Editing Great Zimbabwe

{{Short description|Ruins of an ancient/medieval city in southeast Zimbabwe}}
{{About|the city|the state that had it as its capital|Kingdom of Zimbabwe}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox ancient site
 |name = Great Zimbabwe
 |image = Conical Tower - Great Enclosure III (33736918448).jpg
 |caption = Tower in the Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe
 |map_type = Zimbabwe#Africa
 |coordinates = {{coord|20|16|S|30|56|E|display=inline,title}}
 |location = [[Masvingo Province]], [[Zimbabwe]]
 |type = Settlement
 |part_of = [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]]
 |area = {{convert|7.22|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}
 |material = [[Granite]]
 |built = 11th century CE
 |abandoned = 16th or 17th century CE
 |epochs = Late [[Iron Age]]
 |cultures = Kingdom of Zimbabwe
 |embedded={{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
  |child = yes
  |Official_name = Great Zimbabwe National Monument
  |ID = 364
  |Year = 1986
  |Criteria = Cultural: i, iii, vi
  }}}}
'''Great Zimbabwe''' was a city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of [[Zimbabwe]], near [[Masvingo]]. It was settled from 1000 AD, and served as the capital of the [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]] from the 13th century. It is the largest stone structure in precolonial [[Southern Africa]]. Major construction on the city began in the 11th century until the 15th century, and it was abandoned in the 16th or 17th century.<ref name="Pikirayi2">{{cite journal |last1=Pikirayi |first1=Innocent |last2=Sulas |first2=Federica |last3=Chirikure |first3=Shadreck |last4=Chikumbirike |first4=Joseph |last5=Sagiya |first5=Munyaradzi Elton |title=The Conundrum of Great Zimbabwe |journal=Journal of Urban Archaeology |date=January 2023 |volume=7 |pages=95–114 |doi=10.1484/J.JUA.5.133452 |url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JUA.5.133452 |access-date=1 December 2023 |language=en |issn=2736-2426}}</ref><ref name="Chirikure 139–186">{{Cite journal |last=Chirikure |first=Shadreck |date=2020-06-01 |title=New Perspectives on the Political Economy of Great Zimbabwe |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research |language=en |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=139–186 |doi=10.1007/s10814-019-09133-w |issn=1573-7756|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=2024-12-21 |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 edifices were erected by ancestors of the [[Shona people]], currently located in Zimbabwe and nearby countries.<ref name="livescience.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/58200-great-zimbabwe.html|title = Great Zimbabwe: African City of Stone|website = [[Live Science]]|date = 10 March 2017}}</ref> The stone city spans an area of {{convert|7.22|km2|mi2}} and could have housed up to 18,000&nbsp;people at its peak, giving it a population density of approximately {{Convert|2500|PD/km2|PD/sqmi}}. The Zimbabwe state centred on it likely covered 50,000&nbsp;km² (19,000 sq mi).<ref name="Chirikure 139–186"/> It is recognised as a [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]].

The site of Great Zimbabwe is composed of the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure (constructed at different times), and contained area for commoner housing within the perimeter walls. There is disagreement on the functions of the complexes among scholars. Some consider them to have been residences for the royals and elites at different periods of the site, while others infer them to have had separate functions. The Great Enclosure, with its 11&nbsp;m (36&nbsp;ft) high [[dry stone]] walls (that is, constructed without [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]]), was built during the 13th and 14th centuries, and likely served as the royal residence, with demarcated public spaces for [[ritual]]s.<ref name=":1">{{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=2024-12-20 |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 earliest document mentioning the Great Zimbabwe ruins was in 1531 by [[Vicente Pegado]], captain of the Portuguese garrison of [[Sofala]] on the coast of modern-day Mozambique, who recorded it as ''Symbaoe''. The first confirmed visits by Europeans were in the late 19th century, with investigations of the site starting in 1871.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fleminger|first=David|title=Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape|year=2008|publisher=30 Degrees South|isbn=978-0-9584891-5-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pp2VcW9_Z4QC&q=white+great+zimbabwe&pg=PA61|page=57}}</ref> Great Zimbabwe and surrounding sites were looted by European [[antiquarian]]s between the 1890s and 1920s. Some later studies of the monument were controversial, as the [[White Zimbabweans|white]] government of [[Rhodesia]] pressured archaeologists to deny its construction by black Africans. Its African origin only became consensus by the 1950s. Great Zimbabwe has since been adopted as a [[national monument]] by the Zimbabwean government, and the modern independent state was named after it.

The word ''great'' distinguishes the site from the many smaller ruins, known as "''zimbabwes''", spread across the Zimbabwe [[Highveld]].<ref name="sibanda">M. Sibanda, H. Moyana et al. 1992. ''The African Heritage. History for Junior Secondary Schools. Book 1''. Zimbabwe Publishing House. {{ISBN|978-0-908300-00-6}}</ref> There are around 200 such sites in Southern Africa, such as [[Bumbusi National Monument|Bumbusi]] in Zimbabwe and [[Manyikeni]] in Mozambique, with monumental, mortarless walls.<ref name="antiquity" />

==Name==
{{main|Name of Zimbabwe}}

[[File:Conical tower.jpg|thumb|left|The conical tower inside the Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe]]
''Zimbabwe'' is the [[Shona language|Shona]] name of the ruins, first recorded in 1531 by Vicente Pegado, captain of the Portuguese garrison of [[Sofala]]. Pegado noted that "The natives of the country call these edifices ''Symbaoe'', which according to their language signifies 'court{{'"}}.<ref name="Newitt 2002 39">{{cite book |last=Newitt |first=M. D. D. |title=East Africa |year=2002 |publisher=Ashgate | isbn=0754601811 |pages=39 |volume=2 }}</ref>

The name contains {{Transliteration|sn|dzimba}}, the Shona term for 'houses'. There are two theories for the etymology of the name. The first proposes that the word is derived from {{Transliteration|sn|Dzimba-dze-mabwe}}, translated from Shona as 'large houses of stone' ({{Transliteration|sn|dzimba}} = plural of {{Transliteration|sn|imba}}, 'house'; {{Transliteration|sn|mabwe}} = plural of {{Transliteration|sn|bwe}}, 'stone').<ref>{{cite journal|title=Shona Class 5 revisited: a case against *ri as Class 5 nominal prefix |journal=Zambezia|year=1994|volume=21|pages=51–80|author=Michel Lafon|url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Journal%20of%20the%20University%20of%20Zimbabwe/vol21n1/juz021001005.pdf}}. See also {{cite journal|title=Mediated monuments and national identity|author=Lawrence J. Vale|doi=10.1080/136023699373774|journal=Journal of Architecture|volume=4|year=1999|pages=391–408|issue=4}}</ref> A second suggests that ''Zimbabwe'' is a contracted form of {{Transliteration|sn|dzimba-hwe}}, which means 'venerated houses' in the [[Zezuru dialect]] of Shona, as usually applied to the houses or graves of chiefs.<ref>Garlake (1973) 13</ref>

==History and description==
{{Further|Kingdom of Zimbabwe}}[[Image:Great-Zimbabwe.jpg|right|thumb|Overview of Great Zimbabwe. The large walled construction is the Great [[Enclosure (archaeology)|Enclosure]]. Some remains of the valley complex can be seen in front of it.]]
[[File:140 of 'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland- being a record of excavation and exploration in 1891 ... With a chapter on the orientation and mensuration of the temples by R. M. W. Swan. (With plates.)' (11217936264).jpg|thumb|Plan of the complex]]

