The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins are a provincial heritage site in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.

The Bokoni settlements are characterised by cattle paths linking roughly circular homesteads throughout spreads of agricultural terraces.

[1] The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins are widely understood to have been built and used by the Bokoni people[1] and date somewhere within the last 500 years.

Building settlements hidden away in valleys increased the Bokoni defense and created refuge for those living in them.

[1] Considering the Blaauboschkraal stone ruins are located on a hillside of a valley, it is assumed this settlement was built in the 3rd stage of Bokoni civilisation.

The Bokoni are thought to have been more influenced by trade than defense and military and this is what is assumed to explain the location of settlements discovered.

[4] This high rainfall makes it likely to assume terracing was effective in retaining and distributing moisture and maximising agricultural production.

Therefore intensive agricultural production occurred on these sites, even ones located on steep valleys such as the Blaauboschkraal stone settlement.

Now, archaeologists have become interested in developing a deeper understanding of the cultural importance of these sites and the way the Bokoni influenced the evolution of Southern Africa and the Late Iron Age.

Pseudoarchaeological alternative explanations have been put forward for the Blaauboschkraal stone ruins, attributing alien and/or ancient origins.

The most prominent proponent is Michael Tellinger, a politician whom Hammer and Swartz characterise as a promoter of conspiracy theories, influenced by Zecharia Sitchin's ideas of ancient astronauts.

Peter Delius, a historian and archaeologist, stresses however that the leadership in governance over the Mpumalanga province is not doing enough to maintain integrity of the sites.

It should be made clear that any person tampering with, removing objects, or vandalising the sites is committing a crime and will be prosecuted,” Delius said.