Royal wives lived in their own area away from the king. The kingdom was likely divided into a three-tiered hierarchy with the commoners inhabiting low-lying sites, district leaders occupying small hilltops, and the capital at Mapungubwe hill as the supreme authority. Elites within the kingdom were buried in hills. Most speculation about society continues to be based upon the remains of buildings, since the Mapungubweans left no written record. Cattle lived in kraals located close to the residents' houses, signifying their value. Special sites were created for initiation ceremonies, household activities, and other social functions. Life in Mapungubwe was centred on family and farming. Mapungubwe's architecture and spatial arrangement also provide "the earliest evidence for sacred leadership in southern Africa". Mapungubwean society is thought by archaeologists to be the first class-based social system in southern Africa that is, its leaders were separated from and higher in rank than its inhabitants.
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