Mapungubwe

Late Iron Age hilltop site in northern Transvaal, that was South Africa's first urban center. It has given its name to the southern facies of phase B of the Leopard's Kopje complex and it was occupied between 1220-1270 AD. The material from the earliest levels is very similar to that from the nearby site of Bambandyanalo. Mapungubwe was a forerunner of the developments at Great Zimbabwe and may have been the capital of a state that controlled trade with the East African coast. In Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe, a wealthy and privileged elite built with stone and were buried with gold and copper ornaments, exotic beads, and fine imported pottery and cloth. Their homes, diet, and ostentatious burials are in stark contrast to those of the common folk. The 13th-century burial of an important official uncovered at Mapungubwe was accompanied by a gold-covered statue of a rhinoceros, a golden staff, and other artifacts - one of the earliest indications of gold mining in southern Africa. The Mapungubwe gold was panned from alluvial deposits.

An Iron Age hilltop site in the Limpopo Valley, northern Transvaal, South Africa. The material from the earliest levels is very similar to that from the nearby site of Bambandyanalo. Later developments in the 14th and 15th centuries ad included finer pottery, evidence for the spinning of cotton, and trade in glass beads and gold. The latter material, in the form of thin foil, was used to decorate wooden objects such as bowls, clubs and animal figurines to which it was affixed by means of small tacks. The essentially pastoral economy of earlier times continued, although sorghum and cowpeas were cultivated also.