Zimbabwe Culture Research Articles

Landscape, history and power: The Zimbabwe Culture and the Nambya state, north-western Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT An archaeological identity of the Nambya state in north-western Zimbabwe is attempted by interrogating available oral accounts to determine how monumental stone structures in the region contributed to the development of the historical landscape. The research employs concepts of ‘listening’ to inform the archaeology connected with the state, which is also recalled in the recent histories of the Nambya people. Chronometric dating indicates that the Nambya state developed earlier than previously thought, and a review of the oral accounts indicates very close connections with Great Zimbabwe. It may have been an offshoot of the expansion of the Zimbabwe Culture on the Zimbabwe plateau during the fifteenth century, like the Mutapa state (1400-1900 AD). The clustering of monumental stone structures in north-western Zimbabwe is best informed by oral accounts, which show how royal capitals or palaces, and by extension, state power, shifted from one place to another.

The Zimbabwe Culture and the development of the Nambya state in north-western Zimbabwe

A multi-disciplinary research project in north-western Zimbabwe focuses on the Nambya state of the Zimbabwe Culture. The new research suggests that the development of the Nambya state was contemporaneous with other Zimbabwe Culture states and not the result of a direct migration from the Great Zimbabwe state.

Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements

At its peak in the sixteenth century, the Zimbabwe Culture encompassed an area the size of France. The greater Tuli area in east-central Botswana formed the western extent of this culture area. Here many dzimbahwe mark the residences of sacred leaders in the later Khami period (1400–1840 ad). These stone-walled headquarters formed a pyramid of political importance, with district chiefs (Level 4) and petty chiefs (Level 3) at the top and headmen (Level 2) and commoners (Level 1) at the base. Commoners and their headmen lived near arable land, while petty chiefs placed their administrative centres at the boundaries of their small chiefdoms. In death, sacred leaders rested in dzimbahwe on special hills, while ordinary villagers were buried in their homesteads. During the Khami period in Botswana, these various settlements were part of only one Level 4 district: Level 5 and Level 6 capitals were located elsewhere. After the collapse of the powerful Torwa state at Khami, decorative symbols changed from emphasizing the majesty of kingship (Khami) to the responsibilities of sacred leaders (Zinjanja), and then back again to kingship in the Rozvi state (Danangombe). The powerful Rozvi state did not extend to the Tuli area, probably because it was too dry.

Nation branding in Zimbabwe: Archaeological heritage, national cohesion, and corporate identities

This article critically assesses how heritage has been appropriated in various contexts to create national, partisan, and corporate identities in Zimbabwe. Using iconography, we attempt to establish how various players have created visual identities based on iconic archaeological artefacts and places. We discern that archaeological evidence has played a vital role in the invention and re-invention of national identity and patriotic iconography. Archaeological evidence has influenced the branding of corporate bodies, including universities, which are the major focus of this paper. Visual manifestations of the ancient Zimbabwe Culture ( madzimbahwe), especially Great Zimbabwe, dominate the branding process. The Zimbabwe bird, Conical Tower, and motifs associated with the drystone built heritage form the key visual elements in the country’s branding enterprise. We advance the argument that the period associated with madzimbahwe has been projected as the only ‘Golden Age’ of ancient Zimbabwe. Consequently, other heritages, diverse histories, and past cultural achievements have been marginalised.

Ingombe Ilede and the demise of Great Zimbabwe

Although new research suggests multi-directional trajectories in the development of the Zimbabwe Tradition (see Chirikure et al. 2016), regional population shifts need not be discounted, as some of these generated states (e.g. Vigneswaran & Quirk 2015). Oral-historical data from northern Zimbabwe counters persistent but often misleading views of pre-colonial states in south-central Africa as exercising power over static and stationary populations (Pikirayi 1993). Rather, human mobility shaped, among other things, the Zimbabwe Culture's spatial features, its strategies for accumulating power and managing resources, and the regional political, social and economic actors to which it was connected. This occurred with the demise of Great Zimbabwe from the second half of the fifteenth century and for much of the sixteenth. Ingombe Ilede attests to post mid fifteenth-century regional shifts in patterns of trade that would lure the Portuguese to south-central Africa from the early sixteenth century onwards. The Zambezi became the preferred inland route. Great Zimbabwe's expansionary thrusts to control this trade undermined its own political control over the southern Zimbabwe plateau, as this spawned new political formations like the Mwene Mutapa state and other polities, including Ingombe Ilede.

