1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,519 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Since Great Zimbabwe was one of the episodes 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: that got a quick update in our latest installments of Unearthed, 3 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: we thought we would bring it out as Today's Saturday Classic. 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: This episode originally aired on January eighteenth, twenty seventeen. 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 2: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. 7 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: Hello, and Welcome to the podcast. I am Tracy B. 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We touched really briefly on 9 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: today's topic way back when we did our condensed history 10 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: of Rhodesia. It is Great Zimbabwe, which is a huge 11 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,959 Speaker 1: stone city in what's now southeastern Zimbabwe, and it's been 12 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: on my to do list for that entire time. We 13 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: also recently, I'm not quite sure if the letters were 14 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: from the same person or if people were just copying 15 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: and pasting the same text, but we got multiple identical 16 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: requests for it. There you go from different email addresses, 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: so moved up the list after that. In a way, 18 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: Great Zimbabwe has multiple histories. Obviously, there is the history 19 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: of its founding and its construction and the people who 20 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: originally lived there, but then there's also this completely separate 21 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: and one hundred percent incorrect history that European explorers and 22 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: colonists sort of bestowed upon it. And this was a 23 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: history that insisted that Great Zimbabwe in southeastern Africa had 24 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: not been built by Africans. So today we're going to 25 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: talk about the site itself and how what we know 26 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: about its construction and who live there, and then we're 27 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: also going to talk about these first colonial histories that 28 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: were written about it and how they were so colossally 29 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: wrong and the damage that came from that. Great Zimbabwe, 30 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was most likely 31 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: inhabited all the way back to the year one hundred, 32 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: but from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries it was 33 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: a large, thriving city. And the word Zimbabwe means the 34 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: house in stone, though it's also sometimes translated as sacred 35 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: house or royal house. The descriptor of great distinguishes Great 36 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe from smaller stone cities in the area. It's one 37 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: of about one hundred and fifty major stone ruined sites 38 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,399 Speaker 1: in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. There is some debate about exactly 39 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 1: which Sub Saharan African people built Great Zimbabwe. The most 40 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: commonly cited are the Shona who are a Bantu speaking 41 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: people who migrated into the area from the Sahara Desert 42 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: sometime around the ninth century. The Shona people still exist today, 43 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: with a population of between ten and thirteen million, living 44 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: primarily in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, bo Tswana, Zambia, and the northern 45 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: parts of South Africa. There are multiple culture groups and 46 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: dialects of the Shona language within this population. Although Great 47 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe itself is a ruin, now shown of people still 48 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: living in the area do view it as a sacred 49 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: site and use it for spiritual purposes. But there are 50 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: other Bantu speaking people suggested as Great Zimbabwe's builders as well, 51 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: including the Venda and the Lemba. Lemba burial traditions are 52 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: similar to those practiced at Great Zimbabwe, and they were 53 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: also known for being traders, and Great Zimbabwe was an 54 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: active trading hub. Even so, the Shona are the most 55 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,839 Speaker 1: commonly sighted and in many discussions of Great Zimbabwe they're 56 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: actually the only people that get mentioned. The Great Zimbabwe 57 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: Ruins as they exist today, are roughly described in three areas. 58 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: There are the Hill Ruins or the Hill Complex, the 59 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: Great Enclosure and the Valley Ruins. Or valley complex. The 60 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: Hill Ruins are along a very steep hill that rises 61 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty two feet, which is about eighty 62 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: meters above the surrounding landscape. The Hill Ruins were home 63 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: to Great Zimbabwe's ruling class, and through archaeological evidence, we 64 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: know that the Hill Ruins were occupied pretty much continually 65 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. The Hill Ruins 66 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: were basically a royal city, built from both shaped granite 67 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: blocks and natural boulders, regardless of which was used. They 68 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: were built without mortar and very narrow, sometimes covered passageways 69 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: connected the different structures. Too. Walled enclosures, which are both 70 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: pretty large, are part of the Hill Ruins. The West 71 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: Enclosure was most likely where the chiefs lived. The East 72 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: Enclosure's purpose is a little bit less clear, although excavations 73 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: revealed that it contained a collection of soapstone posts about 74 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: a meter tall, all carved with or all topped with 75 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,159 Speaker 1: carvings of birds, so it clearly had some kind of 76 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,279 Speaker 1: specific purpose. It might have been religious or ceremonial, and 77 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,919 