THULAMELA (PLACE OF BIRTH)

Thulamela (a Venda word meaning ‘place of birth’) is a wild, beautiful place. Situated in the Parfuri area of the Kruger National Park, the remains of the ancient stone buildings are situated high on a hilltop with a view of the lush Luvuvhu River Valley and surrounded by enormous baobab trees. This stonewalled settlement was a vital link in extensive trade between communities in the Limpopo Valley and Arab traders from the East African coast. Local people traded ivory, gold, copper and tin with the Arabs. While not as exquisite as the gold-plated rhinoceros found at Mapungubwe, a gold bracelet and many gold beads have been found there, as well as bronze and copper artefacts and other jewellery. Porcelain and glass beads from the Chinese Ming Dynasty have also been unearthed. This trade produced the wealth evident in cities like Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe. The Thulamela site was occupied by the middle of the thirteenth century, and there were many people living there by the fifteenth century. The building style, gold and pottery link the site with Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe, which provides evidence of a royal village, gold mining and trading in the area dating back to 1460. The place evokes the same sense of continuity, of a connection with an ancient past, as the experience Pablo Neruda described on his visit to the ancient Inca site, Machu Picchu.

The opening of the Thulamela archaeological site in 1996 was a very colourful occasion. It felt much like a celebration of the ‘Rainbow Nation’, with conservationists, corporate types and about 800 people from the local Venda and Tsonga communities all eating, drinking and dancing together. The music came from traditional instruments, which included skin drums and a buffalo horn. The local women wore traditional grass skirts and brightly coloured, layered dresses with wire anklets, and the men shuffled in a circle doing the ‘reed dance’.

The Thulamela site involved a unique arrangement in the history of archaeology, linking local cultural wishes for respect for the ancestors with scientific inquiry. Members of the local community were actively involved in unearthing the history of the site.