ohinga</span> National Monument of Kenya

Thimlich Ohinga is a complex of stone-built ruins in Migori county, Nyanza Kenya, in East Africa. It is the largest one of 138 sites containing 521 stone structures that were built around the Lake Victoria region in Kenya. These sites are highly clustered. The main enclosure of Thimlich Ohinga has walls that are 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in thickness, and 1–4.2 m (3.3–13.8 ft) in height. The structures were built from undressed blocks, rocks, and stones set in place without mortar. The densely packed stones interlock. The site is believed to date to the 15th century or earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leopard's Kopje</span> Archaeological site in Zimbabwe

Leopard's Kopje is an archaeological site, the type site of the associated region or culture that marked the Middle Iron Age in Zimbabwe. The ceramics from the Leopard's Kopje type site have been classified as part of phase II of the Leopard's Kopje culture. For information on the region of Leopard's Kopje, see the "Associated sites" section of this article.

The architecture of Zimbabwe is composed of three architectural types: the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure. Both traditional and colonial architectures have influenced the history and culture of the country. However, post-1954 buildings are mainly inspired by pre-colonial, traditional architecture, especially Great Zimbabwe–inspired structures such as the Kingdom Hotel, Harare international airport, and the National Heroes' Acre.

Bokoni was a pre-colonial, agro-pastoral society found in northwestern and southern parts of present-day Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Iconic to this area are stone-walled sites, found in a variety of shapes and forms. Bokoni sites also exhibit specialized farming and long-distance trading with other groups in surrounding regions. Bokoni saw occupation in varying forms between approximately 1500 and 1820 A.D.

Kweneng’ ruins are the remains of a pre-colonial Tswana capital occupied from the 15th to the 19th century AD in South Africa. The site is located 30km south of the modern-day city of Johannesburg. Settlement at the site likely began around the 1400s and saw its peak in the 15th century. The Kweneng' ruins are similar to those built by other early civilizations found in the southern Africa region during this period, including the Luba–Lunda kingdom, Kingdom of Mutapa, Bokoni, and many others, as these groups share ancestry. Kweneng' was the largest of several sizable settlements inhabited by Tswana speakers prior to European arrival. Several circular stone walled family compounds are spread out over an area 10km long and 2km wide. It is likely that Kweneng' was abandoned in the 1820s during the period of colonial expansion-related civil wars known as the Mfecane or Difaqane, leading to the dispersal of its inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Southern Africa</span> History of Southern African region

The history of Southern Africa has been divided into its prehistory, its ancient history, the major polities flourishing, the colonial period, and the post-colonial period, in which the current nations were formed. Southern Africa is bordered by Central Africa, East Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Sahara Desert. Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary Southern African states, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more states.

Bosutswe is an archaeological site at the edge of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana on top of Bosutswe Hill. The site can be dated back to around 700 AD. The location of Bosutswe makes it easy for archaeologists to study as the record of the site is continuous. It is believed that the area was occupied consistently for around 1000 years. It was known for its advanced metalworking which first appeared around 1300 AD, which is known as the Lose Period. The Lose Period is named after the elite class that can be found in the area.

References

  1. ↑ ""Professor Tom Huffman passed away..."". Facebook. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  2. ↑ Laue, Ghilraen. "Thomas Neil Huffman (17 July 1944 – 30 March 2022)". KwaZulu-Natal Museum. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Huffman, T.N. 2001. The Central Cattle Pattern and interpreting the past. Southern African Humanities 13: 19–35.
  4. ↑ Huffman, T.N. 2007. A Handbook to the Iron Age: The Archaeology of Pre-Colonial Farming Societies in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
  5. ↑ Huffman, T.N. 1974. The Leopard's Kopje Tradition. Salisbury: National Museums and Monuments (Memoir 6). 150p.
  6. ↑ Huffman, T.N. 2009. A cultural proxy for drought: ritual burning in the Iron Age of Southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 991–1005.
  7. ↑ Pikirayi, I. & Chirikure, S. 2011. Debating Great Zimbabwe. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 46(2):221–231
  8. ↑ Beach, D. 1998. Cognitive Archaeology and Imaginary History at Great Zimbabwe. Current Anthropology 39: 47.
  9. ↑ Lane, P.J. 1994/5. The use and abuse of ethnography in the study of the southern African Iron Age. Azania: Archaeological research in Africa 29/30:51-64
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.