Compositional analysis of c13th century AD Mapungubwe ceramics in South Africa
Regional, Local and Household Connections
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5953640 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Juané Hurter (University of Pretoria, corresponding author), Alexander Antonites (0000-0001-8831-9638, University of Pretoria), Anders Lindahl (0000-0003-2871-5166, Lund University), Ceri Ashley (University of Pretoria) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565 |
| Publisher | Springer Nature (PUBLISHER • SG) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12520-025-02320-5 |
| OpenAlex | W7104647575 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
The 13th century AD in southern Africa is a period associated with the emergence of class-based society and the establishment of Mapungubwe as the capital of a regional state. This study reports on ceramics excavated from four households at Bosbokpoort, a small Mapungubwe settlement situated approximately 95 km from Mapungubwe. By combining traditional stylistic analysis with chemical (pXRF) and mineralogical techniques (optical petrology), the research explores how pottery production and use reflected both regional Mapungubwe influences and local practices at the household level. The ceramic assemblage was predominantly characteristic of the Mapungubwe ceramic style, along with sherds from the Eiland ceramic facies. Mineralogical analysis indicated that the majority of the Mapungubwe ceramics at Bosbokpoort were made locally, with some produced elsewhere in the Limpopo River valley. The clay utilized in the manufacture of the Eiland ceramics were sourced from regions further to the south, where most Eiland communities occur. This approach highlights the active role of local communities in negotiating their identities and relationships within the larger Mapungubwe sociopolitical landscape
Assemblage (archaeology · Capital (architecture · Period (music · Pottery · Settlement (finance · Situated
Thin Section Petrography, Geochemistry and Scanning Electron Microscopy of Archaeological Ceramics
Materiality, Techniques and Society in Pottery Production
Non‐destructive analysis using PXRF
Metals, Ideology and Power
Archaeology and Early Venda History
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture
Moijabana Rocks-Pilikwe Pots
The social geography of pottery in Botswana as reconstructed by optical petrography
Ceramic studies using portable XRF
Southern African glass beads
Portable XRF analysis of archaeological sediments and ceramics
New Pathways of Sociopolitical Complexity in Southern Africa
Fiber Spinning During the Mapungubwe Period of Southern Africa
Ceramics, Ethnohistory, and Ethnography
Forming and Shaping Pottery Boundaries in Contemporary South-Eastern Botswana
Ceramic discard and the use of space at Early Iron Age Ndondondwane, South Africa
Imagining Rain-Places
A Twelfth Century Eiland Facies Site in the North-Eastern Transvaal
Pixe Analysis of Pre-European Pottery from the Northern Transvaal and Its Relevance to the Distribution of Ceramic Styles, Social Interaction and Change
The Characterisation of Argillaceous Inclusions in Ceramic Thin Sections
Settlement hierarchies in the Northern Transvaal
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana
The mobilities turn and archaeology
Ceramic technology
Ceramics and change
Archaeology of Everyday Life
Ceramics, classification and Iron Age entities
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |