Social Complexity in Southern Africa

Huffman, Thomas N.

doi:10.1007/s10437-014-9166-3

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This distinction was made primarily on the basis of walling, where the elite are those who lived within the walled areas and the non-elite are those who resided outside the stone walls (Robinson 1959;Huffman 2000;. According to Huffman (2000;2014), the elites distributed wealth, political power and social status among themselves. Non-elites were generally the opposites of elites, and lacked access to elite privileges, such as wealth, power and social status.…”

Section: The Zimbabwe Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Non-elites were generally the opposites of elites, and lacked access to elite privileges, such as wealth, power and social status. This dichotomy is said to have been legitimated by an ideology of sacred leadership that favoured the perpetuation of power by the elite against the commoners (Huffman 1996;2014). Such stratification is said to have been maintained through a system of symmetrical marriage arrangements, which meant that commoners could not cross the social divide to become members of the elite through marriage or any other form of alliance.…”

Section: The Zimbabwe Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because Khami is considered to be later in chronology, it does not feature in studies of state formation. And yet Robinson (1985), van Waarden (2011) and Chirikure et al (2013a;2014) have demonstrated the presence of Khami features, such as dry-stonewall platforms from the early second millennium AD, in the "earlier" sites. This invites work that reassesses the place of Khami as a site, and as a phase within the Zimbabwe Culture.…”

Section: The Zimbabwe Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Knowledge about these walls has also been used to build a chronology of the Zimbabwe Culture in the region, with freestandings walls being the earliest followed by the terraced walling of Khami. This conclusion, however, ignored evidence from Leopard's Kopje sites, which demonstrate the presence of terraced walling prior to Great Zimbabwe (Robinson 1966;van Waarden 2011;Chirikure et al 2013a;2014). Having discussed the structures at the site I now focus on the objects that have been recovered at the site over the years.…”

Section: Stone Walling and Dhaka Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

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

Mukwende¹

2016

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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

show abstract

Section: The Zimbabwe Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Zimbabwe Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Zimbabwe Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stone Walling and Dhaka Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

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

Mukwende¹

2016

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This then led to the "invention of tradition" as a way for Africans to assert their agency (Hobsbawm 1983, Ranger 1983 Meanwhile, from the late nineteenth century throughout the twentieth century, archaeological discoveries of monumental architecture and trading cultures in southern Africa, such as the Great Zimbabwe ruins in Zimbabwe and the Mapungubwe ruins in South Africa, were purposefully misinterpreted by archaeologists working under colonial and apartheid regimes in order to mollify the consequences of such findings on the heated political climate (Fontein 2006, Dubow 1995. Mapungubwe is now attributed to the pre-Shona state (Bantu speakers) and its ruins, which were built from 1,220-1,300 B.P., are composed of stone masonry architecture (Huffman 2009). Its decline likely gave rise to the Shona state, Great Zimbabwe, for which the stone masonry architecture was built between 1,300-1,450 B.P.…”

Section: Heritage Management In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Intangible Heritage and Tourism Development at the Tsodilo World Heritage Site

Giraudo

2012

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Great Zimbabwe's water

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Once a thriving center with commercial links to the Indian Ocean, what remains of Great Zimbabwe is its monumental architecture. Its rise and decline have long been linked to environmental changes in southern Zimbabwe, beginning in the second half of the 13th century with agropastoralists thriving in the region's well-watered granite hills and valleys, and culminating in a vast urban and trading society. Later, c.1550 AD, it is argued, drying climate, land overexploitation, and changing regional trading patterns would lead to the decline of Great Zimbabwe. A review of this model is necessary since Great Zimbabwe and communities living around it survive in a region constantly threatened by water crises. However, we still know very little on the forms and uses of water and how these have influenced its development and demise. This article offers a multilayered review of available information on water, including new records on environmental sequences, modern water sources, and provisioning models from in and around Great Zimbabwe. The integration of both old and new datasets allows us to follow the history of people-water interaction from early times to the present. We argue that understanding of the local environment was vital in managing both water excesses and shortages in the past, and show that some of this knowledge survives among indigenous communities linked to the site and living in the surrounding landscape. While nearby Masvingo town has persistently lived under water-emergency conditions, farmers around Great Zimbabwe mitigate shortfalls of modern water provision through a balanced and mutually vital interaction with natural water resources such as springs and soil moisture.

show abstract

Social Complexity in Southern Africa

Cited by 16 publications

References 31 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

Intangible Heritage and Tourism Development at the Tsodilo World Heritage Site

Great Zimbabwe's water

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About