Pathways to social complexity and state formation in the southern zambezian region (2008

In doing so, wereexamine published archaeological records primarily from three extensively studiedsites of the southern Zambezian region, namely Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, andGreat Zimba

O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E

Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation

in the Southern Zambezian Region

Nam C Kim&Chapurukha M Kusimba

Published online: 23 September 2008

# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract Theorists have put forth various anthropological perspectives on thevariables leading to social complexity and the emergence of state-level polities Thispaper incorporates data from the Zambezian region of Southern Africa in order tocontribute to the literature on social evolutionary theory It traces the culturaltrajectories of communities that flourished during the region’s Iron Age within theShashi-Limpopo Basin, leading to the emergence of the Great Zimbabwe polity Inexamining the archaeological record, the authors discuss the emergence of state-likesocieties, offering a review of current interpretations and explanations for theemergent complexity

Les théoriciens ont émis plusieurs points de vue anthropologiques sur lesvariables qui conduisent à la complexité sociale et à l’émergence des états Cetarticle est une contribution à la littérature sur la théorie de l’évolution des sociétésréalisée à partir des données de la région du Zambèze au sud de l’Afrique Il retraceles trajectoires culturelles de communautés qui sont apparues au cours de l’age du ferdans le Bassin du Shashi-Limpopo et qui ont conduit à l’émergence de l’état duGrand Zimbabwe En s’appuyant sur les données archéologiques, les auteursdiscutent l’émergence de sociétés-états, offrant une revue des dernières interpréta-tions et explications au sujet des complexités émergentes

Keywords Great Zimbabwe Zimbabwe culture Mapungubwe Fortification Social and political complexity States Urbanism Zambezia

The origins of social complexity, urbanism, and archaic states are of profoundinterest for social scientists Investigating social evolution is an important aspect ofelucidating culture change and human organizational behavior, and this is one of thecore missions of anthropology Studying the evolution of social complexity offersinsights into understanding strategies that segments of humankind have employed toaccumulate power (Earle1997; Haas2001; Holl2000; Robb1999), or in the causes

of social change and societal inequality (Blanton et al.1996; Blanton1998; Carneiro

1970,1990; Feinman2001; Johnson and Earle2000; Trigger2003) Furthermore, totruly understand human grouping patterns and political organization within ourmodern-day contexts, it is essential that we explore their historical dimensions andmanifestations Archaeology thus contributes to the social evolutionary debate byhighlighting the origins of stratified societies as a precursor to more complexconglomerations such as the city-state and territorial state At the same time,archaeology helps us understand how and why people living in similar ecosystemsmay embrace different strategies, ranging from egalitarian or acephalous, heter-archical, or hierarchical, in creating communities (Ehrenreich et al1995; Holl2000,

2003; McIntosh 1999) This article contributes to the ongoing debate on theemergence of social complexity worldwide; a debate that we believe has not yetincorporated the rich data from Sub-Saharan Africa (cf Holl2000,2003; Kusimba

1999; McIntosh 1999; Pikirayi 2001; Stahl 2001; Trigger 2003) In doing so, wereexamine published archaeological records primarily from three extensively studiedsites of the southern Zambezian region, namely Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, andGreat Zimbabwe, to address factors that contributed to the rise and development ofsocial complexity and statehood in southern Africa We discuss the mainarchaeological indicators of social complexity, current interpretations of these dataand how they fit into the general debate of archaeology of social complexityworldwide

The Shashi-Limpopo Basin experienced major technological and sociopoliticaltransformations towards the end of the first millennium AD (Manyanga2006:138;Pwiti2005) These transformations included rapid demographic growth, due in part

to migration and natural growth, an increase in societal inequality evidenced bydifferential household size, wealth and status, and the emergence of site hierarchies(Manyanga2006:138) To what can we attribute the transformation of acephalousIron Age societies of southern Africa into state societies? To answer these questions,

we first revisit the history of social formations traceable to the late first millennium

