From about 2000 years ago early African farmers were living south of the Limpopo River in semi-permanent homesteads. Their knowledge of metal-working enabled them to make iron hoes for clearing and cultivating the land, as well as effective weapons for hunting and fighting. The indigenous African grains, sorghum and millet, were grown as the staple crops before the introduction of maize by the Portuguese during the 1500s. In addition the diet was varied with wild foods gathered in the veld. Surplus grain was stored in granaries and plants were dried for future use. The agricultural cycle affected all other activities - the dry season after the harvest was the time for building, thatching, making new utensils and repairing old ones. This was also the season for initiation schools and social gatherings that depended on having sufficient food to provide generous hospitality.

For women the domestic hearth was the central focus of daily activity. Firewood selected for particular burning properties was used for the preparation of different kinds of food and beer. Earthernware vessels, made and fired by women, were essential household items used for cooking and storage of food, as well as carrying water. Traditionally stamping or grinding grain into a fine meal was one of the most laborious tasks undertaken by women.

The natural environment provided a wide range of woods for carving, hut-building and firewood. Certain woods, such as movilo (wild medlar, Vangueria infausta) and moludu (white stinkwood, Celtis africana), were not used for domestic purposes because they were associated with spiritual beliefs.

Hut building

• Reconstruction of a Lobedu courtyard: exhibition at the South African Museum.
• Traditional Lobedu method of roof-construction with closely packed rafters.
• Modern technique of roof construction in which thatch is fixed to widely spaced rafters.
• Photographs taken by P. Davison in the Northern Province, 1970s.

ways of knowing, ways of doing