Speaker 1: these soapstone birds are now known as Zimbabwe birds and 78 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: they're represented on Zimbabwe's flag and also many smaller versions 79 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: of these birds have been found on the site as well. 80 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: Also part of the Hill Ruins is a shallow cave 81 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: that was probably reserved for the use of the king 82 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: in addition to providing shelter and a view of the 83 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: surrounding countryside, the shape of the cave and the surrounding 84 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: hills basically creates a natural pa system, so a shout 85 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: from the cave would echo from the hills and be 86 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: audible by anyone in Great Zimbabwe. The Great Enclosure, which 87 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 1: lies to the south of the Hill Ruins, is the 88 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: largest ancient structure in Sub Saharan Africa. It probably served 89 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: one of two purposes. It was either the royal residence 90 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: or a temple. So if the Great Enclosure was the 91 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: royal residence, then the Hill Ruins were sort of the 92 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: greater royal city, where other people in the ruling class lived, 93 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: but not necessarily the king and his immediate family. The 94 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: Great Enclosure itself is encircled by a huge elliptical wall 95 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: that runs for eight hundred and twenty feet that's about 96 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty meters in places, flanked by an 97 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: inner parallel wall, and the walls are made of granite 98 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,239 Speaker 1: blocks and they're quite tall. The Great Wall is thirty 99 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: six feet, which is eleven meters ish at the tallest, 100 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: and these walls aren't squared off or rectangular at all. 101 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: They're actually a series of curves. The builders of Great 102 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe built these curving walls out of square and rectangular 103 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: granite blocks. The granite slabs that are part of the 104 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: area's natural landscape split along straight lines when you break them, 105 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,600 Speaker 1: which made it possible to shape them into these regularly 106 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: shaped square or rectangular forms. These walls were built in 107 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: curves by placing the blocks one on top of the 108 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: other and positioned so that the wall itself would have 109 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 1: a slight inward slope that would help keep it stable. 110 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: Even though these walls look quite imposing, it's likely that 111 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: they were built as a show of strength, not as 112 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: an active defense. Regardless of their purpose, though, they're a 113 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: true feat of craftsmanship and engineering. Within the Great Enclosure 114 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 1: are smaller walls separating the living areas for different families, 115 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: and most of these areas include two living huts, a kitchen, 116 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: and a common area. One of the most distinctive features 117 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: of the Great Enclosure, besides that enormous and impressive encircling 118 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 1: wall is a large conical tower and its purpose is unknown, 119 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: but it resembles a grain bin. It's thought to have 120 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: had a religious or possibly symbolic purpose. At both the 121 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: Hill Ruins and the Great Enclosure, there are smaller structures 122 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: like living quarters that were made from daga. Daga is 123 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: a type of earth and brick made from granite, sand 124 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: and clay. Originally, the daga structures might have been almost 125 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: imposing as the stone walls are, but because they were 126 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: made of clay instead of stone, they've been subject to 127 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: a lot more weathering and decay over the centuries that 128 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: have passes they were built. Today of the daga structures 129 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: have been reduced down to mounds rather than being recognizable 130 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: as what they were originally built to be. The Valley Ruins, 131 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: as their name suggests, stretch out through the valley. They're 132 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: newer than the rest of Great Zimbabwe, with some of 133 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: the structures dating as recently as the nineteenth century, and 134 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: these new structures are brick rather than stone blocks. The 135 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: Valley Ruins would have been home to Great Zimbabwe's citizens, 136 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: with the Great Enclosure and the Hill Complex reserved for 137 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: the royalty and upper social class. From the eleventh to 138 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: the fifteenth century, Great Zimbabwe was an active, thriving, functioning 139 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: city with a population of up to eighteen thousand people, 140 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: making it the largest city in Southern Africa at the time. 141 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: Its artisans and crafts people were particularly skilled at both 142 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,840 Speaker 1: stonework and making pottery. Many of the artifacts at the 143 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: site were carved soapstone, like small statues, figures, decorated bowls, 144 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 1: things like that. Was also an agricultural society, cultivating crops 145 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: and raising cattle, both for food and as a symbol 146 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: of the ruling classes wealth. In addition, Great Zimbabwe, as 147 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: we mentioned before, was a huge trading hub, in part 148 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: because it was positioned between gold mines and the coast. 149 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: Archaeologists have found beads, porcelain, glassware, and other materials that 150 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: came from China, Persia, and India. There there are also 151 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,199 Speaker 1: coins from the Arab world. So the trading network moving 152 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: through Great Zimbabwe was enormous and it extended far beyond 153 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: Southern Africa. Eventually, Great Zimbabwe's residence moved, and we will 154 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: talk about when and why that happened and what happened afterward. 