Farmers and cattle-keepers of the Batoka plateau north of the Victoria Falls and of the Kafue country towards modern Lusaka.
In the Kalomo tradition, excavated by Fagan at Isamu Pati and Kalundu in the 1960s, villages stood on mounds built up over centuries of occupation, with cattle, sorghum and small amounts of imported glass beads and cowries reaching them from the coast. The tradition is dated roughly from the late first to the early second millennium; whether it is still flourishing on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. The Tonga and Ila of later times are linked to later Iron Age arrivals.
Who holds it
- Title
- Village headmen; no paramount known
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None that can be named
How things stand that morning
Independent villages; the Zambezi below the falls belongs to the middle Zambezi peoples.
Customs
Village life on mounds; cattle.
Assemblies
Village headmen and elders.
Where the sources disagree
- Dates for the Kalomo tradition here are from general knowledge of Fagan's work, not from a source fetched in this research; treat as approximate.
Evidence: Excavations of the 1960s with a loose radiocarbon chronology; little newer work known to me.
On the map: An outline drawn from the general distribution of the evidence; it is not a border.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.