Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2024·South Africa

Chapter 2. Stone by stone: Women's quotidian farm labor and the construction of the Khutwaneng farmscape in Bokoni, South Africa

Maria H. Schoeman

Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association

Urban Farm DB summary

In Bokoni, northeastern South Africa, stone-walled towns flourished from the late 15th to early 19th centuries, and lidar data confirmed the presence of terraced fields in Khutwaneng from the 17th to early 19th centuries. All homesteads in this town had adjacent terraced gardens or fields, suggesting that urban farming was an entrenched component of Bokoni's urban life. Historically, women performed daily farming duties in southern Africa, and this was likely also the case in Bokoni.