===Settlement===
The Great Zimbabwe area was previously settled by the [[San people|San]] dating back 100,000 years,{{Efn|Some scholars contest that cultures and identities can't be considered fixed or invariable, especially over such a long time period.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/primordialism-and-the-pleistocene-san-of-southern-africa/45D6E61597C34A496AB5A0B6FA1C7632 |last1=Pargeter |first1=Justin |last2=Mackay |first2=Alex |last3=Mitchell |first3=Peter |last4=Shea |first4=John |last5=Stewart |first5=Brian |title=Primordialism and the 'Pleistocene San' of southern Africa |year=2016 |journal=Antiquity |volume=90 |issue=352}}</ref>}} and, starting around 150 BC, by [[Bantu peoples|Bantu-speaking peoples]] who formed agricultural [[chiefdom]]s starting in the 4th century AD.<ref name=":2"/>{{Rp|pages=11–12}} Between the 4th and the 7th centuries, communities of the [[Gokomere]] or [[Ziwa]] cultures farmed the valley, and mined and worked iron, but built no stone structures.<ref name="antiquity" /><ref>Pikirayi (2001) p129</ref> These are the earliest [[Iron Age]] settlements in the area identified from archaeological diggings, and the later [[Gumanye people]] are considered the ancestors of the [[Karanga people|Karanga]] (south-central [[Shona people|Shona]]),{{Efn|The term ''Karanga'' began as an exonym of the Shona used by outsiders, however in the modern day it refers to a dialect of Shona in south-central Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite book |title=Becoming Zimbabwe : a history from the pre-colonial period to 2008 |year=2009 |url=https://archive.org/details/becomingzimbabwe0000unse |last1=Raftopoulos |first1=Brian |last2=Mlambo |first2=Alois|isbn=978-1-77922-083-7 }}</ref>{{rp|page=4}}}} who would construct Great Zimbabwe.<ref>Summers (1970) p163</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chirikure |first1=Shadreck |last2=Manyanga |first2=Munyaradzi |last3=Pikirayi |first3=Innocent |last4=Pollard |first4=Mark |date=2013-12-01 |title=New Pathways of Sociopolitical Complexity in Southern Africa |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-013-9142-3 |journal=African Archaeological Review |language=en |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=339–366 |doi=10.1007/s10437-013-9142-3 |issn=1572-9842|hdl=2263/41780 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===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>

===Features of the ruins===
In 1531, Vicente Pegado, Captain of the Portuguese Garrison of [[Sofala]], described Zimbabwe thus:<ref name="Newitt 2002 39" />
{{blockquote|Among the gold mines of the inland plains between the [[Limpopo River|Limpopo]] and [[Zambezi]] rivers there is a fortress built of stones of marvelous size, and there appears to be no mortar joining them&nbsp;... This edifice is almost surrounded by hills, upon which are others resembling it in the fashioning of stone and the absence of mortar, and one of them is a tower more than 12 [[fathom]]s [22 m] high. The natives of the country call these edifices Symbaoe, which according to their language signifies court. | Vicente Pegado}}
[[File:Eastern-enclosure-great-zimbabwe.jpg|thumb|right|View west from the Eastern Enclosure of the Hill Complex, showing the [[granite]] boulder that resembles the [[Zimbabwe Bird]] and the balcony.]]
The ruins form three distinct architectural groups. They are known as the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the Great Enclosure. The Hill Complex is the oldest, and was occupied from the 11th to 13th centuries. The Great Enclosure was occupied from the 13th to 15th centuries, and the Valley Complex from the 14th to 16th centuries.<ref name="antiquity"/> Notable features of the Hill Complex include the Eastern Enclosure, in which it is thought the [[Zimbabwe Bird]]s stood, a high balcony enclosure overlooking the Eastern Enclosure, and a huge boulder in a shape similar to that of the Zimbabwe Bird.<ref>Garlake (1973) 27</ref> The Great Enclosure is composed of an inner wall, encircling a series of structures and a younger outer wall. The Conical Tower, {{convert|18|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} in diameter and {{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip|0}} high, was constructed between the two walls.<ref>Garlake (1973) 29</ref> The Valley Complex is divided into the Upper and Lower Valley Ruins, with different periods of occupation.<ref name="antiquity"/>
[[File:Great-zim-aerial-looking-SE.JPG|thumb|Aerial view looking southeast, Hill Complex in foreground]]
[[File:ASC Leiden - Rietveld Collection - East Africa 1975 - 05 - 037 - Detail of a Great Zimbabwe wall with lichen - Masvingo, Zimbabwe.jpg|thumb|Detail of the wall with lichen, 1975.]]
There are different archaeological interpretations of these groupings. It has been suggested that the complexes represent the work of successive kings: some of the new rulers founded a new residence.<ref name="current">{{cite journal |last1=Beach |first1=David |author-link=David Beach (historian) |year=1998 |title=Cognitive Archaeology and Imaginary History at Great Zimbabwe |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=39 |pages=47–72 |doi=10.1086/204698 |s2cid=143970768}}</ref> The focus of power moved from the Hill Complex in the 12th century, to the Great Enclosure, the Upper Valley and finally the Lower Valley in the early 16th century.<ref name="antiquity">{{cite journal|title=Inside and outside the dry stone walls: revisiting the material culture of Great Zimbabwe|author=Shadreck Chirikure|author2=Innocent Pikirayi|journal=Antiquity|volume=82|issue=318|pages=976–993|year=2008|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00097726|doi-access=free}}</ref> The alternative "structuralist" interpretation holds that the different complexes had different functions: the Hill Complex as an area for [[ritual]]s, perhaps related to rain making, the Valley complex was for the citizens, and the Great Enclosure was used by the king. Structures that were more elaborate were probably built for the kings, although it has been argued that the dating of finds in the complexes does not support this interpretation.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The chronology of the Valley Enclosures: implications for the interpretation of Great Zimbabwe|journal=African Archaeological Review|volume=10|year=1992|pages=139–161|first=D. P.|last=Collett |author2=A. E. Vines |author3=E. G. Hughes|doi=10.1007/BF01117699|s2cid=162352596}}</ref>

[[Dhaka pits]] were [[Depression (geology)|closed depressions]] utilized by inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe as sources of water management in the form of [[reservoirs]], [[well]]s and springs. Dhaka pits may have been in use since the mid-2nd millennium CE and the system could hold more than 18,000 m<sup>3</sup> of water storage.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Innocent | first=Pikirayi | author2=Federica Sulas| author3= Bongumenzi Nxumalo | author4=Munyaradzi Elton Sagiya|author5=David Stott |author6=Søren M. Kristiansen |author7=Shadreck Chirikure|author8=Tendai Musindo | name-list-style=amp | title=Climate-smart harvesting and storing of water: The legacy of dhaka pits at Great Zimbabwe | year=2022| journal=Anthropocene |volume=40|doi=10.1016/j.ancene.2022.100357| bibcode=2022Anthr..4000357P |s2cid=254533491| hdl=2263/90394 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===Notable artefacts===
<!---"ARTEFACT" IS ***THE CORRECT SPELLING***. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE IT TO THE AMERICAN "ARTIFACT". THANK YOU.--->
[[Image:Zim-bird.jpg|thumb|right|Copy of Zimbabwe Bird soapstone sculpture]]
The most important artefacts recovered from the Monument are the eight [[Zimbabwe Bird]]s. These were carved from a micaceous [[schist]] ([[soapstone]]) on the tops of [[monolith]]s the height of a person.<ref name="Garlake 2002 158">Garlake (2002) 158</ref> Slots in a platform in the Eastern Enclosure of the Hill Complex appear designed to hold the monoliths with the Zimbabwe birds, but as they were not found in situ, the original location of each monolith and bird within the enclosure cannot be determined .<ref>Garlake (1973) 119</ref> Other artefacts include soapstone figurines (one of which is in the [[British Museum]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=596305&partId=1&place=16737&plaA=16737-3-1&pag|title=figure|website=British Museum}}</ref>), pottery, iron gongs, elaborately worked [[ivory]], iron and copper wire, iron hoes, bronze spearheads, copper ingots and crucibles, and gold beads, bracelets, pendants and sheaths.<ref>Garlake (2002) 159–162</ref><ref>Summers (1970) p166</ref> Glass beads and porcelain from China and Persia<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/364 | title=Great Zimbabwe National Monument}}</ref> among other foreign artefacts were also found, attesting the international trade linkages of the Kingdom. In the extensive stone ruins of the great city, which still remain today, include eight, monolithic birds carved in soapstone. It is thought that they represent the [[Bateleur|bateleur eagle]] – a good omen, protective spirit and messenger of the gods in Shona culture.<ref name="Nelson 2019 10">{{Cite book|title=Historium|last=Nelson|first=Jo|publisher=Big Picture Press|year=2019|pages=10}}</ref>

===Trade===
<!---"ARTEFACT" IS ***THE CORRECT SPELLING***. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE IT TO THE AMERICAN "ARTIFACT". THANK YOU.--->
[[File:Zimbabwe states and trade map.png|thumb|Map of trade centres and routes in precolonial Zimbabwe.]]
Great Zimbabwe became a centre for trading, having replaced [[Mapungubwe]] around 1300.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1=Chirikure |first1=Shadreck |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3pa7CgAAQBAJ&dq=kingdom+of+mapungubwe&pg=PT6 |title=Mapungubwe Reconsidered: A Living Legacy: Exploring Beyond the Rise and Decline of the Mapungubwe State |last2=Delius |first2=Peter |last3=Esterhuysen |first3=Amanda |last4=Hall |first4=Simon |last5=Lekgoathi |first5=Sekibakiba |last6=Maulaudzi |first6=Maanda |last7=Neluvhalani |first7=Vele |last8=Ntsoane |first8=Otsile |last9=Pearce |first9=David |date=2015-10-01 |publisher=Real African Publishers Pty Ltd. |isbn=978-1-920655-06-8 |language=en}}</ref> Regional networks were expansive, and salt, cattle, grain, and copper were traded as far north as the [[Kundelungu National Park|Kundelungu Plateau]] in present-day [[DR Congo]]. A significant portion of Great Zimbabwe's wealth came from the domination of trade routes from the goldfields of the Zimbabwean Plateau to the [[Swahili coast]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Mlambo |first=A. S. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofzimbabw0000mlam/mode/2up?view=theater |title=A history of Zimbabwe |date=2014 |publisher=New York, NY : Cambridge University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-107-02170-9}}</ref>{{Rp|page=17}} Through [[Swahili city-states]] such as [[Sofala]], they exported gold and [[ivory trade|ivory]] into the [[Indian Ocean trade]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Delius |first1=Peter |last2=Chewins |first2=Linell |last3=Forssman |first3=Tim |date=2024 |title=Turning South African History Upside Down: Ivory and Gold Production, the Indian Ocean Trading System and the Shaping of Southern African Society, 600–1900 AD |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=499–520 |doi=10.1080/03057070.2024.2436329 |issn=0305-7070 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2024JSAfS..50..499D }}</ref> That international commerce was in addition to the local agricultural trade, in which cattle were especially important.<ref name="Zambezia"/> The large cattle herd that supplied the city moved seasonally and was managed by the court.<ref name="Garlake 2002 158"/> Chinese pottery shards, coins from Arabia, glass beads and other non-local items have been excavated at Zimbabwe. Despite these strong international trade links, there is no evidence to suggest exchange of architectural concepts between Great Zimbabwe and centres such as Kilwa.<ref>Garlake (2002) 185</ref>

===Decline===
It is unknown what caused Great Zimbabwe's demise and its eventual abandonment.{{Efn|A major factor involves the actions of European [[antiquarian]]s and prospectors during the colonial period in the looting of the site, destroying its [[stratigraphy]].}} It is unclear to what extent [[Climate variability and change|climate change]] played a role, however Great Zimbabwe's location in a favourable rainfall zone makes this unlikely to have been a primary cause. Great Zimbabwe's dominance over the region depended on its continual extension and projection of influence, as its growing population needed more farming land and traders more gold.<ref name=":12">{{Citation |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |title=Great Zimbabwe, 1100–1600 AD, Rise, Development, and Demise of |date=2020 |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=2024-12-20 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |isbn=978-3-030-30018-0 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology}}</ref> [[Shona people|Shona]] [[oral tradition]] attributes Great Zimbabwe's demise to a salt shortage, which may be a figurative way of speaking of land depletion for agriculturalists or of the depletion of critical resources for the community.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Silva |first=Alberto da Costa |author-link= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLTrAAAAMAAJ |title=A enxada e a lança: a África antes dos Portugueses |publisher=Editora Nova Fronteira Participações S.A. |isbn=9788520939475 |location=Rio de Janeiro |publication-date=2009 |page= |language=Portuguese |trans-title=The Hoe and the Spear: Africa before the Portuguese |chapter=15. Zimbabué}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |title=Cities in the World: 1500-2000: v. 3 |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |edition=1st |chapter=The Demise of Great Zimbabwe, ad 1420–1550: An Environmental Re-Appraisal |doi=10.4324/9781315095677 |isbn=978-1-315-09567-7 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315095677-3/demise-great-zimbabwe-ad-1420%E2%80%931550-environmental-re-appraisal-innocent-pikirayi}}</ref>{{Rp|page=10}} It is plausible the [[aquifer]] Great Zimbabwe sat on top of ran out of water, or the growing population contaminated the water.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |date=2024-05-01 |title=Granite Landforms and Water Storage at Great Zimbabwe |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09719458241258551 |journal=The Medieval History Journal |language=en |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=254–279 |doi=10.1177/09719458241258551 |issn=0971-9458}}</ref>

From the early 15th century, international trade began to decline amid a global economic downturn, reducing demand for gold, which adversely affected Great Zimbabwe. In response to this, elites possibly expanded regional trading networks, resulting in greater prosperity for other settlements in the region. By the late 15th century, the consequences of this decision would have begun to manifest, as offshoots from Great Zimbabwe's royal family formed new dynasties, possibly as a result of losing succession disputes.<ref>{{Citation |last=Newitt |first=Malyn |title=Southern Zambezia States and Indian Ocean Trade, 1450–1900 |date=2018-05-24 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-289 |access-date=2025-02-18 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.289 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}</ref> According to oral tradition, [[Nyatsimba Mutota]], a member of Great Zimbabwe's royal family, led part of the population north in search for salt to found the [[Mutapa Empire]].{{Efn|According to tradition, the move came about because the king was tired of eating salt made from goat's dung.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Huffman |first=T. N. |date=1972 |title=The Rise and Fall of Zimbabwe |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/rise-and-fall-of-zimbabwe/DF9B15B96E63ADFFC62967F9F2801703 |journal=The Journal of African History |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=353–366 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700011683 |issn=1469-5138}}</ref>}}<ref name=":13">{{Citation |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |title=Great Zimbabwe, 1100–1600 AD, Rise, Development, and Demise of |date=2020 |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=2024-12-20 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |isbn=978-3-030-30018-0 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology}}</ref> It was believed that only their most recent ancestors would follow them, with older ancestors staying at Great Zimbabwe and providing protection there.<ref name=":72"/> [[Angoche Sultanate|Angoche]] traders opened a new route along the [[Zambezi]] via Mutapa and [[Ingombe Ilede]] to reach the goldfields west of Great Zimbabwe, precipitating its decline and the rise of [[Khami]], the capital of the [[Kingdom of Butua]].<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Waarden |first=Catrien Van |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u1SqMwEACAAJ |title=Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens : an Analysis of Behaviour Under Stress |date=2012 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-1019-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=50}} By the 16th century, political and economic power had shifted away from Great Zimbabwe to the north and west. The site likely continued to be inhabited into the 17th century, before it was eventually abandoned.<ref name=":13" />

==History of research and origins of the ruins==
[[File:Cefala Manich Simbaoe.png|thumb|Great Zimbabwe appears on [[Abraham Ortelius]]' 1570 map ''[[Africae Tabula Nova]]'', rendered "Simbaoe".]]There has historically been much debate around the origins of Great Zimbabwe, termed the "[[Zimbabwe controversy]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fontein |first=Joost |url=https://archive.org/details/silenceofgreatzi0000font |title=The silence of Great Zimbabwe : contested landscapes and the power of heritage |date=2006 |publisher=London : UCL |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-84472-123-8}}</ref> Mired in racial prejudice, Rhodesians found it inconceivable that the structures could have been built by indigenous Africans, stipulating that archaeological discoveries of Persian bowls and Chinese celadon were the result of pre-Bantu settlement. The colonial government pressured archaeologists to deny that the structure was built by indigenous Africans, because acknowledging it would have dismantled their "[[civilising mission]]" rationale.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-07-23 |title=BBC World Service - Witness History, The Whitewashing of Zimbabwe's History |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06fjd1h |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> The refutation of various fantastical and dehumanising theories ascribing the construction to Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, and anyone but the Shona, along with other activities of the antiquarians, dominated the historiography of Great Zimbabwe throughout the 20th century.<ref name=":14">{{Citation |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |title=Great Zimbabwe, 1100–1600 AD, Rise, Development, and Demise of |date=2020 |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=2024-12-20 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2666 |isbn=978-3-030-30018-0 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2005 |title=Great Zimbabwe: Colonial historiography |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=Leaver |first=Daniel|editor-first1=Kevin |editor-last1=Shillington |doi=10.4324/9780203483862 |isbn=978-1-135-45670-2 }}</ref> Its African origin only became consensus by the 1950s.<ref name="Frederikse 1990 10–11">{{cite book |last=Frederikse |first=Julie |title=None But Ourselves |publisher=Oral Traditions Association of Zimbabwe with Anvil Press |others=Biddy Partridge (photographer) |year=1990 |isbn=0-7974-0961-0 |location=Harare |pages=10–11 |chapter=(1) Before the war |orig-year=1982}}</ref>

===From Portuguese traders to Karl Mauch===
The first European visit may have been made by the Portuguese traveler António Fernandes in 1513–1515, who crossed twice and reported in detail the region of present-day Zimbabwe (including the Shona kingdoms) and also fortified centers in stone without mortar. However, passing en route a few kilometres north and about {{convert|35|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} south of the site, he did not make a reference to Great Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.rhodesia.nl/rhodesiana/volume19.pdf |journal=Rhodesiana |date=December 1968 |issue=19 |title=The Pioneer Head}}</ref><ref>Oliver, Roland & Anthony Atmore (1975). Medieval Africa 1250–1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 738</ref> Portuguese traders heard about the remains of the medieval city in the early 16th century, and records survive of interviews and notes made by some of them, linking Great Zimbabwe to gold production and long-distance trade.<ref name=Kaarsholm/> Two of those accounts mention an inscription above the entrance to Great Zimbabwe, written in characters not known to the Arab merchants who had seen it.<ref name="Barros">{{cite book |author=McCall-Theal, G. |title=Records of South-eastern Africa |publisher=Cape Colony Printers |year=1900 |volume=VI (book 10) |location=Cape Town |pages=264–273}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=McCall-Theal, G.|title=Records of South-eastern Africa|publisher=Cape Colony Printers|location=Cape Town|year=1900|volume=III|pages=55, 129}}</ref>

In 1506, the explorer Diogo de Alcáçova described the edifices in a letter to [[Manuel I of Portugal]], writing that they were part of the larger kingdom of Ucalanga (presumably Karanga, a dialect of the [[Shona people]] spoken mainly in Masvingo and Midlands provinces of Zimbabwe).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Randles|first1=W. G. L.|title=The Empire of Monomotapa: From the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century|date=1981|publisher=Mambo Press|page=5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68pBAAAAYAAJ|access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref> [[João de Barros]] left another such description of Great Zimbabwe in 1538, as recounted to him by [[Moors|Moorish]] traders who had visited the area and possessed knowledge of the hinterland. He indicates that the edifices were locally known as ''Symbaoe'', which meant "royal court" in the vernacular.<ref name="Pikirayi">{{cite web|last1=Pikirayi|first1=Innocent|title=The Demise of Great Zimbabwe, ad 1420–1550|url=http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/material/1299833592Decline%20of%20Great%20Zimbabwe.pdf|publisher=Post-Med Archaeology|access-date=16 June 2016|archive-date=9 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809041616/http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/material/1299833592Decline%20of%20Great%20Zimbabwe.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> As to the actual identity of the builders of Great Zimbabwe, de Barros writes:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Böhmer-Bauer|first1=Kunigunde|title=Great Zimbabwe: eine ethnologische Untersuchung|date=2000|publisher=R. Köppe|isbn=389645210X|page=221|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9EwAQAAIAAJ|access-date=16 June 2016}}</ref>
{{blockquote|When and by whom, these edifices were raised, as the people of the land are ignorant of the art of writing, there is no record, but they say they are the work of the devil,<ref>Note: double translations (local language to Portuguese to English) should be taken cautiously and not literally.</ref> for in comparison with their power and knowledge it does not seem possible to them that they should be the work of man. | João de Barros }}

Additionally, with regard to the purpose of the Great Zimbabwe ruins, de Barros asserted that: "in the opinion of the Moors who saw it [Great Zimbabwe] it is very ancient and was built to keep possessions of the mines, which are very old, and no gold has been extracted from them for years, because of the wars&nbsp;... it would seem that some prince who has possession of these mines ordered it to be built as a sign thereof, which he afterwards lost in the course of time and through their being so remote from his kingdom".<ref name="Pikirayi"/>

De Barros further remarked that ''Symbaoe'' "is guarded by a nobleman, who has charge of it, after the manner of a chief alcaide, and they call this officer Symbacayo&nbsp;... and there are always some of Benomotapa's wives therein of whom Symbacayo takes care." Thus, Great Zimbabwe appears to have still been inhabited as recently as the early 16th century.<ref name="Pikirayi"/>

===Karl Mauch and the Queen of Sheba===
The ruins were rediscovered by Europeans during a hunting trip in 1867 by [[Adam Render]], a German-American hunter, prospector and trader in southern Africa,<ref>{{cite book |last=Rosenthal |first=Eric |year=1966 |title=Southern African Dictionary of National Biography |location=London |publisher=Frederick Warne |page=308 |oclc=390499 }}</ref> who in 1871 showed the ruins to [[Karl Mauch]], a German explorer and geographer of Africa. Karl Mauch recorded the ruins and immediately speculated about a possible Biblical association with King [[Solomon]] and the [[Queen of Sheba]], an explanation which had been suggested by earlier writers such as the Portuguese João dos Santos. Mauch went so far as to favour a legend that the structures were built to replicate the palace of the Queen of Sheba in Jerusalem,<ref>{{cite news |title=Vast Ruins in South Africa- The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=19 |date=18 December 1892}}</ref> and claimed a wooden lintel at the site must be [[Cedrus libani|Lebanese cedar]], brought by [[Phoenicians]].<ref>Pikirayi (2001) p9</ref> The Sheba legend, as promoted by Mauch, became so pervasive in the white settler community as to cause the later scholar [[James Theodore Bent]] to say, {{blockquote|The names of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba were on everybody's lips, and have become so distasteful to us that we never expect to hear them again without an involuntary shudder.<ref name="Tyson"/>}}

===Carl Peters and Theodore Bent===
[[File:Alloes-valley-great-zimbabwe.jpg|thumb|The Valley Complex]]
[[Carl Peters]] collected a ceramic [[ushabti]] in 1905. [[Flinders Petrie]] examined it and identified a [[cartouche]] on its chest as belonging to the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|18th Dynasty]] Egyptian Pharaoh [[Thutmose III]] and suggested that it was a statuette of the king and cited it as proof of commercial ties between rulers in the area and the ancient Egyptians during the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] (c. 1550–1077 BC), if not a relic of an old Egyptian station near the local gold mines.<ref>{{cite book|last=Peters|first=Carl|title=The Eldorado of the Ancients|pages=393–394|publisher=C. Pearson|url=https://archive.org/stream/eldoradoofancien00pete#page/392/mode/2up|year=1902}}</ref> Johann Heinrich Schäfer later appraised the statuette, and argued that it belonged to a well-known group of forgeries. After having received the ushabti, [[Felix von Luschan]] suggested that it was of more recent origin than the New Kingdom. He asserted that the figurine instead appeared to date to the subsequent [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] era (c. 323–30 BC), when [[Alexandria]]-based Greek merchants would export Egyptian antiquities and pseudo-antiquities to southern Africa.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Griffith|first1=Francis Llewellyn|title=Archæological Report|date=1903|publisher=Egypt Exploration Fund|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3PSvXWaH5YC|access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref>

[[James Theodore Bent|J. Theodore Bent]] undertook a season at Zimbabwe with [[Cecil Rhodes]]'s patronage and funding from the Royal Geographical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. This, and other excavations undertaken for Rhodes, resulted in a book publication that introduced the ruins to English readers. Bent had no formal archaeological training, but had travelled very widely in [[Arabia]], [[Greece]] and [[Asia Minor]]. He was aided by the expert cartographer and surveyor [https://aim25.com/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=6569&inst_id=10 Robert M. W. Swan] (1858–1904), who also visited and surveyed a host of related stone ruins nearby. Bent stated in the first edition of his book ''The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland'' (1892) that the ruins revealed either the [[Phoenicians]] or the [[Arabs]] as builders, and he favoured the possibility of great antiquity for the fortress. By the third edition of his book (1902) he was more specific, with his primary theory being "a Semitic race and of Arabian origin" of "strongly commercial" traders living within a client African city.

[[Image:Exterior of great enclosure,G.Zimbabwe.JPG|thumb|right|Exterior wall of the Great Enclosure. Picture taken by David Randall-MacIver in 1906.]]

===The Lemba===
<!---"ARTEFACT" IS ***THE CORRECT SPELLING***. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE IT TO THE AMERICAN "ARTIFACT". THANK YOU.--->
The construction of Great Zimbabwe is also claimed by the [[Lemba people|Lemba]], as documented by William Bolts in 1777 (to the Austrian Habsburg authorities), and by an A.A. Anderson (writing about his travels north of the [[Limpopo River]] in the 19th century).{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} Lemba speak the [[Bantu languages]] spoken by their geographic neighbours, but they have some religious practices and beliefs similar to those in [[Judaism]] and [[Islam]], which they claim were transmitted by oral tradition.<ref name="VanWarmelo">{{Cite journal|author=van Warmelo, N.J.|title=Zur Sprache und Herkunft der Lemba|journal=Hamburger Beiträge zur Afrika-Kunde|volume=5|year=1966|pages=273, 278, 281–282|publisher=Deutsches Institut für Afrika-Forschung}}</ref>

===David Randall-MacIver and medieval origin===
The first scientific [[archaeological excavation]]s at the site were undertaken by [[David Randall-MacIver]] for the British Association in 1905–1906. In ''Medieval Rhodesia'', he rejected the claims made by [[Adam Render]], [[Carl Peters]] and [[Karl Mauch]], and instead wrote of the existence in the site of objects that were of Bantu origin. Randall-MacIver concluded that all available evidence led him to believe that the Zimbabwe structures were constructed by the ancestors of the Shona people.<ref>David Randall-MacIver 1873-1945 by David Ridgway, 1984</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Solomon's Mines |pages=RB241 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 April 1906}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Rhodesia Ruins: their probable origins and significance|last=Randall-MacIver|first=David|jstor=1776233|author-link=David Randall-MacIver|journal=The Geographical Journal|year=1906|volume=27|pages=325–336|doi=10.2307/1776233|issue=4|bibcode=1906GeogJ..27..325R |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449252}}</ref> More importantly he suggested a wholly medieval date for the walled fortifications and temple. This claim was not immediately accepted, partly due to the relatively short and undermanned period of excavation he was able to undertake.

===Gertrude Caton Thompson===
[[File:Great Zimbabwe Ruins2.jpg|thumb|The Hill Complex]]
In mid-1929, [[Gertrude Caton Thompson]] concluded, after a twelve-day visit of a three-person team and the digging of several trenches, that the site was indeed created by Bantu. She had first sunk three test pits into what had been refuse heaps on the upper terraces of the hill complex, producing a mix of unremarkable pottery and ironwork. She then moved to the Conical Tower and tried to dig under the tower, arguing that the ground there would be undisturbed, but nothing was revealed. Some further test trenches were then put down outside the lower Great Enclosure and in the Valley Ruins, which unearthed domestic ironwork, glass beads, and a gold bracelet. Caton Thompson immediately announced her Bantu origin theory to a meeting of the British Association in Johannesburg.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ascribes Zimbabwe to African Bantus |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=2 |date=20 October 1929}}</ref>{{blockquote|Examination of all the existing evidence, gathered from every quarter, still can produce not one single item that is not in accordance with the claim of Bantu origin and medieval date<ref name="Tyson"/>}} Caton Thompson's claim was not immediately favoured, although it had strong support among some scientific archaeologists due to her modern methods. Her most important contribution was in helping to confirm the theory of a medieval origin for the masonry work of the 14th and 15th centuries. By 1931, she had modified her Bantu theory somewhat, allowing for a possible Arabian influence for the towers through the imitation of buildings or art seen at coastal Arabian trading cities.

===Post-1945 research===
<!---"ARTEFACT" IS ***THE CORRECT SPELLING***. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE IT TO THE AMERICAN "ARTIFACT". THANK YOU.--->
Since the 1950s, there has been consensus among archaeologists as to the African origins of Great Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite book|last=Davidson|first=Basil|author-link=Basil Davidson|title= The Lost Cities of Africa|url=https://archive.org/details/lostcitiesofafri00davi|url-access=registration|location=Boston|publisher=Little Brown|year=1959|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lostcitiesofafri00davi/page/366 366]|isbn=978-0-316-17431-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century|editor1=J. Ki-Zerbo |editor2=D.T. Niane |location=London|publisher=James Currey|pages=320|year=1997|isbn=978-0-85255-094-6}}</ref>  Artefacts and [[radiocarbon dating]] indicate settlement in at least the 5th century, with continuous settlement of Great Zimbabwe between the 12th and 15th centuries<ref name="Garlake-dates">Garlake (2002) 146</ref> and the bulk of the finds from the 15th century.<ref name="SAAB"/> The radiocarbon evidence is a suite of 28 measurements, for which all but the first four, from the early days of the use of that method and now viewed as inaccurate, support the 12th-to-15th-centuries chronology.<ref name="Garlake-dates"/><ref name=Huffman2009>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2008.10.004|title=Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The origin and spread of social complexity in southern Africa|year=2009|last1=Huffman|first1=Thomas N.|author-link=Thomas Huffman|journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology|volume=28|pages=37–54}}</ref> In the 1970s, a beam that produced some of the anomalous dates in 1952 was reanalysed and gave a 14th-century date.<ref>Garlake (1982) 34</ref> Dated finds such as Chinese, Persian and Syrian artefacts also support the 12th- and 15th-century dates.<ref>Garlake (1982) 10</ref>

===Gokomere===
Archaeologists generally agree that the builders spoke one of the [[Shona language]]s,<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0021853700016431|title=Pastoralism and Zimbabwe|last=Garlake|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Garlake|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=19|year=1978|pages=479–493|issue=4|s2cid=162491076}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/3858132|title=Archaeology and early Venda history|first=Jannie H. N.|last=Loubser|journal=Goodwin Series|volume=6|pages=54–61|jstor=3858132|year=1989}}</ref> based upon evidence of pottery,<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1086/203694|title=On why pots are decorated the way they are|last=Evers|first=T.M. |author2=Thomas Huffman |author3=Simiyu Wandibba|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=29|year=1988|pages=739–741|jstor=2743612|issue=5|s2cid=145283490|author2-link=Thomas Huffman}}</ref><ref>Summers (1970) p195</ref> oral traditions<ref name="SAAB"/><ref>Summers (1970) p164</ref> and anthropology<ref name="current"/> and DNA evidence <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bodiba |first1=Molebogeng |last2=Steyn |first2=Maryna |last3=Bloomer |first3=Paulette |last4=Mosothwane |first4=Morongwa N. |last5=Rühli |first5=Frank |last6=Bouwman |first6=Abigail |date=2019 |title=Ancient DNA Analysis of the Thulamela Remains: Deciphering the Migratory Patterns of a Southern African Population |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26869049 |journal=Journal of African Archaeology |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=161–172 |doi=10.1163/21915784-20190017 |jstor=26869049 |issn=1612-1651}}</ref> and recent scholarship supports the construction of Great Zimbabwe (and the origin of its culture) by Shona and Venda peoples,<ref name="Ndoro, W 19972">[[Webber Ndoro|Ndoro, W.]], and Pwiti, G. (1997). Marketing the past: The Shona village at Great Zimbabwe. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 2(3): 3–8.</ref><ref name="Beach, D. N. 19942">Beach, D. N. (1994). A Zimbabwean past: Shona dynastic histories and oral traditions.</ref><ref name="Huffman20092">{{cite journal |last1=Huffman |first1=Thomas N. |author-link=Thomas Huffman |year=2009 |title=Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The origin and spread of social complexity in southern Africa |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |volume=28 |pages=37–54 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2008.10.004}}</ref><ref name="Nelson 2019 102">{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Jo |title=Historium |publisher=Big Picture Press |year=2019 |pages=10}}</ref> who were probably descended from the [[Gokomere]] culture.<ref name="Huffman2009" /> The Gokomere culture, an eastern Bantu subgroup, existed in the area from around 200 AD and flourished from 500 AD to about 800 AD. Archaeological evidence indicates that it constitutes an early phase of the Great Zimbabwe culture.<ref name="antiquity" /><ref name="SAAB">{{cite journal|title=The chronology of Great Zimbabwe|first=Thomas N.|last=Huffman|author-link=Thomas Huffman|author2=J. C. Vogel|author-link2=Johann Carl Vogel|journal=The South African Archaeological Bulletin|volume=46|year=1991|pages=61–70|jstor=3889086|doi=10.2307/3889086|issue=154}}</ref><ref>Summers (1970) p35</ref><ref name="Chikuhwa2013">{{cite book|last=Chikuhwa|first=Jacob W.|author-link=Jacob Chikuhwa|title=Zimbabwe: The End of the First Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQ49AQAAQBAJ&pg=PR19|date=October 2013|publisher=Author House|isbn=978-1-4918-7967-2|page=19}}</ref> The Gokomere culture likely gave rise to both the modern [[Shona people|Mashona]] people,<ref name="Copson2006">{{cite book|last=Copson|first=Raymond W.|title=Zimbabwe: Background and Issues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AM7XUBrrqkC&pg=PA43|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-60021-176-8|page=43}}</ref> an ethnic cluster comprising distinct sub-ethnic groups such as the local Karanga clan{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} and the [[Rozwi]] culture, which originated as several [[Shona people|Shona]] states.<ref>Isichei, Elizabeth Allo, ''A History of African Societies to 1870'' Cambridge University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|978-0521455992}} page 435</ref> Gokomere peoples were probably also related to certain nearby early Bantu groups like the [[Mapungubwe]] civilisation of neighbouring North eastern South Africa, which is believed to have been an early Venda-speaking culture, and to the nearby Sotho.

===Recent research===
[[File:Great zimbabwe 2.jpg|thumb|Passageway in the Great Enclosure]]
More recent archaeological work has been carried out by [[Peter Garlake]], who has produced the comprehensive descriptions of the site,<ref name="Garlake 2002">Garlake (2002)</ref><ref>Garlake (1973)</ref><ref>Garlake (1982)</ref> [[David Beach (historian)|David Beach]]<ref name="current"/><ref>Beach, David N. (1990) [http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Journal%20of%20the%20University%20of%20Zimbabwe/vol17n2/juz017002006.pdf "Publishing the Past: Progress in the 'Documents from the Portuguese' Series"]. Zambezia, Vol. 17, No. 2, 1990, pp. 175–183.</ref><ref>Beach, David N. (1999) [http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Journal%20of%20the%20University%20of%20Zimbabwe/vol26n1/juz026001003.pdf "Pre-colonial History, Demographic Disaster and the University"]. Zambezia, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1999, pp. 5–33.</ref> and [[Thomas Huffman]],<ref name="SAAB"/><ref>Huffman, Thomas N. (05-1985) [https://www.sfu.ca/~wwl10/huffman%20soapstone%20birds.pdf "The Soapstone Birds from Great Zimbabwe."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705173410/http://www.sfu.ca/~wwl10/huffman%20soapstone%20birds.pdf |date=5 July 2012 }} African Arts, Vol. 18, No. 3, May 1985, pp. 68–73 & 99–100.</ref> who have worked on the chronology and development of Great Zimbabwe and [[Gilbert Pwiti]], who has published extensively on trade links.<ref name="Zambezia"/><ref name="Pwiti2004">{{cite journal |author=Gilbert Pwiti |year=2004 |title=Economic change, ideology and the development of cultural complexity in northern Zimbabwe |journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa |volume=39 |pages=265–282 |doi=10.1080/00672700409480403 |s2cid=161890031}}</ref><ref>Pwiti, Gilbert (1996). Continuity and change: an archaeological study of farming communities in northern Zimbabwe AD 500–1700. Studies in African Archaeology, No.13, Department of Archaeology, Uppsala University, Uppsala:.</ref> Today, the most recent consensus attributes the construction of Great Zimbabwe to the Shona people (a [[Bantu peoples|Bantu group]]).<ref name="Ndoro, W 19972"/><ref name="Beach, D. N. 19942"/> Some evidence also suggests an early influence from the probably [[Venda people|Venda]]-speaking peoples of the [[Mapungubwe]] civilization.<ref name=Huffman2009/>

===Damage to the ruins===
<!---"ARTEFACT" IS ***THE CORRECT SPELLING***. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE IT TO THE AMERICAN "ARTIFACT". THANK YOU.--->
Damage to the ruins has taken place throughout the last century. European [[antiquarian]]s looted and pillaged Great Zimbabwe and similar structures from the 1890s to 1920s, greatly inhibiting the work of future archaeologists by destroying its [[stratigraphy]]. The removal of gold and artefacts in amateurist diggings by early colonial antiquarians caused widespread damage,<ref name=Kaarsholm/> notably diggings by [[Richard Nicklin Hall]].<ref name="Tyson">{{cite web|title=Mystery of Great Zimbabwe|author=Peter Tyson|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/zimbabwe.html|publisher=Nova Online|access-date=12 January 2010}}</ref> More extensive damage was caused by the mining of some of the ruins for gold.<ref name=Kaarsholm/> Reconstruction attempts since 1980 caused further damage, leading to alienation of the local communities from the site.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|author=Webber Ndoro|title=The preservation and presentation of Great Zimbabwe|journal=Antiquity|volume=68|issue=260|year=1994|pages=616–623|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00047128|s2cid=161099034}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Closure at Great Zimbabwe: Local Narratives of Desecration and Alienation|author=Joost Fontein|doi=10.1080/03057070600995723|journal=Journal of Southern African Studies|volume=32|year=2006|pages=771–794|issue=4|s2cid=143105508}}</ref> Another source of damage to the ruins has been due to the site being open to visitors with many cases of people climbing the walls, walking over archaeological deposits, and the over-use of certain paths all have had major impacts on the structures at the site.<ref name=":0" /> These are in conjunction with damages due to the natural weathering that occurs over time due to vegetation growth, the foundations settling, and erosion from the weather.<ref name=":0" />

==Political implications==
[[Image:Great Zimbabwe Closeup.jpg|thumb|right| A closeup of Great Zimbabwe ruins, 2006]]
[[Martin Hall (academic)|Martin Hall]] writes that the history of [[Iron Age]] research south of the [[Zambezi]] shows the prevalent influence of colonial ideologies, both in the earliest speculations about the nature of the African past and in the adaptations that have been made to contemporary archaeological methodologies.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hall |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Hall (academic)|year=1984 |title=The Burden of Tribalism: The Social Context of Southern African Iron Age Studies |jstor=280354 |journal=American Antiquity |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=455–467 |doi=10.2307/280354|s2cid=153807869 |url=https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/7487/ }}</ref> Preben Kaarsholm writes that both colonial and black nationalist groups invoked Great Zimbabwe's past to support their vision of the country's present, through the media of popular history and of fiction. Examples of such popular history include [[Alexander Wilmot]]'s ''Monomotapa (Rhodesia)'' and [[Ken Mufuka]]'s ''Dzimbahwe: Life and Politics in the Golden Age''; examples from fiction include [[Wilbur Smith]]'s ''The Sunbird'' and [[Stanlake Samkange]]'s ''Year of the Uprising''.<ref name=Kaarsholm/>

When white colonialists like Cecil Rhodes first saw the ruins, they saw them as a sign of the great riches that the area would yield to its new masters.<ref name=Kaarsholm/> [[Innocent Pikirayi|Pikirayi]] and Kaarsholm suggest that this presentation of Great Zimbabwe was partly intended to encourage settlement and investment in the area.<ref name=Kaarsholm/><ref>Pikirayi (2001) p11</ref> [[Gertrude Caton-Thompson]] recognised that the builders were indigenous Africans, but she characterised the site as the "product of an infantile mind" built by a subjugated society.<ref>{{cite book|author=Caton-Thompson|title=The Zimbabwe Culture: ruins and reactions|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1931}}</ref><ref name="Garlake 2002 23">Garlake (2002) 23</ref><ref>Ucko (1995) 37</ref> The official line in [[Rhodesia]] during the 1960s and 1970s was that the structures were built by non-blacks. Archaeologists who disputed the official statement were censored by the government.<ref>Garlake (2002) 24</ref> According to Paul Sinclair, interviewed for ''None But Ourselves'':<ref name="Frederikse 1990 10–11"/>
{{blockquote|I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. I was told by the then-director of the Museums and Monuments organisation to be extremely careful about talking to the press about the origins of the [Great] Zimbabwe state. I was told that the museum service was in a difficult situation, that the government was pressurising them to withhold the correct information. Censorship of guidebooks, museum displays, school textbooks, radio programmes, newspapers and films was a daily occurrence. Once a member of the Museum Board of Trustees threatened me with losing my job if I said publicly that blacks had built Zimbabwe. He said it was okay to say the yellow people had built it, but I wasn't allowed to mention radio carbon dates&nbsp;... It was the first time since Germany in the thirties that archaeology has been so directly censored.}}

This suppression of archaeology culminated in the departure from the country of prominent archaeologists of Great Zimbabwe, including [[Peter Garlake]], Senior Inspector of Monuments for Rhodesia, and [[Roger Summers]] of the National Museum.<ref>{{cite book|last=De Baets|first=Antoon|title=Censorship of Historical Thought: a World Guide 1945–2000|year=2002|pages=621–625|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=London|url=http://arts.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/publications/general/Historical/2002/debaets_zimbabwe/zimbabwe.pdf|isbn=0-313-31193-5|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327114818/http://arts.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/publications/general/Historical/2002/debaets_zimbabwe/zimbabwe.pdf|archive-date=27 March 2009}}</ref>

[[Image:Flag of Zimbabwe.svg|thumb|right|The Zimbabwe Bird, depicted on Zimbabwe's flag]]
[[File:Coat of arms of Rhodesia.svg|thumb|right|The Zimbabwe Bird, depicted on Rhodesia's coat of arms]]
To black nationalist groups, Great Zimbabwe became an important symbol of achievement by Africans: reclaiming its history was a major aim for those seeking majority rule. In 1980 the new internationally recognised [[History of Zimbabwe#Majority rule|independent]] country was renamed for the site, and its famous [[Zimbabwe Bird|soapstone bird carvings]] were retained from the [[Flag of Rhodesia|Rhodesian flag]] and [[Coat of arms of Rhodesia|Coat of Arms]] as a national symbol and depicted in the new [[Flag of Zimbabwe|Zimbabwean flag]]. After the creation of the modern state of [[Zimbabwe]] in 1980, Great Zimbabwe has been employed to mirror and legitimise shifting policies of the ruling regime. At first it was argued that it represented a form of pre-colonial "African socialism" and later the focus shifted to stressing the natural evolution of an accumulation of wealth and power within a ruling elite.<ref>Garlake (2002) 23–25</ref> An example of the former is Ken Mufuka's booklet,<ref>{{cite book|title=Dzimbahwe: Life and Politics in the Golden Age, 1100–1500 A.D.|publisher=Harare Publishing House|year=1983|pages=58|author1=K. Nyamayaro Mufuka |author2=K. Muzvidzwa |author3=J. Nemerai }}</ref> although the work has been heavily criticised.<ref name=Kaarsholm>{{cite journal|last=Kaarsholm|first=Preben|title=The past as battlefield in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe|journal= Collected Seminar Papers. Institute of Commonwealth Studies|volume=42|year=1992|url=http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4213/1/Preben_Kaarsholm_-_The_past_as_battlefield_in_Rhodesia_and_Zimbabwe.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Garlake|first=Peter|title=Ken Mufuka and Great Zimbabwe|journal=Antiquity|volume=58|year=1984|pages=121–23}}</ref> A tower of the Great Zimbabwe is also depicted on the coat of arms of Zimbabwe.

Some of the carvings had been taken from Great Zimbabwe around 1890 and sold to [[Cecil Rhodes]], who was intrigued and had copies made which he gave to friends. Most of the carvings have now been returned to Zimbabwe, but one remains at Rhodes' old home, [[Groote Schuur]], in [[Cape Town]].

==Local perspectives==
Local narratives, despite each clan claiming the site of Great Zimbabwe, are very similar in lamenting both the European [[antiquarian]]s and the professional archaeologists for desecrating and appropriating a sacred site. They hold the government responsible for the "silence" and "closure" of Great Zimbabwe due to their refusal to "acknowledge the ownership and control of the site by the ancestors and [[Mwari]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fontein |first=Joost |date=2006-12-01 |title=Silence, Destruction and Closure at Great Zimbabwe: Local Narratives of Desecration and Alienation |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070600995723 |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=771–794 |doi=10.1080/03057070600995723 |issn=0305-7070}}</ref>

==The Great Zimbabwe University==
{{Main|Great Zimbabwe University}}
In the early 21st century, the government of Zimbabwe endorsed the creation of a university in the vicinity of the ruins. This university is an arts and culture based university which draws from the rich history of the monuments. The university main site is near the monuments with other campuses in the City centre and Mashava. The campuses include Herbet Chitepo Law School, Robert Mugabe School of Education, Gary Magadzire School of Agriculture and Natural Science, Simon Muzenda School of Arts, and Munhumutapa School of Commerce.

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" class="center">
File:Great Zimbabwe (Donjon).jpg| The Conical Tower
File:Wood Carving in Zimbabwe 01.jpg|Modern wood carving at the entrance of the Great Zimbabwe
File:Zimbabwe wall.jpg|The Great Enclosure
File:Wall of the great enclosure, Great Zimbabwe.JPG|The Great Enclosure (close)
File:Wall of the great enclosure (far), Great Zimbabwe.JPG|The Great Enclosure (far)
File:Great-Zimbabwe-3.jpg|The Hill Complex from the Valley
File:Zimbabwe wooden lintel.jpg|Wooden lintel in doorway
</gallery>

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== See also ==
* Other ruins in Zimbabwe
** [[Bumbusi National Monument|Bumbusi]]
** [[Danangombe]]
** [[Naletale]]
** [[Khami]]
** [[Ziwa]]
** [[Leopard's Kopje]]
** [[Mapela, Zimbabwe]]
* Related ruins outside Zimbabwe
** [[Manyikeni]] – a Mozambiquean archaeological site believed to be part of the Great Zimbabwe tradition of architecture
* Similar ruins outside Zimbabwe
** [[Blaauboschkraal stone ruins]] in [[Mpumalanga]], [[South Africa]]
** [[BaKoni ruins|Machadodorp baKoni Ruins]] in [[Mpumalanga]], [[South Africa]]
** [[Engaruka]] in [[Arusha Region]], [[Tanzania]]
** [[Kweneng' Ruins]] in [[Gauteng]], [[South Africa]]
** [[Mapungubwe]] in [[Limpopo]], [[South Africa]]
** [[Thimlich Ohinga|Thimlich Ohinga stone ruins]] in [[Migori County]], [[Kenya]]
* [[Megaliths]]

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
{{Refend}}
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Garlake |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Garlake |title=Great Zimbabwe: New Aspects of Archaeology |year=1973 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London|isbn= 978-0-8128-1599-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Garlake |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Garlake |title=Great Zimbabwe|year=1982 |publisher=Zimbabwe Publishing House|location=Harare|isbn=978-0-949932-18-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Garlake |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Garlake |title=Early Art and Architecture of Africa |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-284261-7 |location=Oxford |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyartarchitec00garl }}
* {{cite book |last=Matenga |first=Edward |title=Soapstone Birds of Great Zimbabwe: Symbols of a Nation |year=2008 |location=Harare |publisher= African Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-77901-135-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |author-link=Innocent Pikirayi |title=The Zimbabwe culture: origins and decline of southern Zambezian states |year=2001 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn= 978-0-7591-0091-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Summers|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Summers|year=1970|chapter=The Rhodesian Iron Age|editor=J.D. Fage |editor2=Roland Oliver|title=Papers in African Prehistory|url=https://archive.org/details/papersinafricanp0000fage|url-access=registration|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-09566-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Ucko|first=Peter J.|title=Theory in Archaeology: A World Perspective|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-97328-8}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Great Zimbabwe}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* [http://www.greatzimbabweruins.com Great Zimbabwe Ruins]
* [https://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=364 Great Zimbabwe entry] on the UNESCO World Heritage site

{{Masvingo Province}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Great Zimbabwe| ]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 11th century]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 15th century]]
[[Category:1450s disestablishments]]
[[Category:1867 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:1870s in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Architecture of Africa]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 11th century]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Masvingo Province]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Zimbabwe|Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Geography of Masvingo Province]]
[[Category:Masvingo]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Africa]]
[[Category:Ruins in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Masvingo Province]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Eastern Africa]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa]]
[[Category:Nationalism and archaeology]]
[[Category:Archaeology and racism]]
[[Category:Queen of Sheba]]