Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Glass beads from Mutamba: patterns of consumption in thirteenth-century southern Africa
Author:Antonites, Alexander
Year:2014
Periodical:Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa (ISSN 1945-5534)
Volume:49
Issue:3
Pages:411-428
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:Iron Age
beadwork
trade
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2014.959316
Abstract:Mutamba is a settlement located on the northern slopes of the Soutpansberg in South Africa. Radiocarbon and material culture suggest contemporaneity with regional developments of social complexity primarily concentrated in the Shashe-Limpopo Confluence Area around the important site of Mapungubwe. The spatial location of Mutamba on the apparent political and economic periphery of Mapungubwe means that it is well suited to investigate patterns of distribution between centres of political influence and their larger hinterlands. It is proposed that trade goods followed variable patterns of distribution and consumption shaped by patterns in taste preference. In addition, this study suggests that, far from being deprived of trade goods, hinterland communities actively participated in regional networks of trade and exchange. Notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
Views
Cover