6. FOREIGN STONES
Every enclosure in the ruins at Zimbabwe which has been recently examined yields stone altogether foreign to the granite formation of the district. Many tons of slate have been brought here from a distance of at least eight miles, and also large quantities of soapstone from a similar distance, while dolorite, once used as anvils, was discovered, also diorite used as hammers, quartz, jasper stone showing gold, serpentine stone, calcedony pebbles, crystal pebbles, metamorphic slate, mica schist, ironstone and copper ore, and one or two small fragments of flint, and some natural wind-worn stones of peculiar form. A lithologist could very easily add considerably to this list. Two pieces of water-worn diorite of the shape of rolling-pins were found in the débris below the Platform at the Western Temple on the Acropolis. The finding of one such stone might not in itself be considered of any moment, but the discovery of two such pieces similar in shape may possibly have some significance for the student of the litholatrous practices of the ancients. The same might be said of several stones discovered here, many of which in quantities naturally assume suggestive shapes, while some are of purely imitative forms and not artificially treated. Several of the quartz pebbles showed gold very richly. All these, with the exception of the quartz, ironstone and copper ore, were found on the lowest floors.
There were also found water-worn stones, mostly slates, with artificial depressions which had undoubtedly been used as tools, in some instances as burnishing stones, these latter being found associated with the older form of gold crucibles, and some of these had been most probably selected on account of their shape admirably suiting the fingers of the right hand. Some small slabs of slate found at considerable depths show evidences of having been extensively used as whetstones for sharpening edge tools.
About one ton and a half of metamorphic slate, called by Mr. Bent “black slate,” and similar to that used in the mural decorations on the north face of the wall of No. 11 Enclosure and on the north-east wall of the Platform, was found among the débris in the Sacred Enclosure and in Nos. 9, 11, and 12 enclosures of the Elliptical Temple, especially at the base of the wall containing the pattern formed by means of these stones. All loose blocks are now stacked together in the Sacred Enclosure (west) at the angle formed by the Platform and the wall dividing off No. 9 Enclosure. At least some four tons of these blocks had been brought to Zimbabwe, the nearest point being on the Motelekwe River, at eight miles east-north-east of Zimbabwe. It is somewhat remarkable that no such blocks were found in the western half of the Elliptical Temple, nor on the Acropolis, nor at any other ruin in the locality.
Beds of small splinters of imported quartz have been found at several points within the ruin’s area, the largest being on the west side of No. 1 Ruins and on the north side of the summit of Rusivanga Kopje. Splinters of quartz are found on all cement floors and on such floors as are made of burnt clay. Some of the quartz showed traces of gold, but most of the pannings were blank. It has never been supposed that the original builders carried on extensive quartz-crushing operations at Zimbabwe, but that the gold was brought to Zimbabwe in the form of dust to be smelted into ingots, both for export and local manufacture. Possibly the quartz was brought here for testing purposes, for these people who were so well acquainted with the nature of quartz-mining must have had some centres throughout the country where quartz could be tested, and it is quite natural that the “assay office” of the ancients for the surrounding districts might have been at Zimbabwe.