Abstract
Research in the Limpopo Valley has documented over 500 Middle Iron Age sites (AD 900–1320) relevant to the origins of Mapungubwe – the capital of the first indigenous state in southern Africa. Fifteen new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from 11 of these archaeological sites establish the boundaries of the ceramic facies that form the culture-history framework for such diverse topics as land use, ethnic stratification, population dynamics and rainfall fluctuations. Mapungubwe was abandoned at about AD 1320.Significance:
 
 Because Mapungubwe developed relatively recently (circa AD 1200), it can clarify the origins of older states.
 Environmental factors such as droughts, along with agriculture and trade, played a role in the abandonment of Mapungubwe.
Highlights
DATA AVAILABILITY: ☐ Open data set ☐ All data included ☒ On request from author(s) ☐ Not available ☐ Not applicable
We report them here by ceramic facies and research topic
According to isotopic analysis, when Zhizo people moved into the Limpopo Valley from southwest Zimbabwe at about AD 900, the climate was similar to that today.[8]
Summary
Since 1999, foot surveys in the Mapungubwe National Park and surrounding Buffer Zone have recorded some 1150 Iron Age sites. This large number has helped to clarify different land uses, ethnic stratification, population dynamics and droughts. As part of our project, we have processed 15 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from 11 Middle Iron Age sites and other researchers have produced a few more[3,4,5] (Table 1). A hypothetical date of BP 1000±1 calibrates to AD 1033–1048 for sites with K2 ceramics but to AD 1120–1137 for the TK2 facies
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