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    Mapungubwe: Ancient African Civilisation on the Limpopo
    Mapungubwe: Ancient African Civilisation on the Limpopo
    Mapungubwe: Ancient African Civilisation on the Limpopo
    Ebook93 pages33 minutes

    Mapungubwe: Ancient African Civilisation on the Limpopo

    By Thomas Huffmann

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    About this ebook

    Between AD 900 and 1300, the Shashe-Limpopo basin in Limpopo Province witnessed the development of an ancient civilisation. Like civilisations everywhere, it consisted of a complex social organisation supported by intensive agriculture and long-distance trade. The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, as it is now known, was the forerunner of the famous town of Great Zimbabwe, situated about 200 kilometres to the north, and its cultural connection to Great Zimbabwe and the Venda people allows archaeologists to reconstruct its evolution. This generously illustrated book tells the story of an African civilisation that began more than 1000 years ago. It is the first in a series of accessible books written by specialists for visitors to South Africa’s World Heritage Sites.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWits University Press
    Release dateJan 1, 2005
    ISBN9781776143009
    Mapungubwe: Ancient African Civilisation on the Limpopo
    Author

    Thomas Huffmann

    Thomas Huffmann is Professor Emeritus and was previously head of Archaeology in the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

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      Book preview

      Mapungubwe - Thomas Huffmann

      THOMAS N HUFFMAN

      MAPUNGUBWE

      ANCIENT AFRICAN CIVILISATION ON THE LIMPOPO

      Please remember that without an official permit visitors, including archaeologists, are not allowed to remove artefacts from any site within the basin.

      Wits University Press

      1 Jan Smuts Avenue

      Johannesburg

      2001

      South Africa

      http://witspress.wits.ac.za

      ISBN 1-86814-408-9

      ISBN 978-1-86814-408-2 (Print)

      ISBN 978-1-86814-649-9 (PDF)

      ISBN 978-1-77614-300-9 (EPUB)

      ISBN 978-1-77614-301-6 (MOBI)

      Copyright © 2005 Thomas N Huffman

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

      Cover by Limeblue, Johannesburg, South Africa

      Text design by Orchard Publishing, Cape Town,

      South Africa

      Printed and bound by Creda Communications

      Cape Town, South Africa

      CONTENTS

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      OCCUPATION OF THE SHASHE-LIMPOPO BASIN

      INTRODUCTION

      GEOLOGY AND CLIMATE

      SCHRODA

      The capital

      Figurines

      Elephants and settlements

      International trade

      K2

      The capital

      Chief’s residential area

      Burials

      Copper and iron working

      Ivory and glass beads

      Court, kraal and midden

      Commoners

      Agriculture

      Rainmaking

      Ethnicity

      Social changes

      MAPUNGUBWE

      Southern terrace

      Court officials

      Occupation area

      Approaches

      First king

      Stonewalling

      First town

      Second king

      Royal wives

      Royal cemetery

      Golden rhinos

      Gold working

      First state

      Internal trade and contacts

      External trade

      Commoners

      Climatic change

      ICON, KHAMI AND VENDA

      Icon and Khami occupations

      Origins of the Venda

      Venda occupation

      CONCLUSION

      FURTHER READING

      GLOSSARY

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I am indebted to John Calabrese, McEdward Murimbika, Alex Schoeman, Jeannette Smith and Marilee Wood for the use of their research results. Lance Gewer of Icon Productions made available Lance Penny’s artist impressions of Mapungubwe on pages 32, 33 and 40. Johan Delannoie created the impression of K2 on page 18 and the drawing of Mapungubwe on the cover. Bob Cnoops photographed these reconstructions as well as the artefacts on pages 11, 20, 21, 48 and 49. Wendy Voorvelt prepared the maps. Marilee Wood provided the photograph of the beads on page 21. The Mapungubwe Archives, University of Pretoria, kindly supplied the photographs on pages 19, 34, 39, 47 and 53, and gave their permission to use the material on pages 35, 36 and 47 from the edited volume on Mapungubwe by Fouche 1937. The figure on page 38 comes from Gardner 1963. The National Culture History Museum Pretoria gave permission to use the photograph on page 11. The aerial photograph on page 31 is courtesy of the Trigonometrical Survey of South Africa. Finally, I am grateful to the various organizations that have supported our research in the Mapungubwe area, in particular De Beers, the Mellon Foundation, the Indigenous Knowledge Systems of the National Research Foundation, SANParks and the University of the Witwatersrand.

      Location of the Mapungubwe Park and important sites

      OCCUPATION OF THE SHASHE-LIMPOPO BASIN

      List of the important places and events in

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