Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	South Africa
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv, v
Reference	1099
Region†	Africa
Inscription history
Inscription	2003  (27th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Mapungubwe was a city in what is now northern South Africa. Flourishing from 1050 AD to 1270 AD at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers (22°2′S, 29°36′E), it marked the center of a pre-Shona kingdom which covered parts of modern-day Botswana and Zimbabwe. The site of the city is now a World Heritage Site, national park, and archaeological site. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... As of 2006, there are a total of 830 World Heritage Sites located in 138 State Parties. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Africa. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Course and Watershed of the Limpopo River The Limpopo River rises in the interior of Africa, and flows generally eastwards towards the Indian Ocean. ... Shona (IPA: ) is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and western Mozambique. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... This article is about national parks. ...

The Mapungubwe Landscape was declared a World Heritage Site on 3 July 2003. is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Mapungubwe means "place where jackals eat", derived from phunguvhwe (Venda for jackal), as the hill was littered with human bones which attracted these scavengers.^[1] It is a sandstone hill, with vertical cliffs about 30 metres high and a plateaued top approximately 300 m in length. The hill was inhabited for about seventy years between 1220 AD and 1290 AD. Venda, also known as Tshivenda, or Luvenda, is a Bantu language. ... This article is about the geological formation. ... This article is about the unit of length. ...

Society

Mapungubwean society was "the most complex in southern Africa".^[2] It is thought by archaeologists to be the first class-based social system in southern Africa; that is, its leaders were separated from and higher in rank than its inhabitants.

Life in Mapungubwe was centered around family and farming. Special sites were created for initiation ceremonies, household activities, and other social functions. Cattle lived in kraals located close to the residents' houses, signifying their value. A South African cattle kraal (Photo by Richard Jones) Kraal (also spelt craal or kraul) is an Afrikaans and South African English word for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African homestead or village surrounded by a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in...

Most speculation about society continues to be based upon the remains of buildings, since the Mapungubweans left no written or oral record.

Discovery

After Mapungubwe's fall, it was forgotten until 1932. On New Year's Eve 1932, E. S. J. van Graan, a local farmer and prospector, and his son, a former student of the University of Pretoria, discovered the wealth of artifacts on top of the hill. They reported the find to Professor Leo Fouché of the University of Pretoria, paving the way for excavations that continue to this day. For other articles with similar names, see New Year (disambiguation). ... The University of Pretoria is a university in South Africa, with a total of about 38 499 students being enrolled in 2005. ...

As many gold artifacts were found, Mapungubwe's location was initially kept secret for fear of looting. The artifacts found dated from approximately 1000 AD to 1300 AD and consisted of a variety of materials such as pottery, trade glass beads, Chinese celadon ware, gold ornaments (including the famous golden rhino), ceramic figurines, organic remains, crafted ivory and bone and refined copper and iron. Alternate meaning: Celadon (color) Celadon funerary jar from the Three Kingdoms period Celadon is a type of pottery having a pale green glaze. ...

Panorama from the top of Mapungubwe Hill

Mapungubwe National Park

The area is now part of Mapungubwe National Park, which with the Tuli Block (Botswana) and the Tuli Safari area (Zimbabwe), forms part of Limpopo/Shashe Transfrontier Park.

Entance to Mapungubwe National Park, Limpopo Province, South Africa	Taken from South Africa, to the left is Botswana and Zimbabwe is on the right. The river running from left to right is the Limpopo River. The river which disappears on the horizon is the Shashe	Sandstone rock formations typical of Mapungubwe National Park	Treetop Boardwalk. All facilities at Mapungubwe National Park are wheelchair-friendly.
Mapungubwe Hill viewed from the north	Mapungubwe Hill.	An archaeological excavation site at Mapungubwe.	The Gold Rhino from a burial site on Mapungubwe hill

See also

• Mapungubwe Museum
• Order of Mapungubwe
• Thuli Parks and Wildlife Land

The Mapungubwe Museum houses the Natioanl Treasures of Mapungubwe, a 13th century Iron Age site in the Limpopo Valley & a World Heritage Site. ... The Order of Mapungubwe is South Africas highest honour. ...

References

1. ^ du Plessis, E.J. (1973). Suid-Afrikaanse berg- en riviername. Tafelberg-uitgewers, Cape Town, p. 139. ISBN 0-624-00273X. 
2. ^ Mapungubwe: SA's lost city of gold

External links

• Mapungubwe National Park
• Mapungubwe - discusses cultural aspects, as well as how to get there
• "Mapungubwe: SA's lost city of gold" - article about Mapungubwe's history

v • d • e World Heritage Sites in South Africa Cape Floral Region Protected Areas · Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs · iSimangaliso Wetland Park · Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape · Robben Island · uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park · Vredefort Dome A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Fynbos is the natural shrubland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate. ... For other uses, see Cradle of Humankind (disambiguation). ... iSimangaliso Wetland Park iSimangaliso Wetland Park is situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa about 275 kilometres north of Durban (). It is South Africas third-largest protected area, spanning 280 km of coastline, from the Mozambican border in the north to Mapelane south of the St... Robben Island (Afrikaans Robben Eiland) is an island in Table Bay, 12 km off the coast from Cape Town, South Africa and is located at . ... The Drakensberg Drakensberg Range from space, April 1993 Maluti mountains in Lesotho The Drakensberg (Afrikaans for Dragons Mountain) mountains are the highest in Southern Africa, rising up at Thabana Ntlenyana to 3,482 m (11,422 ft) in height. ... Vredefort crater is the largest verified impact crater on Earth. ...

Coordinates: 22°11′33″S 029°14′20″E / -22.1925, 29.23889 Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Africa. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...