Debating the 500 year initiative: History, anthropology or both?

摘要

The 500 Year Initiative combines the methods of history and archaeology to focus on the creation of South African identities over the last 500 years. While the initiative itself is to be welcomed, it creates a straw man out of anthropological archaeology that is unnecessary and that diverts attention from relevant sources of evidence. Theoretically, anthropological models do not suffer from the problems that have been ascribed to them. Likewise, the use of ceramic style to recognise groups of people is valid and lays the foundation for recognising marriage alliances through imported ceramics. In addition, anthropological approaches help to clarify questions of fluidity in the Mapungubwe landscape, as well as the identity of people on the Mpumalanga escarpment during the Late Iron Age.