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                                                  Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies vol. 15 no. 1
 Introduction
 Karim Sadr
University of Botswana, History Department
 University of the Witwatersrand, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies
Since the 1970s, selected fourth year students in the Department of History at the
University of Botswana have produced long research essays on various aspects of
Botswana's past (see introduction to Pula 13/1&2, 1999). Since 1994, about thirty have
dealt with the archaeology of Botswana. This subject was introduced to the Department of
History in 1977 when David Kiyaga-Mulindwa joined the staff. By 1986 an Archaeology
Unit had been established in the Department of History, and by 1992 students could choose
to take a single major in Archaeology. One of the requirements for this single major is the
long research essay. The students end their third year with a research proposal which leads
to fieldwork during the long vacation (May-August). By the time they begin their fourth
year studies, they have started writing their research and a first draft is presented to the
entire Department of History around late October. In late February, they present a revised
draft, often after having spent more time in the field during December. The essay in its final
form is submitted at the end of the academic year, to the Library of the University of
Botswana.
   The nine papers in this volume are a fairly representative sample of the best archaeology
student essays. They are arranged in chronological order. They include the first example
from 1994, one example each from the classes of 1995 and 1996, two from 1998 and four
from the particularly inspired crop of students in the class of 1999. Another possible
arrangement of the papers would have been thematic by sub-discipline, with one section for
archaeology, another for ethnoarchaeology and a third for experimental archaeology. But
none of the papers concerns just one or the other sub-discipline, and the chronological order
has the advantage of showing the improvements as each class learned from and tried to do
better than those who went before.
   Ethnoarchaeology, the practice of examining living traditional societies in order to gain
insights which help interpret the remains of ancient societies, is a popular sub-discipline
among DB Archaeology students. They are well placed to carry out such studies as they
often have their own or a relative's home in a traditional community and thus privileged
access to traditional activities.         There have been several very good examples of
ethnoarchaeological research. The selection presented here includes Patricia Lepekoane' s
study of Bakgalagadi settlements; Kabelo Matshetshe's study of traditional salt production
in the Makgadikgadi Pans; Cynthia Mooketsi's comparative study of cattle butchery and
meat distribution among different ethnic groups in Botswana; and Morongwa
Mosothwane's studv of initiation schools among the Bakgatla.
   A related sub-di~ipline is experimental archaeology, where the investigator sets up a
scientific experiment to observe how certain materials behave under certain conditions. The
aim is to understand better the materials found on archaeological sites. As with the
ethnoarchaeological studies, the more scientifically inclined students are well placed to use
this approach. Two very good examples of archaeological experiments are presented in this
collection: Lexv Baloi's research on the collapse of mud walls and Bafentse Peter's on the
burning of live~tock pens.


   A purely archaeological approach is, unfortunately, relatively rare in the research essays.
Partly, this is because fourth year students are not allowed to excavate sites by themselves.
Excavation produces so much information that anyone student could not possibly cope in
the relatively short time they have to produce their research essay. But there are
archaeological projects which do not involve excavation, and ones which can be designed
so as to allow students to complete them in a short time. A good example is Princess
Sekgarametso's mapping project of Ntsweng, a major contribution to Botswana's
archaeology simply because it documents an important archaeological site. Milton Tapela's
tightly focused research on size preference in ostrich eggshell beads contradicts some
widely accepted ideas about relations between indigenous hunters and immigrant herders in
Botswana's distant past. Donald Mookodi's research using the site register from the
National Museum discovered a major change in the distribution of ancient settlements
around AD 1300 in eastern Botswana. This unusual discovery should inspire much further
 research to unravel its significance.
    So much archaeology remains to be done in Botswana that even a small and simple
 research project can often make a big contribution. In the early days, the history students
 could make a significant contribution by simply writing about the history of their village.
 Archaeology students never followed that route: hardly anyone wrote about the archaeology
 of their village. A pity, in my opinion, because there are a lot of villages in the huge blanks
 on the archaeological map of Botswana. Students could do a lot worse than sharpen their
 archaeological skills on limited surveys in neglected parts of Botswana: a straightforward
 task which would teach a host of useful things from library and archival research, to
 examining museum records and collections, to reading maps and devising sampling
 strategies, and of course the basic analysis and classification of artifacts. Then even the
 poorly executed projects could have the desirable side effect of at least partly filling a blank
 on the archaeological map of Botswana.
                                                    Notes
  Karim Sadr was .senior lecturer in the Archaeology Unit of the History Department at the University
  of Botswana untll September 2001. Since then he is lecturer in the Archaeology Division of the
  Sc~ool of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand,
  Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa. His e-mail addressisI07sadr@cosmos.wits.ac.za
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