An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

This study sought to understand the archaeology of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami through synchronic and diachronic analyses of its material culture. The research employed a number of method...

Sic utere tuo ut alienam non laedas . From Wanton Destruction of Timber Forests to Environmentalism: The Rise of Colonial Environmental and 'Sustainability' Practices in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1938-1961

Abstract This article examines the roots of colonial Zimbabwe's culture of environmentalism - described, here, as increasing social awareness of the rapid deterioration of the environment and the pressing need to take decisive action to counteract it. It argues that only a one-sided story - namely colonial conservationist discourses and practices especially as they pertained to African reserves in colonial Zimbabwe and other parts of Southern and Eastern Africa - has been the object of myriad historical analyses. Yet, there is a corresponding story that seems to have fallen between the seams of history as it is rarely articulated in Zimbabwean historiography in a systematic and comprehensive way, i.e. the origins of a colonial environmentalism - one focused more on reinforcing white settlers' sustainable uses of natural resources and less on Africans. It chronicles how the once verdant landscapes of colonial Zimbabwe were transformed into near waste in the first four decades of colonial occupation from 1890; highlights how the diverse voices of environmental concern that appeared at the time compelled the colonial Zimbabwean state finally to institute the Commission of Inquiry into the Preservation of the Natural Resources of the Colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1938; and examines how this Commission's recommendations became the basis for the establishment of a number of institutional regulatory systems to initiate an efficiency-oriented approach to the management of the colony's natural resources. It highlights how the notion of 'sustainability' was infused into the Commission's Report and became such a powerful trope that it laid the basis for subsequent institutional and legal environmental resource management in colonial Zimbabwe, surviving intact into the first two decades of postcolonial rule. The article further explores how the farmer-miner conflict unfolded beyond the McIlwaine Commission and how the Natural Resources Board finally led to a successful resolution of the conflict in 1961. The McIlwaine Commission Report attests to rising social and environmental concern at the ongoing ecological decline of the colony's resources, resulting in the realisation of a resolute response in order to guarantee the sustainability and welfare of white settler society.

Zimbabwe culture before Mapungubwe: new evidence from Mapela Hill, South-Western Zimbabwe.

Across the globe, the emergence of complex societies excites intense academic debate in archaeology and allied disciplines. Not surprisingly, in southern Africa the traditional assumption that the evolution of socio-political complexity began with ideological transformations from K2 to Mapungubwe between CE1200 and 1220 is clouded in controversy. It is believed that the K2−Mapungubwe transitions crystallised class distinction and sacred leadership, thought to be the key elements of the Zimbabwe culture on Mapungubwe Hill long before they emerged anywhere else. From Mapungubwe (CE1220–1290), the Zimbabwe culture was expressed at Great Zimbabwe (CE1300–1450) and eventually Khami (CE1450–1820). However, new fieldwork at Mapela Hill, when coupled with a Bayesian chronology, offers tremendous fresh insights which refute this orthodoxy. Firstly, Mapela possesses enormous prestige stone-walled terraces whose initial construction date from the 11th century CE, almost two hundred years earlier than Mapungubwe. Secondly, the basal levels of the Mapela terraces and hilltop contain élite solid dhaka (adobe) floors associated with K2 pottery and glass beads. Thirdly, with a hilltop and flat area occupation since the 11th century CE, Mapela exhibits evidence of class distinction and sacred leadership earlier than K2 and Mapungubwe, the supposed propagators of the Zimbabwe culture. Fourthly, Mapungubwe material culture only appeared later in the Mapela sequence and therefore post-dates the earliest appearance of stone walling and dhaka floors at the site. Since stone walls, dhaka floors and class distinction are the essence of the Zimbabwe culture, their earlier appearance at Mapela suggests that Mapungubwe can no longer be regarded as the sole cradle of the Zimbabwe culture. This demands not just fresh ways of accounting for the rise of socio-political complexity in southern Africa, but also significant adjustments to existing models.