BC when pastoral and agrarian communities inhabited the region (Pikirayi2001:34).Second, we look at the underpinnings of societal inequalities using an intersite andregional perspective that highlights the efflorescence of Bambandyanalo (alsoknown as K2), Mapungubwe (Huffman2005,2007), and Great Zimbabwe (Pikirayi

2006a) We believe this historical approach provides clues towards understandingthe prevailing conditions under which certain household heads could haveaccumulated unequal wealth and legitimacy, enabling them to become leaders oftheir various polities (Haas2001; Kusimba1999; Kusimba and Oka2008) How and

in what ways did these polities function? How did these incipient leaders centralizeauthority and consolidate their power? What was the nature of relationships amongst

Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, and Great Zimbabwe? And what was the ship between these larger settlements with small, more peripheral and frontier states?

relation-As in many regions around the world, larger and more built-up settlements thatwere presumably capitals have received more scholarly attention In contrast smallermore regional/rural chiefdoms that may or may not have been allied to the statecapitals have received little or no attention (e.g., Usman2001) It is important to notehow smaller-scale albeit peripheral communities may have interacted with their morepowerful neighbors Was the nature of their relations based on tributary andsubordinate ties? Was it heterarchical? How may archaeology operationalize theserelationships? Understanding these relationships has implications for knowing howand by what means incipient leaders emerge and consolidate power

The emergence of social complexity and the state in southern Zambezia has beenattributed to a variety of factors These include external trade (Huffman1972,1982,

1986b,1996,2005), accumulation of cattle (Beach1998; Denbow1984), religiousideology (Beach1980,1998) and climate change (Pikirayi2001) Some researchers(e.g., Hall 1990; Manyanga 2006) have proposed the importance of warfare andcoercion as one of the means used to accumulate and keep power but littlearchaeological evidence has been gathered thus far to support this hypothesis, atleast, for the initial stages of social complexity While the material evidence fororganized violence and warfare in precolonial southeast Africa is abundant for thesecond half for the second millennium (e.g Pikirayi 1993; Huffman 2007),archaeologists must intensify efforts to identify and develop the chronologicalcontext of warfare and its aftermath during the nascent stages of state formation.The lines of evidence for operationalizing the archaeological recognition ofwarfare pertain to tensions over resources, societal attempts to monopolize resources,and fortification and aggregation at resource-rich areas in proximity to permanentsources of water Forms of evidence include oral testimonies, written records,iconography, weapons, fortifications, paleopathology, and violent destruction,disruption of cultural patterns, and the relocation of settlements (Holl 1985, 1997,

2003; Webster 1998:315) The currently available material evidence hints at thepossibility that Iron Age communities of the Shashi-Limpopo Basin not only hadmilitary defense on their minds, but that they may have also engaged in organizedviolence in order to achieve objectives and political agendas.1

We propose that Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe achieved and maintainedeconomic, political, and ideological hegemony through a combination of bothpeaceful and coercive means Certain material indicators combine to support thisproposition, material signatures that relate to shifting patterns of settlement location,fortification, mortuary practices, territoriality, and migration, all of which combine tosupport warfare and violence hypotheses We hope that this paper will initiate thereevaluation and reinterpretation of current patterns in the archaeological landscape,contribute to the global literature on state formation, and open discussions within theAfrican archaeology community on the pathways to complexity along lines nowcommon place in other regions (Trigger2003)

1 We explore the role of coercion and warfare in the rise and fall of state societies in Southern Zambezia in

a separate paper to be published soon (Kim and Kusimba 2008)

