Glass beads from Mutamba : patterns of consumption in thirteenth-century southern Africa

Abstract

Mutamba is a settlement located on the northern slopes of the Soutpansberg in South Africa. Radiocarbon and material culture suggest contemporaneity with regional developments of social complexity primarily concentrated in the Shashe-Limpopo Confluence Area around the important site of Mapungubwe. The spatial location of Mutamba on the apparent political and economic periphery of Mapungubwe means that it is well suited to investigate patterns of distribution between centres of political influence and their larger hinterlands. It is proposed that trade goods followed variable patterns of distribution and consumption shaped by patterns in taste preference. In addition, this study suggests that, far from being deprived of trade goods, hinterland communities actively participated in regional networks of trade and exchange.