Ritual Space in the Zimbabwe Culture

The social use of space is a worldwide phenomenon that can clarify the structures of various ancient societies. One of these, the Zimbabwe culture, embraces state-level societies dating to the Iron Age of Southern Africa (AD 1200–1820). In contrast to the preceding chiefdom-level societies, ritual space in the Zimbabwe culture centered on sacred leadership. Among other things, what had been rain-control hills in the wild bush became the locus for stone-walled palaces inside the capitals. In this sense, Zimbabwe people ‘domesticated’ the concept of God. Among other palace functions, the front provided the leader with ritual seclusion, while the back was reserved for national rituals, such as rainmaking. One year after death, royal leaders (both men and women) were buried in the palace or in rock shelters on special hills. Such hilltop burials began in the 13th century at Mapungubwe. According to 16th-century documents, both these grave sites and palaces had the same name: dzimbahwe in the Shona language (the residence, court, and grave of a leader). Inside the settlement, royal and commoner youths together attended a pre-marital school that inculcated societal norms. Evidence for such a school first appears in the Mapungubwe landscape. Overall, sacred leadership provided the ideological foundation for institutionalized social classes. Different settlement organizations made these social classes manifest: the Central Cattle Pattern for commoners and the elite Zimbabwe Pattern for royalty.

Promoting an Awareness of Cultural Diversity through Social Development as a Learning Outcome in Grade 7 Life Orientation

The study under investigation has encouraged the researchers to explore and describe the promotion of an awareness of cultural diversity through social development as a Learning Outcome in Life Orientation among grade 7 learners at schools. The researchers opted to use a basic interpretive qualitative research approach in order to describe and interpret the phenomena under study with forty-eight participants selected from the Life Orientation grade 7 class in one school in Gauteng Province South Africa. The participants were thus representat ive of different cultural groups because the class consisted of boys and girls learners from, for example, Zulu, Tswana, N.Sotho, English, Afrikaans and Zimbabwe culture. The findings showed that teachers had attempted to promote an awareness of cultural diversity at the school in a variety of ways. This means that they still need to create a climate in schools such that diversity is celebrated, invited, encouraged and sustained.

New Pathways of Sociopolitical Complexity in Southern Africa

Much is known about the economy and spatial organization of Zimbabwe culture entities of Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe and Khami but less in terms of their origins and relationship with each other. Based on little tangible evidence, it is believed and widely accepted that the societies based at Mapungubwe (AD 1220-1290), Great Zimbabwe(AD1300-1450) andKhami (AD1450-1820) rose, developed and eclipsedin tandem. A recent reexamination of the relationship between these settlements and related ones using local ceramics, imported artefacts, stone architecture and Bayesian modelling suggests this may not have been the case. The synthesis proffered revelations which temper the widely acceptedassumptionthatsociopoliticalcomplexity insouthern Africa began in the Shashi-Limpopo Valley before anywhere else in the region. Firstly, there are numerous Zhizo and Leopard's Kopje sites that predate Mapungubwe but contain prestige goods and stone structures dating from the late first millennium AD. Secondly, material culture studies and modelled radiocarbon dates indicate that Great Zimbabwe evolved out of Gumanye while Khami, like Mapungubwe, may have developed out of the Leopard's Kopje. In fact, Great Zimbabwe was already a place of importance when Mapungubwe collapsed. Thirdly, Khami and Great Zimbabwe overlapped for over a century, before the latter buckled. Therefore, the evolution of sociopolitical complexity in southern Africa may have followed trajectories that are different from what the current understanding implies. Resume Nous savons beaucoup de choses a propos de l'organisation spatiale et de l'economie des entites culturelles Zimbabweennes de Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe et Khami, mais peu sur leurs origines et leurs relations. Selon le peu de donnees disponibles, Mapungubwe (1220-1290 ap. J-C), Great Zimbabwe (1300-1450 ap. J-C) et Khami

