Great Zimbabwe Ruins

Name:
“Dzimba-dze-Mabwe”,  “the house of stones”, “place of stones” or “great house”.
Location:
The Great Zimbabwe ruins are found 26km South-East of Masvingo in Masvingo Province
Description:
They are an amphitheatre of granite doomed hills with structures of mortarless masonry called Symbace.
The ruins may be roughly divided into three parts:

• The Acropolis Fort or Hill Ruin, which stands on the summit of a 100 meter granite hill,
• The large Elliptical Building, and the Valley of the Ruins
• The Temple

The Acropolis consists of stone walls of varying thickness, ingeniously built without mortar on and around the great natural granite boulders. It contains several stone enclosures, one of which may have been used for the smelting of gold. The ancient steep ascent, 400m long, is augmented by a slightly longer but easier one. The Temple, consists of an irregular ellipse, 107m across and surrounded by a wall 10m at its highest, with a thickness of 5m at the base and 3m at the summit. Within the wall is a labyrinth of passages, interior walls, cairns and semicircular partitions of stone. Remarkable features are the large and small conical towers, 10 m and 2m high respectively. It is widely believed that the Elliptical Building was living quarters of the great wife and her servants, for it was known as ” imba-huru” which translates to the “big house” or ” house of great wife”.

The “Valley of the Ruins” are terraced ruins below the Acropolis and beyond them is the Temple .

Excavations:

Excavations at the site have produced numerous discoveries:

• The Zimbabwe Bird ( The great Zimbabwe bird is represented as an insignia on the national flag, national arms and currency)

Most of the deposits from the Great Zimbabwe Ruins were either damaged or lost to early excavators and treasure hunters. The city was largely abandoned about 1550AD and with it much evidence of the past was lost, stolen or destroyed.

Collections of the Great Zimbabwe Ruins relics can be seen at the Site Museum and National Museums.

History:

The Great Zimbabwe Ruins are Zimbabwe’s premier man-made tourist attraction. They represent the largest pre-colonial stucture in sub-Saharan Africa and a unique and fascinating culture. They are a rare surviving remniant of an African civilisation that flourished over 800 years ago.The ruins are many a times described as lost but in actual fact they aren’t lost but do exude a lot of unsolved mysteries and myths. The major mystery surrounds the question of who built them and for what purpose? Some theories date them back to as far as 3000 years ago and were once believed to be King Solomon’s Palace. Interestingly there are some individuals in Zimbabwe who describe the country as the Lost Kingdom of King Solomon’s mines.

Modern Science investigation and scientific dating by experts, suggests however that they were probably built in the 13th or 14th century, being the remains of a flourishing site of an early occupation, probably first by the Stone Age People and then by the Iron Age People. It is not known who built the early stone walling, believed to have been erected in about the 8th century A.D but the main buildings are of a later period. There is suggestion that the latter buildings were constructed by the Waremba for the VaRozvi. Nevertheless, we can say, with certainty who built Great Zimbabwe and when. It is the people who lived in and around Great Zimbabwe and these were the Shona speaking people of the time.

Trade and Economy:

Great Zimbabwe was definitely an important place of governance and trade and possibly the principal headquarters of some very important chiefs and rulers. Considering the size and stature of the settlements during its peak, then there should have existed a system of economic activity in order to support the daily existence of the town and its people. A system of prosperity based on something more sophisticated than subsistence agriculture.

Great Zimbabwe was probably an important barter trading center. Cattle were a prime source of wealth but the main commodity was gold. Gold mined at several places in Zimbabwe was exchanged for a variety of imported goods from as far away as the Middle East, the Far East and Europe. Archaelogical evidence shows evidence of international trade in the form relics which were removed from the ruins that include ceramics, of Chinese and Persian origin, a Dutch gin bottle, Arab glass and Venetian beads, all of the 16th and 17th centuries, and numerous gold and iron ornaments of African origin.

Accomodation in and around Great Zimbabwe:

• Great Zimbabwe Hotel
• Kyle View Holiday Resort
• Chevron Hotel
• Flamboyant Hotel
• Mutirikwi Lake Shore Cottages
• Kyle Recreational Park

Other Interesting Places and Sites:

• Masvingo town
• Kyle Recreational Park and Game Reserve
• Mushandike Sanctuary
• Chapel of Saint Francis of Assis
• Morgenster Mission
• Birchneough Bridge

Popular Activities:

• Horse Riding
• Canoeing
• Hunting
• Golf
• Fishing
• Trekking