Paleontological Knowledge among the Basotho and San of Lesotho: A Review Including Insights from Paul Ellenberger’s Archives

Abstract

Paul Ellenberger’s archives provide insight into the Basotho and San peoples palaeontological knowledge in southern Africa, specifically from Lesotho. For instance, it preserves many published and unpublished accounts of Basotho people discovering dinosaur footprints and bones in Lesotho. Moreover, the Basotho folk tale (a “litsomo” in Sesotho) featuring the voracious monster Kholumolumo is here demonstrably linked to dinosaur trace and bone fossils in the main Karoo Basin of southern Africa, suggesting that this well-known local fable functions as a geomyth. For the San, Ellenberger hypothesised that their understanding of fossil footprints reflected a grasp of geoscientific concepts, potentially including the principles of superposition, faunal succession, locomotor biology, and plate tectonics. He connected the San myths of the Agama (!Khau) and All-Devourer (//Khwai-hemm) to fossil footprints, arguing in an unpublished manuscript that the San narrative indicated a historical awareness of not only the fossil track record but also of geoscientific concepts. Despite Ellenberger’s intriguing interpretations, the evidence for this San geomyth is tenuous. It is possible that this geomyth may partly result from Ellenberger’s enthusiasm for linking indigenous knowledge with his interests in fossil footprints. The evidence for San understanding of geological concepts remains speculative, and more robust data is needed to substantiate these claims. Nevertheless, this review paper highlights the scientific contributions of indigenous populations as an early form of citizen science and underscore the complex interactions between indigenous knowledge and scientific inquiry.