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

SMALL TOWER ON WEST WALL OF WESTERN TEMPLE, ACROPOLIS

On the first line of summit the centres of the towers, foundations, or traces, are at the following points, measuring from the northern end: 6 ft., north face of tower 2 ft. high only now remains; 12 ft., foundations of tower with débris stones with rounded faces; 18 ft., portion of foundation only; 24 ft., tower in good condition to 2 ft. in height; 30 ft., ditto; 36 ft., débris only; and 42 ft., traces of foundation and débris.

On this length of summit there are three slate monoliths with tops, some fractured, standing 3 ft. to 5 ft. above the summit of the wall. These are practically equi-distant. Two other slate monoliths were found in the débris at the outer base of the wall, and judging by the spot where found, there are probably two others still buried in the débris.

On the second line of summit, which extends for 46 ft. from south of the gap, one round tower remains intact to a height of 3 ft. 6 in., where it has a diameter of 3 ft. 4 in. The towers or traces of towers on this line of summit are at the following points, commencing from the gap; 4 ft., tower, the most perfect specimen remaining; 10 ft., traces of tower; 15 ft., ditto; 20 ft., foundations only; 27 ft., ditto; 33 ft., traces; 42 ft., ditto.

On this line of summit there are four slate monoliths, more or less erect, standing at equi-distant points. One flat granite monolith lies on the wall by the side of the hole in which it once stood. One slate monolith was found at the outer base of the wall where the gap divides the two lines of summits. The heights of these monoliths, some fractured, range from 5 ft. to 9 ft. above the summit of the wall. One of these must, in all probability, be 15 ft. long.

There seems to be little doubt that these towers, as erected originally, were conical. The most perfect tower shows a very decided drawing-in of the upper courses, while among the débris of each tower are smaller blocks, showing by the contracted curve of their rounded faces that the courses they represented had much smaller radii than those of the courses below.

Architecture and construction of west wall.—Both the architecture and construction of this wall are most obviously of the First Zimbabwe Period; but most of the material used is of an inferior quality to that in the other walls of this temple. This is patent to anyone inspecting the western face of the wall, where very many of the granite blocks are cracked, and in some places considerably decomposed. Some of the courses are also very irregular, and have steep gradients, while many courses disappear, or are false in order to restore the level of depressed courses, besides which the blocks vary greatly in size. Still, the wall does not show any other feature of the Second Period Zimbabwe architecture. As stated before, it is undoubtedly the most massive wall of any ancient ruin yet discovered in Rhodesia, but it was most probably built, or rather reconstructed, during a late portion of the First Period, and, as Bent suggests, later than other walls of this temple. He further suggests that this is a reconstruction of the west wall on a curve some yards further east of its original position. In the description of the Western Enclosure (see later), of which this wall forms the eastern side, it is stated that there is much difficulty in accepting this conjecture. The opportunities opened to the author for examining the ground to the west of the wall were far better than those opened to Bent, and the failure to discover any ancient foundation which could have carried even a much smaller wall was complete; in fact, no foundations whatever anywhere within the point of distance mentioned by Bent. Moreover, the south end of the present wall, as seen at the eastern end of the Higher Parapet, is most excellent work, and appears to have been erected at the same time as the other walls of this temple. Bent’s suggestion as to a reconstruction of this wall at a later period is highly probable, but this reconstruction was only partial, it did not include the south end, and it was upon the original foundations. The radius of the segment of the south end demonstrates that the correctness of the curvature of this wall would have been destroyed had the reconstructed portion been built upon any other line of foundation.

South wall.—This wall is the large massive wall seen from the valley on the south and west sides of the hill. It is built upon the actual brink of the south precipice, and is 78 ft. long, but including the foundations in the gap at its eastern extremity, its total length is 127 ft.

The first 21 ft. measuring from the western end forms the outer wall of the narrow passage from the Higher Parapet in the South-East Ascent to the Western Temple, and also forms the south wall of the western end of the Parallel Passage. This wall at its western end is much reduced by dilapidation, and here its height rising from the bare rock of the precipice is 10 ft. above the floor of the passage. The wall at this point terminates in a beautifully rounded end, which is a splendid work of art, rivalling in this respect the round end of the wall on the south side of Pattern Passage. From the western extremity the south wall rises in height on its outer face as it extends east to 25 ft., and 35 ft. for the rest of the wall as far as the gap. Here the original summit is practically intact as far as the west side of the gap, where the foundations of the wall are level with the ground and are about 8 ft. wide. The inside face of the wall above the interior surface of the temple ranges from 11 ft. to 17 ft. according as the ground rises and falls.