It covers an area of 9 hectares (22 acres) and is located at the northern end of Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa. Excavated in the 1990s, the site contains a series of stone walls built on the mountain.
We can say from archaeology that the evidence found at the scene shows that Tu lamela lives in a stratified community; The elite may be at the top of the mountain, while others occupy the adjacent area below. Lynn Mesker, a professor of anthropology at Stanford University, wrote: "It is generally believed that about 1000 people live in places with more than 2,000 people and less than 2,000 people, although this is speculation because there has been no systematic investigation or remote sensing. In a paper published in the Journal of Southern African Studies in 2007,
Archaeologists are not sure what people who live in this city call it. Meskel wrote that the name "Thulamela" is a modern name. In the language of literate people, it can mean "birthplace" or it can refer to hunted meat.
This site was used from13rd century to17th century. A team of archaeologists led by Maryna Steyn wrote an archaeological brief in a paper published in South Africa in 1998. Archaeologists reported that they found the graves of a man and a woman, with all kinds of gold jewelry buried, including hundreds of gold beads and gold necklaces and bracelets.
The analysis of this woman's skeleton shows that she is about 5.7 feet (1.7 meters) tall and strong, and she died between 45 and 60 years old. The man's bone condition is poor, and his height, physique and age of death are uncertain. A large number of gold jewelry found in the tomb made archaeologists think that both of them were elites.
The modern community where Kruger National Park is located demands respect for both. The archaeological team wrote in the paper 1998 that the bodies of the two men were solemnly reburied in their original graves in the first half of 1997 at the request of the local community. In the 1990s, when Tu lamela was unearthed, archaeologists discovered the remains of porcelain and glass beads, as well as other trade commodities. These findings show that lamela is part of the trade network. "Iron, copper, gold and tin exported by southern Africa through the Indian Ocean trading network can be exchanged for glass beads and other luxury goods, thus showing economic ties with North Africa, the Middle East, India and China." The study of animal remains shows that people living in Tulamela have frequent contact with people living on the east coast of Africa. "Ina, a researcher at the Transvaal Museum? Parker wrote in a paper published in Goodwin Series (Archaeological Research Collection) of South African Archaeological Association in 2000: "The diversity of marine mollusks found in Tulamela may indicate that they have more regular contact with the east coast. "Jewelry, people living in lamela make handicrafts with copper, iron and bronze. An extraordinary work of art is the double iron gong found near the grave of this man and woman. Archaeologists say Gong may be a symbol of the royal family. When analyzing the gold work, the researchers found that it had the same chemical fingerprint as the gold object found in another site called MaMPuGbWe, which flourished between about 1075 and 1220, before the existence of Thulala. Therefore, it can be concluded that both Mapungubwe (golden relic) and Thulamela (golden relic) come from the same source of gold, "a research team wrote in a paper published in the journal 1998.
Some researchers also noticed the similarity between the cultural relics made in lamela and another place called Great Zimbabwe, which flourished between 1 100 and 1450.
Archaeological research on decline and abandonment shows that Tulamela was abandoned in17th century. /kloc-At the end of 0/6th century, Tulamela people were still very prosperous, but since then, the land in this area has gradually dried up, and the influence of Portuguese and Zimbabwean civil wars may make life unsustainable. Stern's research team wrote in the paper 1998: "The site was abandoned in the early17th century, and was rediscovered by park rangers until 1983. It was not until the collapse of apartheid in South Africa in the 1990s that the site was excavated and restored on a large scale.
Additional resources
South Africa National Park: lamela South Africa History Online: Kruger National Park, Kingdom of South Africa: Turamel.