Stone architecture and the development of power in the Zimbabwe tradition AD 1270 – 1830

Within the Zimbabwe Culture, stone architecture was not a mere reflection of the existing power of élites; rather, the process of creating architecture was also one of creating élite power. Creating architecture involved manipulation of the ‘natural’ environment, the elements of which were extended or appropriated to constitute the built environment. There is a clear relationship between architecture and ‘natural’ power, which provided links with the ancestral world. Thus, the construction of monumental architecture in the Zimbabwe Culture was a process of constructing social and political power through the manipulation of ideology, including the appropriation of ‘nature’. The Great Zimbabwe and Khami architectural styles express two distinct architectural forms with two distinct conceptual relationships to nature. Great Zimbabwe (AD 1290–1550) period architecture was apparently an extension of the natural environment, while Khami (AD 1400–1800) architecture arrogated elements of nature wholly transforming them into monumental built environments. Understanding these ideological differences is critical to understanding the dynamics of ancient states on the Zimbabwe Plateau.

The Glass Beads from Hlamba Mlonga, Zimbabwe: Classification, Context and Interpretation

The glass beads excavated at Hlamba Mlonga, a 10th to 15th century AD site in eastern Zimbabwe, are catalogued and separated into bead series based on morphology. They are compared to closely related beads that occur in archaeological contexts of the same period in the Shashe-Limpopo basin and the Zimbabwe culture area. Trade links and political consequences of trade shifts are explored. The chemical composition of selected beads, which arrived at a port (or ports) in southern Mozambique and from there were traded to Hlamba Mlonga and other sites in the interior, suggests they were manufactured in the Indian subcontinent and/or Southeast Asia.

The Kingdom, the Power and Forevermore: Zimbabwe Culture in Contemporary Art and Architecture*

According to Qassim Sultan, architectural heritage reflects the development of society, and its ability to adapt and meet functional and other needs.1 It is manifest in monuments and public buildings, which create a sense of continuity between the past and the present. Scholars are increasingly interested in the way such sites evoke memories, define cultural identities and create a sense of belonging. Architectural heritage can become part of a community's expression of belief in its history, culture and self. This article explores such issues in relation to public buildings and holiday resorts constructed in Zimbabwe since the early 1990s, focusing on architectural styles inspired by the country's rich archaeological and historical heritage, which are discussed in the light of debates over ‘post-modernist’ architecture. The article argues that architectural heritage plays a critical role in contemporary Zimbabwe, as demonstrated by the range of functions served by these buildings. Yet for archaeologists this heritage poses challenging questions regarding the ways in which the past is represented. It is evident that the past ‘sells’, despite inconsistencies in its presentation, representation and interpretation. Indeed, the marketing of this heritage is largely for tourist consumption. Some buildings evoke ‘usable’ notions of the past, provoking inspiration and a sense of attachment or nostalgia. Other buildings express political power, economic control and ritual elaboration on the part of the postcolonial state. * This article was originally presented at conference entitled ‘Heritage in Southern and Eastern Africa: Imagining and Marketing Public Culture and History’, Livingstone, Zambia, 5–9 July 2004. I wish to thank the Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS), and the British Institute in Eastern Africa for their invitation and financial assistance to attend the conference. 1 Qassim Sultan is the current Director General of Dubai Municipality. His ideas are contained in a circular addressed to prospective participants of the ‘First International Conference on Architectural Conservation: Between Theory and Practice’ which was held in Dubai, 14–16 March 2004.

