About 2000 years ago, Bantu-speaking people introduced an agro-pastoral lifeway into southern Africa and lived in northern and eastern lowland parts of the region by 700 CE. Also defined as the ‘southern African Iron Age’, pottery is the most common and diagnostic artefact category. The soil chemistry of several farming sites resulted in poor faunal preservation and especially within Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, the possibilities for dietary reconstructions based on bone assemblages is very limited. Furthermore, the majority of ceramic research on early farming communities (ca. 200–900 CE) has focused on typology and ethnoarchaeological interpretations. This study represents the first application of Organic Residue Analysis (ORA) applied to southern African early farming pottery to gain a deeper understanding of past human behaviour and subsistence patterns. We investigate the potential and evaluate future prospects of applying this method to southern African early farming pottery. A combined lipid biomarker (GC-MS) and compound specific isotope approach (GC-C-IRMS) was applied to pottery sherds (n = 40) from the Lydenburg Heads site (LHS), dating to the 7th century CE (Mzonjani facies) and 9th to 11th centuries CE (Doornkop facies), to test for lipid preservation, trace possible vessel use and dietary changes through time and embed the research data within the faunal and botanical record available. Our study provides first evidence for the processing of dairy products by early farmers in southern Africa. Both facies imply multi-purpose functionality of the ceramics tested, demonstrated by the mixing of animal fats and plant oils. The obtained ORA data from LHS confirms the processing of ruminant carcass fats within both occupation facies, likely representing domestic animal fats, as well as the processing of wild non-ruminant carcass fats within the earlier Mzonjani facies. The identification of ricinoleic acid in two vessels of the Doornkop facies, provides evidence for potential medicinal use. Preliminary data also indicate that dung could have been involved in different forms of pottery sealing and/or mending during both occupation facies. In this study, we begin to explore biomolecular evidence for dietary choices made by early farmers in southern Africa, shedding light on previously unexplored key products.

大约 2000 年前，讲班图语的人们将农牧业生活方式引入南部非洲，并于公元 700 年居住在该地区的北部和东部低地地区。陶器也被定义为“南部非洲铁器时代”，是最常见和最具诊断意义的文物类别。一些农业地点的土壤化学导致动物保存不良，特别是在南非普马兰加省，基于骨骼组合重建饮食的可能性非常有限。此外，大多数关于早期农业社区（约公元 200-900 年）的陶瓷研究都集中在类型学和民族考古学解释上。这项研究首次将有机残留分析 (ORA) 应用于南部非洲早期农耕陶器，以更深入地了解过去的人类行为和生存模式。我们调查了将该方法应用于南部非洲早期农耕陶器的潜力并评估了未来前景。将脂质生物标志物 (GC-MS) 和化合物特异性同位素方法 (GC-C-IRMS) 相结合，应用于 莱登堡角遗址 (LHS) 的陶器碎片 ( n = 40)，可追溯到公元 7 世纪（Mzonjani 相）以及公元 9 世纪至 11 世纪（Doornkop 相），以测试脂质保存情况，追踪可能的容器使用和饮食随时间的变化，并将研究数据嵌入现有的动物和植物记录中。我们的研究为南部非洲早期农民加工乳制品提供了第一个证据。这两种相都意味着所测试的陶瓷具有多用途功能，通过动物脂肪和植物油的混合证明了这一点。从 LHS 获得的 ORA 数据证实了两个占领相中反刍动物胴体脂肪的加工（可能代表家畜脂肪），以及早期 Mzonjani 相中野生非反刍动物胴体脂肪的加工。在 Doornkop 相的两个容器中鉴定出蓖麻油酸，为潜在的药用用途提供了证据。初步数据还表明，在两个占领相期间，粪便可能参与了不同形式的陶器密封和/或修补。在这项研究中，我们开始探索南部非洲早期农民饮食选择的生物分子证据，揭示以前未探索过的关键产品。