Heritage Cases

During the last 2000 years in northern South Africa, the Stone Age record gradually disappeared and it appears this was linked to contact with farming communities. The relationships occurring around the Mapungubwe capital are currently under investigation but those occurring on the outskirts of the state have been largely ignored. This study seeks to explore cultural change occurring during the establishment of Mapungubwe but within the capital's hinterland. Limpopo Province Northern South Africa has one of the most intriguing archaeological records in southern Africa, primarily because of the development of the Mapungubwe state. This resulted in a unique farmer record, and contributed to massive change within the Bushman sequence, known as the Later Stone Age and spanning the last 20 000 years, concluding with its ultimate disappearance. There are projects currently underway exploring the nature of Later Stone Age change in the core area surrounding Mapungubwe, but none tracking the possible change that occurred in the polity’s hinterland. Thus, on the outskirts of the Mapungubwe state, we know nothing about changes in Bushman history which culminated in their disappearance from the area. The Maremani Nature Reserve is ideally situated to contribute to our understanding of the Later Stone Age because of its proximity to the Mapungubwe capital. The reserve’s location away from the capital, and firmly in the state’s periphery, is one reason, but another is its placement within the trade corridor between Mapungubwe and the Indian Ocean coastline, along which international trade was in existence from at least AD 900. Therefore, various types of trade wealth and prestige items were transported through the Maremani region and Bushmen may have assisted in the movement and acquisition of wealth. If so, there could be noticeable changes in their material record: Bushmen may have been paid by farmers, acquired some of the wealth for themselves, slowly assimilated into farming society or avoided interactions altogether. Understanding these processes and occurrences will assist us in tracking change in Bushman prehistory, which in the area led to their archaeological disappearance. It is the aim of this project to record and interpret these changes and relate them to issues affecting the extended region. One other aspect that this project will study is the role herders played in the region. It is thought that Khoekhoe herders arrived in southern Africa around 2000 years ago and left finger-paintings in various rockshelters. This art form has been identified in the Maremani Game Reserve, along with Bushmen paintings and engravings, and so it is thought that they too were living in the area. The archaeological identification of a herder presence is notoriously difficult and very seldom achieved, and at present has not been accomplished in northern South Africa. Therefore, the findings made on Maremani might assist us in identifying herders in the archaeological record and allow us to explore the complex network of relationships occurring between Bushmen, herders and farmers around the development of the Mapungubwe state. There are few areas in southern Africa that can boast such an informative archaeological record.