How Important was the Presence of Elephants as a Determinant of the Zhizo Settlement of the Greater Mapungubwe Landscape?

Forssman, Tim; Page, Bruce R.; Selier, Jeanetta

doi:10.3213/2191-5784-10250

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…While some of the natural resources found within the Khami hinterland, such as gold and ivory, were used to manufacture a range of goods, some of it was bought off by traders from the East African coast. Evidence from a number of sites in the ShasheLimpopo region and other sites has also shown that ivory trade was a critical component of the Indian Ocean trade network (Voigt 1983;Huffman 2000;Chirikure 2015;Forssman et al 2014). As has been noted earlier, craft production at the site was mostly limited to subsistence produce for domestic consumption.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Ivory working appears to have been a limited trade, based on the limited amount of both artefacts and waste recovered. Indeed, on many other sites in the region where ivory has been recovered, evidence for ivory working in the form of waste has hardly been found (Forssman et al 2014). Spindle whorls also appear to have been manufactured at the site, as a means to support cloth production.…”

Section: The Chronology Of Khamimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These include metallurgical artefacts (Herbert 1996;Chirikure 2007;Thondlana and Martinon-Torres 2009;Bandama et al 2015;, both glass and shell beads (Bvocho 2005;Antonites 2014), ivory remains (Reid and Segobye 2000;Forssman et al 2014;Coutu forthcoming), and faunal remains (Voigt 1983;Thorp 1995;Shenjere-Nyabezi 2013). In the few cases where these have been studied, they have been studied separately and independently of each other, and have not contributed much to the discourse on the development of the Iron Age in the region.…”

Section: Materials Culture Studies In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various faunal material was worked with, to come up with a range of objects for utilitarian or adornment purposes. Ivory from elephants, hippopotamus and warthogs was worked on to produce a range of adornment products like bangles and amulets (Robinson 1959;Garlake 1973;Voigt 1983;Whitelaw 1994;Forssman et al 2014;Coutu et al forthcoming).…”

Section: Overview Of Studies On Craft Production In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

Mukwende¹

2016

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This study sought to understand the archaeology of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami through synchronic and diachronic analyses of its material culture. The research employed a number of methodological approaches that included a review of historic documents, surveying and mapping, excavations, museum collection analysis, and artefact studies, in order to collect datasets from various sections of the site, including the walled and the nonwalled areas. The main indication is that there is a great deal of similarity in material culture distribution across the whole site. An analysis of objects by stratigraphic sequence exposes continuity and change in local and imported objects. Dry stone-wall architectural data suggests that the site was constructed over a long period, with construction motivated by a number of expansionary factors. The study confirms that Khami began as a fully developed cultural unit, with no developmental trajectory recorded at Mapungubwe or Great Zimbabwe, where earlier ceramic units influenced later ones. Consequently, this study cautiously suggests that Khami represents a continuity with the Woolandale chiefdoms that settled in the south-western parts of the country and in the adjacent areas of Botswana. On the basis of the chronological and material culture evidence, Khami is unlikely to have emerged out of Great Zimbabwe. However, more research is needed to confirm these emergent conclusions, and to better understand the chronological and spatial relationships between not just Woolandale and Khami sites but also Khami and the multiple Khami-type sites scattered across southern Zambezia.ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: The Chronology Of Khamimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials Culture Studies In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview Of Studies On Craft Production In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

Mukwende¹

2016

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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“…Detailed consideration of the ivory from sites in the Limpopo River Valley is beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, we note that ivory from the tenth-twelfth century sites in the Limpopo region has long been assumed to be part of the range of goods exported in the Indian Ocean trade, either in raw or manufactured form (Forssman et al 2014;Hall 1987;Huffman 2007;Maggs 1984a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earliest Evidence for the Ivory Trade in Southern Africa: Isotopic and ZooMS Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century ad Ivory from KwaZulu-Natal

et al. 2016

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KwaGandaganda, Ndondondwane and Wosi were major Early Farming Community settlements in what is today the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. These sites have yielded, among other remains, abundant evidence of ivory and ivory working dating to the seventh-tenth centuries AD, pre-dating by approximately 200 years the better-known ivory artefacts from sites in the Limpopo River Valley and surrounding regions. We report the results of carbon, nitrogen and strontium isotope analysis to explore the origins and procurement of this ivory, in combination with Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to identify the species of animals from which it was derived. All of the ivory studied using ZooMS was elephant, despite the presence of hippopotamus remains on all three sites. Some ivory was probably obtained from elephant herds that lived close to the sites, in the densely wooded river valleys favoured by both elephants and early farmers. Other material came from savannah environments further afield. Ivory found at these three sites was drawn from different catchments, implying a degree of landscape/resource partitioning even at this early stage. These communities clearly invested substantial effort in obtaining ivory from across the region, which speaks to the importance of this commodity in the economy of the time. We suggest that some ivory items were for local use, but that some may have been intended for more distant markets via Indian Ocean trade. Afr Archaeol Rev (2016) 33:411-435

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An Archaeological Contribution to the Kalahari Debate from the Middle Limpopo Valley, Southern Africa

Forssman

2021

J Archaeol Res

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How Important was the Presence of Elephants as a Determinant of the Zhizo Settlement of the Greater Mapungubwe Landscape?

Abstract: The initial settlement of the Greater Mapungubwe Landscape by Zhizo ceramic-producing

Cited by 14 publications

References 56 publications

An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

Earliest Evidence for the Ivory Trade in Southern Africa: Isotopic and ZooMS Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century ad Ivory from KwaZulu-Natal

An Archaeological Contribution to the Kalahari Debate from the Middle Limpopo Valley, Southern Africa

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