Abstract:
This study investigates pre-European urban development of small settlements, regarded in this study as peripheries of major centres, on the western part of the Shashe-Shashane area of south-western Zimbabwe. NtabazikaMambo located in south-central Zimbabwe was also investigated, believed to be the last capital of the Rozvi people. In particular, the study defines urban developments around the hinterland settlements of Khami in relation to the evolution of the Zimbabwe Culture during the mid-second millennium. These small settlements have always played subsidiary roles in archaeological research in understanding early urban developments of ancient cities of the Zimbabwe Culture. Using the centre-periphery approach the study downplays the dominance of the core and underdevelopment of the periphery by addressing interdependence between the centre and peripheral settlements. The study made use of a multi-disciplinary approach involving archaeological, ethnographic and GIS techniques to develop an understanding of the nature of settlements, their economic activities and relationships with the major centres.
Guided by surveys and excavations, the material culture evidence recovered from Luswingo, Mambale, Mapolisa, Matalitali and NtabazikaMambo shows that it is closely related to those of the Leopard’s Kopje and Khami. Furthermore, the archeological data show that rather than developing as subsidiary sites to major centres such as Khami, in the early to mid-second millennium AD, some of the smaller settlements demonstrate that they were independent polities with own trajectories. For example, NtabazikaMambo and Luswingo also show evidence of political, social and economic complexity. Results thus challenge previously held assumptions that sites at the peripheries were underdeveloped, passive, and lacking in cultural innovation and sophistication. Data presented in this thesis clearly demonstrate an early form of urbanism on peripheral sites characterised by monumental architecture, craft specialisation, social stratification and trade.
