Figure 1.
The location of Mapela in relation to other important sites in the region around present-day Zimbabwe.
Figure 2.
A section of Mapela Hill from the north: All the areas with dry grass (pale yellow in colour) have evidence of human activity.
Figure 3.
Garlake's map of the summit of Mapela Hill.
Figure 4.
The extensive terrace walls where Excavation Area 2 (Terrace Excavation) (see Figure 5) was situated: Note the buffalo grass on the top section of the terrace and dung clearly visible on the edges without grass.
Figure 5.
A succession of fired floors on the northern edge of the summit.
Figure 6.
A K2 sherd surface collected from the lower summit of Mapela hilltop.
Figure 7.
Complete map of Mapela Hill showing the summit, terraces and surrounding flats: Note the density of stone terraces, which by far outnumber those on Mapungubwe Hill.
Figure 8.
A section of Trench 1, Excavation Area 1 on the northern flats.
Figure 9.
The stratigraphy of Trench 1, Excavation Area 2 on the terrace.
Figure 10.
The stratigraphy of Trench 1 on the lower summit.
Figure 11.
Selected K2, Transitional K2 and Mapungubwe ceramics from Mapela Hill.
Table 1.
Characteristics of glass: Early and Late Leopard's Kopje glass beads from southern Africa (after Robertshaw et al., 2010).
Figure 12.
Mapungubwe-type glass beads from the glass bead cache (see Figure 7) on the edge of a lower terrace, northern side of Mapela.
Table 2.
Presents the materials dated, their context, and uncalibrated radiocarbon dates.
Figure 13.
Modelled dates from Levels 7, 9, and 13 to 19, Excavation Area 2 (Terrace Excavation), Trench 1.
Table 3.
Presents the unmodelled and modelled dates for the samples from Mapela.
Figure 14.
The relationship between the terrace and the stratigraphy of Trench 1 Excavation Area 2.
Figure 15.
Cupules located on the eastern edge of the north-facing cliff at Mapela.
Figure 16.
Map of Mapela (CE1055–1400), its size and significant number of stone walls.
Figure 17.
Map of Mapungubwe (CE1220–1290) (after Huffman, 2007): Note the limited number of walls and small size when compared with Mapela.
Figure 18.
Mapela and some chronologically overlapping sites with Leopard's Kopje Phases I and II pottery.