Seoke

Seoke is an impressive stone-walled archaeological site situated on a low-lying sandstone ridge on Woodlands Farm, just outside the modern-day town of Lobatse. The site is a large Tswana agro-town that follows the V-shaped alluvial plains of the Peleng River and covers an area of almost 14.5 square kilometres. The site’s settlement pattern is representative of the historical and contemporary Sotho-Tswana type villages called metse in Setswana, consisting of a large central town with several outlying smaller, stone walled settlements

Seoke is believed to have been established around the mid-18th century but reached its maximum occupation during the early part of the 19th century with an estimated population of between 10,000 and 20,000. This ‘mega’ site bears salient testimony to the Sotho-Tswana way of life and several important events that shaped the history of the region. Seoke was the capital of the Ngwaketse chiefdom – an offshoot of the Kwena polity who broke away in 1750 CE and settled in the Lobatse area under the reign of Makaba I.

There is ample evidence from the excavated record of an agro-pastoral mode of production at Seoke. The importance of domestic stock in dietary patterns is evidenced in the large number of cattle, sheep and goat remains. A number of other domestic activities, including the production, storage and preparation of cereal grains, are also well documented. Such activities often took place in or near the malwapa (domestic space) of the homestead. Other evidence for agricultural production includes lower (lelwala) and upper (tshilo) grind stones and the presence of stone platforms which served as part of the structure for grain storage bins.

Seoke occupied a low-lying position that was exposed to attack. The population relocated about 10 kilometres north-west to the hillier and more secluded locality of Pitsa (Pitsaneng) during the initial phase of Moleta’s reign, who ruled between 1780 and 1795. The hilly areas previously occupied by the Ngwaketse offer clues to understanding how these communities used landscape to their advantage in safeguarding and protecting their livestock against enemies and for sequestering large herds of cattle in stone-walled cattle posts.

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Did you know?

It is believed that the direct translation of Lobatse, the modern town where the site of Seoke is found, means ‘deny any knowledge of these’. This is in reference to cattle being concealed or hidden from rustlers and raiders during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Sources

1. Biagetti, S., Alcaina-Mateos, J., Ruiz-Giralt, A., Lancelotti, C., Groenewald, P., Ibañez-Insa, J., Gur-Arie, S., Morton, F., Merlo, S. (2021). Identifying anthropogenic features at Seoke (Botswana) using pXRF: Expanding the record of southern African Stone Walled Sites. PLoS ONE, 16(5), 1-20 [Link]
2. Morton, F. (2013). Settlements, landscapes and identities among the Tswana of the western Transvaal and eastern Kalahari before 1820. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 68(197), 15–26 [Link]
3. Morton, F. (2014). The rise of a raiding state: Makaba II’s Ngwaketse, c. 1780-1824. New Contree, 71 (16), 25-40 [Link]
4. Morton, F. (2018). Reconnecting Tswana Archaeological Sites with their Descendants: The Challenge of Developing Southern Africa’s Cultural Heritage for Everyone. Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage, 7, 1-17 [Link]