Grade 5 Term 1 History Presentation.ppsx

Hunter gatherers and shepherds in
Southern Africa
The ways people lived long ago were very different from how we live today.
The first people to live in South Africa were hunter-gatherers called the San.
The San men hunted wild animals for meat.
San women collect plant food.
Thereafter, the Khoikhoi arrived in the southwestern parts of southern Africa about 2,000 years
ago.
They had a different way of life than the San.
They were shepherds who kept large herds of cattle such as cattle, sheep and goats.

There are many ways we can find out about the San Hunter gatherers and KhoiKhoi shepherds.
The San and the KhoiKhoi did not read or write and therefore did not leave us any written
information about their lives.
However, there are many other things we can look at to gather information about it.
How we find out about hunter-gatherers and shepherds
Southern Africa

One of the ways we can learn about people from long ago is through the stories they told.
These stories are passed down to their children for many generations of parents.
Stories
Southern Africa

Book authors do research on what they write about.
For example, the textbooks you use at school.
Many people have researched how the San and KhoiKhoi lived and written books about it.
Books
Southern Africa

By looking at objects left behind by humans, we can find out more about how they lived.
Most of the things the San and the KhoiKhoi used were made from natural materials such as
wood and leather.
These objects usually rot away and decompose over the years and so they are not often found.
However, objects made of stone or bone last a long time and these are objects that have been
found.
Objects
Southern Africa

By looking at rock paintings we can learn a lot about the San.
Many of the paintings have a meaning and story.
San rock art tells us about the way they lived.
Rock paintings
Southern Africa

The San and the Khoikhoi no longer live as they did a long time ago.
They lost their land and were forced to change their way of life.
Some San today live in the deserts of Southern Africa.
We can find out some things about the former San way of life by talking to and observing those
who still live like their ancestors today.
The observation of people living in the same way as people of long ago is called ethnography.
Observation
Southern Africa

Hunter-gatherers Society of the San
In later Stone Age
The first people to live in South Africa were called the
San.
We use the word "San" as a name for many different
groups of hunter-gatherers.
Some of these groups even had slightly different
languages.
The San made tools out of stone.
The time in history when people made tools out of stone is
sometimes called the Stone Age.
In the dry season water was scarce.
Women dug holes in the sand to get water.
They also scraped and squeezed moisture from roots.
Water was kept in ostrich eggshells.
The hole in the shell was sealed with a grass or clay plug.
The San lived out of the environment

The San did not have a special leader or chief.
They discussed things and came to an agreement on
what to do.
Everyone had a chance to have a say and everyone was
considered equal.
The San shared what they had with each other and each
group had the right to use some land.
The San believed that no one had the right to own
animals.
All San hunter-gatherers did these things:
They got all their food and water from their area.
They did not grow crops or keep animals.
They did very little that damaged the environment.
They made tools out of stone and bone.
The San lived out of the environment
In later Stone Age

The San lived in very small groups of about 25 men,
women and children.
They were semi-nomadic and followed the animals as
they moved.
They also moved to find ripe berries and plants or roots
that they could eat.
Semi-nomadic: means partly nomadic.
Nomadic people move from place to place rather than
stay in one place.
The San sometimes moved around and settled in places
at other times.
The San knew the area really well.
They understood when and where plants would grow and
where animals moved to
The San lived together in small groups
In later Stone Age

They never used anything from nature that they did not
need to use and never used more of a natural resource
than they needed.
The San lived in peace and harmony with nature.
They had a lot of respect for animals and never hunted
more than they could use.
They did not harm game and vegetation and they believed
that animals were a gift from the gods.
The San are known for being one of the best trackers in
the world.
The San lived together in small groups
In later Stone Age

Medicines from plants
From the earliest times people used plants as medicine.
The San had a good knowledge of all the plants in their area.
They used plants to treat wounds and to cure many diseases.
San women went out in groups to look for plants they could eat, but they also used plants as medicine.

A tea is made from the roots as a mouthwash for toothache and a drink against tuberculosis.
Camel Thorn Tree

It was used to wash and clean wounds and was drunk as a tea to reduce fever.
Cancerboss (Sutherlandia)

The San would inhale the smoke from the burning of the leaves of a camphor bush to cure headaches
and stuffy noses.
Camphor bush

The devil’s claw roots were used to treat pain and problems that occurred during pregnancy. It is now
used in the present time for people who have sore and stiff joints.
Devil’s Claw

The roots were used as a remedy for coughs and stomach problems.
Geranium (Pelargonium)

It was chewed by the San to make them stop feeling hungry in times when there was little food. An
overseas company recently tried to make it into diet pills. They had to pay money to San organizations
for every pill sold. They had to pay the San royalties for their indigenous knowledge.
Hoodia Gordonii

The hunt and the bow and
arrow
The bow and arrow was the most important hunting tool the San used.
The San made the arches of strong wood.
The "string" in the bow is made of animal intestines or plant fiber.
Using a bow and arrow, the San hunted from a distance without letting the
animal run away.
The arrows are made of wood with a stone or bone tip / tip.
The San hunters placed poison, made of plants, on the tip of the arrow.
The arrows were very well designed and were made so that the tip comes
down and stays in the animal, even if the animal brushes the arrow against
bushes or trees.
This was important because the poison needed time to work.
There were many different toxins available for the San to use.
The toxins came from a special kind of beetle or from plants.
Some toxins can take a long time to work.
For example, when used on a large goat, the venom can take up to 12
hours to kill the animal.
A giraffe could survive for up to 3 days before the poison took full effect.
How the bow and arrow was made

