GREAT ZIMBABWE RUINS

The large settlements of the Shashe/ Limpopo valley (Mapungubwe Kingdom) were able to sustain themselves for a time, due to a favourable climate which enabled them to cultivate their traditional crops of sorghum and millet, and which provided enough good grazing for their cattle. The arrival of colder and drier weather in about AD 1290, however, changed all this and Mapungubwe, and indeed the entire region, was abandoned.

Cultural, political and economic power shifted to Great Zimbabwe, which was well placed on the southeastern side of the escarpment to receive whatever rain fell in the area.

The collapse of mapungubwe was great Zimbabwe’s gain, and as the culture grew in power so did its capital, which covered some 700 hectares and housed an estimated 18 000 people. The town, surrounded by an outer perimeter wall, faced towards the west, with commoners living on the periphery outside the main walls, royalty on the slopes of the hill, and the king in a magnificent stone palace on the hilltop. Unique to the Great Zimbabwe site are the seven birds, carved from soapstone, that were found in the “ritual” enclosure and believed to be the medium for communication between the king and his ancestors.

However, it is perhaps the Great Enclosure that, for many, epitomizes the incredible architecture of this culture. Some 900 000 stone blocks were used in the building of the outer wall. It stands eleven metres high in places, and was finally completed about a century after the interior buildings had been built. So enormous is the enclosure, with its two conical towers and many entrances and passageways, that there is some disupute as to its function. Great Zimbabwe flourished until about AD 1450, when political upheaval in the region finally caused its demise. It is ironic that this vast dynasty crumbled just as climatic conditions were improving – the weather once again becoming warmer and wetter.

© Tuli land of Giants by Roger and Pat de la Harpe