Mapungubwe is ‘discovered’

The ancient city of Mapungubwe (meaning 'hill of the jackal') is an Iron Age archaeological site in the Limpopo Province. It is on the border between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and is located 75 km from Messina. One thousand years ago, Mapungubwe appears to have been the centre of the largest known kingdom in the African sub-continent. The civilization thrived as a sophisticated trading center from around 1200 to 1300 AD, trading gold and ivory with China, India and Egypt. Mapungubwe appears to have been a successor state, being forged as a response to new trading opportunities to the south of the Kingdom of Monomotapa. The site was 'discovered' on 31 December 1932, when a local informant, Mowena, led E.S.J. van Graan (farmer and prospector), his son and three others, to Greefswald farm on Mapungubwe Hill.  On the hill they noticed stone walls and on closer inspection, they recovered gold and iron artifacts, pottery and glass beads. Van Graan's son recognized the academic value of the site; he contacted the head of History Department at the University of Pretoria, Professor Leo Fouché. As a result of his intervention Greefswald was bought by the Government and excavation rights were granted to the University of Pretoria. The University established an Archaeological Committee, which from 1933 to 1947 oversaw research and excavations. The find initially seemed to receive wide publicity in the media, but soon the archaeological digs and discoveries made by the University were kept fairly secret and were only made public after 1994. Possibly because the discovery provided evidence of a civilization that existed and flourished years before European occupation. Management of the Greefswald farm was taken over by the provincial Department of Nature Conservation in 1992 and control was transferred to SANParks in 1999. Mapungubwe was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in July 2003.