Defining the State

Archaeology tells us that societal change is a universal cultural dynamic which all ofhumankind has embraced, and they continue to embrace, albeit at different momentsand paces in history Not all societies evolved into states but many of those that didgenerally exhibit salient features that have guided archaeological theorizing on theemergence of the state (Bilman 2002; Carneiro1981; Flannery 1998; Fried 1967;Johnson and Earle 2000; Keeley 1996; Marcus 1998; Service 1975; Spencer andRedmond2004; Trigger2003; Yoffee2005) There are countless definitions of thestate but for our purposes here, we will use Bruce Trigger (2003) since we believe it

is more relevant to the African context we discuss in this article

In Understanding Early Civilizations, Trigger (2003:92) defines the state as: “apolitically organized society that is regarded by those who live in it as sovereign orpolitically independent and has leaders who control its social, political, legal,economic, and cultural activities” (2003:92) In this view, centralized control overmany aspects of everyday life in a society is a defining feature for the state Power can bemanifest in economic, political, physical, and ideological forms, and one would expect

to see material indications for some or all of these forms within an emergent orestablished state Furthermore, due to the aggregating nature of states and the laborresources required to administratively run the requisite operations, significant numbers

of human resources are necessarily present In describing early states, Trigger (2003:47)emphasizes the importance of kinship ties and how rulers regularly used force tomaintain their authority His definition makes clear that early states were sociallystratified, and that individuals occupying the highest strata possessed the most wealth,status, and political power, while concurrently possessing the means to maintain thesedistributions of wealth and power “The core of such an early state (or complexchiefdom) was an ethnic group, tribe, or ruler’s kindred to which other groupswillingly or unwillingly paid tribute” (Trigger 2003:47) The means through whichthese members of the upper strata were able to gain and maintain their power likelyincluded a mixture of physical as well as ideological power

When discussing state-level societies, Trigger makes an important and necessarydistinction between “city-state” and “territorial state” This dichotomy is germane toour discussion of Iron Age southern Zambezia, as there are differences in size, scale,and territorial extent for certain polities Trigger (2003:92) echoes Akin Mabogunje’s(1962) notion that city-states were relatively small polities, consisting of an urbancore surrounded by farmland containing smaller units of settlement In contrast,territorial states possess a ruler who governed a larger region through a multileveledhierarchy of provincial and local administrators in a corresponding hierarchy ofadministrative centers (Huffman1986c,2007) In terms of archaeological markers,boundaries for early city-states were sometimes clearly demarcated by naturalfeatures, artificial markers, or walled fortifications, with populations ranginganywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 (Trigger 2003:94) To illustrate case studies ofearly city-state civilizations, Trigger (2003:94) outlines evidence from the Urukperiod (3500 to 3200 BC) in southern Mesopotamia In conjunction with theemergence of agricultural practices, the region also experienced increasing socialstratification, organized warfare, urban centers, large public buildings, and a city-state system

Given these features, there are important inferences to be made First, the societieswithin this region were fairly sedentary and committed to their locations This isevident in the amount of agricultural and architectural investment put into the cities.Second, populations had grown sufficiently in these urban centers, enough toaccommodate all of the labor needs required for the urban construction Finally, it isclear that power and control were centralized, as large-scale production andarchitecture could only efficiently occur through coordinated planning andoperational implementation.

It is thus evident that emergent and established prehistoric states were highlypopulous, socially stratified, complex societies in which asymmetries of power andwealth existed The leaders and elites within these societies were able to achievetheir status and garner their power through a variety of means In sum, states can becharacterized by centralized political authority resting in the hands of a small elitegroup, wherein the power is oftentimes physical, economic, and ideological bynature (Mann 1986; Morris 1998:98) Furthermore, an urban or semi-urban centeroften served as the central nodal point of interaction, serving as the capital anddestination for agricultural and material tribute from the surrounding hinterland(Yoffee2005:91)

How may archaeologists operationalize the state archaeologically? As they rise,decline and eventually collapse, states inevitably leave certain clues about theirhistory: technological, social, economic, and political In addition to markersindicating social stratification and wealth differentiation, these societies will alsoexhibit signs of religious and ceremonial functions, higher populations andcentralized control over administrative functions (Flannery1998:54, 55) As such,archaeologists can reconstruct daily life by studying the structural and symbolicedifices of an archaeological site This can include the architecture, temples andshrines, elite and non-elite residential quarters

Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation

Having reviewed the defining characteristics of state-level societies and some oftheir material signatures, we now turn to the archaeology of Later Iron Age societies

in southern Zambezia, where important transformations from acephalous to statesocieties occurred towards the end of the first millennium AD The question weaddress here is the form and degree to which states existed in prehistoric southernZambezia What is the archaeological evidence there to indicate the presence orabsence of state-like societies?

