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

SOUTH PASSAGE

This passage appears to have been the main artery leading from the main and North Entrance of the temple right into the central portion of the building, where it has its terminus. It is 68 ft. long from the broad step on the south side of the North Entrance to the steps at the south end of the passage.

For 23 ft. from the north end where is the broad step there is an almost triangular area, 23 ft. from north to south, and 30 ft. from east to west, having its base on the north side. The western end of Inner Parallel Passage enters it at the eastern corner, and the entrance from No. 3 Enclosure is at its western corner. The heights of the walls forming this area are: north side being the south wall of the Parallel Passage, 15 ft.; south-west side being the north-east wall of No. 1 Enclosure, 12 ft.; the west side being the divisional wall between the area and No. 3 Enclosure, 6 ft.; the east and south being the wall dividing the area from No. 15 Enclosure, 12 ft. All these walls are well built and are very substantial.

In the centre of this area is a raised platform, commencing at 9 ft. from the north side of the area and terminating at 21 ft. from the same point, thus giving it a length of 12 ft. It is 9 ft. 6 in. wide and 3 ft. high, and has granite cement covering, where not broken, the whole summit. An old euphorbia tree was found growing out of this cement, its roots having played havoc with the side walls of the platform, the best portion now remaining facing the north-east side. The tree has now been removed. This platform is approached by three large granite cement steps, the two lower ones still being in a fair condition. These steps are each 12 in. high, and from front to back are from 10 in. to 12 in., while they are 2 ft. 6 in. wide, and are rounded on the edges.

The most peculiar circumstance about this platform is that under a foot depth of vegetable mould which completely covered it and rendered the platform shapeless, and lying on the surface of the cement floor, were found some hundred-weights of bones of oxen. There were no bones other than those of oxen, and the bones had not been split open for the marrow, as is so frequently found to be the case in very old Makalanga débris heaps. Nor were any broken pottery, iron implements, or iron and brass bangles, such as are most usually found together in such débris, to be seen, but carbonised wood was found in large quantities.

It should be remembered that Mauch and others of the early writers on Zimbabwe state that they had witnessed sacrifices by the Makalanga of those days of black oxen in the Elliptical Temple, and the local natives also state that this was their practice up to within the last fifteen years. Possibly this was the spot where these sacrifices took place, for though Thomas Baines in a painting he made of one of these ceremonies places the Conical Tower in the background, there are no signs anywhere near that structure that such sacrifices ever took place in its immediate vicinity, all of which has now been cleared of débris down to the cement floor at every point where the Conical Tower could possibly have formed a background for such a ceremony. It is now almost certain that Baines painted this and other pictures of Zimbabwe from the descriptions given him by Renders, Phillips, and Mauch. But in the south-western end of the Parallel Passage for about 20 ft. or 30 ft. from its exit into the Sacred Enclosure (east) the débris was very mixed, and included bones of oxen and buck, the larger bones all split open. Probably this was one of the spots in the temple where these annual sacrifices of black oxen by Makalangas took place.

The platform faces the north, the steps being on the south-east side. The area containing this platform was evidently once laid with granite cement, but sections of it only remain in the western corner and on its north-east side. A drain-hole leading into the Parallel Passage is at 6 ft. east of the broad steps ascending from this area to the North Entrance. This step is 11 ft. broad.

At 23 ft. south from its north end the area narrows to 3 ft. 10 in., which width is maintained for 18 ft., the passage for this length running between No. 16 Enclosure on the east side and No. 1 Enclosure on its west side. At this point in this section of the passage a large flat slab of granite has been banked up with stones to keep the upper portion of the wall on the west from collapsing into the passage. The walls here on either side are from 7 ft. to 10 ft. high.

At 43 ft. south from the north end of the passage are two entrances, the one from the west being from No. 1 Enclosure, and this is angular, while the other facing it on the east being from a short passage on the south side of No. 16 Enclosure, is rounded, and has portcullis grooves. From the 43-ft. point the width of the passage is 2 ft. 8 in., but at its southern extremity it is increased during the last few feet to 4 ft. 10 in. The side walls are very well built, and are still in a good state of preservation. The entrance at the south end of the passage has a rounded buttress with portcullis groove on either side leaving a width of 3 ft. This entrance has five large stone steps practically perfect. The buttresses are 5 ft. high.