Contested Places 
39 
Anthropos 92.1997 
this century, has some 19th century graves which 
provide evidence of more continuous habitation of 
the place during the last century. In Ete, a place 
some three kilometres upstream from Epupa, there 
are numerous old graves. Today there are no per 
manent settlements in Ete and all recent inhabitants 
who only go there seasonally to use the pasture, 
or to harvest the palm trees or to garden on the 
banks of the Kunene would probably be buried 
somewhere else. As settlement patterns change, so 
do the location of graveyards and the stones they 
leave provide evidence of the longevity of Himba 
habitation in Kaokoland. 
Although there are no outspoken animosities 
between the Himba and members of other ethnic 
groups, their graveyards are kept separate. Him 
ba only find it acceptable if Himba and Herero 
graves are put together in one graveyard. How 
ever in Opuwo and Okangwati the leading He 
rero families have their own separate graveyards. 
Tjimba, Hakaona, Zemba, Ngambwe, Thwa, and 
Koroka graveyards are kept separate from Himba 
graves and usually kept separate from each other 
as well. In particular, under no circumstances are 
the graves of the despised Thwa allowed to be sited 
near Himba graves. This parallels a marriage ta 
boo inhibiting intermarriage between these groups. 
Contact with the peripatetic Thwa (Bollig 1987; 
Estermann 1969) is thought of as polluting. Graves 
in Oronditi provide evidence of the separation of 
graves along ethnic lines. Oronditi, a place right 
beside the Kunene river, has been a place of Himba 
settlement for many years but has additionally 
been used as a crossing point and a trading post 
since the 1940s. In that function the place attracted 
many people of diverse ethnic origins. Today we 
find scattered on both sides of the river Himba, 
Tjimba, Nkumbi, Ngambwe, Thwa, and Koroka 
graves. This pattern of scattered graveyards of 
diverse ethnic backgrounds is repeated in several 
places along the river. It pays testimony to the 
fact that the lush riparian vegetation has attracted 
people of diverse origins, offering the poor and 
stockless some hope of survival. 
In general graves along the Kunene seem to 
be more scattered than grave sites in the interior. 
Whilst in the hinterland graveyards are clearly 
connected to one settlement, graveyards along the 
river, always situated on the alluvial banks of the 
Kunene, sometimes lack a clear affiliation to one 
settlement. Sometimes one graveyard is used by 
several settlements (e.g., Otjombapa) or one set 
tlement uses several grave sites (e.g., Oronditi). A 
glance at the water availability may explain these 
different patterns. Water resources inland (water 
storing sandy deposits in a river, natural wells, or 
boreholes) frequently have a limited potential and 
the next water point is often some distance away. 
The abundant waters of the Kunene river allow 
habitation of the entire riparian system all year 
round. 
3.2 Status and Gender and the Construction of 
Graves 
Graveyards which have been used for a longer 
period of time show a confusing concentration of 
Fig. 2: “Modern” graves 
(Photo M. Bollig)