Indonesia and Africa: questioning the origins of some of Africa’s most famous icons

In the author’s opinion there have been three far-reaching gaps in the study of Africa’s history: 1) Indonesian involvement in East and Central Africa; 2) Links between Madagascar and Eastern and South/Central Africa; and 3) Extension of Indonesian interest to West Africa, particularly Nigeria. He contends that Indonesians (the term applies to ‘Insular Southeast Asians’) may have begun regular trading to Africa when Greek and Roman demand for oriental spices developed several centuries BCE. The East African ‘Zanj’ were, in his view, an Afro/Indonesian race linked with the people of ‘Zabag’ - Sumatra and Java – later with Srivijaya in particular, whose interest in the gold, copper, iron and other products of Africa were extensive.Madagascar was only ever of secondary importance to Indonesians compared with mineral-rich Africa. But for centuries the Austronesian-speaking, Afro-Indonesian people of Madagascar maintained regular contact with the mainland giving rise to mixed societies, particularly in the Mozambique-Zimbabwe region. He believes the ancient Zimbabwe culture was in several ways linked with that of Madagascar, and that the vast ruin area of Nyanga was also connected. These cross-channel associations were gradually eclipsed by the domination of Arab-Shirazi colonisation down the East African Coast. There is a wealth of evidence that Indonesians rounded the Cape and sailed to West Africa. Several elements of Nigerian culture generally attributed to East-West overland movements or trans-Saharan Arab traders, are more likely to have reached the lower Niger regions by sea from Indonesia. Among these was the technology enabling the iconic ‘bronze’ artwork for which Nigeria is famous.

The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline in Southern Zambezian States

The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline in Southern Zambezian States

The Zimbabwe culture: origins and decline of southern Zambezian states

Offering a unique and original perspective on the rise and fall of indigenous states of southern Zambezia, The Zimbabwe Culture analyzes the long contentious history of the remains of the remarkable cyclopean masonry, ranging from mighty capitals of traditional kings to humble farmsteads. Forming a cornerstone of the geographical lore of Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, debate on the origins, development, and collapse of the Zimbabwe culture has never ceased, and with increasing archaeological research over the twentieth century, has become more complex. Thoroughly examining the growth and decline of pre-colonial states on the entire Zimbabwean Plateau and southern Zambezia, Dr. Pikirayi has contributed tremendously towards the archaeological understanding of this extraordinary culture. The Zimbabwe Culture is essential reading for all students and avocationalists of African archaeology, history, and culture.

Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture

Class distinction and sacred leadership characterised the Zimbabwe culture, the most complex society in precolonial southern Africa. This complex society evolved between AD 1000 and 1300 at the sites of K2 and Mapungubwe in the Shashe-Limpopo Valley. Tremendous wealth from long distance trade and an increased population stimulated a series of internal transformations involving economy, social organisation, ideology, religion and settlement patterns. The abandonment of Mapungubwe for climatic reasons led to the rise of Great Zimbabwe 250 km to the north-east.

The Sourcing of Southern African Tin Artefacts

Tin in antiquity was a scarce and valuable metal. Few tin artefacts have survived world-wide, but there are tin ingots housed in universities and museums in South Africa. This study attempts to source these artefacts using trace element signatures from ore, slag and cassiterite. The presence of arsenic in all the artefacts, and of tungsten in all but two of them, together with the La/Eu and Ta/Sc ratios indicate that they were all smelted from Rooiberg cassiterite. The development of a tin smelting industry at Rooiberg probably depended on the Indian ocean trade with the Zimbabwe culture. The ultimate destination of the tin is unknown, but there are indications that it may have been India.

Late Iron Age Gold Burials from Thulamela (Pafuri Region, Kruger National Park)

Thulamela, a thirteenth to seventeenth century site in the northern Kruger National Park, is one of the stone walled, hilltop sites of the Soutpansberg range that lie at the southeastern limits of the Zimbabwe culture. The project, including selective excavations and the reconstruction of some stone walls, took place between 1993 and 1997. In 1996, two burials dating to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were discovered within the stone walled enclosures. These are important because the associated gold objects indicate that both individuals were of high social status and because UP44 is the first archaeologically documented instance of a secondary burial in southern Africa. The paper focuses on the skeletal remains recovered from the site. The manner in which scientists, community leaders, and other stakeholders collaborated to reach a compromise on the study and reburial of the skeletons has been remarkable. *Received March 1998, revised October 1998