The Mapungubwe National Park has numerous archaeological sites dating from Early Stone Age (1 million to 250 000 years ago) to the present, and is considered to be the most remarkable Iron Age site in South Africa.
Situated on the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers (where the borders of Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa meet), the artefacts found at Mapungubwe rank amongst the most important pieces of art yet found in sub-Saharan Africa. They document the rise of the Zimbabwe culture, which was one of the most complex social and political entities in Africa during the 8th and 9th centuries. The culture, based partly on gold and ivory trade with Arab traders, is believed to have had its origins in the Limpopo Valley and subsequently spread northwards into Zimbabwe. Finds of gold artefacts (the most well-known a gold rhino), beads, burial grounds and other remains indicate that Mapungubwe was one of the major centres of this culture and bear testimony to the way of life of African peoples more than a thousand years ago. After 1200 AD Great Zimbabwe succeeded Mapungubwe as the inland trade capital.
Situated on the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers (where the borders of Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa meet), the artefacts found at Mapungubwe rank amongst the most important pieces of art yet found in sub-Saharan Africa. They document the rise of the Zimbabwe culture, which was one of the most complex social and political entities in Africa during the 8th and 9th centuries. The culture, based partly on gold and ivory trade with Arab traders, is believed to have had its origins in the Limpopo Valley and subsequently spread northwards into Zimbabwe. Finds of gold artefacts (the most well-known a gold rhino), beads, burial grounds and other remains indicate that Mapungubwe was one of the major centres of this culture and bear testimony to the way of life of African peoples more than a thousand years ago. After 1200 AD Great Zimbabwe succeeded Mapungubwe as the inland trade capital.
The National Park was proclaimed a World Heritage Site on 5 July 2003, and is referred to as the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape (because Mapungubwe was already a national heritage site). The park is the centrepiece of a proposed Trans Frontier Conservation Area of 800 000 ha that would incorporate Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Future sites:
The World Heritage Committee approved in July 2005 South Africa’s application to add the so-called Vredefort Dome in the Free State, and to increase the size of the existing Cradle of Humankind site by adding on the Taung Skull Fossil Site in Northwest Province and the Makapans Valley in Limpopo Province.
The Vredefort Dome is the site where 2 billion years ago, a giant meteorite struck the earth near the present day village of Vredefort, creating a crater of 90 km in diameter and forcing the surrounding landscape into a dome like feature. This is the largest and oldest meteorite impact site on earth.
The Taung Heritage site marks the spot where the lime encrusted skull of a child was unearthed. This discovery was to advance the knowledge of the presence of early humankind in Africa by some millions of years. The famous scientist Dr. Raymond Dart, who described the skull, named it Australopithecus africanis.
Makapans Valley (15 km north of Potgietersrus) is another remarkable site. Nowhere else in the world exists such an extended and complete record of hominid occupation. There are bones of Australopithecus africanis 3,3 million years old, and of extinct animals. The Cave of Hearths is presumably the earliest evidence of man’s use of fire.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|