Kaleidescopio’s archaeologists Albino Jopela and Décio Muianga attended the 14th Congress of the Pan-African Archaeological Association for Prehistory and Related Studies and the 22nd Biennial Meeting of the Society of Africanists Archaeologists held from 14-18 July at the university of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Albino Jopela presented a paper entitled The Politics of Heritage in Postcolonial Mozambique where he discusses how ‘the past’ is constituted and utilized by different social groups in contemporary Mozambique. His analysis also looked at the implications of the current focus on ‘liberation heritage’ for other types of heritage sites and the heritage management policy in the country.
Décio Muianga presented a paper on the occupation of Vumba range, central Mozambique during the Late Stone Age. His paper CHM II and MCK Rock Shelters: the hunter-gatherer occupation and material culture in Manica district, Mozambique, analyzes typological characteristics identified in stone tools, cave paintings and other artifacts to show how the sequence of occupation of these archaeological sites contributes to the understanding of the settlements in the region. A diagnosis of the material culture in sites CHM II and MCK also suggests the continued presence of hunters and gatherers during the first millennium of Anno Domini, and also continuity in the lifestyle associated with the Late Stone Age after the arrival of Bantu speaking groups.
