| |
| f. Southern Africa |
| 500 |
| |
| By this time, several Iron Age farming populations had long been present in southern Africa. | 1 |
| |
| 600–700 |
| |
| The Leopard's Kopje culture (proto-Shona) were farmers who also kept cattle and lived in semipermanent villages in southwestern present-day Zimbabwe and northern Transvaal. Also by this century, there is evidence of the southern African Bantu cattle culture, in which men, ancestors, and cattle played pivotal roles. Archaeological evidence shows the presence of central cattle byres containing storage pots and burial remains. | 2 |
| |
| 700–1000 |
| |
| Zhizo people on the eastern fringe of the Kalahari desert practiced Bantu cattle culture. | 3 |
| |
| 1000 |
| |
| Bantu speakers evolved the Zimbabwe culture at Great Zimbabwe and other centers. Autochthonous inhabitants were pushed into less hospitable areas. (See Southern Africa) | 4 |
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