Iron-age sites reveal some astonishing artefacts — and shatter some dearly held beliefs, reports Bruce
Around the time William the Conqueror was gloating over his victory against Britain in 1066, Iron-Age communities on the banks of the Limpopo River were bartering gold and ivory with Swahili traders for glass beads from Egypt, cotton from India and silk from
The archaeological sites in the area — now part of the Vhembe/Dongola National Park which was established last week (see below) — offer a compelling, and conveniently ignored, picture of South African history which includes a priceless treasure of golden
One of the richest archaeological sites in Africa, its story, though uncovered 60 years ago, never appeared in the history textbooks of apartheid education which preferred to present an uninhabited landscape discovered by whites.
The most famous of the sites is Mapungubwe, a rocky hill-top fortress overlooking the Limpopo at the junction of the Shashe River where South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe meet.
Tom Huffmann, professor of archaeology at Wits, is convinced that Mapungubwe was the first capital of the ancient kingdom of Great Zimbabwe.
He says the site reveals the transformation of early societies from rank-based groups (such as the Zulu nation) to class-based societies where distinctions were based on wealth, and a sacred leadership. The emerging class distinctions were reflected in Mapungubwe’s settlement pattern, says Huffmann. For the first time, the populace were separated from royalty, who took residence at the top of the hill. The wealth, which spawned the class divisions, came from the trade in gold and ivory.
Huffmann says trade started around 900 AD, coinciding with a warmer, wetter climate in the area. The first evidence of trade comes from a nearby site at Schroda, where about 300-500 people lived — a large community in iron-age terms. Later, another community established itself closeby at a site called K2.
These Iron-Age communities panned alluvial gold which was washed down in rivers from the greenstone belts in Zimbabwe, and hunted ivory from the massive herds of elephant which roamed the Tuli Block area in what is now Botswana.
They bartered these items with African-Muslim traders who operated from the East Coast Swahili towns of Zanzibar, Kilwa and Mombassa. The islands of Bazaruto and Beira (known as Sofala) on the Mozambique coast also served as landing points for traders who crossed in a straight line into the interior.
Professor Andre Meyer, head of archaeology at Pretoria University, who has been studying the area for decades, says Mapungubwe reveals much more than just active trading, however. The site also offers evidence that the people farmed a variety of crops; cultivating grain, beans and sorghum.
They seem to have vanished suddenly in about 1290 and Huffman believes this was caused by a small ice age during this period. Some may have gone to Great
They left behind a royal graveyard that was first excavated in the 1930s. In three of the 20-odd graves, a number of golden artefacts were found, among them three gold rhinos, a sceptre and an assortment of gold
The rhinos — which are about 15cm long — are made of wood but are covered in gold leaf which has been delicately tacked on. Huffman believes they are symbolic black rhinos, connecting them to the Shona dance of joy which is based on the black rhino’s penchant for sudden and inexplicable paroxysms of fury during which they may destroy a termite mound or bush.
The solitary rhino, with its dangerous behaviour, provides a powerful and appropriate metaphor for leadership, says Huffman.
The Mapungubwe treasure is the property of Pretoria University, which has exclusive — and controversial — archaeological rights to the site. Recently Northern Province Premier Ngoako Ramathlodi called for a return of the artefacts to the province. But Meyer has little intention of handing back the golden rhinos and other artefacts. “These are a national, not a local treasure,” he told me when I visited him last week. Indeed they are. So it was depressing to see one of the golden rhinos of Mapungubwe — which should be on permanent public display — sitting in a display case in his office, where no-one except he and his archaeology students can see it.
# New National Park a unique concept
Fiona Macleod
THE establishment of the Vhembe/Dongola National Park, which includes the Mapungubwe archeological site, is a unique concept in the history of South Africa’s national reserves. For the first time, a committee representing the interests of regional government as well as the National Parks Board (NPB) will be involved in running a national reserve.
The NPB and Northern Transvaal Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi signed an agreement last Friday, undertaking joint development and management of the new park which covers some 2 000ha at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers. Six adjoining farms have been earmarked for purchase by the NPB and De Beers has expressed interest in adding its 35 000ha Venetia/ Limpopo Game Reserve to the new reserve.
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Dawie de Villiers is also due to meet Botswanan and Zimbabwean representatives in the next few weeks to discuss setting up a giant transfrontier reserve area along the Limpopo border. It is envisaged that the Tuli Bushlands in Botswana and the Tuli Safari Area in Zimbabwe will become part of this transfrontier reserve.
Ramatlhodi was upbeat at the launch of Vhembe/Dongola: “The co-operation between the province, the NPB and other countries is a victory for democracy. We are pioneering a conservation concept which seemed impossible in the past.”
But the owners of the adjoining farms may be a stumbling block. Many of them enjoyed favourable dealings with the National Party government, particularly during the “total onslaught” era of the 1980s, and are not well disposed to the new situation.
“The ministers used to come to us and ask us for things. Where are they now?” asked Hennie Heins, one of the larger farm owners. “One things for sure: we’re not moving. And the NPB certainly doesn’t have enough money to make us change our minds.”
De Villiers pointed out that the NPB has the power to expropriate farms where necessary, but said it would be loath to go to this extreme.