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

UPPER PASSAGE

This passage, which is 28 ft. long, connects the bottom of the Winding Stairs and the south side of the interior of the Western Temple. On the east side the wall is from 4 ft. 6 in. to 6 ft. high, and 5 ft. to 10 ft. on the west side. It is 3 ft. 6 in. wide throughout. It is approached at the northern end between buttresses, the one on the west side being round, while the one on the eastern side is rounded on the inner side and angular on the outer side. On the west side are the remains of a drain emerging from the Little Enclosure and a fragment of the slate beam which once carried the wall across it is still to be seen in the hole. This passage, though at the foot of the Winding Stairs, is some 8 ft. higher than the present floor of the Western Temple.