Zambezia generally refers to all those regions drained by the Zambezi Riverand the Zimbabwe plateau (Pikirayi 2001:3) It covered five countries inSouthern and Southeast Africa including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, SouthAfrica, and Mozambique The earliest recorded manifestations of social complex-ity and state formation in central and southern Africa are in Southern Zambezia.Both in terms of coverage, prominence and controversy, research in the Zimbabweplateau centered on Great Zimbabwe has dominated the region’s archaeology (e.g.,Bent1892; Beach 1980, 1998; Caton-Thompson 1970; Hall 1990; Huffman 1996;Ndoro2001; Pikirayi2001; Soper2006) Within this region, commonly referred to by

archaeologists as the Zimbabwe Culture, archaeologists have defined a number ofchiefdoms and states.

The Zimbabwe Culture is characterized by the presence of massive stone wallsbuilt in a variety of styles (Pikirayi2001:3, see also Huffman 1996) Dating fromapproximately the eleventh to the late nineteenth centuries, the Zimbabwe Culturecan be divided into three main cultural periods The first phase, the Mapungubwephase, date from the mid-eleventh century until the late thirteenth century AD Thesite of Mapungubwe, the type-site for this first phase, attained regional prominenceduring the thirteenth century, managing the resources of a territory equivalent to astate in both political and economic terms (Pikirayi2001:3) The second phase is theGreat Zimbabwe phase dating from approximately 1270 to 1550 AD The secondphase is highlighted by the city of Great Zimbabwe The third phase dated from thesixteenth century and was based at the Mutapa state and the Torwa polity (Pikirayi

2001:3) Although for purposes of this paper, we focus on the first two phases—Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe—we cannot effectively assess the emergence ofthese states regional dominance without first revisiting the region’s cultural historyprior to Mapungubwe’s ascension

From Pastoralism to Farming

The earliest known inhabitants of the fertile highlands and open savanna grasslands

of Zambezia were hunter-gatherers (Huffman2007; Mitchell 2002; Walker 1995).These hunter-gatherer communities managed the land exploiting its resources,relying primarily on stone-tool technology until the late Holocene At about 150 BC,

the region witnessed a major transformation The recovery of domestic fauna of Bos indicas and ovicaprids and pottery at a number of sites suggests the appearance and

initiation of pastoralism to complement foraging as the primary means ofsubsistence Most archaeologists have attributed these initial transformations tomigration However, we believe that the dynamics were subtler than merely onegroup moving into the region, with a relatively superior way of making a living, andcompletely overwhelming original inhabitants (Pikirayi 2001:73) The early firstmillennium subsistence strategies in southern Zambezia were thus foraging andpastoralism and the archaeological evidence suggests that the latter increasinglybecame the more dominant subsistence strategy as more people acquired cows.Pastoralism ushered in the germ of inequality as those with more cows carried withthem higher economic and social status Although relatively few pastoral sites arearchaeologically known, the landscape would have been dotted with semi-sedentarypastoral camps, hamlets, and villages of Khoisan speakers (Pikirayi2001:77).The first reported evidence of what would appear to be agrarian communitiesdates to the first millennium AD (Pikirayi 2001:80) Interestingly the majority ofsouthern Africanists attribute these changes to Bantu speaking migrants from easternand north-central Africa The evidence is drawn from the appearance in thearchaeological record of a complete tool kit of iron technology, distinctive ceramics,and new crops (Huffman1982; Mitchell2002:259; Pikirayi2001:80) Farming, putmore accurately gardening, herding, and foraging, all combined to create a morediversified economy resulting in demographic growth (Huffman 1996) By the

fourth or fifth century AD the farming technology had crossed the Limpopo intonorthern South Africa and areas further south (Hall1990; Mitchell 2002; Pikirayi

