Great Zimbabwe and its Legacy

Abstract

Great Zimbabwe is arguably one of the largest (area-wise), and most impressive archaeological sites in southern Africa. While not the first southern African site to use stone walls in its architectural plan (the slightly earlier site of Mapungubwe holds that distinction), this World Heritage site is without doubt the most often visited, photographed, and studied archeological site in southern Africa. The dressed granite blocks were assembled without mortar into structures of impressive dimensions. The walls in the Great Enclosure are eleven meters high, six meters thick at their base, four meters at the top, and the circumference of the structure is 255 meters. Great Zimbabwe was the largest of many other smaller zimbabwes (or houses of stone) from the same period. All are located on the edge of the plateau, so as to be at the center of the annual seasonal movement of cattle between the highlands and lowlands (to avoid tsetse fly and sleeping sickness problems). Gold (and probably iron) was mined, worked, and traded internally and externally, but the real wealth of Great Zimbabwe was in the huge herds of cattle they controlled. From radiocarbon dates we know that the area around Great Zimbabwe was settled by the 5th century of the Christian era. Early walls were built in the 13th century, and people continued to inhabit the site till the 1500s, and perhaps longer. Most agree that the peak of economic prosperity, and when the majority of the building was done, was the period between 1300 and 1450. Great Zimbabwe’s decline was probably gradual, as power moved to states in the southwest (Butua and Khami) and northeast (Mutapa). Interpretation of Great Zimbabwe has undergone considerable change over the years from the early insistence on foreign construction, to the current accepted understanding of it being the result of local African development. Names of structures at the site have also changed with time (e.g., Circular Ruins, Elliptical Ruins, Elliptical Temple, Imba Huru [Great House] and Great Enclosure for the same structure), so it is imperative that researchers be cognizant of the historical context (colonial, white settler, post-independent times, etc.) of when they were written. The most famous material finds from Great Zimbabwe are the carved soapstone (or steatite, a type of talc-schist rock) birds. Because of the popularity of the topic of Great Zimbabwe and the long history of coverage, there are many thousands of citations relating to Great Zimbabwe. Much of the research has been dominated by historians and archaeologists. Art historians seeking to understand the material culture, especially architecture and sculptural objects, will not find much in Art Historical literature and instead will need to be more interdisciplinary and explore the research of these and other disciplines