Wells of Experience. A pastoral land-use history of Omaheke, Namibia

(Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2006) 9197321273. Printout of a pdf in the series 'Studies in African Archaeology', the author's doctoral thesis at Uppsala University, 2006. 297 x 210 mm; ring-bound printed rectos with outer clear-plastic sheets; pp. xi + 185; photographs; tables; diagrams; maps. "The conventional view of the Kalahari in southern Africa expresses that the area is unsuitable for livestock herding. For this reason, it is argued that livestock herders avoided the Kalahari in the past and were only able to establish themselves in the later half of the twentieth century, when deep-reaching boreholes were introduced in the area. An effect of this concept was that the archaeological record of pastoralists in the Kalahari either was perceived as non-existent or received little attention from scientific enquiry. Based on an archaeological survey in the Kalahari in the northeastern part of Namibia, the purpose of this study is to construct an alternative approach to the archaeology of livestock herding. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the area's unrecorded land-use history. ... By a research approach integrating the theoretical understanding of pastoralism and a methodology including ecology, archaeology, history and the knowledge of the people who keep livestock in the region today, the archaeological survey revealed 40 well sites, including nearly 200 well structures that have all been used for watering livestock." .