Mapungubwe's famous gold foil rhinoceros (Photo: University of Pretoria)
The Mapungubwe World Heritage Archaeological Site Rehabilitation Project
Anthropology Private Practice conducted the rehabilitation of the old excavations at Mapungubwe and the Southern Terrace as part of a Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Poverty Alleviation Project for South African National Parks.
The Project rehabilitated and stabilized the old excavations, conducted between 1934 up until the late 1950s, at the site. During this process all the previously unprocessed archaeological materials were screened and all the artefacts were recovered and the previously unrecorded features documented.
During the 11 month duration of the project 700 metric tonnes of material was processed; 22 000 30kg sandbags were filled and placed; approximately 150 000 cultural objects were recovered and 520m of old excavation walls were cleared, documented and stabilized. This was accomplished with a team of 75 people (from neighbouring rural communities) over 220 working days.
Mapungubwe: SA's lost city of gold
One thousand years ago, Mapungubwe in Limpopo province was the centre of the largest kingdom in the subcontinent, where a highly sophisticated people traded gold and ivory with China, India and Egypt.
The Iron Age site, discovered in 1932 but hidden from public attention until only recently, has been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Internationally, there are 812 World Heritage sites, in 137 countries. Africa has 65 sites and South Africa a total of seven - three cultural, three natural and one mixed. Mapungubwe was added to the World Heritage List in July 2003.
Centre of the kingdom, and exclusive domain of the royal family: Mapungubwe mountain, where the gold foil rhino, sceptre and bowl were excavated (Photo: University of Pretoria)
Mapungubwe and Makapane's Valley, also in Limpopo province, were declared national heritage sites by the South African Heritage Resources Agency in 2001 - the first two sites to be declared under the 1999 National Heritage Resources Act, which replaced the old National Monuments Act.
Mapungubwe is an area of open savannah at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers and abutting the northern border of South Africa and the borders of Zimbabwe and Botswana. It thrived as a sophisticated trading centre from around 1220 to 1300.
In its statement on the listing, Unesco describes Mapungubwe as the centre of the largest kingdom in the sub-continent before it was abandoned in the 14th century.
"What survives are the almost untouched remains of the palace sites and also the entire settlement area dependent upon them, as well as two earlier capital sites, the whole presenting an unrivalled picture of the development of social and political structures over some 400 years," Unesco said.
Mapungubwe was home to an advanced culture of people for the time � the ancestors of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They traded with China and India, had a flourishing agricultural industry, and grew to a population of around 5 000.
Mapungubwe is probably the earliest known site in southern Africa where evidence of a class-based society existed (Mapungubwe's leaders were separated from the rest of the inhabitants).
Gold, copper, exotic beads ...
The site was discovered in 1932 and has been excavated by the University of Pretoria ever since. The findings were kept quiet at the time since they provided contrary evidence to the racist ideology of black inferiority underpinning apartheid.
Nevertheless, the university now has a rich collection of artefacts made of gold and other materials, as well as human remains, discovered there. According to the University of Pretoria's Mapungubwe website, "Subsequent excavations revealed a court sheltered in a natural amphitheatre at the bottom of the hill, and an elite graveyard at the top - with a spectacular view of the region.
"Twenty-three graves have been excavated from this hilltop site", the website continues. "The bodies in three of these graves were buried in the upright seated position associated with royalty, with a variety of gold and copper items, exotic glass beads, and other prestigious objects.
"These finds provide evidence not only of the early smithing of gold in southern Africa, but of the extensive wealth and social differentiation of the people of Mapungubwe."
The most spectacular of the gold discoveries is a little gold rhinoceros, made of gold foil and tacked with minute pins around a wooden core. The rhino, featured in one of South Africa's new national orders - the Order of Mapungubwe - has come to symbolise the high culture of Mapungubwe. The rhino is also a symbol of leadership among the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
Other artefacts made in similar fashion include the Golden Sceptre and the Golden Bowl, found in the same grave on Mapungubwe Hill.
Evidence of complex social formations
What is so fascinating about Mapungubwe is that it is testimony to the existence of an African civilisation that flourished before colonisation. According to Professor Thomas Huffman of the archaeology department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mapungubwe represents "the most complex society in southern Africa and is the root of the origins of Zimbabwean culture".
Between 1200 and 1300 AD, the Mapungubwe region was the centre of trade in southern Africa. Wealth came to the region from ivory and later from gold deposits that were found in Zimbabwe. The area was also agriculturally rich because of large-scale flooding in the area. The wealth in the area led to differences between rich and poor.
In the village neighbouring Mapungubwe, called K2, an ancient refuse site has provided archaeologists with plenty of information about the lifestyles of the people of Mapungubwe.
According to the University of Pretoria website: "People were prosperous, and kept domesticated cattle, sheep, goats and dogs. The charred remains of storage huts have also been found, showing that millet, sorghum and cotton were cultivated.
"Findings in the area are typical of the Iron Age. Smiths created objects of iron, copper and gold for practical and decorative purposes � both for local use and for trade. Pottery, wood, ivory, bone, ostrich eggshells, and the shells of snails and freshwater mussels, indicate that many other materials were used and traded with cultures as far away as East Africa, Persia, Egypt, India and China."
Mapungubwe's fortune only lasted until about 1300, after which time climate changes, resulting in the area becoming colder and drier, led to migrations further north to Great Zimbabwe.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
