• Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe
• 1,000-1,400 CE
• dressed granite
• Shona people, Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe: Swahili Coast Trading Network

• located in southeastern Africa
  • strategically surrounded by rivers to facilitate transportation
• postclassical era
• connected inland goods with Arab and Swahili coastal ports like Sofala
• Arabs controlled trade from the coast
• Great Zimbabwe established tribute system to collect and redistribute valuables
• became rich from facilitating trade in port cities
  • traded ivory and gold for Indian Ocean goods

Shona Peoples

• group of related tribes in modern day Zimbabwe
• inhabiting general region
• united together to create a distribution center of goods
• comprised of Korekore, Karanga, and Zezuru
• established Great Zimbabwe distribution center
• “zimbabwe” derives from Shona term meaning “venerated houses”

Architectural Features

• build in additions
  • later additions show more skill
• surrounded by huts built with daga (mud and thatch)
  • adjoined courtyards with painted data seats
  • eroded away, so difficult to study

Walls

• composed of mortarless stacked granite
  • not very common for human settlements in area
  • technique: battering
    • built sloping inward for stability
• walls are not defensive
  • low walls in some areas
  • no military features
  • incomplete walls
  • intended for privacy

Canonical Tower

• symbolic structure
  • resembling a grain bin
    • comparing with other cultural storehouses
    • emphasizing the redistribution of goods
    • shows the power or authority and generosity
• capped with ornamental stonework

Chikuva

• a large stepped platform
• used to display pottery and handmade goods
• female societal role
  • sacred space for prayers
  • represented family

Symbolism

Idea of Authority

• sought to impose authority through seclusion
  • walls were meant for privacy
  • high walls enclose the goods
  • contrast with European model of authority through elaborate architecture
• many royal residences surrounding the area
  • commoners houses are much farther out

Bird Symbols

• contained soapstone bird images
  • found in looted enclosure
  • birds of prey with human figures
    • perched on tall posts
  • potential symbolism of heavenly power of the king
  • or emblems of authority
  • ethnographic studies suggest Shona people represent ancestors as birds
    • circles beneath bird called eyes of the crocodile
      • symbolically represent elder female ancestors
  • Shona custom states that men invoke spirits of the vahozi by coming here
    • needed to access male symbol outside the entrance of the Eastern Enclosure
• stone chevron patterns on tops of walls
  • potentially linking sky and earth in zigzag pattern
  • crocodiles may also symbolize rulers linking living and dead