Laser Technology Revealed the Lost City of South Africa




Professor Kerim Sadr is standing in front of the stones which the researchers once believed to be an entrance to a house in the ancient city of Kweneng. A: Jeffrey Barbee / allianceearth.org
The things that have been visible since the city was abandoned were: broken walls between the soil, a mound covered with dry grass and a waterway of a dried river.
However, Prof. According to Kerim Sadr and his team, the ruins in Kweneng tell us about the unusual story of a long-lost city.
The new laser technology revealed that Kweneng, which is located about 50 kilometers south of South Africa's commercial capital, was once a developing metropolis with hundreds of households, large gathering places, numerous family houses behind the walls and a bustling market. The city regulates trade; he was led by kings who fought against other similar city-states and resolved disputes.
The discoveries are important not only for South Africa, but also for the entire African continent, where some still claim that these are largely uninhabited areas before colonies colonize the western coasts of the Europeans.
Over the past 10 years, researchers have clearly demonstrated that sub-Saharan Africa is completely misunderstood by Western imperialists and historians who are not interested in seeing it as a vast wasteland that is awaiting ilgilen civilization eryal by Europeans.
Instead, academics studied the riches, powers and progress of cities and other civilizations such as Great Zimbabwe, the Financial empire, the kingdom of Benin. Research has revealed a continent that has been part of global commercial and intellectual exchange systems since the 15th century, long before the arrival of Europeans.
A new wave of research goes further; it led to the emergence of complex commercial, agricultural and urban development layers.
Thomas Vernet-Habasque, an expert in pre-colonial Africa, said: ki Now we understand that there was a settlement network of very large regions and trade links. They did not have a single main area and left limited written or verbal marks, so they went under the radar. Bunlar
Kweneng; Before the first European settlers arrived, it was one of the many large settlements in the northern part of the area, which is now South Africa, where the people who speak Tswana for centuries have settled. Many of these settlements were devastated in the violent turmoil of the early 19th century, but they were not completely unmanned.
Kweneng's existence has been known for decades, but the new laser technology has revealed its true size. The laser system works similarly to a radar detection system, but instead of radio waves, the system is sending laser pulses. A computer then converts these vibrations into a high-resolution image, where archaeologists can reconfigure how space appears in the past.
The city is divided into three large neighborhoods spread over 20 square meters and has two large stone walls surrounded by caves.
Sadr said, ülasyon If once upon a time there were 900 farms and land on which we found their tracks, the number of the population could have reached 20,000; however, if the other cities in the region are cited, this is probably 5,000. ancak
There is also evidence for the considerable progress of the city. . There were probably four or five basic levels of local government together with the regimental units that were probably arranged for their age, local joint work and wars that they could call at that moment. They buried their important bodies under the wall of the central areas where they had been walled and cattle bred; but there was a strong egalitarian tradition, and the king endured struggles not to stand out. fakat
It is hard to find a definite date when Kweneng's days as a major metropolis have ended because the existing archaeological techniques are not definite according to those of the past few decades. However, the last days of the city can be fearful and violent. The city may have been a victim of the chaotic confrontations known as Mfcane or the large sprinkling of the Zulu kingdom, which was triggered by the further military expansion of the south.
In a previous excavation conducted by a team from the University of Witwatersrand, three houses that had been demolished by deliberate fire in the city were excavated. In the houses were abandoned valuables such as animal bones, weapons and beads were thought to be left in a hurry.
. My guess is that the entire city is heavily damaged. The question mark here is if the city was completely destroyed. Bur
In South Africa, such questions have
had a political dimension for a long time .
The history of the Mapungubwe Trade State, which was able to produce spectacular gold objects 800 years ago ,
was deliberately concealed by racist officials during the Apartheid period .
The lands inhabited by Europeans not only host a large African civilization; they also wanted to conceal evidence that the local population, which was considered only suitable for production based on simple arm strength, was also capable of making sophisticated artistic products.
Once the authority of Mapungubwe kings
work in Mapela, which is thought to be a small town under
it is much larger than previously thought. Thousands of archaeologists
found glass beads. This shows that it is a thriving trade center.
Shadreck Chirikure, an archaeologist from the University of Cape Town who excavated the parts of Mapela, said: en The trade networks were very complex and distorted. The similarity in copper ingot styles reveals a trade and change between Central Africa and South Africa. ”Above all, the colonial interventions predicted the establishment of boundaries dividing people who had relations with each other. S
The land ownership and the history of residence in the country remain a strong and sensitive issue today.
If Kweneng was still inhabited in the middle of the 18th century, the claims of their ownership of the land that would remain in the city claimed by the local people would be strengthened. The demands of the local communities to give back the land that they say to be their own are blocked for decades in series cases.
These new findings may also begin to change the way that visitors to South Africa understand the environment.
Researchers displayed by tourists; He says that the landscapes that represent the "real Africa" ​​in the "natural" state are not touched at all. Communities living in a large part of Africa's Kruger National Park were forcibly removed when it was established as a nature reserve. Even the famous savannah, spreading over most of the continent, had been cultivated by the people working here, where many of the new inhabitants had just met.
"The environments we see as 'wild' are not wild at all," says Vernet Habesque.

Source: poxox archaeology
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