155 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: After a quick sponsor break, so in the late fifteenth century, 156 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: Great Zimbabwe was abandoned, at least in terms of a 157 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: society of people continually living there. Over the course of 158 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: the city's history, area around it had been deforested, and 159 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: eventually there wasn't enough food available to continue to support 160 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: its population. The direction of trade had also shifted a 161 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: little to the north, which left Great Zimbabwe out of 162 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: a lot of the most commonly used trading routes. A 163 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: series of civil wars in the area may also have 164 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: prompted people to relocate as well. So while most or 165 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: all of Great Zimbabwe's population did relocate, it did continue 166 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,839 Speaker 1: also to be an important site culturally from a spiritual 167 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: and a cultural perspective. Many of Great Zimbabwe's population relocated 168 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: to the city of Kami, and the Kami Ruins also 169 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 1: still exist in Zimbabwe. Like Great Zimbabwe, they are a 170 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: UNESCO World Heritage Site because so many of Great Zimbabwe's 171 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: residents moved to Kami. Kami's construction and layout have some 172 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: similarities to Great Zimbabwe's. The same is true for pottery 173 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: that was made at Kami that follows a lot of 174 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: the same techniques as earlier work at Great Zimbabwe, and 175 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:04,960 Speaker 1: Kami is basically a later creation of the same culture 176 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: that built Great Zimbabwe, and it's the second largest stone 177 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: monument in Zimbabwe after Great Zimbabwe. Europeans started hearing about 178 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: Great Zimbabwe in the sixteenth century. One of those first 179 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,559 Speaker 1: sources was Jua Debarro, who was a Portuguese historian who 180 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: chronicled Portugal's history in Southeast Africa and parts of Asia. 181 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: He wrote of quote a square fortress, masonry within and without, 182 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: built of stones of marvelous size, and there appears to 183 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: be no mortar joining them. And even though he says 184 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: the word square, which Great Zimbabwe is definitely not square. 185 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: This is usually interpreted as being about Great Zimbabwe, probably 186 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: based on a description that someone gave to him, not 187 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: something he had visited himself. Word of this wonder started 188 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: to spread, mostly through trading ports in Mozambique. Dbarrow and 189 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,599 Speaker 1: others who heard about Great Zimbwe suspected that it was 190 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: an important historical site, but they thought it was probably 191 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: opher the site of King Solomon's mines. Soon, among European 192 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: people who were interested in such things, it became basically 193 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,960 Speaker 1: common knowledge that somewhere in southeastern Africa were biblical ruins. 194 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: So in eighteen seventy one, German Karl Mauch set out 195 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,319 Speaker 1: on an expedition that he hoped would reveal the site 196 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: of ofer. In August of that year, he made up 197 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: with a German trader who described quote quite large ruins 198 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: which could never have been built by blacks. Mack hired 199 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: a local guide and then reached Zimbabwe on September fifth 200 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,559 Speaker 1: of that year, becoming at that point the first European 201 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: known to have actually visited the site. While exploring the ruins, 202 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: he found some reddish, fragrant wood that resembled the wood 203 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: of his pencil, and he concluded that it was cedar, 204 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: imported from Lebanon, and that it was an import brought 205 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: to the area by the Phoenicians, who he thought must 206 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: have built the site for the Queen of Sheba. It 207 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: was really sandalwood. It's not what he thought. 208 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 2: It was. 209 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,840 Speaker 1: Just one poorly identified piece of wood. Really steered things 210 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: completely off course. Yeah. His his theories that great Zimbabwe 211 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: was built by the Phoenicians and had been home to 212 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,199 Speaker 1: the Queen of Sheba captured the attention of Cecil Rhodes, 213 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: who we talk about a lot in our past podcast 214 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: on Rhodesia. Rhodes's views were unquestionably steeped in white supremacy, 215 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: so when he went to visit the ruins himself in 216 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: the late nineteenth century, was described as quote the ancient 217 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: temple which once upon a time belonged to white men. 218 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: Rhodes in the British South Africa Company then enlisted J. 219 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: Theodore Bent to investigate. Bent had an interest in the 220 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: subject but no formal training, and like Rhodes and Mauch, 221 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: approached the task from the point of view that this 222 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: city had to have been built by white men. He 223 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: visited Great Zimbabwe with his wife and a man named 224 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: Robert Swan who acted as a cartographer. Before even getting 225 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: to Great Zimbabwe, Bent and his party passed through many 226 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: of the other stone ruins in