Great Zimbabwe: The Stone City That Was Once Denied Its African Origins

Rising from the hills of southern Zimbabwe are the enormous stone walls of Great Zimbabwe.

Built without mortar, some of its granite walls reach around 11 metres high. Massive stone enclosures, passageways, towers and carefully constructed structures form the remains of a sophisticated urban centre.

But Great Zimbabwe has another story — one that is less about the people who built it than about the people who later refused to believe they had.

For centuries, European writers and colonial authorities struggled to accept that a monumental stone city in sub-Saharan Africa could have been constructed by local African societies.

Instead, alternative explanations were invented.

Some claimed it had been built by Phoenicians. Others suggested Arabs, Egyptians or even the biblical Queen of Sheba.

The archaeological evidence tells a very different story.

What is Great Zimbabwe?

Great Zimbabwe is a large archaeological complex in modern-day Zimbabwe. Its name comes from the Shona term dzimbahwe, generally associated with stone houses or settlements.

Construction began centuries ago, with the settlement developing substantially between approximately the 11th and 15th centuries CE.

It eventually became the centre of a powerful regional society.

The site consists of several major areas, including the Great Enclosure, the Hill Complex and extensive settlement areas in the surrounding landscape.

Its most famous feature is its enormous dry-stone architecture.

Walls without mortar

Perhaps the most immediately impressive feature is the construction technique. The builders used carefully selected and shaped granite blocks, placing them on top of one another without conventional mortar.

The stones were arranged so that the walls remained stable through their own weight and careful construction.

The Great Enclosure is particularly spectacular.

Its curved outer wall extends for hundreds of metres and contains an enormous internal space. Inside is the famous Conical Tower, a large stone structure whose exact purpose remains uncertain.

The builders clearly understood how to manipulate stone on a substantial scale.

But there is no need to invoke lost technology. The architecture demonstrates sophisticated craftsmanship rather than impossible engineering.

Who built it?

The archaeological evidence points strongly toward ancestors of the Shona-speaking peoples of the region. This is supported by multiple lines of evidence rather than simply the appearance of the ruins.

Archaeologists have recovered pottery, beads, metalworking evidence, animal remains and other artefacts associated with the settlement.

The surrounding landscape also contains evidence of agriculture, cattle keeping and other activities supporting a substantial population.

Great Zimbabwe did not appear suddenly. It developed within an established regional cultural and economic system.

So why was its African origin questioned?

This is where Great Zimbabwe's history becomes particularly uncomfortable.

European travellers and colonial-era researchers encountered the ruins and found it difficult to reconcile the monumental architecture with racist assumptions about African societies.

Instead of accepting the most straightforward explanation — that local African people had built it — some proposed foreign builders.

Phoenicians became a popular candidate. Others suggested Arabs or ancient Egyptians. The biblical Queen of Sheba was even invoked.

These theories were not supported by convincing archaeological evidence.

They reflected the intellectual climate of colonialism as much as the physical evidence of the ruins.

The archaeology changed the picture

As archaeological research developed, the evidence for an indigenous origin became increasingly difficult to dismiss. 

Radiocarbon dating, stratigraphy and artefact analysis helped establish the site's chronology. 

Trade objects also revealed that Great Zimbabwe was connected to a much wider world. 

Archaeologists have found objects originating from regions including the Indian Ocean trading network. Chinese and Persian ceramics, glass beads and other imported materials demonstrate that Great Zimbabwe participated in long-distance commerce.

This is particularly significant.

The city wasn't an isolated settlement hidden from the wider world. It was part of an extensive trading system.

A wealthy trading centre

Great Zimbabwe's prosperity appears to have been closely connected with trade. The region had access to valuable resources, including gold and cattle.

Gold from the interior of southern Africa entered Indian Ocean trading networks. Goods travelled in the opposite direction, bringing manufactured objects and luxury items into the region.

Great Zimbabwe therefore occupied an important position between the interior and the coastal trading world. Its monumental architecture may have helped demonstrate the power and status of the society controlling that trade.

What was the Great Enclosure for?

This remains debated. The enormous enclosure was clearly important, but archaeologists cannot point to a single universally accepted function.

Possibilities include:

- a royal or elite residence

- a ceremonial complex

- a place associated with initiation or ritual activity

- a centre for political gatherings

- a combination of residential, symbolic and ceremonial functions

The famous Conical Tower has generated particularly elaborate theories. Some have suggested it represented fertility, grain storage or political power.

But there is no definitive evidence establishing its original meaning.

And this is an important distinction:

Not knowing the exact purpose of a structure does not mean that we don't know who built it.

The Zimbabwe Birds

One of Great Zimbabwe's most famous discoveries is a series of carved stone birds. Known as the Zimbabwe Birds, these sculptures have become powerful national symbols.

The birds were carved from soapstone and appear to have been associated with important areas of the settlement. Their precise symbolic meaning is not completely understood. They may have represented ancestors, spiritual power, political authority or another concept that has been lost.

Today, the Zimbabwe Bird appears prominently in the country's national symbolism.

Why did Great Zimbabwe decline?

By around the 15th century, Great Zimbabwe's importance began to decline. The reasons remain debated.

Possible factors include changes in trade routes, environmental pressures, population movement and political changes elsewhere in the region.

It is important not to imagine a single catastrophic event unless the evidence supports one. Great Zimbabwe may have declined as part of a broader political and economic transformation.

Other centres subsequently became more important. The people did not simply disappear. The cultural traditions associated with Great Zimbabwe continued within the region.

The bigger mystery

Great Zimbabwe is sometimes presented as an "unexplained" ancient city. But that can obscure the most interesting part of its story.

The architecture itself is not inexplicable. We can identify the materials. We can study the construction methods, date occupation layers and trace trade connections.

Archaeological evidence provides strong evidence for the African societies responsible for its development.

The real mystery is something different: How much of Great Zimbabwe's history has been lost? We know surprisingly little about the political organisation of the society that created it.

We don't know exactly how the Great Enclosure functioned. We cannot fully reconstruct the beliefs represented by its monuments. And much of the original cultural knowledge was never written down in a form that survived.

A lesson from archaeology

Great Zimbabwe demonstrates something important about how history is constructed. Sometimes the mystery isn't hidden in the ruins. It is hidden in the assumptions people bring when they look at them.

For generations, some observers saw enormous stone walls and immediately searched for a foreign explanation. Modern archaeology eventually demonstrated that the simplest explanation was also the one the evidence supported:

African societies built Great Zimbabwe.

The remarkable achievement isn't diminished by that conclusion. If anything, it makes the story more impressive.

More than half a millennium ago, people in southern Africa created a monumental stone city, participated in long-distance international trade and developed a complex political and cultural society whose physical remains still dominate the landscape today.

Great Zimbabwe doesn't need a lost civilisation to make it extraordinary.

The civilisation that actually built it was extraordinary enough.