2001:79; Van der Merwe1969; see Mitchell2002for more citations)

The Zambezia landscape of the first millennium AD was dotted with temporaryrockshelter settlements, semi-sedentary camps and villages, and permanent settle-ments Farming and pastoralism were extremely significant in transforming both thecultural mindset and the landscape Local and interregional trade flourished amongstforagers, herders, and farmers Iron smelters, blacksmiths, and potters prospered.Change was in the air and it was rapid Demographic changes were regional Manyareas previously uninhabited were now settled Residential areas became larger asdid gardens and farmsteads Owning cattle signified wealth and status but alsorequired labor to maintain Mitchell (2002:288) proposes that “domestic animals andcrops imply private property; long-term storage of cereals suggests this must havebeen controlled within families or perhaps centrally within villages.” Presumablyproperty rights and an adherence to territorially affiliated beliefs and ancestor cultswere established at this time (Pikirayi2001:79)

Towards the mid/late first millennium the interaction sphere in Zambezia hadextended to other areas Long-distance trade and exchange with the coast had beenestablished and increasingly became one of the chief means of accumulating wealth

in addition to pastoralism and farming (Mitchell2002:288,2005) The hunting andprocessing of ivory for export evidenced at larger sites indicates the complexity ofcoastal-Zambezian relationships, which promoted investment in the procurement oftrade items in high demand Such demand required investment in the infrastructurenecessary for producing these items Specialized craft activities, such as ivoryworking, recovered on larger first millennium sites also served as catalysts fordevelopment of related crafts including iron working and gold mining Ivoryprocurement created a group of highly specialized hunters who would have sought torestrict the specialized knowledge to their group Trade with the coast thus indirectlyhelped diversify the local and regional political economy of Zambezia In Mitchell’swords, “such specialisation…facilitated the expansion of trade and the possibilitiesfor individuals or groups to benefit…at the expense of others, includingopportunities for accumulating larger herds of cattle” (2002:289) In this regardrapid demographic growth, food security, favorable and stable climate, investment inhighly specialized craft activities, and long-distance trade combined to lay thefoundations for the development of the larger chiefdoms to become states insouthern Zambezia (Manyanga2006:21)

In sum, it is evident that by the mid to late first millennium AD greater amounts

of wealth and status were being conferred upon certain segments of societies in theregion (Manyanga2006:139) By the late first millennium AD, ivory and skins werealready being exported overseas, with sites like Chibuene interfacing betweeninterior and transoceanic trade routes (Mitchell2002:300; Pwiti2005; Sinclair1982;Sinclair and Hakansson 2000) The presence of craft specialization and materialsymbols of high status are telling, and we can infer the onset of social stratificationand private property on a level heretofore unseen in the region The germ forhierarchical relationships, social complexity and state development had beenplanted By the early centuries of the second millennium, these farming villagesand their lifeways had become well established “Here and there small-scale

confederations of subsistence farmers lived in stable agricultural regimens welladapted to their natural surroundings, adjusting to these changes in their socialenvironment” (Pikirayi2001:95) These farming communities represented politicallyautonomous villages that would soon became states.