the area. Bent even 227 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: wrote that he added the word great to the name 228 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe to distinguish it from all the other smaller Zimbabwes, 229 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: but the presence of other similar ruins all around Southeastern 230 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: Africa didn't signal to him that Great Zimbabwe was part 231 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: of a building tradition of the people still living in 232 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: the area spanning over centuries. He continued to approach Great Zimbabwe, 233 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: specifically as the work of outsiders drawing comparisons to ancient 234 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: cities in Malta, Sardinia, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Bent 235 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:49,760 Speaker 1: began an excavation that unearthed artifacts that fit right into 236 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: the context of African archaeology. Weapon points, tools and pottery 237 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: were all totally consistent with what should have been expected 238 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: of a Southeast African civilization. Ben thought the zimbabwe birds 239 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: were meant to represent quote the Assyrian astarte or venus, 240 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: namely the female element in creation, and he found it 241 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: quote obvious that quote the ruins and the things in 242 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: them are not in any way connected with any known 243 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: African race. The objects of art and special cult are 244 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: foreign altogether to the country. He concluded that the ruins 245 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: and the furnaces that were there, and the walls were 246 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,560 Speaker 1: all dedicated to the production and the protection of gold. 247 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: Ben's conclusion quote a prehistoric race built the ruins, a 248 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: northern race coming from Arabia, closely akin to the Phoenician 249 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: and Egyptian, and eventually developing into the more civilized races 250 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 1: of the ancient world. The next effort to study the 251 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: site was downright damaging from a physical perspective, not just 252 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: a historical one. Richard Nicklin Hall, a journalist, was appointed 253 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: as the curator of Great Zimbabwe, and what he was 254 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: supposed to do was just preserve the structures, not to 255 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: do further study. Instead, he decided to remove the quote 256 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 1: filth and decadence of the site's occupation by the local 257 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: black population, and he removed and discarded stratified archaeological deposits 258 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: to a depth that ranged from three to twelve feet. 259 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: He was fired for this, but unfortunately the damage of 260 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: his efforts was done at that point. You can't unring 261 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: that bell, and he didn't even seem to comprehend that 262 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: anything that he had done was wrong or damaging. He 263 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: wrote or co wrote the books The Ancient Ruins of 264 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: Rhodesia and Great Zimbabwe, and he delivered a lecture at 265 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: the African Society on October twelfth, nineteen oh four, in 266 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: which he described what he'd done as quote. Large areas 267 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: of the ancient temples were cleared of debris to a 268 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: considerable depth, and the original floors as well as ancient 269 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: walls and other structures were disclosed, while prehistoric relics were unearthed, 270 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: which overwhelmingly proved the extensive practice of nature worship of 271 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,960 Speaker 1: an exceedingly old cult. He went on to express some 272 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: chagrin that J. Theodor Bent had only seen the ruins 273 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,119 Speaker 1: in their quote buried condition. He really seems to have 274 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: genuinely thought that he did the right thing. It was 275 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: not the right thing. That that's how you do archaeology. 276 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: You go in with a vacuum, in a mop and 277 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: you take everything away. This is one of the reasons 278 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: we didn't have as much to share about what life 279 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: was like in Great Zimbabwe in the first act of 280 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 1: the show today. So many of the archaeological findings that 281 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:42,880 Speaker 1: could have told us this were destroyed by a man 282 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: thinking that he was removing quote the filth and decadence 283 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,119 Speaker 1: of the people who had actually built the place and 284 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: lived there, thinking it had instead been built by white 285 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 1: people and that the actual artifacts were instead a contaminant. 286 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: Most of the analysis made of the site before the 287 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: destruction actually happened were also made by people working off 288 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: of the assumption that what they were looking at was 289 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: relics from a Phoenician, Egyptian or Greek civilization that had 290 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: moved into Sub Saharan Africa, not a sub Saharan African one. 291 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,359 Speaker 1: So while there were people who did study of the 292 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: site before this destruction happened. That study was not archaeologically sound. Yeah, 293 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 1: it was all based on a completely incorrect presumption. But 294 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: the record was finally set mostly straight, and we're going 295 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: to talk about that after we first paused for a 296 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:45,719 Speaker 1: little sponsor break. So although Richard Nicklin Hall never seemed 297 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: to grasp what he had done, the fact that he 298 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: had done real harm was completely understood by the British 299 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: South Africa Company and they then hired David Randall McIver 300 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: to investigate. He he was an actual archaeologist, and his 301 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: verdict was that the ruins at Great Zimbabwe quote are 302 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: unquestionably African in every detail and belonging to a period 303 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: which is fixed by foreign imports, as in general medieval. 