Aesthetics and African Art

African Art

The Trade Center/Royal Residence of the Great Zimbabwe

Within the jungles of Southern Africa is a palace that has been standing there for more than seven centuries. This group of walls and buildings whose "beautifully coursed walls curved and undulated sinuously over the landscape, blending into the boulder-strewn terrain as if having arisen there naturally" (Tyson). Of course this was not a naturally occurring site, but the people who built it were in doubt for many years because archeologist and others refused to believe that it could have been constructed by indigenous people. The site is called The Great Zimbabwe because it is the largest of more than 200 (Trade) which exist in different Southern African nations. It is believed to be a palace and trade center from which kings and shaman controlled a great amount of surrounding land. This paper looks at the history of the area, and the importance and function of the royal residence.

There is a great amount of conjecture regarding who actually originally constructed the buildings and walls, but there is no doubt that whatever people did were artists with stone. Many of the walls, especially those of the outer wall of the great enclosure, are more than 30 feet high and constructed of massive stones (Tyson). However the height and massive stones are not the most important part of the find. All of the stones were laid without mortar as can be seen in this picture.

All of the stones on the site are laid in precisely the same manner and have held together throughout all of those centuries. Of course, this is considered a marvel of structural engineering.

The site is believed to have been first seen by Europeans in the late 1500's when curious Portuguese tradesmen from the nearby West Africa coast heard rumors from tribesman of a great city in the interior (Ampim). However, the first recorded European siting of the city ruins was by Carl Mauch in 1871 (Tyson). He found the site because he found a German settler who trapped in the area that told him of a city that could not have been built by native Africans (Tyson). Mauch was finally taken to the site later by Karanga tribesmen (Tyson), who did not know the history of the place, but Mauch found evidence that convinced him that the German trapper was correct. One piece of evidence was a lintel, above a door, that was of a reddish, aromatic wood (Tyson). Though this wood would later prove to be local Sandalwood which grows in abundance in the region, Mauch, and many others since that time, believed it could have been cedar from Lebanon. Since the Phoenicians had been great seafarers for many hundreds of years Mauch and other concluded that they had built the city (Tyson), or that, at the very least, Arabs or another more advanced race had constructed the city.

Of course the greatest proponent of this theory was Cecil Rhodes from Great Britain. Rhodes wanted Africa to be a continent that was civilized and dominated by the British (Ampim). He believed in the sovereignty of the British Crown and worked all of his short life to try and bring the continent into the British colonial fold. Although he succeeded on a small scale, he died relatively young without completing his ultimate objective. He did, however, convince many people that the ruins at Great Zimbabwe could not have been constructed by sub-Saharan African people (Tyson). He put forth the theory that Great Zimbabwe was a site which had been constructed by the Queen of Sheba, and was where she had gotten the gold that she gave to Solomon to build the Israelite temple. Although this has all been proven false by more recent archeological investigations, it is a telling history of Britain's attempt to take indigenous peoples out of the historical mix.

The people who built the Great Zimbabwe lived at the site and built it up from approximately 1100-1450 AD (Ampim). It is divided, primarily, into two different areas. These are the Hill enclosures and those in the valley. It is believed by many that the hill enclosures were the first seats of the kings, but they eventually moved to the Great Enclosure which is in the valley. This is a picture looking down on the valley enclosure.

The Great enclosure iint he valley is also thought to have housed the harem of the king (Tyson) as the hill enclosures are thought to be the seat of religious importance and where the foundry and iron smelting took place.

Another function of the area besides ruling the people of the region was to provide trade for those who came from different areas of the world to visit. It is not known if the city itself had traders that went to the far reaches of the East or if they received traders, probably a little bit of both, but there have been some interesting articles found at the site. Trade relates that "Celedon pottery from early in the period of the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1384-1644) is one of the most frequent imports found at Great Zimbabwe," and others have seen goods from other parts of the world.

However, most of the artifacts that have been found in the area are from local artisans. These are more difficult to date (Trade) and they make it more difficult to find out exactly when events occurred at the site. Some have been noted though for their religious significance. This picture shows a soapstone bird, which is thought to be a religious symbol. Most of these types of artifacts are found in the hill enclosures, but there have been some found along the outer wall of the Great Enclosure.