4. IRON ARTICLES
Objects made of iron are found in all floors, but mainly on intermediate and upper floors. Makalanga iron tools, ornaments, weapons, and iron slag are found in great profusion on the upper floors, especially in the black surface mould and among grass and shrub roots. Modern native-made iron hoes are as a rule without any sign of bevel to strengthen the blade, but iron hoes with a peculiar bevel down the centre of the blade on both sides are found among native articles of a rather superior character and at slightly lower depths. These latter have a depression stamped down the centre of the blade which raises a bevel on the opposite face, while on the opposite side another depression has been stamped parallel with the raised bevel on that side, thus providing a rib on each face, which greatly strengthens the hoe. This class of bevel has been pronounced by experts to be an old form employed also in other parts of the world, and local authorities on Makalanga iron-work assign this make of hoe to several generations ago, while the Makalanga themselves state that such hoes are found in very old deserted villages of their people, but have not been made during their time, but used to be so made by their fathers’ fathers.
PLATE 2.
Methuen & Co
Iron chisels (Pl. III., figs, 1 and 2) are found on almost all floors, and were it not for noting the actual spots where they are found and the associated articles, it would be difficult to state, so closely do they resemble each other, which of them were antique and which old or modern native. This difficulty is increased when old Kafir iron-chisels and picks are found to be greatly corroded, while some of the iron tools found in positions suggesting a great antiquity are sometimes found in an almost perfect condition. The sizes of the various chisels used by the ancients on blocks in the oldest portions of the ruins, and also on the soapstone beams, are still clearly distinguishable.
Iron picks are found on older native floors, and these vary in make and design, and may be classified as follows:—
(a) Double-pointed picks made of a short, thick piece of iron tapered at each end, the middle part of which is held by a short iron handle (Pl. II., fig. 11). These have also been found in old workings in both Matabeleland and Mashonaland, and especially in the Mazoe and neighbouring districts. Several of the early writers on this country state that these picks had been supplied to their native labourers by the mediæval Portuguese, but it is impossible at present to state whether this belief be correct or otherwise. Certainly these picks have been mostly found in districts once occupied by the Portuguese. There is a character in the design, class of iron used, and the make that does not suggest a native origin.
(b) An iron pick (Pl. III., fig. 3), similar to the one shown on page 217 of Mr. Bent’s book, but in a better state of preservation, was recently found at Zimbabwe. It is almost certain that this class of pick once had wooden handles up the middle of which was a hole, and through it passed the iron bar which bound the pick and the handle firmly together.
(c) The pick (Pl. II., fig. 11) is formed by a bar of iron which is bent back a few inches from the top, and in the front of the bend is a hole running up the centre inside the bent-back portion, and into this hole the haft of the pick is fixed. These have been found complete.
All three classes of picks are found on intermediate and upper clay floors, yet the local natives affirm that they have never known them to be made, though they are aware of their purpose.
Included in the finds of iron articles was a well-made iron spoon with a long handle squared at the end. This was found among the Arab belongings in Renders Ruins, also an iron spearhead (Pl. II., fig. 16) with peculiarly designed spaces in its edges as if for inflicting a more than usually serious wound. An ornamented spearhead (Pl. II., fig. 15) with its point decorated with bead-like bevels diminishing in size from base to point. An iron lamp-stand (PI. II., figs. 17 and 18) with eight bent-up arms (with which was found 12 ft. of fine copper chain in lengths of about 18 in. with pottery affixed at intervals) was also found with the Arab articles.
Iron bangles, both solid and of wire-work, are found on upper floors in the black surface mould and among grass roots. Some of these must be exceedingly old, and in the wire bangles the fibre or zebra hair (this, in some instances, being found intact), round which the wire was twisted, has completely disappeared. In many instances some traces more or less distinct of the fibre or hair still remained. Twisted iron wire-work, evidently imported wholesale, has been found at one spot only, and in great quantities in the form of coils, and not cut up into lengths for use as bangles. The coils, which are now fused, must have contained very many feet of this twisted wire. The same applies to coils of twisted brass wire in large coils found also at the same spot, which, as is shown later, was evidently an old Arab trading station.
Iron nails (Pl. II., figs. 2 and 4) are not limited to any particular floor, and are found almost everywhere in the ruins. But these vary considerably in make. The oldest form of nail and the best designed is that found at greatest depth. This is wedge-shape headed. Another form of exceedingly old class of nails is that where the head is formed by doubling the nail back for about half an inch. But the head is not welded, the bottom part of the bent-back portion being slightly tapered where it meets the side of the nail. These nails in several instances were made difficult of extraction from the wood by being barbed and notched, and in some cases, especially of a rivet class of smaller nails, the nails, when the iron was hot, were twisted in the centre only, and a rude sort of screw was thus made with protruding edges. It can be seen that several twisting operations were required to form these spiral bandings, and that these separate twistings do not connect together as in a perfect screw. The larger nails are from 4 in. to 6 in. long, the rivet class varying from 1½ in. to 4 in.