The San men were very good trackers and hunters.
They had a remarkable sense of direction and knew and
understood the area very well.
They sometimes had to follow a herd of animals for days before
they got close enough to shoot one.
The venom ended up in the bloodstream of the
animal and slowly paralyzed him.
It took a long time before a large animal fell to the ground.
The hunters had to keep chasing their prey until the animal fell
down.
The place where the arrow was stuck was cut out and thrown
away, but the rest of the meat could be eaten.
The San used long, sharpened spears to finally kill the wild
animal.
The men then used sharp stone tools to slaughter the animal
and cut the meat into pieces.
After a hunt, everyone celebrated and sang and danced around
the fire.
The hunt
The hunt and the bow and
arrow

What did the San believe?
The San believed in one mighty god and other less powerful gods.
They also respected and believed in the spirits of the dead and some even believed that the moon was a
god.
The San called their god /Kaggen.
/Kaggen was the creator of all things.
They believed that /Kaggen could turn into an Eland.
The Eland, which is the largest antelope in Southern Africa, has a lot of fat and the San believed that the
Eland's fat has special powers.
A San shaman is a man or woman who gets into a trance dans.
The trance dance helped the shaman to enter
the spirit world and make contact with /Kaggen in the form of a moose.
While in the trance, the shaman received the power of /Kaggen to protect and heal all.

San-rock art
Archaeologists are investigating the whereabouts of people living there and looking for items they left
behind.
The things that people made, collected, kept and threw away can tell us a lot about how those people
lived.
Archaeologists have researched the rock art created by the San.
Archaeologists have talked to each other a lot about the meaning of these works of art and also argued a
lot about it.
San rock paintings are found in the rocky areas of Kwazulu Natal, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free
State and the Northern Cape.
What is archeology?

San-rock art
Many of the paintings are thousands of years old.
The artists used different colors of paint made from things around them.
Charcoal was used to make black, bird droppings would make white and yellow and red made of earth
and clay.
The brushes they used were made of soft bones, cold twigs, feathers and anything else that could work
as a paintbrush.
When other people first saw rock art, they thought it was just poorly drawn pictures of daily life, but this
opinion changed as they learned more about it.
Rock art tells us about the lives of the San as well as how they saw the world.
What is archeology?

San-rock art
This is one of the most important resources used to find out more about the San.
San rock art is beautiful and very detailed and it tells the story of their life and beliefs.
The San often painted what they saw in their trance dances or the hunt.
The paintings are seen as a link between the spiritual world and everyday life.
What is archeology?

San-rock art
In the Drakensburg, at a game pass shelter in Kamberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, a rock painting was discovered
that helped unlock the secrets of how to understand rock art.
It is called the “Rosetta Stone” of South African rock art.
It is known because there are so many excellent examples of paintings and they are well preserved.
One of the paintings shows a dying Shaman turning into a moose (who helped us understand their
beliefs).
What is archeology?

San-rock art
The South African flag, the national
anthem and the coat of arms are all
symbols of our identity as South
Africans.
The coat of arms is a number of pictures
on a shield, with a
motto attached to it.
The motto is a short sentence that tells
us what our country
believes.
The shield is a symbol of protection.
The pictures on the shield are symbols
of things that are
unique to our country.
San rock art is part of our official coat of
arms.
The coat of arms of South Africa and the Linton Rock Art Painting

San-rock art
The most famous piece of rock art is called the Linton panel.
It was found on a farm in the Eastern Cape.
It was carefully cut from the rock in 1917 and taken to the South African Museum in Cape Town.
In the museum, the panel is carefully protected.
It is one of the best preserved and clearest pieces of rock art in South Africa.
The human figures in the South African coat of arms are based on a figure in the Linton panel.
This figure has power that we can all share, the idea is that this power will continue to benefit all
South Africans.
The Linton Rock Art Panel

The society of Khoikhoi shepherds in
the late Stone Age
San hunter-gatherers were found all over South Africa about 20,000 years ago.
Khoikhoi shepherds arrived in the southwestern parts of southern Africa about 2,000 years ago from
the more northern parts.
The Khoikhoi's way of life was different from that of the San.

The KhoiKhoi were what we call shepherds.
These are people who depend on livestock and move around to
find water and grazing for their animals.
The KhoiKhoi owned cattle and sheep, they would stay in one
place until their animals ate all the grass and then they would
move.
The KhoiKhoi would also hunt and gather food when they could
and needed.
However, they tended their livestock and used their livestock for
food.
The KhoiKhoi lived in much larger groups than the San.
These groups are called tribes.
Sometimes there would be more than 100 people in a tribe.
The tribes were led by a chief.
The KhoiKhoi believed in animal ownership, the more cattle and
sheep you owned, the richer you were.
Different groups also had rights to water in their area - they did not
own the water but could decide who could use it.
Lifestyle of the cattle farmers
the late Stone Age

The San hunter-gatherers were joined in South Africa by the KhoiKhoi shepherds.
The Khoikhoi thought the San were inferior because the San kept no cattle.
They moved in to the northern and western parts of South Africa and then moved further south.
There was competition between the San and the Khoikhoi for game.
How the San and the khoikhoi shared the same landscape
the late Stone Age

The large herds of game have become smaller.
When the San could not get their hands on game, they sometimes stole cattle from the Khoikhoi to
get meat.
The Khoikhoi began to organize themselves into larger groups to fight the San who stole their cattle.
Some san stretched out to mountainous and desert areas.
Others collaborated with the Khoikhoi and became their servants.
In time, many San men married Khoikho women and had their own cattle.
These groups are often called Khoisan.
How the San and the khoikhoi shared the same landscape
the late Stone Age

Grade 5 Term 1 History Presentation.ppsx

More Related Content

Similar to Grade 5 Term 1 History Presentation.ppsx

Recently uploaded

Grade 5 Term 1 History Presentation.ppsx