Room 3: First farmers and early southern African states.
About 2000 years ago African grain and stock farmers moved from further north and west into south-eastern Africa, bringing with them knowledge of iron-working, distinctive forms of pottery and more settled ways of life. By about 1200 AD the rulers of Mapungubwe in the Limpopo River valley controlled access to trade with the east coast. After Mapungubwe declined, Great Zimbabwe rose to power and by 1270 AD it was the most important trading state in the region.
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c. 750 AD
One of seven earthenware heads found at the site of an early African farming settlement near present-day Lydenburg; they were probably used in the context of a ritual performance.
Mpumalanga.
UCT Collections at Iziko.
Early 20th century Carved wooden bowl used by diviners to discern the causes of misfortune.
Limpopo Province.
UCT Collections at Iziko |
