Mapungubwe Beyond the Golden Rhino
From The Observatory
Date
October 21, 2025
Location
ISAW Lecture Hall
Area
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For nearly 100 years, the South African site of Mapungubwe has been central to our understanding of the Iron Age in southern Africa. Its burials, first excavated in the 1930’s, were laden with gold, thousands of glass beads, and clear expressions of social hierarchy. These factors helped establish Mapungubwe as the capital of southern Africa’s first state, from 1220 – 1290 cal. CE, which was intensely connected to the Swahili Coast and Indian Ocean through trade. The relationship between Mapungubwe and external trade became one of its defining features, while our understanding of its relation to local dynamics within the subcontinent lagged far behind. New results from the Southern Africa Lead Isotope Project shed light on this gap and demonstrate intense, almost specialized, reliance on a specific supplier for copper and mark Mapungubwe as the origin point of a “Bronze Age” that quickly spread across the wider landscape of southern Africa.
Agenda
Registration is required.
Key Speaker: Jay Stephens
Participants
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
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ISAW is a center for advanced scholarly research and graduate education, which aims to encourage particularly the study of the economic, religious, political and cultural connections between ancient civilizations. It offers both doctoral and postdoctoral programs, with the aim of training a new generation of scholars who will enter the global academic community and become intellectual leaders.
