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

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Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation in the Southern Zambezian Region

Author(s): Nam C Kim and Chapurukha M Kusimba

Source: The African Archaeological Review, Vol 25, No 3/4 (Sep - Dec., 2008), pp 131-152

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DOI 10.1007/s 10437-008-903 1-3

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation

in the Southern Zambezian Region

Nam C Kim • Chapurukha M Kusimba

Published online: 23 September 2008

C Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract Theorists have put forth various anthropological perspectives on the variables leading to social complexity and the emergence of state-level polities This paper incorporates data from the Zambezian region of Southern Africa in order to contribute to the literature on social evolutionary theory It traces the cultural trajectories of communities that flourished during the region's Iron Age within the Shashi-Limpopo Basin, leading to the emergence of the Great Zimbabwe polity In examining the archaeological record, the authors discuss the emergence of state-like societies, offering a review of current interpretations and explanations for the emergent complexity

Les théoriciens ont émis plusieurs points de vue anthropologiques sur les variables qui conduisent à la complexité sociale et à l'émergence des états Cet article est une contribution à la littérature sur la théorie de l'évolution des sociétés réalisée à partir des données de la région du Zambèze au sud de l'Afrique Il retrace les trajectoires culturelles de communautés qui sont apparues au cours de l'âge du fer dans le Bassin du Shashi-Limpopo et qui ont conduit à l'émergence de l'état du Grand Zimbabwe En s'appuyant sur les données archéologiques, les auteurs discutent 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

132 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131-152 Introduction

The origins of social complexity, urbanism, and archaic states are of profound interest for social scientists Investigating social evolution is an important aspect of elucidating culture change and human organizational behavior, and this is one of the core missions of anthropology Studying the evolution of social complexity offers insights into understanding strategies that segments of humankind have employed to accumulate power (Earle 1997; Haas 2001; Holl 2000; Robb 1999), or in the causes

of social change and societal inequality (Blanton et al 1996; Blanton 1998; Carneiro

1970, 1990; Feinman 2001; Johnson and Earle 20.00; Trigger 2003) Furthermore, to truly understand human grouping patterns and political organization within our modern-day contexts, it is essential that we explore their historical dimensions and manifestations Archaeology thus contributes to the social evolutionary debate by highlighting the origins of stratified societies as a precursor to more complex conglomerations such as the city-state and territorial state At the same time, archaeology helps us understand how and why people living in similar ecosystems may embrace different strategies, ranging from egalitarian or acephalous, heter- archical, or hierarchical, in creating communities (Ehrenreich et al 1995; Holl 2000, 2003; Mclntosh 1999) This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the emergence of social complexity worldwide; a debate that we believe has not yet incorporated the rich data from Sub-Saharan Africa (cf Holl 2000, 2003; Kusimba 1999; Mclntosh 1999; Pikirayi 2001; Stahl 2001; Trigger 2003) In doing so, we reexamine published archaeological records primarily from three extensively studied sites of the southern Zambezian region, namely Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, and Great Zimbabwe, to address factors that contributed to the rise and development of social complexity and statehood in southern Africa We discuss the main archaeological indicators of social complexity, current interpretations of these data and how they fit into the general debate of archaeology of social complexity worldwide

The Shashi-Limpopo Basin experienced major technological and sociopolitical transformations towards the end of the first millennium AD (Manyanga 2006:138; Pwiti 2005) These transformations included rapid demographic growth, due in part

to migration and natural growth, an increase in societal inequality evidenced by differential household size, wealth and status, and the emergence of site hierarchies (Manyanga 2006:138) To what can we attribute the transformation of acephalous Iron 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 (Pikirayi 2001:34) Second, we look at the underpinnings of societal inequalities using an intersite and regional perspective that highlights the efflorescence of Bambandyanalo (also known as K2), Mapungubwe (Huffman 2005, 2007), and Great Zimbabwe (Pikirayi 2006a) We believe this historical approach provides clues towards understanding the prevailing conditions under which certain household heads could have accumulated unequal wealth and legitimacy, enabling them to become leaders of their various polities (Haas 2001; Kusimba 1999; Kusimba and Oka 2008) How and

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

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

As in many regions around the world, larger and more built-up settlements that were presumably capitals have received more scholarly attention In contrast smaller more regional/rural chiefdoms that may or may not have been allied to the state capitals have received little or no attention (e.g., Usman 2001) It is important to note how smaller-scale albeit peripheral communities may have interacted with their more powerful neighbors Was the nature of their relations based on tributary and subordinate ties? Was it heterarchical? How may archaeology operationalize these relationships? Understanding these relationships has implications for knowing how and by what means incipient leaders emerge and consolidate power

