New evidence for early Indian Ocean trade routes into the South African interior.

The rise and spread of ancient Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) trade networks profoundly impacted southern Africa. Control over this trade played a critical role in the rise and maintenance of complex societies of the second millennium CE such as Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe. While the African origins of this trade lie in the first millennium CE, understanding its earliest phases and subsequent development in the far south has been hampered by a general paucity of research.