Title: First People
Subtitle: The Lost History of the Khoisan
Authors: Andrew Smith
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg, South Africa 2023
ISBN 9781776191598/ ISBN 978-1-77619-159-8
Softcover, 14 x 21 cm, 255 pages, several b/w photographs and images
Southern Africa's first people communities are the groups of hunter-gatherers and herders, representing the oldest human M lineages in Africa, who migrated from as far as East Africa to settle in what is now Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. These groups, known today as the Khoisan, are represented by the Bushmen (or San) and the Khoe. In First People, archaeologist Andrew Smith examines what we know about southern Africa's earliest inhabitants, drawing on evidence from excavations, rock art, the observations of colonial-era travellers, linguistics, the study of the human genome and the latest academic research.
Richly illustrated, First People - The Lost History of the Khoisan is an invaluable and accessible work that reaches from the Middle and Later Stone Age to recent times, and explores how the Khoisan were pushed to the margins of history and society. Smith, who is an expert on the history and prehistory of the Khoisan, paints a knowledgeable and fascinating portrait of their land occupation, migration, survival strategies and cultural practices, an illuminating exploration of early southern African hunters and herders.
Prof. Andrew Smith is an archaeologist and researcher who has studied traditional herders and pastoralists throughout his long and distinguished career. He has excavated widely in Africa and worked for many years with Khoekhoen descendants in South Africa and Ju/'hoansi Bushmen in Namibia. He is emeritus professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town.
Foreword
Introduction
1. Khoisan Peoples
2. Modern Humans in Southern Africa: The Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age
3. Hunter-Gatherers in the Southern African Landscape
4. Rock Art and Symbolism
5. Khoekhoen and the Development of Herding in Africa
6. Adaptive Strategies of Khoekhoen
7. Herders Meet Hunters
8. Configuring Khoisan Linguistics and Genomics
9. Where Are the Khoisan Today?
10. How Did the Khoisan Lose Their History?
Appendix:
Medicinal Plants Used by the Descendants of Khoekhoen in South Africa
Acknowledgements
References
Index