Great Zimbabwe

GREAT ZIMBABWE: OVERVIEW

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Time

Place

Interior, southeastern, sub-Saharan Africa, between the Kalahari Desert and Mozambique; 250 mi. from Indian Ocean.
Trading center and capital of Medieval Zimbabwe state. Within Victoria region of modern state of Zimbabwe, which lies between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers.
wealth from cattle herding then trade in ivory, rhino horn, and gold from Limpopo and its tributaries in exchange for glass beads, cloth, glazed ceramics from India, E Asia, Arabia, Egypt. Metalworking/iron smelting near site.

Patron

Purpose

elite dwellings: enclosures perhaps built to protect and control access to dhaka (mud and thatch) dwellings for king, his family and court; commoners, supporting the elite, dwelt in settlements without, at a distance from the enclosures,
sacred center: setting for religious ceremonies, perhaps focused on god Mwari creator of all life;

Siting/context

Zimbabwe plateau, mild climate, open grasslands, 3-5,000 above sea level and thus tsetse fly free, good for cattle herding; more rainfall than surroundings;
Naturally protected valley site within plateau, hill complex on granite dome overlooking other portions of site.

Massing/Composition

Hill complex: series of residential and ceremonial enclosures in and around rock outcrops and boulders atop granite dome.
Valley complex: collection of smaller stone ruins and enclosures.
Great Enclosure: impenetrable elliptical granite wall; solid conical tower within (double wall between north entrance and conical tower with narrow passage between).

Scale

outer elliptical wall of Great enclosure 830’ circumference x 4’ to 17’ thick, varied height, up to 35’or 40’
area within great enclosure 300’ x 500’.
Hill structure 260’ above lower complex.

Structure

load-bearing masonry. Great Enclosure wall: lower portion irregular untrimmed stones; upper, later portions cut
stone laid in gradually receeding courses without mortar.
only openings for entrances and drainage.
walls incorporate existing boulders on site at certain points

Materials

wall of Great Enclosure: thin granite sheets gathered from exposed rock of surrounding hills, which naturally exfoliate in layers, heated with fire to shear into planar blocks, shaped with iron rods.
surrounding and internal structures of mud and thatch (daga), have not survived due to erosion and archeological site clearance.
sandalwood lintels.
objects within: gold and copper artifacts, beads, pottery, bronze, soapstone artifacts.

Ornamentation

decorative chevron pattern (triangular holes) along upper Great Enclosure wall.
wall of great enclosure, narrows as it rises, thus tapered at top.
fine workmanship of the undulating walls themselves.

Spatial layout/circulation

limited entries = restricted access for elite
Hill complex approached from west by 3 routes, steep ascent along narrow stone staircase;
Great enclosure: few entrances, narrow parallel passage between inner and outer walls.

Ritual Use/Accommodation of Function

Unclear, due to uncertainty about original purpose.
Elite dwellings? Symbols of privilege and power? Mwari religious center? Regional trade center?
east enclosure of Hill complex contains sopastone bird/raptor scultures = sacred area for religious cermonies? Zimbabwe bird/raptor as symbol of power and majesty of ruler, religious ceremonies with ruler as human/divine intermediary?
west enclosure of Hill complex, possible ruler residence?
conical tower: expression of elite privilege and power; phallic symbol, minaret equivalent?

Meanings

Zimbabwe variously translated in Bantu: sacred house, venerated houses, court, home or grave of chief, ritual seat of a king, houses of stone.

Interpretation of site colored by racial prejudice on the part of white European explorers. Guided by the conviction that it could not be African in origin, explorers and archaeologists ignored, misinterpreted, and destroyed evidence.
In 1960s and 70s Great Zimbabwe a symbol of African Nationalist movement, as white gov’t. of Rhodesia suppressed theories of African orgins. Rhodesia achieves majority rule and becomes Zimbabwe, named after this site, in 1980.

Discoverers

1552 Portuguese historian Joao dos Barros wrote Da Asia, conquest account; assumed site be one of the cities of the Queen of Sheba. Other Portuguese chroniclers described it as the biblical city of Ophir.
1871 German geologist Karl Mauch; similarly believed he had found Ophir, home of the Queen of Sheba, site of gold mines that were the source of King Solomon’s wealth, where Queen of Sheba procured gold for the Temple of Solomon.
1890s British James Theodore Bent, sent by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, sponsored by Cecil Rhodes, British financier whose British South Africa Company occupied Mashonaland (N or Great Zimbabwe) in 1890 and established colony called Rhodesia; Bent first suspects ruins to be of African origin, but his1892 Ruined Cities of Mashonaland cites exotic objects found within to conclude ruins not natively built.
1902-04 British archaeologist Richard N. Hall cleared dirt and rubble within enclosures, destroying much evidence. Believed it built by "more civilized races" than native groups.
1905 David Randall-MacIver, archaeologist and Egyptologist, first to declare the ruins African.
1929 Gertrude Caton-Thompson, archaeologist, sent by British to prove him wrong, confirms Randall-MacIver’s thesis, pronounces the site African Bantu in origin.

Nature of evidence

No primary written evidence
Archaeologists use evidence of modern nearby dwellings; paleontological evidence, fossils.
Oral tradition of modern Shona,
comparison to nearby, better-preserved sites;
analogy with contemporary belief systems and building traditions.
Lack of certain domestic items seems to rule out some uses (e.g. cooking done outside enclosures).
Clues to use of buildings based on structural materials (e.g., granite finer than clay; status of the user equated with quality of material).

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