Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia / An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia

by R. N. Hall

OUTER PARALLEL PASSAGE

On leaving the temple by the North Entrance one enters a walled-in area. This area is formed by the southern extremity of the North-East Passage and the western extremity of the Outer Parallel Passage, both of which meet at, and converge upon, the North Entrance.

The Outer Parallel Passage runs for 125 ft. east-south-east from the North Entrance parallel with the north-east wall of the temple between the points [450 ft.] and [575 ft.] of its outer circumference. At its extremity near the North Entrance this passage is 7 ft. wide, and 25 ft. further east-south-east of the entrance it is 3 ft. 8 in. wide, which width is maintained for a length of 50 ft., beyond which point it commences to widen out till the east-south-east extremity is reached, where it is 12 ft. 6 in. wide.

Opposite the North Entrance the outer wall of the passage is 6 ft. high; at 25 ft. further east-south-east, 5 ft.; at 75 ft., 8 ft.; at 100 ft., 7 ft.; and at 125 ft., 5 ft., the line of summit from the 25 ft. point to the east-south-east extremity being fairly level throughout. This outer wall is well built. It is 4 ft. 2 in. wide on the summit at 5 ft. from the floor of the passage, and 3 ft. 10 in. wide at 7 ft. from the ground.

At 25 ft. from the North Entrance is a rounded entrance through the outer wall. This has portcullis grooves. It is 1 ft. 10 in. wide, and has three steps formed of the courses of the foundation of the wall, the upper step being curved back into the entrance.

At the extremity near the North Entrance there are the remains of a small rounded buttress projecting into the passage from the main wall of the temple.

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CHAPTER XIV
THE ACROPOLIS RUINS

South-East Ancient Ascent—Lower Parapet—Rock Passage—Upper Parapet—Western Enclosure.

ON Zimbabwe Hill, at a height of some 230 ft. to 250 ft. above the valley which runs along its west and south sides, stands the Acropolis or Hill Fortress. Its prominent and strategic position on this precipitous and practically isolated granite kopje gives it a grandly imposing appearance among the many large ruins included within the Zimbabwe Reserve.

Viewing the hill from the valley, one can well realise that Nature alone made the place impregnable, while the builders of almost four thousand years ago applied their highly developed engineering skill and ingenuity to make the stronghold even more absolutely unassailable.

The south side of the hill is defended by a precipice some 90 ft. high, running without break from the western end for over 300 yds. to the eastern side of the hill, where the precipice loses itself in gigantic boulders, each of many hundred tons weight, which, owing to their beetling form, render that side of the hill inaccessible. Great boulders form the summit of the hill, and are in a cliff-shaped line running from west to east. Several of the highest boulders appear to be most delicately poised on the edges of the shoulders of gigantic cliffs, and these rise up at least 50 ft. to 70 ft. above the highest portion of the Hill Ruins, thus making the total height of the kopje to be slightly more than 320 ft.

ZIMBABWE HILL

VIEW FROM HAVILAH CAMP

The bases of the southern walls are built on the outward slope of the brink of the line of steep granite cliff, the lowest row of stones being deep at their front and narrow at the back. So markedly are these wedge-shaped rows of stones laid over the brink of the precipice that at first sight one hardly notices where the wall ends and the precipice begins, especially as the blocks in the walls present in the dry season the same colourings and tints as the line of cliff itself. Below the precipice the ground has a very sharp fall of some 70 ft. into the valley.

The feelings provoked in one’s mind on visiting the Elliptical Temple and Sacred Cone, which are in the valley, are those of awe and reverence; but on inspecting the Acropolis the visitor is overcome by a sense of absolute amazement and sheer bewilderment, which are intensified at every step taken along its numerous labyrinthine passages on climbing the hill.

Above the precipice, as seen from the valley, are massive walls, on the summits of which some dozen monoliths, more or less erect, are still to be seen standing clear against the sky-line. From this point of view alone—and this but represents a small fraction of the walls of which these ruins are composed—one realises that many thousands of tons of granite blocks (those in the outer faces having been squared and dressed) have been transported up the precipitous kopje to a height of no less than 230 ft., for examination of the rocks on the hill proves that the greater quantity of stone used in the walls was not quarried on the kopje itself.

Apart from the infinite patience and painstaking toil of the ancients as displayed in their careful and correct building and complicated plan and style of architecture, this one fact of so much stone quarried and dressed elsewhere and carried up to such a height as a man could hardly climb who bore no burden, is one to amaze and perplex even the most casual and indifferent visitor. Later, on reaching the ruins it will be seen that very many thousand tons of granite blocks have been carried up the hill. This fact serves to still further accentuate the statements made by the authors on pages 60 and 65 of Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia that (1) not only did the ancients of the first period of Zimbabwe architecture realise that they were occupying a hostile country, but (2) the ancient builders had at their disposal slave labour to an enormous and incalculable extent, and this apart from the overwhelming evidences pointing to the same conclusion presented by the thousands of ancient workings spread over Southern Rhodesia, and the hundreds of massive fortresses and temples occupying a corresponding area.

These and many other obvious suggestions present themselves most forcibly at even the partial view of the Hill Fortress as seen from the valley.

The first question occurring to one ascending the hill is: Where is the ancient ascent? It is obvious that the path used by visitors could not be the ascent of the ancients, for were it not for the gaps in the walls, access to the summit by the ordinary path would be absolutely impracticable. Indeed, the ordinary path runs at several points along the reduced tops of broken walls, and crosses the foundations of some dozen outer defence walls, which are now practically demolished and barely traceable.

There are two well-defined ancient approaches to the summit of the Acropolis, one being on the south side of the hill and the other on the face fronting the west-north-west. It is believed that at least two other ancient ascents exist. The N.N.W. ascent has not been completely cleared out, though it is very well defined, and some 320 ft. of its 940 ft. length can now be traversed by the visitor, but the south-east ascent has recently been cleared out of large trees, shrubs, and many tons of wall débris and silted soil, so that it is now possible for visitors to use it with ease. Mogabe, the Zimbabwe Makalanga chief, now seventy years of age, who at one time had his kraal on the northern side of the summit of Zimbabwe Hill, as well as the older of his headmen, all state they had never before seen this ancient ascent so cleared out. They say that the late Chipfuno’s people, and subsequently their own, used it as an approach to the kraal, but not generally, and this was only possible by climbing along the tops of the walls and over the large wall-débris heaps that blocked up the passage-way. Certainly for at least one hundred years this ascent could not have been used, for the débris piles were covered with lichens, and had every appearance of great age. The Makalanga had also purposely blocked up the passage with a substantial wall, which was erected in Chipfuno’s time. Some of the trees cleared from the passages proved by their size that they had stood there long before the Chartered Company’s advent into the country.

Methuen & Co.

ACROPOLIS RUINS
Zimbabwe

In fact, the ascent by this ancient approach now occupies a little more than half the time required to walk round by the circuitous path till recently used by visitors, besides affording to the climber a revelation as to the ingenuity and wonderful engineering skill of the ancients in effecting the defence of the hill. Unless this ancient approach be traversed by the visitor, one of the principal features provided by the Acropolis or Hill Ruins will have been missed.