Gold of Mapungubwe at the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa

Gold of Mapungubwe at the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa. 

Artifacts including objects known collectively as the Mapungubwe Gold from the Mapungubwe archaeological site discovered in 1933  are on display at this museum on the campus of the University of South Africa in Pretoria.  Mapungubwe originated as a complex Iron Age society on the borders of Zimbabwe and Botswana and evolved into the first South African state, now recognized as a World Heritage Site. This museum is home to 27,000 objects dating from prehistory to the Iron Age and beyond including pottery, beadwork, musical instruments and utensils.  Not to be missed is the paleo-anthropology collection of casts taken from original hominid fossils. Two exceptional specimens are Taung Child and Mrs Ples (both belonging to Australopithecus africanus). 

Image: Golden rhinoceros found at the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site. Image courtesy of the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa.

Reconstruction of the Taung Child at the Museum of Man in San Diego, California.

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