Mapungubwe gold sceptre

Mapungubwe sceptre or staff head made from thin gold foil with detachable finial. The finial is made from one sheet of gold bent and pleated into a shaped ring. The longitudinal light twisted stem is helical, with a raised ridge on one end. The ridge is decorated with a two encircling bands of angled, stippled incisions. The finial is round and flattened with bulged sides. There are two apertures to the finial, both of differing diameters. The bulged sides of the finial have two encircling bands of the same decoration applied to the ridge, on both the top and base of the finial. The base of the sceptre stem has an angular section missing. The sceptre was originally nailed to a wooden core (since decayed) resulting in creasing to improve the fit, with gold nails, loose nails are retained separately. The gold sceptre was excavated from the second gold burial, or sceptre burial (M5, field no. 10, A619), on Mapungubwe Hill early in September 1934. This object is a specifically declared heritage object. The gold has been dated to CE 1250 - CE 1290- this is the Iron Age period of southern Africa.