The emergence of social complexity and the state in southern Zambezia has been attributed to a variety of factors These include external trade (Huffman 1972, 1982, 1986b, 1996, 2005), accumulation of cattle (Beach 1998; Denbow 1984), religious ideology (Beach 1980, 1998) and climate change (Pikirayi 2001) Some researchers (e.g., Hall 1990; Manyanga 2006) have proposed the importance of warfare and coercion as one of the means used to accumulate and keep power but little archaeological evidence has been gathered thus far to support this hypothesis, at least, for the initial stages of social complexity While the material evidence for organized violence and warfare in precolonial southeast Africa is abundant for the second half for the second millennium (e.g Pikirayi 1993; Huffman 2007), archaeologists must intensify efforts to identify and develop the chronological context of warfare and its aftermath during the nascent stages of state formation The lines of evidence for operationalizing the archaeological recognition of warfare pertain to tensions over resources, societal attempts to monopolize resources, and fortification and aggregation at resource-rich areas in proximity to permanent sources 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 the possibility that Iron Age communities of the Shashi-Limpopo Basin not only had military defense on their minds, but that they may have also engaged in organized violence in order to achieve objectives and political agendas.1

We propose that Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe achieved and maintained economic, political, and ideological hegemony through a combination of both peaceful and coercive means Certain material indicators combine to support this proposition, material signatures that relate to shifting patterns of settlement location, fortification, mortuary practices, territoriality, and migration, all of which combine to support warfare and violence hypotheses We hope that this paper will initiate the réévaluation and reinterpretation of current patterns in the archaeological landscape, contribute to the global literature on state formation, and open discussions within the African archaeology community on the pathways to complexity along lines now common place in other regions (Trigger 2003)

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)

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134 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131-152 Defining the State

Archaeology tells us that societal change is a universal cultural dynamic which all of humankind has embraced, and they continue to embrace, albeit at different moments and paces in history Not all societies evolved into states but many of those that did generally exhibit salient features that have guided archaeological theorizing on the emergence of the state (Bilman 2002; Carneiro 1981; Flannery 1998; Fried 1967; Johnson and Earle 2000; Keeley 1996; Marcus 1998; Service 1975; Spencer and Redmond 2004; Trigger 2003; Yoffee 2005) There are countless definitions of the state 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: "a politically organized society that is regarded by those who live in it as sovereign or politically independent and has leaders who control its social, political, legal, economic, and cultural activities" (2003:92) In this view, centralized control over many aspects of everyday life in a society is a defining feature for the state Power can be manifest 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 or established state Furthermore, due to the aggregating nature of states and the labor resources 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 to maintain their authority His definition makes clear that early states were socially stratified, and that individuals occupying the highest strata possessed the most wealth, status, and political power, while concurrently possessing the means to maintain these distributions of wealth and power "The core of such an early state (or complex chiefdom) was an ethnic group, tribe, or ruler's kindred to which other groups willingly or unwillingly paid tribute" (Trigger 2003:47) The means through which these members of the upper strata were able to gain and maintain their power likely included a mixture of physical as well as ideological power

When discussing state-level societies, Trigger makes an important and necessary distinction between "city-state" and "territorial state" This dichotomy is germane to our 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 urban core surrounded by farmland containing smaller units of settlement In contrast, territorial states possess a ruler who governed a larger region through a multileveled hierarchy of provincial and local administrators in a corresponding hierarchy of administrative centers (Huffman 1986c, 2007) In terms of archaeological markers, boundaries for early city-states were sometimes clearly demarcated by natural features, artificial markers, or walled fortifications, with populations ranging anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 (Trigger 2003:94) To illustrate case studies of early city-state civilizations, Trigger (2003:94) outlines evidence from the Uruk period (3500 to 3200 BC) in southern Mesopotamia In conjunction with the emergence of agricultural practices, the region also experienced increasing social stratification, organized warfare, urban centers, large public buildings, and a city- state system

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

It is thus evident that emergent and established prehistoric states were highly populous, socially stratified, complex societies in which asymmetries of power and wealth existed The leaders and elites within these societies were able to achieve their status and garner their power through a variety of means In sum, states can be characterized by centralized political authority resting in the hands of a small elite group, wherein the power is oftentimes physical, economic, and ideological by nature (Mann 1986; Morris 1998:98) Furthermore, an urban or semi-urban center often served as the central nodal point of interaction, serving as the capital and destination for agricultural and material tribute from the surrounding hinterland (Yoffee 2005:91)

