A permanent exhibition at Pretoria University is giving the public access to remains of this ancient civilisation Catarina Weinek The University of Pretoria is custodian of some of South Africa’s greatest cultural objects: the collection of items excavated since 1934 from the archaeological sites, Mapungubwe and K2, on a farm named Greefswald on the border to Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The artefacts, ranging from glass beads, pots and gold jewellery to a gold rhinoceros, date from the turn of the past millennium to circa 1300. These objects, inaccessible to the public in the past, are finally on display. The objects are the relics of Southern Africa’s first great civilisation, Mapungubwe, which in its social, political and economic structures was a precursor to Great Zimbabwe and its sophistication, but predating it by two centuries. Just like Great Zimbabwe its power was based on a lucrative control of the trade in gold, ivory, skins and iron from the interior to the East Coast’s Swahili merchants. The Great Zimbabwe ruins were on the banner that called for revolution and liberation in the 1970s, harking back to a great era in the Shona people’s history. The country was finally even named after its stone ruins, but Mapungubwe and its civilisation has not captured the imagination of South Africans.
Very few South Africans know the name. Compared with Great Zimbabwe’s magnificent structures very little stone walling remains at Mapungubwe to impress, though a thousand years ago the hill was levelled for its sacred ruler with the addition of 10E000 tonnes of sand. As Mapungubwe fell into obscurity during the course of the centuries, the oral histories relating to its rise seem to have disappeared.
All that remained in this century, when white farmers discovered it on the eve of 1933, was the tradition told among locals that the hill of Mapungubwe was sacred, that it was an ancestral site. And above all the politically motivated “disinterest” in anything that celebrated Africa’s achievements in the past also contributed to Mapungubwe never becoming part of our popular knowledge, or our education system. The decades of stop-start research, academic squabbling, new information and further investigations finally revealed that the cumulative evidence should no longer be ignored: Mapungubwe is one of Africa’s great kingdoms. At last, in 1984, Mapungubwe was declared a National Monument and a decade later some of the golden objects – the so-called “bowl”, “sceptre” and rhinoceros – were declared national treasures. The University of Pretoria, with a permanent display entitled Mapungubwe: African Heritage Exhibition, has given the public access to some of the material remains of this ancient culture: the exquisitely delicate and finely crafted golden objects and jewellery, colourful glass beads from Egypt and the Middle East, iron tools, spear heads, pots, the Chinese celadon pot and a few other objects like spindle whorls that give insight into the sophistication of this society. While the exhibition is competently and carefully put together with an interactive video monitor that details some of Mapungubwe’s history and the university’s association with the site, the sheer scale of Mapungubwe’s civilisation is not captured and is perhaps a challenge too hard to achieve. Only a few ceramic vessels are on display and, although the university’s curator is committed to exchanging pieces from time to time, many more stand in a display room in another part of the campus, in the department of anthropology.
The design, the aesthetic and sheer variety of these pots are inspiring in their simplicity and functionality and would be worthy of another exhibition. The mass of glass beads also remain stored elsewhere. Though the university charges no entrance fee, many people are excluded from viewing the show by the mere fact that it does not open on weekends. And although the university is committed to putting this permanent display on tour to major centres across the country, funding has not been secured. Only the golden objects will travel to the National Gallery in Cape Town in September for an exhibition celebrating a millennium of gold crafting in Southern Africa.
The final responsibility for the exhibition lies with the University of Pretoria, its commercial and government sponsors. Public access and generating further public debate is essential if South Africans are finally to know and to celebrate their ancient past.
See Mapungubwe: Secrets of a Sacred Hill on September 24 on SABC1 at 10.30pm. The Sasol African Heritage Exhibition is a permanent exhibition at the Old Arts Building, University of Pretoria main campus, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria. Tel: (012)420 2200/3146. The Musuku: Golden links with our Past exhibition can be seen at the South African National Galery, Government Avenue, Cape Town from September 25. Tel: (021) 465 1628