Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana
Biographic Data
| ID | 4065037 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas Panganayi |
| FAMILY NAME | Thondhlana |
| SIGNATURE | THONDHLANA T P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Great Zimbabwe University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4790-8457 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 37 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
National Currencies and Sovereignty
This paper examines how Zimbabwean banknote iconography from the colonial and post‐colonial eras reflects the interplay of politics, history, heritage and religion. National currencies have become a key component of modern nation‐states. They serve as symbols of state power and sovereignty and are used in daily transactions. Some have argued that national currencies can be useful vehicles for mass communication and propaganda. In Zimbabwe, bankno…
When theory meets praxis – enhancing heritage management through practice-led research at Great Zimbabwe World Heritage property
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline and reflect on the new research agenda for the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage property. This research agenda was jointly developed by academics and practitioners from Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) and the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) respectively. This Research-Practice Team was put together for the Heritage Place Lab (HPL), a pilot project of the ICCROM-IUCN World Heritage Lea…
Independent Museums and Culture Centres in Colonial and Post-colonial Zimbabwe
Independent Museums and Culture Centres in Colonial and Postcolonial Zimbabwe
Colonial Statues in Post-Colonial Africa
The establishment of African colonies by European countries was not a benevolent exercise; neither was it a benign act. Colonies were established through violence, often resulting in the massacre of those that resisted. This was followed by a Europeanisation of African landscapes. New trees were imported from Europe while European names were imprinted onto African mountains, rivers and towns among others for example the Victoria Falls, Lake Victo…
The Politics of Knowledge Production
Numerous doctoral degree holders were trained in African archaeometallurgy in the Global North as well as on the African continent. African archaeometallurgy continues to attract a significant number of researchers from Europe and North America. This paper is based on our lived experiences as resident African archaeometallurgists. We argue that out of frustration because of unequal power relations and lack of access to archaeological science labo…
Lost and Found Property
This article evaluates efforts to bring to life some museum collections in Zimbabwe. Scholars have argued that the removal of objects from their social environments into museums literally kills them. The ‘heritagisation’ and ‘museualisation’ processes stand accused of killing objects. On the other hand, indigenous African communities consistently and situationally imbued their landscape with spiritual, political and social meanings. These cultura…
Nation branding in Zimbabwe
This article critically assesses how heritage has been appropriated in various contexts to create national, partisan, and corporate identities in Zimbabwe. Using iconography, we attempt to establish how various players have created visual identities based on iconic archaeological artefacts and places. We discern that archaeological evidence has played a vital role in the invention and re-invention of national identity and patriotic iconography. A…
Pwiti, Gilbert
Restoration and Restitution of Cultural Heritage, the Case of the Ndebele Monarch
This article looks at the public debate, mostly in newspaper articles, which followed recent attempts to coronate a king of the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe. The High Court of Zimbabwe declared that it was unconstitutional for the Ndebele royal family to install a king. What ensued was a polarised public debate between those who strongly supported the resuscitation of the pre-colonial monarchy and those who had strong reservations against the move.…
Copper mining and smelting technology in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. 1000 CE to ca. 1880 CE
The Production, Distribution and Consumption of Metals and Alloys at Great Zimbabwe
The legacy of vandalism and almost a century of continuous focus on drystone wall masonry is that little is known about metal craft production and consumption activities at Great Zimbabwe. Within these limitations, this paper attempts to explore the metallurgy of Great Zimbabwe, guided by the framework of archival, chronological and fieldwork‐ and laboratory‐based studies. The paper contends that residents of various components of Great Zimbabwe …
The archaeometallurgical reconstruction of early second-millennium AD metal production activities at Shankare Hill, northern Lowveld, South Africa
Mining and metallurgy have previously been cited as the sole activities that encouraged the permanent occupation of the agropastorally marginal region conventionally known as the northern Lowveld of South Africa prior to the nineteenth century. Archaeologists have previously documented more than 50 second-millennium AD settlements, associated with extensive evidence of metal production, around Phalaborwa in this region. Archaeometallurgical resea…
African Museums in the Making
Metals from K2 and Mapungubwe, Middle Limpopo Valley
