Editing Great Zimbabwe (section)

===Construction and growth===
Construction of the stone buildings started in the 11th century and continued for over 300 years.<ref name=MMA>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zimb/hd_zimb.htm|title=Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th century) – Thematic Essay|date=October 2001 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=12 January 2009}}</ref> The ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest structures located in Southern Africa. Its most formidable edifice, commonly referred to as the Great Enclosure, has walls as high as {{convert|36|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} extending approximately {{convert|820|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}. Its growth has been linked to the decline of Mapungubwe from around 1300, or the greater availability of gold in the hinterland of Great Zimbabwe.<ref name="Zambezia">{{cite journal|title=Trade and economies in southern Africa: the archaeological evidence|author=Gilbert Pwiti|journal=Zambezia|volume=18|pages=119–129|year=1991|url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Journal%20of%20the%20University%20of%20Zimbabwe/vol18n2/juz018002004.pdf}}</ref>
[[File:Great-zim-aerial-looking-West.JPG|thumb|Aerial view of the Great Enclosure and Valley Complex, looking west]]

Traditional estimates are that Great Zimbabwe had as many as 18,000 inhabitants at its peak.<ref name="contested">{{cite book|chapter=Contested monuments: the politics of archaeology in southern Africa|last=Kuklick|first=Henrika|pages=135–170|editor=George W. Stocking|title=Colonial situations: essays on the contextualization of ethnographic knowledge|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0-299-13124-1}}</ref> However, a more recent survey concluded that the population likely never exceeded 10,000.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chirikure, S.|display-authors=etal|year=2017|title=What was the population of Great Zimbabwe (CE1000 – 1800)|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=12|issue=6|page=e0178335|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0178335|pmid=28614397|pmc=5470674|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1278335C|doi-access=free}}</ref> The ruins that survive are built entirely of stone; they span {{convert|1800|acre|ha|abbr=on|order=flip}}. Great Zimbabwe covered a similar area to [[medieval London]]; while the density of buildings within the stone enclosures was high, in areas outside them it was much lower.<ref>{{Citation |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |title=Great Zimbabwe, 1100–1600 AD, Rise, Development, and Demise of |date=2020 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=4696–4709 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Claire |url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |access-date=2024-12-23 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |isbn=978-3-030-30018-0}}</ref> The institutionalisation of Great Zimbabwe's politico-religious ideology served to legitimise the position of the king ([[Mambo (title)|''mambo'']]), with a link between leaders, their ancestors, and [[Mwari|God]].<ref name=":62">{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Nam C. |last2=Kusimba |first2=Chapurukha M. |last3=Keeley |first3=Lawrence H. |date=2015 |title=Coercion and Warfare in the Rise of State Societies in Southern Zambezia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43916844 |journal=The African Archaeological Review |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1007/s10437-015-9183-x |issn=0263-0338 |jstor=43916844}}</ref><ref name=":72">{{Cite journal |last=Huffman |first=Thomas N. |date=2014-04-01 |title=Ritual Space in the Zimbabwe Culture |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/1944289013Z.0000000008 |journal=Journal of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Experimental Studies |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=4–39 |doi=10.1179/1944289013z.0000000008 |issn=1944-2890}}</ref> [[Ken Mufuka]] writes that the shrine in the Hill Complex was the home of [[spirit medium]]s (''[[svikiro]]'') who were tasked with acting as the conscience of the state, and preserving the traditions of the founders, reported to be [[Chigwagu Rusvingo]] (the first ''mambo''), [[Chaminuka]], [[Chimurenga]], [[Tovera]], and [[Soro-rezhou]] among others.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2005 |title=Great Zimbabwe: Origins and Rise |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of African History |publisher=Routledge |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203483862/encyclopedia-african-history-3-volume-set-kevin-shillington |last=Mufuka |first=Kenneth|editor-first1=Kevin |editor-last1=Shillington |doi=10.4324/9780203483862 |isbn=978-1-135-45670-2 }}</ref>

The majority of the population lived in houses made out of mud on wooden frame structures,<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Nam C. |last2=Kusimba |first2=Chapurukha M. |last3=Keeley |first3=Lawrence H. |date=2015 |title=Coercion and Warfare in the Rise of State Societies in Southern Zambezia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43916844 |journal=The African Archaeological Review |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1007/s10437-015-9183-x |jstor=43916844 |issn=0263-0338}}</ref> however the number of these can only be estimated. It is equally assumed that the stone structures were royal or official buildings, and elite dwellings. No burials have been found at the site to give another basis for estimating population.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chirikure, S.|display-authors=etal|year=2017|title=What was the population of Great Zimbabwe (CE1000 – 1800)|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=12|issue=6|page=e0178335|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0178335|pmid=28614397|pmc=5470674|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1278335C|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |title=Great Zimbabwe, 1100–1600 AD, Rise, Development, and Demise of |date=2020 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=4696–4709 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Claire |url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |access-date=2024-12-23 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |isbn=978-3-030-30018-0}}</ref>