Letter from Limpopo: Thabiso Sekhula writes that the mighty Iron Age civilisation of Mapungubwe thrived centuries before Van Riebeeck landed at the Cape.
I’ve always been fascinated by Mapungubwe National Park. The first time I went I was on a school trip and although it’s fuzzy, what I remember vividly are the giant elephants which seemed to be in their hundreds to a nine-year-old.
Growing up, I’ve learned that Mapungubwe is a giant middle finger to all the people who’ve ever said that Africa is a dark continent and we should be grateful to have been colonised because there would otherwise have been no development.
It is at this point that I must give a middle finger to the people who wish they could downplay Africa’s greatness and get away with it – in 2022.
The great ancient city of Mapungubwe thrived for 80 years between the 11th and 13th centuries. The city is a proud African symbol that shows how sophisticated African civilisations have always been, that they traded in minerals and ivory long before any coloniser landed on the coast.
Mapungubwe is located at the confluence of the river Shashe, where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana meet.
This archaeological site can be attributed to the BuKalanga Kingdom, which comprised the
Kalanga people from northeast Botswana and western/central southern Zimbabwe, the Nambiya south of the Zambezi Valley, and the VhaVenda in the northeast of South Africa.
The area was prime elephant country, providing access to valuable ivory. The control of the gold and ivory trade greatly increased the political power of the people of Mapungubwe.
The tools, stone architecture and systems of farming show just how smart and sophisticated the culture was; add to that trading power and makers of some of the best ceramic works.
In 1933, artifacts were found in three of 27 graves excavated by the University of Pretoria on Mapungubwe Hill. In the collection were anklets, bracelets, beads, ornaments and wooden forms tacked with gold foil – and of course the famous Mapungubwe golden rhinoceros and several other animal forms.
The carbon dating study on the artifacts by CSIR archaeologist Marc Pienaar found them to be the oldest examples of gold craftsmanship yet to be discovered in Southern Africa.
Their time of manufacture coincides precisely with the occupation of Mapungubwe Hill, confirming that this mighty Iron Age state had a mature indigenous gold-working tradition centuries before Jan van Riebeeck came to the Cape.
So, BOOM!
Image source:@HoriyaLaDwe
