Of /Xam, springbok and stone hunting funnels in southern Africa

In this paper we explore the interconnectedness of the /Xam San and springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis), the most frequently referenced animal in the /Xam archive of the Nama Karoo region of South Africa. It is set against a worldview in which human-animal boundaries are fluid and the /Xam understood themselves to have been ‘Myth Time’ springbok before people made laws and animals lost their humanity. We demonstrate purposeful interaction between /Xam and springbok that allows for the conceptualisation of hunting logistics and strategies that included coaxing (or gentle persuasion) to optimise success. We extrapolate our understanding of the /Xam hunting ground, made up of an intimate, triangular relationship between human, animal and landscape — all full of agency — to speculate about how such connectedness may have led to the building of large communal hunting funnels just north of South Africa’s Gariep (previously Orange River). This is especially pertinent when the formation of large springbok herds is thought of as ‘emplaced’ or as being associated with particular places. These funnels may have been used during times of plenty when small, calm herds could be coaxed towards hunters lying in wait. However, they would have been most effective for mass-hunting or harvesting springbok when enormous dry-time herds of trekbokken passed through the Keimoes area on their way from the Kalahari to the Gariep.