Precursor to State Development: Bambandyanalo

The Iron Age sites known as Mapungubwe and Bambandyanalo on the farmGreefswald, west of the modern town of Musina in the Limpopo Province of SouthAfrica, have aroused significant speculation ever since their discovery in the early1930s (Fagan1964:337) The area consists of a number of red sandstone hills, whichdominate the geology of the area The main activities seem to have been focused onBambandyanalo Hill and its adjacent valley, where extensive mounds are located,and Mapungubwe Hill just over a kilometer to the east, where extensive settlementwas found on the hill, its adjacent slope/terrace and base Bambandyanalo (alsoknown as K2 after the mounds found in the Near East) is located at the Greefswaldfarm, a few kilometers south of the Shashi-Limpopo confluence K2 has massivemiddens mixed with desiccated dung, measuring 200 m across (Huffman 2005,

2007; Robinson 1966; Pikirayi 2001:107; Summers 1967) Stratigraphic profileshave revealed that the occupants settled in the Bambandyanalo valley by successive

or continuous occupations, and accumulated the mound of habitation debris thatsurvives today (Fagan 1964:338) Possessing cultural remains related to theLeopard’s Kopje tradition, the site dates from the tenth to eleventh centuries(Pikirayi 2001:107) It was a substantial village, part of a settlement system thatincluded Schroda, 6 km to the northeast, and other Zhizho and Leopard’s Kopjevillages (Pikirayi 2001:107) Compared to other periods, the K2/Mapungubweperiod represents a time of intense occupation and expansion in the region, with sitesoriented toward the rivers and floodplains (Manyanga2006:80)

The large, circular mound of occupation debris of Bambandyanalo measuressome 182 m in diameter and up to 6m deep at its highest point (Fagan1964:338).The main midden at Bambandyanalo, dating between 1030 and 1220 AD, stands outabove the surrounding occupation area, reaching more than 6 m deep in some places(Mitchell 2002:300) Covering more than 8 ha and possibly housing as many as2,000 people, the settlement consisted of pole-and-daga houses with gravel floorsfocused around and to the west of a large byre (Mitchell2002:300–301)

The people at Bambandyanalo were cattle herders and elephant hunters whoworked extensively in ivory and bone (Fagan 1964:10, 343; Pikirayi 2001:107).They were also agriculturalists Ivory was carved into bangles and bracelets, whilebone was made into points While these products were traded locally at first, theywere exchanged out of the region for glass beads obtained from as the coast andtowns like Chibuene (Pikirayi2001:109; Sinclair 1982) The town had thus gainedprominence by the early eleventh century Radiocarbon dates from test excavationsindicate successive house floors and great amounts of domestic refuse allaccumulated within a short period of time, maybe a single generation (Pikirayi

2001:109) Though researchers disagree as to exactly when Bambandyanalo wasabandoned, it is clear that occupation was short-lived and abandonment was

somewhat sudden, with a transition of power to nearby Mapungubwe Hill (Mitchell

2002:302; Pikirayi 2001:109) According to Pikirayi (2001:107), the town ofBambandyanalo represents a significant step in the development of socialcomplexity in the region

Seventy-four skeletons have been excavated there, buried with pottery and somejaws of cattle The bodies of the 74 skeletons were normally lying on their sides in aflexed position, surrounded by pots (Fagan 1964:339, Meyer 1998; Steyn 1997;Steyn and Henneberg1995a,b,1996,1997) A study of at least 40 of the individuals

by Galloway (1959) proposed that the remains were likely to be of pre-Bantupopulations of the “Boskop-Bush” in physical type and “Hottentot” in culture.Galloway also argued that the remains could not have been Bantu since theyexhibited non-Bantu characteristics Later research indicated that these individualswere Bantu (Rightmire 1970); the jury is still out on the ethnic identity of thesepeople More research, including genetic studies, would be necessary to settle thequestion of the ethnic identity of the people of Bambandyanalo

According to Fagan (1964), the first occupants of Mapungubwe Hill were thepeople who occupied Bambandyanalo in its latest stages, and their occupation issealed from the later levels by a layer of black ash There is a complete break in thepottery sequence at this stage, and spindle whorls and abundant iron tools make theirappearance In addition, complicated daga structures appear at Mapungubwe, alongwith gold and copper ornaments Taken in sum, there are indications that by theemergence of Mapungubwe’s occupation and Bambandyanalo’s abandonment in theearly thirteenth century, profound social changes were occurring in the area duringthis transitionary phase (Fagan1964:339; Mitchell 2002:302)