How may archaeologists operationalize the state archaeologically? As they rise, decline and eventually collapse, states inevitably leave certain clues about their history: technological, social, economic, and political In addition to markers indicating social stratification and wealth differentiation, these societies will also exhibit signs of religious and ceremonial functions, higher populations and centralized control over administrative functions (Flannery 1998:54, 55) As such, archaeologists can reconstruct daily life by studying the structural and symbolic edifices of an archaeological site This can include the architecture, temples and shrines, elite and non-elite residential quarters

Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation

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

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

Zambezia generally refers to all those regions drained by the Zambezi River and the Zimbabwe plateau (Pikirayi 2001:3) It covered five countries in Southern and Southeast Africa including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, 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 Zimbabwe plateau centered on Great Zimbabwe has dominated the region's archaeology (e.g., Bent 1892; Beach 1980, 1998; Caton-Thompson 1970; Hall 1990; Huffinan 1996; Ndoro 2001; Pikirayi 2001; Soper 2006) Within this region, commonly referred to by

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136 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131-152 archaeologists as the Zimbabwe Culture, archaeologists have defined a number of chiefdoms and states

The Zimbabwe Culture is characterized by the presence of massive stone walls built in a variety of styles (Pikirayi 2001:3, see also Huffman 1996) Dating from approximately the eleventh to the late nineteenth centuries, the Zimbabwe Culture can be divided into three main cultural periods The first phase, the Mapungubwe phase, date from the mid-eleventh century until the late thirteenth century AD The site of Mapungubwe, the type-site for this first phase, attained regional prominence during the thirteenth century, managing the resources of a territory equivalent to a state in both political and economic terms (Pikirayi 2001 :3) The second phase is the Great Zimbabwe phase dating from approximately 1270 to 1550 AD The second phase is highlighted by the city of Great Zimbabwe The third phase dated from the sixteenth 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 of these states regional dominance without first revisiting the region's cultural history prior 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 (Huffinan 2007; 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 of subsistence Most archaeologists have attributed these initial transformations to migration However, we believe that the dynamics were subtler than merely one group moving into the region, with a relatively superior way of making a living, and completely overwhelming original inhabitants (Pikirayi 2001:73) The early first millennium subsistence strategies in southern Zambezia were thus foraging and pastoralism and the archaeological evidence suggests that the latter increasingly became the more dominant subsistence strategy as more people acquired cows Pastoralism ushered in the germ of inequality as those with more cows carried with them higher economic and social status Although relatively few pastoral sites are archaeologically known, the landscape would have been dotted with semi-sedentary pastoral camps, hamlets, and villages of Khoisan speakers (Pikirayi 2001:77)

The first reported evidence of what would appear to be agrarian communities dates to the first millennium AD (Pikirayi 2001:80) Interestingly the majority of southern Africanists attribute these changes to Bantu speaking migrants from eastern and north-central Africa The evidence is drawn from the appearance in the archaeological record of a complete tool kit of iron technology, distinctive ceramics, and new crops (Huffman 1982; Mitchell 2002:259; Pikirayi 2001:80) Farming, put more accurately gardening, herding, and foraging, all combined to create a more diversified economy resulting in demographic growth (Huffman 1996) By the

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fourth or fifth century AD the farming technology had crossed the Limpopo into northern South Africa and areas further south (Hall 1990; Mitchell 2002; Pikirayi 2001:79; Van der Merwe 1969; see Mitchell 2002 for more citations)

The Zambezia landscape of the first millennium AD was dotted with temporary rocksheiter settlements, semi-sedentary camps and villages, and permanent settle- ments Farming and pastoralism were extremely significant in transforming both the cultural mindset and the landscape Local and interregional trade flourished amongst foragers, herders, and farmers Iron smelters, blacksmiths, and potters prospered Change was in the air and it was rapid Demographic changes were regional Many areas previously uninhabited were now settled Residential areas became larger as did gardens and farmsteads Owning cattle signified wealth and status but also required labor to maintain Mitchell (2002:288) proposes that "domestic animals and crops imply private property; long-term storage of cereals suggests this must have been controlled within families or perhaps centrally within villages." Presumably property rights and an adherence to territorially affiliated beliefs and ancestor cults were established at this time (Pikirayi 2001:79)

