I suppose the reason I was dismissive initially of the 'lion theory' to the stripes is this:
This shield I think is a weapon of war. It was not hunting equipment. I could be wrong but I don't believe that isolated zulu hunters went walking around with a spear and shield. The zulu shield and assegai as we know them today were the equipment of a highly organised army as effective as any in Europe at that level of technological development (think Romans as opposed to modern armies).
This shield is military. It would be a mistake to look at it as a 'tribal' effect the way you would with perhaps most other African groups. This is a piece of army equipment. In this regard, the Zulu military phenomenon was quite unlike the sort of thing you'd find with most African societies. It was a centralised state run on military lines - the sort you might expect to find in Europe, or elsewhere. But not Africa. These shields were carried by impis - African equivalents of Roman centurions.
At least the early ones were.
Of course, the shields continued to be made and were in existence a lot longer after the period of Zulu military expansion of the 19th century. But again, I don't think they were carried around by your ordinary Zulu in the veldt. They were later there for more ceremonial purposes.
Also, In the last 100 years or so, anyway, there have been few - in fact to my knowledge, no - lions in that part of South Africa. There are plenty of lions to the north, in the old transvaal region, perhaps even some as far down as the Orange Free State. But lions were hunted out early. Even leopard are few and far between that far South.
Another reason for the lack of lions is I guess to a large extent the fact that lions prefer the savannah where they can hunt game and the Kwazulu-Natal region is largely very hilly. It is just not lion territory.
Regards
Ron
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