What was the nature of these profound social changes, marked by nalo’s abandonment, and what caused them? The incursions of Bantu migrants intothe area and their incorporation into the cultural milieu of their hosts seem plausible(Fagan1964:352) Rapid population expansion due to natural growth, intermarriage,migrations, and interethnic tensions may explain the rapid expansion andabandonment of Bambandyanalo in favor of Mapungubwe This view is bolstered

Bambandya-by the archaeological evidence indicating the interruption of continuous occupation

at Bambandyanalo by the arrival of new groups in the Greefswald region in the 11thcentury Brian Fagan (1964:340) believed that it was these immigrants along withthe citizens of Bambandyanalo, who were the first inhabitants of Mapungubwe

As stated earlier, the archaeological record shows that the second half of the firstmillennium witnessed profound changes in land use from primary subsistence basedupon pastoralism to a combination of agrarian and pastoral and foraging strategies.The migration theme is still a dominant way of seeing change in southern Africa, but

we believe more archaeological research is necessary to fully parse through the range

of possible interpretations regarding how the newcomers interacted with the existing populations at Bambandyanalo, and how these changes relate to the site’sabandonment and the occupation of Mapungubwe We posit that the ethnic mosaic inAfrica and elsewhere has often been characterized by both cooperation and conflict.Cooperation refers to the means through which people of different ethnic affiliationsinhabiting different but complementary ecological zones amicably find a way ofsharing resources In eastern Africa the institutionalization of blood brotherhood andsisterhood enabled those who would otherwise have been foes to freely trade and

pre-trespass into each other’s territorial domains; for example, some groups gave passage

to elephant hunters in exchange for sharing the ivory Conflict refers to competitionover resources, which would have included good pasture and arable land, and covetedtrade items in high demand regionally and extra-regionally (Herlehy1984; Kusimbaand Kusimba2005; Stahl 2005) It is thus quite plausible that demographic stresscarried with it undercurrents of ethnic and territorial tensions Whether these weresporadic outbreaks of violence or full-scale warfare needs to be revisited Forexample, could the layer of black ash at Mapungubwe Hill be indicative of conflictespecially when we consider that the cultural pattern sealed below the layer harkensback to the pre-Iron Age culture at Bambandyanalo, whereas patterns above thelayer belong to the ironworking culture of the Bantu?

In sum, despite its size and the diversity and intensity of its material culture,Bambandyanalo was not yet a state by the time of its abandonment The settlementhad become a central location for an aggregating population, the signaled initialmanifestation of urbanism However, the archaeological record strongly indicatesthat Bambandyanalo lacked a high level of political centralization and control overvarious aspects of cultural life Huffman (2005,2007) defines it as a level 3 town,synonymous with regional chiefdoms Diversity in craft specialization and mortuarypatterns point to social inequalities, ethnic, gender, and class differentiation, whichare all typical in complex societies Southern Zambezia was on its way towardstatehood

Emerging Statehood: Mapungubwe

The hill known as Mapungubwe (‘the hill of the Jackals’) stands out conspicuouslyamongst those that surround it, both because of its precipitous cliffs, over 61 m high

in places, and because of the wide valley around it (Fagan1964:338) Located justover a kilometer east of Bambandyanalo Hill, Mapungubwe is a flat-topped, steepsided hill measuring 350 m long and 80–100 m across On the southern side ofMapungubwe is a well-defined terrace of occupation debris, occupied at the sametime as the hill The hill’s top is flat and contains remains of elite residences (Pikirayi

