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As the society became more complex, houses and shrines were built on hills, with the practice becoming institutionalised. At Mapungubwe, the elite tried to change the place of practice from a group of hills to one; Mapungubwe Hill, with the royal family the ritual specialists, signifying a step away from the role of ancestors. [9]
The history of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape dates back 210 million years ago when one of the earliest plant-eating dinosaurs, Plateosauravus (Euskelosaurus), was known to have lived in the area. The Mapungubwe area became a focus of agricultural research in the 1920s through the efforts of the botanist Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans.
The town flourished between 1055 and 1400. The site was likely chosen for settlement due to the association of hills with rainmaking. [1] The site is strong evidence for the multidirectional evolution of socio-political complexity in the Zambezi culture, contradicting the traditional assumption of linear evolution where Leopard's Kopje led directly and solely to Great Zimbabwe.
The Greater Mapungubwe trans frontier conservation area, which is presently being developed will cover an area of 4 872 km 2 in extent with 28% (1 350 km 2) being situated in Botswana with a further 53% (2 561 km 2) situated in South Africa and the remaining 19% (960 km 2) situated in Zimbabwe. The area is of substantial importance for ...
The golden rhinoceros of Mapungubwe is a medieval artifact, made from wood which is covered in thin sheets of gold, from the ancient Kingdom of Mapungubwe, which is located in modern-day South Africa. It was found on a royal grave on Mapungubwe Hill in 1932 [1] [2] [3] by archaeologists from the University of Pretoria. The artifact is described ...
Local knowledge of Mapungubwe has also been recorded from oral histories, thus supporting ethnographic and historical evidence about the awareness of Mapungubwe as a sacred hill [citation needed]. Evidence suggests that Mapungubwe therefore cannot be regarded as belonging to any single individual, but is rather symbolically associated with ...
The people of Mapungubwe mined and smelted copper, iron and gold, spun cotton, made glass and ceramics, grew millet and sorghum, and tended cattle, goats and sheep. [8] The people of Mapungubwe had a sophisticated knowledge of the stars, and astronomy played a major role not only in their tradition and culture, but also in their day-to-day lives.
The end of Mapungubwe occurred at the same time as the rise of an even greater trading and architectural civilization – that of Great Zimbabwe – which flourished for more than one hundred years. The centre of power then shifted to the south at a site known as Khami near present-day Bulawayo.