The Great Zimbabwe

Guide, Phillip, at the entrance to The Great Zimbawe

Last Friday I went with two other Americans to see the Great Zimbabwe, the best of the historical ruins in this country, and the basis for the country’s current name.  Zimbabwe means “great stone house”.  It refers to a royal complex built by the Shona for their kings.  The site was occupied beginning in the early 1200’s AD, and continued to be occupied through the 1500’s.  At its height, the population of the urban area was in excess of 100,000 people.  The mud and thatch structures are long gone, of course.  What remains is the kings’ quarters, meticulously built on top of a large granite hill using “dry” stone construction.  That means that rocks were fitted together without benefit of mortar.

The lower, wider part of the approach to the king's quarters

The approach to the kings’ quarters was ingeniously designed.  A person approaching had enough steep steps to climb that even a conditioned warrior would be winded and fatigued by the time he reached the top.  The walls were built to form a kind of winding chute, which is narrow enough that people had to enter single file.  Warriors above could simply drop stones on any unwanted visitors.  The walls were at least 7 meters high.  At the base, they are about 5 meters wide, and would have tapered to more like 3 meters wide at the top.  Within the hill compound are spaces where traditional mud and thatch huts would have been placed.  The kings stayed there, and so did their advisors, fortune tellers and iron workers.  The iron workers’ jobs were considered so important that they were not allowed to marry, and were placed in the hierarchy of the structure pretty close to the king.

The higher part of the approach to the king's quarters

the flat rock to the right is the king's balcony,
which has a wonderful panoramic view of the countryside

The entrance to the hill compound (after climbing all those steps)
the top structures are symbolic granaries

one area of the hill compound

This was a polygamous society, and given the kings’ stature, they were expected to have many wives (estimated to be 200 or so per king).  There was a whole separate compound, currently called “the enclosure” at the base of the hill where the wives stayed until called to the hill compound by the king.

the enclosure, viewed from the hill compound

walls in the great enclosure, more recent one on left

There is evidence both in the hill compound and the enclosure that kings outdid their predecessors in opulence by enlarging and/or improving structures.  In the hill compound, where space was limited, there are signs that different kings took down the walls of previous structures, laid a new floor, and then rebuilt.  In the enclosure, walls were built around walls, forming corridors.  Each successive outer wall was more sophisticated in building style than the last, so it’s easy to see changes in technology here.

 Finally, there was another set of walls built in the valley that are believed to have been a visual representation of the continent of Africa and the Shona migratory route from the north to this area.  I’ve never seen anything like that before.

map of Africa and model village seen from hill complex

 In the valley, there was a small constructed village with crafts for sale and some people who played drums, sang and danced traditional dances.  The dancers wore pairs of large gourds with some small stones in themaround the calfs of their legs.  When they danced, these made rhythmic sounds, but I couldn't figure out how they could dance without tripping on them!

Shona drumming and singing