Iron shoes and collars once having served as bands round wooden posts, possibly to keep them from splitting, especially in a climate where there are daily such rapid changes from heat to cold, and which plays such havoc with the modern imported timber. These bands, which average almost an inch in width, generally passed twice round the post, and the shapes of the circumference of the post are square, oblong (these are the most frequent), or circular, but always perfectly exact, showing that the ancients and older inhabitants of the ruins used wood that had been specially shaped with tools, and not the rough, unworked poles used by old and present natives, many of which can be still seen never to have been touched with any tool save in cutting it from the tree and in lopping off small branches. These shoes and collars are found on very old floors, their greatest length or diameter being 4¾ in.
One important fact is clearly demonstrated by the presence in quantities on the older floors of nails and shoes, and it is that the original builders and their more immediate successors extensively employed woodwork in the fittings of all the enclosures, some of it being of large dimensions, and in all probability worked with tools, and not used in the rough state. The general distribution of these nails and shoes throughout the enclosures, and at some depth, convinces one that substantial wooden fittings once existed in these enclosures, for the large sizes of the older forms of nails and the make of the shoes and collars preclude any suggestion of many of them having been used in woodwork which could have been easily removed.
A forked iron instrument (Pl. II., fig. 5), with six gold bosses riveted with gold on to the iron, is certainly of a very antique character, though possibly not an article belonging to the original builders, for the condition of the iron and its location, while pointing to some antiquity, rather precludes any idea of its being of the earliest date. This was found in the Western Temple at the Acropolis ruins, at a point near, but not so deep as, the spot which Mr. Swan styles “the centre of the arc of the curved and decorated main wall of the Western Temple on the hill.”
The iron pincers (Pl. II., fig. 2), found with the gold scorifiers on an intermediate floor in the Elliptical Temple, are of simple construction, and are made of a bar of iron tapered at each end and doubled together, the doubled end being hammered close, but not welded. Traces of flux are on the tapered points. A second pair of iron pincers, but not in such good condition, were found on an intermediate floor in the Acropolis ruins.
Some six pairs of double iron gongs were also recently found, but not in any position or associated with articles suggesting antiquity. These were found on old Makalanga floors, also among grass roots and in black surface mould. Yet the type and pattern of gong is undoubtedly ancient, being found in Egypt and seen in the ancient paintings in that country, but like the rod of iron, the pillow, the ingot mould, and a score of other articles used not only by Makalanga but by other peoples of this continent, the form and make of these gongs have been handed down from time immemorial. The local natives know the use of these gongs, and say that they were beaten with an iron striker (Pl. II., fig. 20), but they have not seen any at Zimbabwe since they arrived seventy years ago, nor can they say that their own people ever made them, but they suppose that the old Makalanga, who, up to at least one hundred years ago, are known to have lived in the Zimbabwe ruins, made and used them. These gongs are known to local natives who have travelled, and these say they have seen them in use in the Zambesia districts, where they are used to greet the arrival of chiefs and the appearance of the new moon, also as a signal of warning. The two gongs are bound together by an iron band, which forms the handle. One pair was found on the floor of a hut built on block foundations with the usual clay-rounded, bevelled, and circular base, exactly similar to those on the filled-in plateau of No. 1 Ruins at Khami (see Chapter VII., section “Native Huts found in Ancient Ruins,” post, p. 152). The gongs found at Zimbabwe average 16½ in. high, and their sides are hammered together out of two thick sheets of soft iron. They have no clappers, and are intended to be struck from without. They have frequently been found in Kazembe country between the Zambesi and Lake Tanganyika, where the natives state that the gongs are not made now, and that they are very old (Anthrop. Journal, 1901, Article 39). Dr. Holub (vol. ii., p. 147) gives an illustration of a double iron gong of crude make and design, still in use among the Barotse as a musical instrument. Sir H. M. Stanley states that these double iron gongs were in use by the natives of Urangi (Upper Congo), and also at Mangala on that river. His illustrations of these gongs show great similarity to those found in various parts of Southern Rhodesia. Several writers on South-East Africa describe an identical iron gong still in use among the natives. Each gong gives a different sound to its companion gong.
A single iron gong (Pl. II., fig. 22) was also found among old native articles. The gong is oblong, and has an ornament at each end made of tapered strips of iron coiled into circles, and these ornaments strongly suggest that the gong was only used when suspended. It is 13½ in. long and 5½ in. deep. No explorer in this country appears to have seen a gong of this description. Its style and make are altogether unique.
One iron rod or sceptre, 3 ft. 5 in. long, was also found in a position not suggestive of antiquity. This was recognised by the natives as the rod of a chief, being a native symbol of power. Some of the dynastic chiefs of the Makalanga still possess these iron rods. The end of the rod is bent back to form the handle. Mr. Bent says the iron sceptres borne by Makalanga chiefs have their parallels in the north of the African continent! Ruling “with a rod of iron” is a scriptural description of despotic government.
Pieces of worked iron, with rings let through the top ends and broadening at the base, where there is a different shaped hole of a distinct form on each base, appear to have been keys (Pl. II., figs. 7 and 8). These were found with the Arab belongings in Renders Ruins.
PLATE 3.
Methuen & Co
— Relics & “Finds” —
Great Zimbabwe 1802–3.
There are still to be seen the remains of native iron-smelting furnaces, one being in almost perfect condition, but all are exceedingly old, and were found standing seventy years ago, when the present Makalanga came to live at Zimbabwe. The “female breast and furrow” pattern is on every native furnace. Portions of blow-pipes and great quantities of iron slag are found on the higher floors of clay in several of the ruins.