20 research outputs found
Dynamics of populations, movements and responses to climatic changes in eastern, central and southern Africa
Economic change, ideology and the development of cultural complexity in northern Zimbabwe
Linking Heritage Preservation and Community Development: An Assessment of Grassroots Heritage Based Projects as Vehicles for Socio-Economic Development and Sustainable Heritage Preservation in Zimbabwe
Ceramics and change: an overview of pottery production techniques in northern South Africa and eastern Zimbabwe during the first and second millennium AD
Traditional Custodianship: A Useful Framework for Heritage Management in Southern Africa?
“Do as I Say and Not as I Do”. On the Gap Between Good Ethics and Reality in African Archaeology
Zimbabwe Culture before Mapungubwe: New Evidence from Mapela Hill, South-Western Zimbabwe
New Pathways of Sociopolitical Complexity in Southern Africa
Much is known about the economy and spatial organization of Zimbabwe
culture entities of Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe and Khami but less in terms of their
origins and relationship with each other. Based on little tangible evidence, it is believed
and widely accepted that the societies based at Mapungubwe (AD 1220–1290), Great
Zimbabwe (AD 1300–1450) and Khami (AD 1450–1820) rose, developed and eclipsed in
tandem. A recent reexamination of the relationship between these settlements and
related ones using local ceramics, imported artefacts, stone architecture and Bayesian
modelling suggests this may not have been the case. The synthesis proffered revelations
which temper the widely accepted assumption that sociopolitical complexity in southern
Africa began in the Shashi-Limpopo Valley before anywhere else in the region. Firstly,
there are numerous Zhizo and Leopard’s Kopje sites that predate Mapungubwe but
contain prestige goods and stone structures dating from the late first millennium AD.
Secondly, material culture studies and modelled radiocarbon dates indicate that Great
Zimbabwe evolved out of Gumanye while Khami, like Mapungubwe, may have
developed out of the Leopard’s Kopje. In fact, Great Zimbabwe was already a place
of importance when Mapungubwe collapsed. Thirdly, Khami and Great Zimbabwe
overlapped for over a century, before the latter buckled. Therefore, the evolution of
sociopolitical complexity in southern Africa may have followed trajectories that are
different from what the current understanding implies.National Research Foundation of South Africa (Bluesky Research Grant: 85892) and the Programme for Enhancement of Research Capacity (PERC) of University of Cape Town Research Office.http://link.springer.com/journal/10437hb201