Selection - FHYA curation of a selection from the Archaeological Collections at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum

[Source - Chloe Rushovich for FHYA, 2018, using material provided by eThembeni Cultural Heritage Management: The uMgungundlovu site served as the capital of the Zulu Kingdom between 1829 and 1839. In 1828, when Dingane kaSenzangakhona succeeded Shaka to the Zulu kingship,he followed his predecessor’s custom of building a number of large military amakhanda in the heart of the kingdom. Located within the eMakhosini was the largest of these amakhanda, uMgungundlovu. Fully established by 1829, it served as the royal residence of Dingane and his isigodlo, his principal advisors and a large garrison of his favoured regiments. uMgungundlovu is the best preserved of all the capital amakhanda established during the height of the Zulu Kingdom.

The FHYA appointed eThembeni Cultural Heritage Management to identify all archaeological material relating to the uMgungundlovu archaeological site, including descriptions of collections; associated and peripheral materials such as museum documentation, accession information, registers, individual items; and historical notes. The uMgungundlovu archaeological site has the National Site Number Mgungundlovu 2831AD 4. eThembeni identified material from multiple excavations located at two institutions, the KwaZulu-Natal Museum and Amafa, as well as items collected from the site and held at the Msunduzi Museum and personal research materials in the hands of individual excavators. One of the aims of the FHYA is to enable the digital reunification of items, in this case, the dispersed archaeological record of uMgungundlovu. Thus the FHYA site includes relevant material from Amafa, Msunduzi Museum and other holdings.]