Introduction of Mapungubwe Mapungubwe Mapungubwe

Mapungubwe, located under limpopo river in the northernmost part of South Africa, is an iron age settlement and kingdom, which flourished in 1 1 to13rd century. It may be the first country in southern Africa. Mapungubwe's name means "stone tablet", which refers to the large stone houses and walls of the site, or "Wolf Mountain". Because the prairie is suitable for grazing and can obtain copper and ivory, it is prosperous. Long-distance trade brought gold and other exotic commodities to the ruling elite. The site began to decline at the end of 13, which may be due to the exhaustion of local resources, including agricultural land, and the transfer of interregional trade to greater Zimbabwe and other places further north. In 2003, Maponggubuwei was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Mapungubwe Plateau

Because there are no contemporary written records, the history of the communities living in this area is somewhat incomplete and can only be pieced together from archaeological discoveries. Apart from the obvious wealth of the capital, there is almost no evidence that there is any state machine, which shows that the central power monopolizes trade and wealth and can direct the labor force to build large stone structures.

The king and his court lived in stone walls composed of stone walls and houses, which were built on the highest level community territory.

The kingdom of Mapungubwe was founded by Bantu-speaking herders. The center of the area controlled by the Mapungubwe ruler is a large sandstone plateau, which is easy to defend because it is inaccessible. Like other kingdoms in southern Africa, agriculture, especially animal husbandry, and the cultivation of sorghum and cowpea have brought a lot of food and surplus, which can be used to trade needed goods. Archaeology has found a large number of bones and feces, which shows that there have been a large number of cattle since the 9 th century, which is the traditional source of wealth and political power in southern African communities. Archaeological records in the 10 century show that the number of livestock and cotton planting and weaving in this area have increased significantly, which can be seen from the discovery of a large number of spindles.

* * * and society

The chief or king of Mapungubwe may be the richest man in society, that is to say, he owns more cattle and precious materials obtained through trade than anyone else. There are also some religious ties between the king and the rainmaker, which is an important and necessary condition for agriculture in such arid land. The king and his court lived in a stone fence composed of stone walls and houses, built in the highest community territory, a natural sandstone hill about 30 meters (98 feet) high and 100 meters (328 feet) long. The occupation of the mountain can be traced back to 1 1 century. The wives of the royal family live apart from the king, which can be seen from many independent houses found in Millstone. The whole complex was initially surrounded by wooden fences, as shown by pillar holes in rocks.

The rest of the communities live in mud and thatched houses, scattered under the mountain, although there is a stone structure here. This area is called Babandi * * * O or K2, covering an area of about 5 hectares (12.3 acres), and its original settlement predates the hilltop ruins above. Babandi * * * O is rich in cowpeas, tombs and figurines, which all prove the importance of this animal in the scene. /kloc-In the middle of the 0/3rd century, the total population of Maponggubuwei was about 5,000.

The king and his predecessor were buried in a designated area on the top of the mountain away from the house, while civilians were buried in the surrounding valley. A wooden staircase connects the two floors, and the socket of the steps can be clearly seen on the sandstone cliff. Some more magnificent houses are scattered around the periphery of lower towns. These should be the male relatives of the king. As we all know, in Bantu society, these men are important competitors for the position of king and are not allowed to live directly in the community.

There are many other smaller but still impressive hilltop sites on the Mapungubwe Plateau, which are located anywhere from the capital 15 to 100 km (9 to 60 miles). The stone houses and walls may belong to local chiefs, who are vassals of King Mapungubwe.

trade

There are a large number of remains of carnivores and ivory fragments in Mapungubwe Plateau, which indicates that hides and ivory are piled up like mountains, probably for trade with the coastal areas where limpopo river arrived. It is almost certain that the existence of glass beads from India and pieces of China celadon ware shows that there must be some kind of trade with other coastal countries, which in turn trade with Indian and * * * businessmen by sea. At the same time as the kingdom of Zimbabwe (12-15th century) located in the northern grassland plateau on the other side of limpopo river, Maponggubuwei will also benefit from locally purchased copper and gold trade from the south-from western Zimbabwe to the coastal city of Kosara. In fact, at first, Greater Zimbabwe may be a vassal state of Mapungubwe. The prosperity brought by trade links may lead to the strengthening of political authority to control or even monopolize these profitable interregional links.

MAPUNGUBWE's gold ware is the first known indicator of the intrinsic value of South African metals.

art

The scale of pottery production is enough to show the existence of professional ceramists. It is another symbol of a prosperous society, which may have different class levels. Forms include short-necked spherical containers, beakers and hemispherical bowls, many of which are decorated with cuts and comb seals. There are also ceramic plates, whistles and an unidentified giraffe statue. In addition, statues of cows, sheep and goats, as well as highly stylized human figurines with slender bodies and short limbs, are often found in family environments. These figures may be used as sacrifices of ancestors or gods, which are related to prosperity and fertility, but their exact functions are not clear. Other discoveries include small jewelry made of copper or ivory.

A special type of decoration can only be found in other parts of Great Zimbabwe, that is, gold is beaten into rectangular pieces and then decorated with geometric patterns made by cutting. Wooden objects (which have not survived) are covered with small nails and are also made of gold. One such cover may be a scepter, and other evidence of local gold processing is a rhinoceros statue made of small hammer fragments, gold bracelet fragments and thousands of small gold beads. These objects were found in the royal cemetery, dating back to BC. In 1 150, these are the first known indicators, indicating that gold has its own intrinsic value in southern Africa (not just a commodity currency).

descend

The kingdom of Maponggubuwei declined in the late13rd century, probably because overpopulation put too much pressure on local resources, and the local area may fall into crisis due to a series of droughts. Trade routes may also move northward, and local resources will be exhausted. Of course, now the prosperous kingdom is in the north, such as greater Zimbabwe, and then the Mutapa kingdom was established in northern Zimbabwe and southern Zambia. AD 1450。

When Europeans "discovered" the Maponggubuwei site in the19th century, just like the site in Great Zimbabwe, they could not believe that such an impressive building was built by African blacks. A large number of theories explain their existence in some way, and confirm the racist beliefs in Europe, such as attributing them to the ancient Egyptians or Phoenicians. But later archaeology proved that these two sites were indeed built by medieval aborigines. Today, many handicrafts from Mapungubwe can be seen in the museum of Pretoria University in South Africa. The site itself is protected as a part of Mapungubwe National Park.