The application of pyrotechnologies in the transformation of natural ores to metals has fascinated scholars from diverse backgrounds. Southern Africa opened its metallurgy chapter with the producti
Metalworkers and Smelting Precincts
This thesis examines metal production debris with the aim of reconstructing extractive metal technologies employed around Phalaborwa during the second millennium AD. Mining and metallurgy were previously identified as exclusive pulling factors for Iron Age human settlement in this agropastoral marginal area. Several Iron Age settlements with extensive metal production evidence were previously documented. This thesis places emphasis on extractive …
Small size, high value
This investigation introduces a new dimension to the previous typological analyses of the metal bead assemblages from Zimbabwean archaeological sites. Here we present the microstructural and chemical characterisation of 50 copper-based metal beads from the collections of the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences (ZMHS) in Harare, most of them from Later Farming Community period sites in northern Zimbabwe (AD 1000 to AD 1900). The analytical study emp…
The Production, Distribution and Consumption of Metals and Alloys at Great Zimbabwe
The legacy of vandalism and almost a century of continuous focus on drystone wall masonry is that little is known about metal craft production and consumption activities at Great Zimbabwe. Within these limitations, this paper attempts to explore the metallurgy of Great Zimbabwe, guided by the framework of archival, chronological and fieldwork‐ and laboratory‐based studies. The paper contends that residents of various components of Great Zimbabwe …
The Politics of Knowledge Production
Numerous doctoral degree holders were trained in African archaeometallurgy in the Global North as well as on the African continent. African archaeometallurgy continues to attract a significant number of researchers from Europe and North America. This paper is based on our lived experiences as resident African archaeometallurgists. We argue that out of frustration because of unequal power relations and lack of access to archaeological science labo…
Metalworkers and Smelting Precincts
This thesis examines metal production debris with the aim of reconstructing extractive metal technologies employed around Phalaborwa during the second millennium AD. Mining and metallurgy were previously identified as exclusive pulling factors for Iron Age human settlement in this agropastoral marginal area. Several Iron Age settlements with extensive metal production evidence were previously documented. This thesis places emphasis on extractive …
Small size, high value
This investigation introduces a new dimension to the previous typological analyses of the metal bead assemblages from Zimbabwean archaeological sites. Here we present the microstructural and chemical characterisation of 50 copper-based metal beads from the collections of the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences (ZMHS) in Harare, most of them from Later Farming Community period sites in northern Zimbabwe (AD 1000 to AD 1900). The analytical study emp…
The archaeometallurgical reconstruction of early second-millennium AD metal production activities at Shankare Hill, northern Lowveld, South Africa
Mining and metallurgy have previously been cited as the sole activities that encouraged the permanent occupation of the agropastorally marginal region conventionally known as the northern Lowveld of South Africa prior to the nineteenth century. Archaeologists have previously documented more than 50 second-millennium AD settlements, associated with extensive evidence of metal production, around Phalaborwa in this region. Archaeometallurgical resea…
Nation branding in Zimbabwe
This article critically assesses how heritage has been appropriated in various contexts to create national, partisan, and corporate identities in Zimbabwe. Using iconography, we attempt to establish how various players have created visual identities based on iconic archaeological artefacts and places. We discern that archaeological evidence has played a vital role in the invention and re-invention of national identity and patriotic iconography. A…
Lost and Found Property
This article evaluates efforts to bring to life some museum collections in Zimbabwe. Scholars have argued that the removal of objects from their social environments into museums literally kills them. The ‘heritagisation’ and ‘museualisation’ processes stand accused of killing objects. On the other hand, indigenous African communities consistently and situationally imbued their landscape with spiritual, political and social meanings. These cultura…
Small size, high value
This investigation introduces a new dimension to the previous typological analyses of the metal bead assemblages from Zimbabwean archaeological sites. Here we present the microstructural and chemical characterisation of 50 copper-based metal beads from the collections of the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences (ZMHS) in Harare, most of them from Later Farming Community period sites in northern Zimbabwe (AD 1000 to AD 1900). The analytical study emp…
Metalworkers and Smelting Precincts
This thesis examines metal production debris with the aim of reconstructing extractive metal technologies employed around Phalaborwa during the second millennium AD. Mining and metallurgy were previously identified as exclusive pulling factors for Iron Age human settlement in this agropastoral marginal area. Several Iron Age settlements with extensive metal production evidence were previously documented. This thesis places emphasis on extractive …
