Fascinating Technologies Used by the San People of Southern Africa

The names ‘San’ and ‘Bushman’ are used today by people descended from hunter-gatherers who lived in southern Africa before the arrival of herder and farmer groups. They lived a hunter-gatherer, nomadic lifestyle, only settling for small periods time. Today, Khoe and San descendants are fighting against their exploitation and asserting their presence in politics and among southern Africa's diverse societies.     

Early hunter-gatherers developed paints made from yellow and red ochre and charcoal mixed with eland blood, animal fat or egg albumin. The art forms were intimately connected with the spiritual beliefs of the San. The earliest dated painted art in southern Africa is dated to 27,000 years ago.

Early hunters developed a complex tri-sectional, poisoned arrow. The poisoned tip pierces an animal’s skin and the link shaft breaks off. This prevents the animal from rubbing the arrow out against a tree, leaving the tip in the skin as the poison takes effect.

The San used an extremely deadly poison on their arrows. The hunters would track a wounded animal for hours, as the poison took effect.

The San created an adhesive to glue their arrowheads to the shafts or handles. These adhesives are prepared by heating them, resulting in a strong but brittle glue that breaks under pressure, leaving a poisoned arrow-tip in the wounded animal.

Some San groups lived in some of the driest regions of the world - where water was a scarce resource. In order to store and save the precious water when available the San used ostrich egg shells. These were carefully engraved, and the holes plugged shut to keep the water fresh. 

Digging sticks were reported to have been used by San and Khoe women to excavate the ground in search of precious roots and bulbs. The stick, sharpened at one end, was used to probe the soil. Sometimes the stick was weighted with a bored stone to give it  extra impact to loosen the soil.

On special occasions, it is said that women banged the bored stones on the ground in order to call the spirits of the dead.

The San used many different indigenous plants to create medicines and treat illnesses. Perhaps most famous is their use of the Buchu plant which is used to treat digestive issues and is also a powerful anti-inflammatory.