This lesson introduces students to medieval African history.

It focuses on the excavated remains found at one important site in modern-day South Africa.

Students first encounter the ‘Golden Rhinoceros’.

This was one of the objects that was excavated at Mapungubwe, and upon which a number of claims have been based about the social and political organisation of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe.

Students then study a number of the excavated items, considering what they have to tell us about trade; politics and leaders; and culture and beliefs in medieval Africa.

Then, they make broader inferences about the people of Mapungubwe, referring to a ‘word wall’ to help them put forward sophisticated claims of their own.

Finally, students respond to historian Francois-Xavier Fauvelle and his argument about the difficulty of constructing a history of medieval Africa, outlining the significance of the finds at Mapungubwe.

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