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

REMAINS OF NATIVE HUTS FOUND IN THE RUINS

In many of the enclosures of the ruins at Zimbabwe are to be found on the present surfaces, and frequently, if the floor of the interior is not formed by the rock formation, on two floors beneath it, the remains of at least three entirely different descriptions of native huts. This is a feature constantly met with in ancient ruins throughout Southern Rhodesia, and in the early days of investigation these remains occasioned considerable perplexity to the explorer. In some ruins only one type of such structures is found, in others two classes of such dwellings, and in others three if not four different types of structure, all the three main types presenting different features in plan, construction, and material.

That these erections are not ancient is a matter of ocular demonstration.

(a) This is shown by their position on the clay floors laid over the débris which has been filled into the enclosure to the depth of from 3 ft. to 7 ft. above any ancient floor, hiding rounded entrances, passages, and smaller sub-divisional walls, and burying, as at some ruins, the ancient decorative patterns on the walls. The examination of the material employed, and the class of its make so similar to the remains of native huts in old deserted villages, all negative any suggestion of antiquity.

AN OLD WALL CROSSING OVER THE FOUNDATION OF A STILL OLDER WALL, ZIMBABWE

BINDING OF THE SUMMITS OF TWO SEPARATE WALLS, ACROPOLIS RUINS

(b) The stonework of the foundations is, as is shown later, of a totally different character from that in undoubted ancient walls, and is practically identical with the stone foundations of granaries still to be seen in any of the villages, some of which are not twelve months old.

(c) The “finds” in these structures do not suggest ancient occupation, but they include articles of superior native make and design, some of which are either not now used by Makalanga or Barotse, or are only met with in rare instances, but are claimed by local natives as having been made and used by previous generations of their people. For instance, double iron gongs, such as are plentifully found north of the Zambesi and in the higher Congo districts, where they may still be seen in actual use, pictures of which occur in works of travel in Central Africa; or copper bangles of exceedingly fine wire, which ornaments have fallen into desuetude and can be but seldom met with now; or carved soapstone daha pipe-bowls, for the making of which the Zimbabwe Makalanga, even at the time of the Occupation, were famous.

(d) Several of these structures at Zimbabwe are claimed by the local Makalanga and Barotse to have been built by their respective people of previous generations. The Barotse lived on the Bentberg at Zimbabwe up to fifty or sixty years ago. The remains of their old kraal can be seen to-day. The circular shallow stone foundations of their huts, the courses rising in “cat-steps,” the immense rounded clay rims which supported the poles of the sides of their dwellings, are still in evidence. These were erected on platforms made by filling in the spaces between the inner sides of ancient enclosure walls and the slope of the hill, a practice to be noticed on all the faces of Zimbabwe Hill, except the eastern.

The different types of such structures so found in the ruins may be described as follows:—

(1) The ordinary clay ruins of a present-day Makalanga hut, with clay floors, butt-ends of side poles still in position, clay ruins on floor marking off the fire-place, the stand for pots, the higher floor for sleeping-place of occupants and the lower floor for goats. These are found on the present surface or immediately under black leaf mould soil, and resemble huts built in local kraals, only they are neater, of better make, and of slightly superior quality of clay. The articles found here are similar to those belonging to present Makalanga.

(2) The foundations of huts with large rims of clay with rounded edges on both sides, the diameter being some 9 ft. to 12 ft., and the rims 16 in. in length and about the same width, the poles being fixed along the centres of the rims. The material in the floor and in the rim is of a superior quality of clay, which builders state it would be misleading to describe as cement. Under the clay floors, which are about 3 in. thick, are platforms of stones laid flatwise in three or four courses, the outer faces of the courses receding from 1 in. to 3 in. behind the faces of the courses below. Sometimes the stonework is laid upon a bed of clay. This class of hut is found upon a lower level than the undoubted Makalanga dwelling. In the Eastern Temple this type of remains was uncovered at a depth of 3 ft. below the surface, and there were no less than two clay floors, each with a layer of ashes, and two granite cement floors below it. These can be seen in the trench made alongside the stone foundation. Glass beads of old make, copper spearheads, and thick copper bangles, beaten copper and copper tacks were among the principal finds discovered in this type of building. In and near such remains were found the four double iron gongs (May, 1902-March, 1903), piles of animal bones split open in ordinary Kafir style for marrow, broken pottery, and quantities of ashes.

(3) On still lower levels were found the floors and lower portions of the sides of huts made of a red-coloured cement without poles fixed in the cement sides. This is not ordinary daga. The inside faces of the walls, as well as the floors which are beautifully smooth, have been baked with fire, and fragments will ring almost like metal, portions having become white with the heat. This cement has in most instances been faced with a thin yellow glaze. On the floors are quantities of small rims very neatly bevelled, with three or four parallel faces on the top, the ends of the rims being rounded off. The bevelled rims are from 1½ in. to 4 in. wide. The roofs of these buildings were supported by poles inserted in the cement floors outside the huts at the distance in many instances of 1 ft. The posts round the outside of the huts were from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. 4 in. apart, and, judging by their butt-ends, which have been preserved by the cement, were made of hard woods, including mahobohobo, which is plentiful at Zimbabwe. The best examples of these huts, of which some score can be seen, are in No. 1 Enclosure in the Elliptical Temple, in the North-West Enclosure, Acropolis, and on the cleared section of floor in the Western Temple. These huts stand on cement platforms without stone foundations, and the platforms are about 1 ft. high, and the top edges are neatly bevelled. In two of these remains at Zimbabwe have been found gold dust, iron spring pincers with flux on the top, pottery, gold scorifiers, and the crudely-shaped soapstone moulds.

Old pioneers assert that these buildings are of Makalanga construction. The Makalangas themselves claim these as having been built by their people in a very remote past. Similar buildings, but without traces of gold*smelting, are known to have been built by the Makalanga in different parts of Southern Mashonaland.

Mr. Alfred Drew, Native Commissioner for Victoria district, who arrived in this country in 1890, and is a recognised authority on old Makalanga buildings, expresses his entire agreement with the above descriptions of old native clay huts, also with the conclusions arrived at concerning them.

(4) There is another class of native hut which is not very frequently found in Southern Rhodesia, but is commonly met with in Basutoland and Swaziland, and in other territories further south. At Zimbabwe there are four such huts on the higher floors of filled-in ruins. This class of hut is constructed of cement of a good quality and of great thickness, with no poles to support the roof. It is circular in form, and from its exterior sides are four, sometimes five, short radiating walls of stones extending outward some 5 ft. or 6 ft. The walls are about 4 ft. wide, and in height reach almost to the top of the cement sides of the hut. The entrance usually has an immense cement buttress on either side, while between each radiating wall, and at the base of the side of the hut, runs a cement bevel rounded on its outer edge as if to form a seat. This bevel is about 14 in. high and 16 in. wide. In all weathers and at any time of day the occupiers could have sat in some one of these partially open spaces between the radiating walls sheltered from sun, rain, or wind. The remains of two such huts were found in the Western Temple on the Acropolis, and one of the radiating walls of one of them, which was more exposed and less ruined than the other short walls, was fixed upon by Swan as an “altar.” This wall is B wall, mentioned in the description of the Western Temple, which follows in Chapter XV.