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

in addition to pastoralism and farming (Mitchell 2002:288, 2005) The hunting and processing of ivory for export evidenced at larger sites indicates the complexity of coastal-Zambezian relationships, which promoted investment in the procurement of trade items in high demand Such demand required investment in the infrastructure necessary for producing these items Specialized craft activities, such as ivory working, recovered on larger first millennium sites also served as catalysts for development of related crafts including iron working and gold mining Ivory procurement created a group of highly specialized hunters who would have sought to restrict the specialized knowledge to their group Trade with the coast thus indirectly helped diversify the local and regional political economy of Zambezia In Mitchell's words, "such specialisation facilitated the expansion of trade and the possibilities for individuals or groups to benefit at the expense of others, including opportunities for accumulating larger herds of cattle" (2002:289) In this regard rapid demographic growth, food security, favorable and stable climate, investment in highly specialized craft activities, and long-distance trade combined to lay the foundations for the development of the larger chiefdoms to become states in southern Zambezia (Manyanga 2006:21)

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 the region (Manyanga 2006:139) By the late first millennium AD, ivory and skins were already being exported overseas, with sites like Chibuene interfacing between interior and transoceanic trade routes (Mitchell 2002:300; Pwiti 2005; Sinclair 1982; Sinclair and Hakansson 2000) The presence of craft specialization and material symbols of high status are telling, and we can infer the onset of social stratification and private property on a level heretofore unseen in the region The germ for hierarchical relationships, social complexity and state development had been planted By the early centuries of the second millennium, these farming villages and their lifeways had become well established "Here and there small-scale

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1 38 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25: 1 3 1-1 52 confederations of subsistence farmers lived in stable agricultural regimens well adapted to their natural surroundings, adjusting to these changes in their social environment" (Pikirayi 2001:95) These farming communities represented politically autonomous villages that would soon became states

Precursor to State Development: Bambandyanalo

The Iron Age sites known as Mapungubwe and Bambandyanalo on the farm Greefswald, west of the modern town of Musina in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, have aroused significant speculation ever since their discovery in the early 1930s (Fagan 1964:337) The area consists of a number of red sandstone hills, which dominate the geology of the area The main activities seem to have been focused on Bambandyanalo Hill and its adjacent valley, where extensive mounds are located, and Mapungubwe Hill just over a kilometer to the east, where extensive settlement was found on the hill, its adjacent slope/terrace and base Bambandyanalo (also known as K2 after the mounds found in the Near East) is located at the Greefswald farm, a few kilometers south of the Shashi-Limpopo confluence K2 has massive middens mixed with desiccated dung, measuring 200 m across (Huffman 2005, 2007; Robinson 1966; Pikirayi 2001:107; Summers 1967) Stratigraphie profiles have revealed that the occupants settled in the Bambandyanalo valley by successive

or continuous occupations, and accumulated the mound of habitation debris that survives today (Fagan 1964:338) Possessing cultural remains related to the Leopard'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 that included Schroda, 6 km to the northeast, and other Zhizho and Leopard's Kopje villages (Pikirayi 2001:107) Compared to other periods, the K2/Mapungubwe period represents a time of intense occupation and expansion in the region, with sites oriented toward the rivers and floodplains (Manyanga 2006:80)

The large, circular mound of occupation debris of Bambandyanalo measures some 182 m in diameter and up to 6m deep at its highest point (Fagan 1964:338) The main midden at Bambandyanalo, dating between 1030 and 1220 AD, stands out above 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 as 2,000 people, the settlement consisted of pole-and-daga houses with gravel floors focused around and to the west of a large byre (Mitchell 2002:300-301)

The people at Bambandyanalo were cattle herders and elephant hunters who worked extensively in ivory and bone (Fagan 1964:10, 343; Pikirayi 2001:107) They were also agriculturalists Ivory was carved into bangles and bracelets, while bone was made into points While these products were traded locally at first, they were exchanged out of the region for glass beads obtained from as the coast and towns like Chibuene (Pikirayi 2001:109; Sinclair 1982) The town had thus gained prominence by the early eleventh century Radiocarbon dates from test excavations indicate successive house floors and great amounts of domestic refuse all accumulated within a short period of time, maybe a single generation (Pikirayi 2001:109) Though researchers disagree as to exactly when Bambandyanalo was abandoned, it is clear that occupation was short-lived and abandonment was

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somewhat sudden, with a transition of power to nearby Mapungubwe Hill (Mitchell 2002:302; Pikirayi 2001:109) According to Pikirayi (2001:107), the town of Bambandyanalo represents a significant step in the development of social complexity in the region

