Great Zimbabwe;The Great Enclosure

Figure 1. Great Zimbabwe: PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTOPHER SCOTT

The Great Zimbabwe enclosure was constructed in the 14th century and is estimated to have hosted 18000 people within its capital. It is located some 30 kilometres South-East of Masvingo, in Zimbabwe.

It was initially situated on a 100m high granite hill, West of the Mutirikwi river, composed of the construction of dry stone walling (Pikirayi, 2013). The initial settlement of the inhabitants before settling in the valley South East was termed the Hill Complex with two big enclosures on the East and West with a complex cluster of boulders between them and several other small wall enclosures. There was a connection of the walls with the natural granite features that dominate the hill as the stone walls extend outward to enclose the spaces within which according to Garlake (2002), clay houses were to be constructed. (Fig 2)

Figure 2. Great Zimbabwe: the plan of the Hill Complex. Sourced from Garlake (1973)

From the Hill Complex, it appears that the construction of the stonewalling followed a dorm if internal ideological structure that Pikirayi (2013) notes, “was guided by the ideas that linked the built environment with the natural.” this would be likened to the organic approach in architecture. Pikirayi (2013) argues that "by defining their spaces around the natural rock features, the early inhabitants may have tapped into the natural power" and hence preserved it for themselves hence becoming elites.

However, the political powers seemed to have shifted to the great enclosure below about 2 centuries later. This is the one most recognised as the Great Zimbabwe Enclosure; the largest single stone-built structure in Southern Africa with more than a million well-sliced granite blocks without any binders. The enclosure is over 9m high coving several separate spaces as well as passages leading to the conical tower. It has got 3 entrances in the Northern part (North and North-West).

Many are the assumptions of the movement of the early inhabitants. From the great Hill Complex to this great enclosure as some have argued that it was used for ceremonial purposes. But looking at the extravagance of the structure, Chirikure Pikirayi (2008) argues that it may not have been used for such ritualistic purposes. Rather, it was a representation of the peak of its development both as a town and as a centre of a powerful and wealthy state. This is because its prosperity was credited to its position on the route between the gold-producing regions of the area and ports and the Mozambique coast becoming the heart of an extensive commercial and trading network over time. Some of the goods sold here were; gold, ivory, copper, ceramics of which some were discovered in its ruins.

References

Garlake, P.S. 2002. Early Art and Architecture of Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chirikure, S., and Pikirayi, I. 2008. ‘‘Inside and outside the dry stone walls: revisiting the

material culture of Great Zimbabwe.’’ Antiquity 82: 976_993.

Innocent Pikirayi (2013) Stone architecture and the development of power in

the Zimbabwe tradition AD 1270 – 1830, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 48:2, 282-300,