Browsing by Author "Marufu, Happinos"

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    A comparative study of the material culture from settlement and mortuary contexts in Northern Zimbabwe: the case of Musengezi Tradition
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2008) Marufu, Happinos
    This dissertation is a comparative study of material culture from funerary and settlement contexts belonging to Musengezi tradition (12th to 16th centuries AD). The research aimed at establishing a relationship between material culture from the two contexts by characterizing their nature in terms of decoration and style. Other objectives of the study included inferring social implications of the observed similarities and differences, and cosmological view of death, the dead and their treatment. Using surveys, archaeological techniques (excavation), interviews and Focus Group Discussions as data collection methods, raw data were yielded in form of pottery, lithic artifacts , Dhaka structures and ideas regarding belief system of the studied society. Analysis of pottery evidence established a pattern whereby general overlaps in decorations and styles occurred between the two contexts, with major differences being their frequency. The material culture from funerary context were more decorated and stylized than their settlement counterpart. Ethnographic information shows that funerary pottery was intentionally selected from household assemblage because of their potential in communicating social messages. Again, it was also learnt that the practice of burying the dead is rich in symbolical acts which can be translated to the society’s cosmology and ideology. In conclusion, the practice of burying the dead was greatly influenced by cosmological view of death and the dead. Decisions regarding what, how and where to bury the dead were not done randomly, but were socially constructed and always in tandem with the cosmos of the people. The extent of variation of mortuary practices within and among Shona groups remains a challenge posed for future researches.
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    Foraging communities of the murewa-mutoko Landscape an Archaeological Study of Human Behaviour during the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs
    (University of Dar es Salaam,, 2012) Marufu, Happinos
    The study investigated behavioural elements of foraging communities in Murewa- Mutoko Landscape (northern Zimbabwe) during the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Stone Age studies in the country mostly concentrated in the south western region because of its richness in Later Stone Age (LSA) sites, thereby marginalizing other regions in terms of research coverage as well as limiting our understanding of their Stone Age archaeology. The data for the study was collected through archaeological surveys and excavations, and findings include lithic materials, faunal remains, shell beads, pottery and pigment materials. Evidence shows that foraging communities inhabited the Murewa-Mutoko landscape from Middle Stone Age (MSA) until the appearance of Early Farming Communities (EFCs) around 2,000 bp. Whereas some parts of the Murewa-Mutoko landscape were continuously occupied, others were temporarily deserted during the terminal Pleistocene and mid Holocene perhaps because of the aridity caused by extreme cold and hot weather, respectively. Variation of human activities in the study area was influenced by ecological differences of the three studied zones but also scheduling of natural resource exploitation by foragers as a strategy for maintaining their inhabitation of the landscape. In spite of overlaps in behavioural elements of foraging communities in northern and south western regions of Zimbabwe, it remains unclear why foragers inhabited the latter much later compared to the former. Future researches are therefore recommended to tackle this area of research