Journey to koBulawayo: Identifying relevant principles in interpreting faunal remains at Old Bulawayo

IN comparative terms, it might be easier to identify faunal remains and even pin them down to species. However, it is a mammoth task to come up with definitive and informed interpretation of a broad faunal assemblage. This demands an intimate knowledge of the relevant community’s worldview, beliefs, cosmology, thought and cultural practices.

Even the socioeconomic and political organisational structure of the community has a bearing on the interpretation. Belonging to the same community does not necessarily mean one is au fait (having good knowledge) with the intricacies of that community’s thought, cosmology and beliefs.

It may even be a more daunting task for one who is not familiar with the beliefs and worldview of the people represented in the given cultural landscape. Quite often interpretation is clouded by the very fact of wearing one’s colouring cultural spectacles and seek interpretation from one’s cultural perspective, standpoint and knowledge.

Difficult as it might be, the process of interpreting is one that is critically important. It is out of a thorough, objective and empathetic interpretation that the people who inhabited the cultural landscape in the past have their ways of life understood.

Inevitably, that will have a bearing on the various aspects of their culture in its broadest sense. Through the process of interpretation, we are also able to figure out how the community has transformed over time and the factors at play in instituting the observed transmutations.

Against this background we begin the hazardous, challenging process of interpreting the ways, beliefs, and worldview of the Ndebele people in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, solely based on faunal assemblage that was collected by archaeologists who undertook research from 1993 to about 2002.

Bones offer evidence of the animals from which they came. What this means is that there will be bones that point to something beyond the bones and cases when bones, in themselves and by themselves, were used. What we need to know in this case are the animals, birds, rodents, mammals and reptiles that yielded the said bones.

We need not belabour the point that cattle were an important source of food and consumption patterns revealed social stratification within the Ndebele community.

Rather, it was bones from animals whose flesh did not constitute Ndebele cuisine. In the last article we identified the sources of such bones. Before dealing in more specific terms with the various bones, it is pertinent to bring forth certain principles that are at work within the context of thought and worldview of the Ndebele people.

We acknowledge the fact that we will have to be selective and identify those principles that are relevant and pertinent to the interpretation of the faunal remains. The field of thought itself is much broader.

Symbolism is certainly one aspect that is applied in the use of bones of certain creatures. Symbolism depends on perceptions of plants and animals in the environment. Each community identifies attributes of the various species of flora and fauna and seek to symbolise or reproduce, replicate these observed traits within a cultural realm. The identified traits, attributes and characteristics are repeated so that like produces like.

Symbolism works closely with another important principle. This is the idea of representativeness. Essentially, this means a part of a whole reproduces the traits of a whole.

A part of an animal is as good as the full animal itself in terms of replicating the identified and desired attributes. As a result, the portion of that animal is symbolised. A toenail of a lion will create the ambience of a lion when ritually manipulated.

Whereas the ideal would be to get hold of a whole lion, this is sometimes neither feasible nor desirable. A far away lion at the Hwange National Park or in the wild anywhere else may be brought closer (accessibility) is brought closer through getting a part of it, which will represent a whole lion.

Lion excreta could be one such. Of course, there are considerations regarding which parts of a lion are the most representative of a lion. Consider the parts of a human being that ritual killers go for.

There is yet another principle that ought to be isolated. When a lion is far away there has to be access to it. Access is achieved through various means such as getting a part of the animal, its spoor or faecal matter, nails from its phalange et cetera. Perhaps this will become clearer when I deal with the ancient African science in the context of witchcraft that I am currently researching.

Yet another principle that has to be dealt with relates to specifically targeted optical illusion. It is not rare to hear someone in an African community screaming and alleging that he is “seeing things,” when those things are invisible to people around him. Ritual manipulation is used to target an identified person so that the “things” target him; that is the instruction given to the things such as goblins (ontikolotshe/omantindane).

Incantations are quite often an important targeter. One’s name is one’s identity and this is the reason why at night we are discouraged from calling out people’s names.

One colleague of mine was discouraged by his mother from pronouncing the family praises on his mobile phone. Our totems are our DNA and they may, in the hands of competent and knowledgeable African scientists be used to reach targeted individuals and harm them.

What ought to have been apparent in the narrative is the fact that nature is observed carefully and its unique attributes identified. It is the identified attributes that are then, in the hands of the spiritually endowed, are used to produce positive (healing) or negative (harmful witchcraft) results.

In the ritual formula there is an agent (witch or traditional doctor), the intended victim, harnessed energy, spiritual endowment and the word, either spoken (chanted) or internally (silently) uttered. Targeters would have been identified and incorporated into the working formula.

It may sound like hot air to those not familiar or uninitiated into ancient African science. When dealing with interpretation, it is lack of appreciation that may interfere with meaningful and sustainable interpretation.

Everything African has been denigrated, despised and demonised. As a result, there are people who will not see sense in their ancient science. As pointed out above, there are clear principles at work and energy and/or spirituality are the driving forces.

Perhaps for today let us deal with one bone that was retrieved and identified. There were bones of two pangolins, one mature and another young. We know the pangolin is not to be hunted. One who is found in possession of one is arrested and brought before the courts. There is a view that the animal is rare and is faced with extinction.

We need to interrogate the pangolin and look at it from an Afrocentric perspective. A pangolin is rare to come across.

It is an animal whose body is covered by numerous hard interlocking scales/plates. When the impregnable nature of the scales are compared to the skin of a rock rabbit or some other small deer, one begins to appreciate its attributes that are sought by African kings, King Lobengula included.

However, one has to know the natural endowment and survival behaviour of the animal. It rolls up its whole body into a near circular form with its vulnerable parts well protected (legs and head in particular). Clearly, the principles identified above come into play. That makes the animal an important ingredient in the protection and fortification medicinal ensemble for an important person such as a king who is the embodiment of state and nation.