Seventy-four skeletons have been excavated there, buried with pottery and some jaws of cattle The bodies of the 74 skeletons were normally lying on their sides in a flexed position, surrounded by pots (Fagan 1964:339, Meyer 1998; Steyn 1997; Steyn and Henneberg 1995a, 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-Bantu populations of the "Boskop-Bush" in physical type and "Hottentot" in culture Galloway also argued that the remains could not have been Bantu since they exhibited non-Bantu characteristics Later research indicated that these individuals were Bantu (Rightmire 1970); the jury is still out on the ethnic identity of these people More research, including genetic studies, would be necessary to settle the question of the ethnic identity of the people of Bambandyanalo

According to Fagan (1964), the first occupants of Mapungubwe Hill were the people who occupied Bambandyanalo in its latest stages, and their occupation is sealed from the later levels by a layer of black ash There is a complete break in the pottery sequence at this stage, and spindle whorls and abundant iron tools make their appearance In addition, complicated daga structures appear at Mapungubwe, along with gold and copper ornaments Taken in sum, there are indications that by the emergence of Mapungubwe 's occupation and Bambandyanalo 's abandonment in the early thirteenth century, profound social changes were occurring in the area during this transitionary phase (Fagan 1964:339; Mitchell 2002:302)

What was the nature of these profound social changes, marked by Bambandya- nalo 's abandonment, and what caused them? The incursions of Bantu migrants into the area and their incorporation into the cultural milieu of their hosts seem plausible (Fagan 1964:352) Rapid population expansion due to natural growth, intermarriage, migrations, and interethnic tensions may explain the rapid expansion and abandonment of Bambandyanalo in favor of Mapungubwe This view is bolstered

by the archaeological evidence indicating the interruption of continuous occupation

at Bambandyanalo by the arrival of new groups in the Greefswald region in the 1 lth century Brian Fagan (1964:340) believed that it was these immigrants along with the citizens of Bambandyanalo, who were the first inhabitants of Mapungubwe

As stated earlier, the archaeological record shows that the second half of the first millennium witnessed profound changes in land use from primary subsistence based upon 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 pre- existing populations at Bambandyanalo, and how these changes relate to the site's abandonment and the occupation of Mapungubwe We posit that the ethnic mosaic in Africa and elsewhere has often been characterized by both cooperation and conflict Cooperation refers to the means through which people of different ethnic affiliations inhabiting different but complementary ecological zones amicably find a way of sharing resources In eastern Africa the institutionalization of blood brotherhood and sisterhood enabled those who would otherwise have been foes to freely trade and

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140 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131-152 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 competition over resources, which would have included good pasture and arable land, and coveted trade items in high demand regionally and extra-regionally (Herlehy 1984; Kusimba and Kusimba 2005; Stahl 2005) It is thus quite plausible that demographic stress carried with it undercurrents of ethnic and territorial tensions Whether these were sporadic outbreaks of violence or full-scale warfare needs to be revisited For example, could the layer of black ash at Mapungubwe Hill be indicative of conflict especially when we consider that the cultural pattern sealed below the layer harkens back to the pre-Iron Age culture at Bambandyanalo, whereas patterns above the layer 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 settlement had become a central location for an aggregating population, the signaled initial manifestation of urbanism However, the archaeological record strongly indicates that Bambandyanalo lacked a high level of political centralization and control over various aspects of cultural life Huffman (2005, 2007) defines it as a level 3 town, synonymous with regional chiefdoms Diversity in craft specialization and mortuary patterns point to social inequalities, ethnic, gender, and class differentiation, which are all typical in complex societies Southern Zambezia was on its way toward statehood

Emerging Statehood: Mapungubwe

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

in places, and because of the wide valley around it (Fagan 1964:338) Located just over a kilometer east of Bambandyanalo Hill, Mapungubwe is a flat-topped, steep sided hill measuring 350 m long and 80-100 m across On the southern side of Mapungubwe is a well-defined terrace of occupation debris, occupied at the same time 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 the middle of the eleventh century and extended towards the hill top reaching the summit in the early twelfth century (Hall 1990:77; Pikirayi 2001:115) Mapun- gubwe, like many contemporary settlements in the region, was spatially organized to reflect 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 elites with much needed security (Pikirayi 2008, personal communication) Ordinary citizens homes were often built a respectable distance in the valleys Both residential types are characterized by what archaeologists refer to as central cattle pattern or Zimbabwe Pattern (Hall 1990:82; Huffman 2005, 2007; Manyanga 2006:140) Elite residences were constructed of dry stone architecture and have come to symbolize a departure 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 For example, at Mapungubwe and its major satellite towns, livestock and the majority of

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