ROCK LEGENDS

Mapungubwe, South Africa

Mapungubwe Hill, situated at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers, was the centre of southern Africa’s first state, evolving gradually in the first four centuries of the second millennium, with the elite living on the top of the rocky outcrop, while commoners farmed the fertile floodplains below.

Excavations in Mapungubwe ( thought to mean Hill of the Jackal) began in the 1930s. The discovery of perhaps 27 graves, some containing gold items including strings of beads and plates – the most celebrated find is a golden rhino – are evidence of the Mapungubwe elite’s wealth, and the kingdom’s place in emergent intercontinental trade networks.

Exports via the ports on the East African coast would have included gold and ivory, together with porcelain from China and glass beads from Persia.

Extracted by Marjorie Yue. Great Sites of the Ancient World, edited by Paul Bahn, published by Frances Lincoln