PASTEXPERIENCE HISTORY

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Mainly the eleventh–fifteenth-century growth and prosperity

The stone city of Great Zimbabwe

Local stone-building skills and long-distance trade reveal a southern African city.

Great Zimbabwe

A city in a Shona cultural region

Do imported ceramics prove foreigners built a city? Earlier accounts of Great Zimbabwe made that leap. Local construction, homes and crafts instead reveal a city rooted in societies connected with Shona culture.

The Hill Complex, Great Enclosure and valley areas combined stone walls with earthen buildings. Tapered walls and the Conical Tower reveal different structures rather than a city entirely made of stone.

[1] UNESCO World Heritage Centre[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stonework and diverse livelihoods

Walls used worked granite without mortar. Animal bones, pottery, textile weights and metal objects reveal farming, herding and manufacture. Gold and ivory exports alone could not sustain urban life: local food and tool production supported participation in external trade.

[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art[1] UNESCO World Heritage Centre

An inland center linked to the coast

Imported ceramics and glass beads trace links to coastal exchange. Soapstone birds once placed on pillars combine human and avian features, expressing local symbolism. Imports alone cannot explain the city’s own values and creative work.

[1] UNESCO World Heritage Centre[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Before and after

  1. Around the eleventh century

    The main period of development began.

  2. Around the fifteenth century

    Later part of the principal flourishing period.

  3. 1986

    World Heritage inscription.

Key terms

Dry-stone construction
Stacking stone without mortar.
Granite
Rock used locally for construction.
Trade goods
Objects arriving through exchange with other regions.

What supports the account?

Granite walls depended on shaping and stacking stone. Material choices and transport labor make the city a regional achievement.

The eleventh- to fifteenth-century stone city, Shona culture, imported ceramics and trade. Local stone construction, agriculture, crafts and Indian Ocean trade.

Limits of the evidence

Individual wall builders cannot all be identified.

[1] UNESCO World Heritage Centre[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Imported ceramics mark outside connections. Food production and metalworking also mattered; imports alone cannot explain the economy.

The eleventh- to fifteenth-century stone city, Shona culture, imported ceramics and trade. Local stone construction, agriculture, crafts and Indian Ocean trade.

Limits of the evidence

Distant objects do not prove all residents traveled abroad.

[1] UNESCO World Heritage Centre[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Check your understanding

Choose an answer to reveal the explanation. Return to the article and sources when you are unsure.

1. Imported ceramics were found. What follows about the city’s builders?

Sources

  1. Great Zimbabwe National MonumentUNESCO World Heritage Centre

    The eleventh- to fifteenth-century stone city, Shona culture, imported ceramics and trade.

  2. Great ZimbabweThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Local stone construction, agriculture, crafts and Indian Ocean trade.

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