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Kalahari
Hunter-gatherers
The display sets out a generalised range of objects
associated with particular aspects of the way of life of 20th-century
Kalahari hunter-gatherers. There are sections covering clothing and
ornament, household utensils, hunting and warfare, food-gathering,
religion and mythology, magic and medicine, music and recreation. In a
free-standing case are figures of three //Aikwe (Nharo) women dancers,
dressed and ornamented in the appropriate pattern of this central
Kalahari group.
Nama Camp
In this reconstruction of a 19th-century Nama camp in the highlands
of Namaqualand in the Northern Cape, the key theme is the material
expression of processes of cultural change and adaptation leading to
the emergence of new patterns in material culture and social
organisation among Nama herders as a result of contact with European
colonists in the 19th century. For many visitors, however, the most
interesting visual component of the exhibition is the mat-house
itself, which is an authentic example of a type of indigenous
vernacular architecture once used by all Khoekhoe people but now only
to be seen in a few isolated places in Namaqualand.
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