2001:115) The town appears to have developed beneath from the southwest in themiddle of the eleventh century and extended towards the hill top reaching thesummit in the early twelfth century (Hall 1990:77; Pikirayi 2001:115) Mapun-gubwe, like many contemporary settlements in the region, was spatially organized toreflect status differences Elite residences were located on the hilltop, and the steep-sided nature of the hill and its limited access to the summit afforded ruling eliteswith much needed security (Pikirayi 2008, personal communication) Ordinarycitizens homes were often built a respectable distance in the valleys Both residentialtypes are characterized by what archaeologists refer to as central cattle pattern orZimbabwe Pattern (Hall1990:82; Huffman2005,2007; Manyanga2006:140) Eliteresidences were constructed of dry stone architecture and have come to symbolize adeparture from more heterarchical forms of social organization to hierarchical ones

in southern Africa, which Huffman (1986c,2007) defines as the Zimbabwe Pattern.Residential structures on the hilltop were clearly constructed for elites Forexample, at Mapungubwe and its major satellite towns, livestock and the majority of

the human population lived beneath the hill, the top of which was reserved for only asmall part of the community (Hall 1990:82; Huffman 1996, 2005, 2007).Archaeological finds recovered at the elite homes include highly polished pottery

in diverse forms and styles, gold beads and wire bangles, iron and copper objects,and trade beads (Pikirayi 2001:115) Elite burials at the summit of the hill wererichly adorned (Hall 1990:77) The hilltop was the most desirable piece of realestate Old and decrepit homes would be leveled and new ones built instead ofrelocating In contrast, commoner residences were characterized by mud-on-woodenframe homes that were often surrounded by a wooden and sometimes stone wall.Homes were often located adjacent to cattle corals to the point where it isarchaeologically difficult to tease out the precise locations of homes and cattlecorals Archaeological finds at these locations are dominated by utilitarian potterythat is qualitatively inferior to that recovered at hilltop residences (Manyanga2006).The political economy of Mapungubwe was based on agropastoralism and long-distance trade Regional trade involving the eastern Kalahari sandveld of Botswana,south-western Zimbabwe, northern South Africa and southern Mozambiqueflourished between Mapungubwe and surrounding towns The circulations ofagricultural produce, metallurgical objects (copper and iron), and cattle formed thebackbone of regional trade (Manyanga2006:140) The recovery of huge collections

of trade items including ceramics and glass beads at many sites in the Limpopo Valley and beyond points to trade with the coast (Mitchell2005; Pikirayi

Shashi-1993; Pwiti 2005; Sinclair 1987) Recently, archaeologists have emphasized tradewith the coast, sometimes minimizing the role regional trade had on the region’seconomy We believe that coastal trade, while important, merely interlocked on aneconomy that was already highly developed and quite complexly organized (Pikirayi

2001:116; Pwiti 2005; Wood2000)

The quality of finished bone, ivory, pottery, and iron tools leaves little doubt thatthis was the work of well-financed and highly skilled craftspeople Investment intime and training points to the possible presence of full-time time specialists engaged

in craft activities, and further suggests the robustness of the regional economy andthe ability and willingness to invest in quality products by elites Hall (1990:80) isconvinced that Mapungubwe had gained state status Clear distinctions betweenrulers and commoners were being made in all areas of daily life, consumption, andmortuary practices For instance, the recovery of numerous items of gold in threeburials betrays the high status of those individuals (Mitchell 2002:303) The goldrhinoceros, bowl, and scepter recovered from a male burial at Mapungubwe Hillsuggests that gold had become a symbol of royalty and its use and circulationrestricted to the ruling class elite This evidence stands in stark contrast with an elitechild’s burial from Bambandyanalo that was accompanied by several hundred glassbeads, and seven large turquoise examples of probable Chinese origin (Mitchell

2002:303) As beads became more common in the region, elites shifted to a rarerprestige item—gold—to maintain social distance from commoners

At the zenith in the late eleventh century, Mapungubwe had attained the status ofstate capital Its leaders boasted control of a vast region held together by a complexnetwork of economic and social interaction and a tributary system (Pikirayi

2001:116) The town served as the primary manufacturing center for craft itemsincluding iron and copper objects, copper wire, carved ivory, and elite pottery At the