The only apology offered for this apparently lengthy Preface is the mention of the fact that the operations at Great Zimbabwe were carried on for six months after the text of this volume had been sent to the publishers in England. The Preface, therefore, thus affords an opportunity of bringing down the results of these operations to a recent date.
RUINS’ AREA
The recent examination of the district surrounding the ruins now shows the Ruins’ Area to be far larger than either Mr. Theodore Bent (1891) or Sir John Willoughby (1892) supposed. Instead of the area being confined to 945 yds. by 840 yds., it is now known to be at least 2 miles by 1¼ miles, and even this larger limit is by no means final, as traces of walls and of walls buried several feet under the veld have been discovered, not only in Zimbabwe Valley, but in the secluded valleys and gorges and on the hillsides which lie a mile and even two miles beyond the extended area. Huge mounds, many hundred feet in circumference, with no traces of ruins, covered with large full-grown trees and with the remains on the surface of very old native huts, on being examined have been found to contain well-built ruins in which were unearthed small conical towers, gold ornaments, a few phalli, and in one instance a carved soapstone bird on a soapstone beam 4 ft. 8 in. high, which is more perfect and more ornate than any other soapstone bird on beam yet found at Zimbabwe. The examination of such spots and of all traces of walls which lie at the outer edge of the extended Ruins’ Area would, even with a large gang of labourers, occupy almost a lifetime.
Mr. Bent spoke of Zimbabwe as a “city,” and recent discoveries show the employment of this title to be fully justified, for not only is the Ruins’ Area vastly extended, but the formerly conjectured area can now be shown by recent excavations to have been much more crowded with buildings than could possibly have been seen in 1891. For instance, 2,300 ft. of passages have recently been discovered within the heart of the old Ruins’ Area buried some feet under the silted soil below the veld in spots where the siltation is rapid, the existence of which structures had been altogether unsuspected. In some instances the native paths, used by visitors inspecting the ruins, crossed these passages from 3 ft. to 5 ft. above the tops of the passage walls. The enormous quantity of débris, evidencing occupations in several periods, scattered over both the old and the extended area, is simply astonishing, and judging by the value of “finds” made during the recent work, it seems quite possible that further exploration would, in the intrinsic value of relics as relics, largely reimburse the expense of its continuance, while securing the opening up of fresh features of architecture and probably some definite clues as to the original builders of the numerous periods of occupation respectively; would bring an immense addition to scientific knowledge, while the more important ruins themselves, having been cleared of silted and imported soils and wall débris, are now ripe for the further examination for relics.
BURIAL-PLACES OF THE OLD COLONISTS
The secluded valleys, and also the caves in hills, for a distance of six miles, and in some cases as far as ten miles, from Zimbabwe have been systematically searched in the hope of discovering the burial place of the old gold-seekers. The neighbourhood of Zimbabwe contains several extensive ranges of granite hills each enclosing many secluded and Sinbad-like valleys and gorges, where natives state white men had never previously entered. Such spots on the whole of the Beroma Hills to the east of Zimbabwe, the south end of the Livouri Range to the west, the Bentberg Range to the south, and several hills in the Nini district, as well as several parts in the Motelekwe Valley, have been systematically searched without avail, though there are in certain of these secluded places traces of walls and artificially placed upright stones and other signs of human presence which require some explanation. The siltation of soil from the steep hillsides of many of these most romantically situated valleys has been very extensive. These searches could only be carried on after veld fires had swept the district of the rank grass which here grows to a height of 12 ft. Mr. Bent and other writers have shown that the old Arabians religiously preserved their dead, burying them in secluded spots at some considerable distance from any place of occupation. The writer is not without hope that these burial-places may yet be found. The population of Zimbabwe at several different periods must have been immense, and, judging by the remains found near some of the oldest types of ruins in other parts of the country where the amount of gold ornaments buried with each corpse ranged from 1 oz. to 72 oz., the discovery of such places in the Zimbabwe district would yield important results, especially as, for many reasons, Zimbabwe undoubtedly appears to have been the ancient metropolitan capital and the centre of gold-manufacturing industry of the original and later Arab gold miners, and the place so far has yielded the richest discoveries of gold in every form.
The writer is now perfectly assured that no burial-places of the original builders will be found under the interior of the Elliptical Temple or within 30 yds. of the exterior. Holes have been sunk at regular intervals within the temple and immediately outside the walls, and boring-rods have been systematically employed, and the position and lie of the formation rock ascertained throughout, so that sections and levels have been made of the soil and rock under the temple. All the results gained from each hole and boring are recorded. But beyond discovering buried foundations at the higher level, only virgin soil, never before disturbed, was gone through. French and German archæologists who visited Zimbabwe during the operations confirmed what British scientists have affirmed, that no burials of people of Semitic stock would be found within or near to any building so frequently in use as the great temple must have been. The severe restrictions with regard to cleanliness and sanitation, especially as to the dead, are among the most notable features of the old Semitic nations.
ABSENCE OF INSCRIPTIONS
No ancient writing has been discovered, though close attention has been paid to all stones and pottery likely to bear it, and notwithstanding that the interiors of some of the more ancient portions of the ruins have been cleared down to the old floors where, if any existed, they might reasonably have been expected to be found. Post-Koranic lettering was found on highly glazed pottery, also on glass, but all such specimens are of a fragmentary character; but experts such as Mr. Wallace Budge, the Head Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, state that the glass and other “finds” of pottery are not older than the thirteenth or fourteenth century of this era. Other pottery thickly covered with dull-coloured glazes—mainly purples, greens, and browns—is thought to be somewhat older than that on which the lettering was found. Still, as such a very large portion of what may be considered as the more ancient of the ruins remains to be examined, it may yet be possible to unearth older specimens of Arab writing.