Ingombe Ilede: copper, gold and bead trade network
Ingombe Ilede: red comercial del cobre, el oro y las cuentas
- Date
- c. siglos VII-XVI (entierros ricos hacia el century XVI) · confidence medium
- Place
- Ingombe Ilede, Siavonga, Southern Province, Zambia
- Credited to
- Zambezi Valley societies (Ingombe Ilede culture)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A burial hill excavated by Brian Fagan in the 1960s with graves accompanied by copper crosses, ingots, glass beads from the coast and cotton cloth. It shows an elite controlling trade between the Copperbelt and the Indian Ocean.
The chronology is debated: occupation dates from the 7th century and rich burials around the 14th-15th centuries; the date given is indicative. The site's position (near Siavonga in the Zambezi Valley) is approximate.
What it led to
- evidence of social hierarchy and long-distance trade in the middle Zambezi
- connection with the Zambezi basin and the coast
- context for the Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa states