When the Portuguese traders first encountered the ruins of the Great Zimbabwe they thought that they had found the fabled capital of the Queen of Sheba and were unwilling to believe that sub-Saharan Africans could have built such a structure (Brown 1). People had different theories as to who built the structure. They theorized that it was the ancient Phoenicians, Arabs, Romans, Egyptians, or even Prester John, the legendary Christian king of lands beyond the Islamic realm (Brown 1, Arch 1). After nearly 400 years of misguided and romantic speculation, it came to an end when David Randall-Maclver and Gretude Caton-Thompson confirmed that the ruins were of African origin (Arch 1).
The ancestors of Shoma, one of Zimbabwe's many Bantu speaking groups, built the Great Zimbabwe between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. It covers nearly 1,800 acres on the Zimbabwe Plateau. This region can be divided into three groups: the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure (Arch 1). All around the valley lies a wall with many intricate patterns on it. The astonishing fact is that despite the dry-stone technique used in construction (no mortar binds the stone blocks) the complex has endured for seven centuries (Brown 1).
It was an important trading center and capital. The city controlled much of the interior of southeast Africa for nearly two centuries. The question that arises, "Why here?" The land was ideal for cattle grazing but poor soil would not have agriculturally supported and sustained the Great Zimbabwe’s population of 18,000 (during the fourteenth century). The land was rich in gold deposits. Were they expecting that the gold and cattle profits would support their population? In Bantu, Zimbabwe means "a sacred house" or "ritual seat of a king" (Arch 1). Was the reason they chose this settlement because of their religious beliefs?
Predictably, the land was overgrazed and the Great Zimbabwe became overpopulated facilitating its demise. During the nineteenth century the site was stripped of a lot of is cultural material by treasure seekers (Arch 1). Archaeologists are still trying to unlock all of the Great Zimbabwe’s mysteries today.
Sources
Archaeological Institute of America
http://www.archaeology.org/9807/abstracts/africa.html
htpp://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/post/zimbabwe/art/gzl.html
Jenny Fields