|
Witness
authentic traditional tribal dances where young girls in traditional
animal skins and head-dresses pound their feet on the dusty ground in the
dim firelight, chanting their ancient songs.
If you are lucky, you
may even arrive at a time when the tribal
sangomas,
the traditional healers, “change spirits” to predict the future and
strengthen their healing powers, dancing with measured steps in a weird
pulsating rhythm that touches the emotions and imprints itself on the
minds of the watching visitors.
|
|
Mapungubwe is situated near the small town of Pontdrif, approximately an
hour’s drive from Messina. The Mapungubwe industrial complex dates back to
the Late Iron Age – Ad 1000. People then were familiar with agriculture
and kept cattle. They made working tools and other objects from iron. The
mining industry was also being discovered and the trade industry
flourished.
Mapungubwe is known for the gold objects being found in graves. These
objects included wooden carvings covered in gold such as a golden staff, a
bowl, the famous gold rhinoceros, fragments of other golden objects and a
large quantity of golden beads. These golden objects were all manufactured
on a traditional method. Large quantities of imported glass beads and
fragments of Chinese porcelain shows us that there was a settled trading
network that covered a big area. However, trade in ivory did not play such
an important role as it did in other Late Iron Age settlements. The people
of Mapungubwe had their own distinctive ceramic-style. More than 600
artefacts – including objects made of bone, arrow points and needles –
were found at Mapungubwe. At about AD 1200 Mapungubwe was deserted. It is
suspected that the expanding Great Zimbabwe complex was the main reason
for this.
Join one of Africa’s top
archaeologists on an excursion to unravel the secrets of two of the most
mysterious places in the world: Thulamela and Mapungubwe, where a
flourishing trade of gold existed at the time.
|
