AN OLD WALL CROSSING OVER THE FOUNDATION OF A STILL OLDER WALL, ZIMBABWE
BINDING OF THE SUMMITS OF TWO SEPARATE WALLS, ACROPOLIS RUINS
(b) The stonework of the foundations is, as is shown later, of a totally different character from that in undoubted ancient walls, and is practically identical with the stone foundations of granaries still to be seen in any of the villages, some of which are not twelve months old.
(c) The “finds” in these structures do not suggest ancient occupation, but they include articles of superior native make and design, some of which are either not now used by Makalanga or Barotse, or are only met with in rare instances, but are claimed by local natives as having been made and used by previous generations of their people. For instance, double iron gongs, such as are plentifully found north of the Zambesi and in the higher Congo districts, where they may still be seen in actual use, pictures of which occur in works of travel in Central Africa; or copper bangles of exceedingly fine wire, which ornaments have fallen into desuetude and can be but seldom met with now; or carved soapstone daha pipe-bowls, for the making of which the Zimbabwe Makalanga, even at the time of the Occupation, were famous.
(d) Several of these structures at Zimbabwe are claimed by the local Makalanga and Barotse to have been built by their respective people of previous generations. The Barotse lived on the Bentberg at Zimbabwe up to fifty or sixty years ago. The remains of their old kraal can be seen to-day. The circular shallow stone foundations of their huts, the courses rising in “cat-steps,” the immense rounded clay rims which supported the poles of the sides of their dwellings, are still in evidence. These were erected on platforms made by filling in the spaces between the inner sides of ancient enclosure walls and the slope of the hill, a practice to be noticed on all the faces of Zimbabwe Hill, except the eastern.
The different types of such structures so found in the ruins may be described as follows:—
(1) The ordinary clay ruins of a present-day Makalanga hut, with clay floors, butt-ends of side poles still in position, clay ruins on floor marking off the fire-place, the stand for pots, the higher floor for sleeping-place of occupants and the lower floor for goats. These are found on the present surface or immediately under black leaf mould soil, and resemble huts built in local kraals, only they are neater, of better make, and of slightly superior quality of clay. The articles found here are similar to those belonging to present Makalanga.
(2) The foundations of huts with large rims of clay with rounded edges on both sides, the diameter being some 9 ft. to 12 ft., and the rims 16 in. in length and about the same width, the poles being fixed along the centres of the rims. The material in the floor and in the rim is of a superior quality of clay, which builders state it would be misleading to describe as cement. Under the clay floors, which are about 3 in. thick, are platforms of stones laid flatwise in three or four courses, the outer faces of the courses receding from 1 in. to 3 in. behind the faces of the courses below. Sometimes the stonework is laid upon a bed of clay. This class of hut is found upon a lower level than the undoubted Makalanga dwelling. In the Eastern Temple this type of remains was uncovered at a depth of 3 ft. below the surface, and there were no less than two clay floors, each with a layer of ashes, and two granite cement floors below it. These can be seen in the trench made alongside the stone foundation. Glass beads of old make, copper spearheads, and thick copper bangles, beaten copper and copper tacks were among the principal finds discovered in this type of building. In and near such remains were found the four double iron gongs (May, 1902-March, 1903), piles of animal bones split open in ordinary Kafir style for marrow, broken pottery, and quantities of ashes.