CAMP RUINS No. 2
Zimbabwe

Sir John Willoughby writes:—

“I carefully attacked Ruin No. 2, but with a disappointing result. It merely appears to be an enclosure formed by an irregular outside wall, varying in thickness and in the depth of its foundations. In tracing this wall, the bed-rock was occasionally exposed at a depth of 3 ft. The only ‘finds’ here were two small pieces of sea-green china, one small piece of white china, a few Kafir arrow-heads, whorls of poor make, two fragments of pottery having a kind of basket design, and a copper or brass clasp or fastening, which probably formed part of a box of modern date.”

This ruin has recently been re-examined with similarly disappointing result, and the remarks made with regard to No. 1 Ruin apply equally to this ruin. Clay foundations and floors of old Kafir huts fill the interior at different levels. Probably in the most ancient period, long before the present structures were erected, one large ruin occupied the site of both Nos. 1 and 2 Ruins, and encircled and crowned the knoll, for judging from very old foundations, walls surrounded the knoll. At least there were two such walls, one being within and higher than the other.

CHAPTER XXI
RUINS NEAR ZIMBABWE

East Ruins—Other Ruins within the Zimbabwe Ruins’ Area.

EAST RUINS

THESE ruins lie 20 yds. to the south of the Motelekwe Road at 550 yds. east of Havilah Camp, and face the east end of the Acropolis Hill at a distance of 300 yds. south.

They occupy a rise overlooking the Valley of Ruins, and are built upon an open granite glacis which originally formed its floor. Their elevated and strategetic position at once claim the attention of visitors. These ruins have always been written and spoken of as being a fort for the defence of the east side of the Valley of Ruins, and, in fact, for all the ruins of the lower Zimbabwe group, including the Elliptical Temple, and especially for the eastern end of the South-East Ancient Ascent to the Acropolis. Judging from the contour of the country round about, the only possible line the ancient road from the east and the coast could have taken must have passed within a few yards of this ruin.