African Museums in the Making
Metals from K2 and Mapungubwe, Middle Limpopo Valley
The application of pyrotechnologies in the transformation of natural ores to metals has fascinated scholars from diverse backgrounds. Southern Africa opened its metallurgy chapter with the producti
Copper mining and smelting technology in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. 1000 CE to ca. 1880 CE
The Production, Distribution and Consumption of Metals and Alloys at Great Zimbabwe
The legacy of vandalism and almost a century of continuous focus on drystone wall masonry is that little is known about metal craft production and consumption activities at Great Zimbabwe. Within these limitations, this paper attempts to explore the metallurgy of Great Zimbabwe, guided by the framework of archival, chronological and fieldwork‐ and laboratory‐based studies. The paper contends that residents of various components of Great Zimbabwe …
The archaeometallurgical reconstruction of early second-millennium AD metal production activities at Shankare Hill, northern Lowveld, South Africa
Mining and metallurgy have previously been cited as the sole activities that encouraged the permanent occupation of the agropastorally marginal region conventionally known as the northern Lowveld of South Africa prior to the nineteenth century. Archaeologists have previously documented more than 50 second-millennium AD settlements, associated with extensive evidence of metal production, around Phalaborwa in this region. Archaeometallurgical resea…
Pwiti, Gilbert
Restoration and Restitution of Cultural Heritage, the Case of the Ndebele Monarch
This article looks at the public debate, mostly in newspaper articles, which followed recent attempts to coronate a king of the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe. The High Court of Zimbabwe declared that it was unconstitutional for the Ndebele royal family to install a king. What ensued was a polarised public debate between those who strongly supported the resuscitation of the pre-colonial monarchy and those who had strong reservations against the move.…
Nation branding in Zimbabwe
This article critically assesses how heritage has been appropriated in various contexts to create national, partisan, and corporate identities in Zimbabwe. Using iconography, we attempt to establish how various players have created visual identities based on iconic archaeological artefacts and places. We discern that archaeological evidence has played a vital role in the invention and re-invention of national identity and patriotic iconography. A…
Independent Museums and Culture Centres in Colonial and Post-colonial Zimbabwe
Independent Museums and Culture Centres in Colonial and Postcolonial Zimbabwe
Colonial Statues in Post-Colonial Africa
The establishment of African colonies by European countries was not a benevolent exercise; neither was it a benign act. Colonies were established through violence, often resulting in the massacre of those that resisted. This was followed by a Europeanisation of African landscapes. New trees were imported from Europe while European names were imprinted onto African mountains, rivers and towns among others for example the Victoria Falls, Lake Victo…
The Politics of Knowledge Production
Numerous doctoral degree holders were trained in African archaeometallurgy in the Global North as well as on the African continent. African archaeometallurgy continues to attract a significant number of researchers from Europe and North America. This paper is based on our lived experiences as resident African archaeometallurgists. We argue that out of frustration because of unequal power relations and lack of access to archaeological science labo…
Lost and Found Property
This article evaluates efforts to bring to life some museum collections in Zimbabwe. Scholars have argued that the removal of objects from their social environments into museums literally kills them. The ‘heritagisation’ and ‘museualisation’ processes stand accused of killing objects. On the other hand, indigenous African communities consistently and situationally imbued their landscape with spiritual, political and social meanings. These cultura…
When theory meets praxis – enhancing heritage management through practice-led research at Great Zimbabwe World Heritage property
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline and reflect on the new research agenda for the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage property. This research agenda was jointly developed by academics and practitioners from Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) and the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) respectively. This Research-Practice Team was put together for the Heritage Place Lab (HPL), a pilot project of the ICCROM-IUCN World Heritage Lea…
National Currencies and Sovereignty
This paper examines how Zimbabwean banknote iconography from the colonial and post‐colonial eras reflects the interplay of politics, history, heritage and religion. National currencies have become a key component of modern nation‐states. They serve as symbols of state power and sovereignty and are used in daily transactions. Some have argued that national currencies can be useful vehicles for mass communication and propaganda. In Zimbabwe, bankno…
Archaeology (11 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (11 works) · History (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · African history and culture studies (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (5 works) · Colonialism (5 works)