Abstract

Ian Morris (2009) explains socio-political and cultural complexity as the scale of practices (settlement, energy capture, monument building, inequality and heterogeneity, and communication) characterizing societies. This, he says, is a measure of how, and how much human groups organise themselves and the world they live in. To understand this concept, he, suggests, explanation should focus on the forms that complexity takes. Theories of socio-political and cultural complexity either look at the bigger picture – a systems approach – where complexity is seen in terms of interacting and integrated “system” of a society (interwoven economic, social, religious and political organisations that structure society), or, adopt a narrow focus, examining specific elements, especially the economy. However, we shy away from these limited categorizations, or generalizations about how ancient societies operated. In his book Chiefdoms and other Archaeological Delusions, Timothy Pauketat (2007) demonstrates that every civilization is unique, and thus emphasis must be placed on difference. This is the approach we are adopting in investigating the ancient urban complex of Great Zimbabwe, where some critical elements of past forms of complexity in southern Africa are emerging from recent research. One of these elements in ancient socio-political and cultural complexity on the Zimbabwe plateau, is water management, which opens up avenues for understanding the fate of pre-European urbanisation in the region.

The lecture will be followed by a wine reception.