304 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: So this was in nineteen oh five. It was after 305 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: Europeans had thought that Great Zimbabwe was a Biblical city 306 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:27,480 Speaker 1: built by someone not from Sub Saharan Africa for hundreds 307 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,120 Speaker 1: of years, and that it was a Phoenician city built 308 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: for the Queen of Sheba for decades. Another English archaeologist, 309 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: Gertrude Caton Thompson, confirmed Randall mc ivor's findings in nineteen 310 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,439 Speaker 1: twenty nine, and she wrote quote examination of all the 311 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: existing evidence gathered from every quarter still can produce not 312 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,439 Speaker 1: one single item that is not in accordance with the 313 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: claim of Bantu origin and medieval date. The interest in 314 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,639 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe and the Allied Ruins should, on this account to 315 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 1: all educated people be enhanced a hundred fullld. It enriches, 316 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,159 Speaker 1: not impoverishes our wonderment at their remarkable achievement. For the 317 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: mystery of Zimbabwe is the mystery which lies in the 318 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: still pulsating heart of Native Africa. The idea that Great 319 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe was the work of white people rather than Africans persevered. 320 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: Though white colonial governments in the region were explicitly racist 321 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: and they viewed the black population as inferior and frankly 322 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,640 Speaker 1: incapable of building something like Great Zimbabwe, talking about its 323 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: real origins became best a touchy subject. During the period 324 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:37,480 Speaker 1: in which the nation was known as Rhodesia and was 325 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:41,920 Speaker 1: governed specifically as a white supremacist state. The government actively 326 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 1: tried to suppress discussion of Great Zimbabwe as an African 327 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: archaeological and historical site built by africans Ian smith. Rhodesia's 328 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: Prime minister even commissioned a false history to that end. Eventually, 329 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe became an independent nation with the government that's more 330 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: presentative of its racial demographics. And even so, Great Zimbabwe 331 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: has continued to face obstacles as a historical site. At 332 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,439 Speaker 1: various points, people managing the site have undertaken well meaning 333 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: but poorly documented attempts to rebuild fallen walls and you 334 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: know other things that naturally happen to hundreds of year 335 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: old historical sites. After Great Zimbabwe became a UNESCO World 336 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: Heritage Site, which happened in nineteen eighty six, the process 337 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,919 Speaker 1: of conservation and restoration moved to be much more in 338 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,360 Speaker 1: line with modern standards, but even so it's far from 339 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 1: a perfect process. The spiritual and cultural significance of the 340 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: site to the Shona and other Bantu speaking peoples is 341 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: sometimes at odds with its status as a historical site. 342 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: For example, that site is now overseen by the National 343 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 1: Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, which charges admission, which some 344 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: view as a desecration or a closing off of a 345 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 1: site that used to be open and alive. And the 346 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: nation of Zimbabwe has had ongoing issues with corruption and hyperinflation. 347 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,960 Speaker 1: So even though it is a protected site, there is 348 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: still controversy that sort of broils around it. Yeah, this 349 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: is when I started working on this. I knew because 350 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: we mentioned it in our episode about Rhodesia, that it 351 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: was so impressive that like the white colonial governments that 352 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 1: arrived in the area just assumed that it could not 353 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: have been built by people actually living there and instead 354 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,439 Speaker 1: cited things like Phoenicians or Egyptians, which just to remind everyone, 355 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: Egypt is also in Africa. So like, like, I already 356 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: knew that piece of it, but I did not realize 357 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: until I actually got into researching what had happened that 358 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't so much just people got there and were like, oh, 359 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: that probably like Phoenicians built that, But it was much 360 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: a much bigger effort to classify the site as something 361 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: that was bo not built by Sub Saharan Africans and 362 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,520 Speaker 1: was related to the Bible. That part was news to 363 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:15,680 Speaker 1: me when I got into the episode. Thanks so much 364 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode is 365 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: out of the archive, if you heard an email address 366 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: or a Facebook RL or something similar over the course 367 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: of the show, that could be obsolete. 368 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 2: Now. 369 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: Our current email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 370 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: Our old house stuffworks, email address no longer works. You 371 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: can find us all over social media at missed in History, 372 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, 373 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, and wherever else you listen 374 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: to podcasts. 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