Marothodi   The Historical Archaeology of an African Capital       Deep in the heart of southern Africa, the ruins of a colossal stone walled town bear silent testimony to an African way of life almost forgotten. Undisturbed since it was abandoned nearly two centuries ago, Marothodi was the royal capital of a Tlokwa chiefdom, the metal-producing ancestors of a community still living in South Africa and Botswana.   Using an interdisciplinary combination of archaeology, history, ethnography and oral traditions, the remarkable legacy of Marothodi and its people can now be explored.     Filled with the results of brand new research and over 170 maps, plans, photographs and illustrations, this book introduces the historical archaeology of one of the great Iron Age Tswana towns of South Africa, and tells a fascinating story of pre-colonial African achievement.     Introduction - Tswana Towns in Context         The innumerable stone ruins distributed across much of southern Africa between the Gariep and Zambezi rivers are some of the most vivid and remarkable elements of the subcontinent’s abundant archaeological landscape. Appearing from around AD 1600, and showing considerable variability in size and form, these Late Iron Age settlements were occupied by various Bantu-speaking agro-pastoral communities who cultivated crops and venerated cattle as the source of both economic and political wealth (Mason 1968, 1986; Maggs 1976a; Hammond-Tooke 1993; Huff man 2007).   But even against this rich archaeological backdrop, the immense Tswana towns of South Africa stand out as unique. Developing in the mid-1700s and reaching their ultimate expressions by the early 19th century, these extensive stone walled sites—typically associated with late Moloko ceramics—are concentrated in the Pilanesberg / Magaliesberg region to the north of the Highveld (Figs. 4 and 5). Tswana towns were the capitals of aggregated Tswana-speaking communities—entire chiefdoms living together in a single town under the authority of their resident ruler (Boeyens2000, 2003; Hall 1995a, 2007). With populations sometimes over 10,000 strong, their considerable size inspired the term ‘mega-sites’ in earlier archaeological literature (Mason1986). Their density and scale bear testimony to significant changes that were underway in the Tswana world in the decades prior to their demise.   Most were eventually devastated during the catastrophic Difaqane wars that spread to the Pilanesberg / Magaliesberg region in the late 1820s, when the establishment of the Ndebele state in this area under Mzilikazi left many Tswana towns abandoned or destroyed.     Click either image for Enlargement Click either image for Enlargement   Above - Maps showing main Tlokwa capitals and main Tswana stone capitals.   Below - 19th century Tswana home design.         Tswana home plans - Barrow 1806 -Burchell 1824 - Kay 1833     Click thumbs for enlargements.         Price:   Click the banner below to purchase this invaluable book directly from source...       Follow this link to view other Southern African tribal art books on offer.