Abstract:
The archaeology of the middle Limpopo Valley,
which includes eastern Botswana, northern South
Africa and south-western Zimbabwe, is best known
for its Iron Age archaeology (Fig. 1). This is perhaps
expected because found here is Mapungubwe, a
hilltop site that was the capital of southern Africa’s first
state-level farmer society c. AD 1220 to 1300 (Huffman
2007). However, the local archaeological record
extends back quite some time before the appearance
of complex societies and the occupation of Mapungubwe.
While farming communities arrived at least by
AD 900, the earliest evidence of a hunter-gatherer
occupation is found to be as far back as 12 000 years
ago. This is sometimes overlooked
despite the rich cultural
material that has been
found, the extensive rock art
sequence and the intriguing ‘disappearance’ of huntergatherer
archaeological remains
about the same time
that the Mapungubwe state
declined.