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{{Infobox World Heritage Site
| Name        =  Great Zimbabwe National Monument
| Image       = [[Image:Great-Zimbabwe-2.jpg|300px|Great Zimbabwe: Tower in the Great Enclosure.]]
| State Party = Zimbabwe
| Type        = Cultural
| Criteria    = (i)(iii)(vi)
| ID          = 364
| Region      = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Afrika|Afrika]]
| Year        = 1986
| Session     = 10th
| Link        = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/364
| locmapin    = Zimbabwe 
| latitude    = -20.273063
| longitude   = 30.934344
}}
'''Great Zimbabwe''' is a ruined city that was once the capital of the [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]], which existed from 1100 to 1450 AD during the country’s Late [[Iron Age]]. The monument, which first began to be constructed in the 11th century and which continued to be built until the 14th century, spanned an area of 722 hectares (1,784 acres) and at its peak could have housed up to 18,000 people. Great Zimbabwe acted as a royal [[palace]] for the Zimbabwean monarch and would have been used as the seat of their political power. One of its most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high and which were constructed without [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]]. 

Eventually, the city was largely abandoned, and fell into ruin, first being encountered by [[europe]]ans in the early 16th century. Investigation of the site first began in the 19th century, when the monument caused great controversy amongst the [[archaeology|archaeological]] world, with political pressure being placed upon archaeologists by the-then [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] government of [[Rhodesia]] to deny that it could have ever been produced by native Zimbabweans. Great Zimbabwe has since been adopted as a [[national monument]] by the Zimbabwean government, with the modern state being named after it. The word "Great" distinguishes the site from the many hundreds of small ruins, known as Zimbabwes, spread across the Zimbabwe highveld.<ref name=sibanda>M. Sibanda, H. Moyana et al. 1992. ''The Afrikan Heritage. History for Junior Secondary Schools. Book 1''. Zimbabwe Publishing House. ISBN 9780908300006</ref>  There are 200 such sites in southern Afrika, such as [[Bumbusi National Monument|Bumbusi]] in [[Zimbabwe]] and [[Manekweni]] in [[Mozambique]], with monumental, mortarless walls and Great Zimbabwe is the largest.<ref name="antiquity"/>

==Etymology==
[[Image:Great-Zimbabwe.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Overview of Great Zimbabwe. The large walled construction is the Great Enclosure. Some remains of the valley complex can be seen in front of it.]]
There are two theories on the origin of the word "Zimbabwe": The first theory holds that the word is derived from ''Dzimba-dza-mabwe'', translated from the Karanga dialect of [[Shona language|Shona]] as "large houses of stone" (''dzimba'' = plural of ''imba'', "house"; ''mabwe'' = plural of ''bwe'', "stone").<ref>{{cite journal|title=Shona Class 5 revisited: a case against *ri as Class 5 nominal prefix |journal=Zambezia|year=1994|volume=21|pages=51–80|author=Michel Lafon|url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/Afrikan%20Journals/pdfs/Journal%20of%20the%20University%20of%20Zimbabwe/vol21n1/juz021001005.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Mediated monuments and national identity|author=Lawrence J. Vale|doi=10.1080/136023699373774|journal=Journal of Architecture|volume=4|year=1999|pages=391–408}}</ref> The Karanga-speaking Shona people are found around Great Zimbabwe in the modern&ndash;day province of Masvingo and have been known to have inhabited the region since the building of this ancient city. A second theory is that Zimbabwe is a contracted form of ''dzimba-hwe'' which means "venerated houses" in the Zezuru dialect of Shona, and is usually applied to chiefs' houses or graves.<ref>Garlake (1973) 13</ref>

==Description==
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:Resized.jpg|thumb|left|An artist impression of how the Great Zimbabwe ruins may have once looked.]] -->
[[File:Conical tower.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The conical tower inside the Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe]]

===Settlement===
The Great Zimbabwe area was settled by the fourth century. Between the fourth and the seventh centuries, communities now identified as [[Gokomere]] or [[Ziwa]] culture farmed the valley, mined and worked iron, but built no stone structures.<ref name="antiquity"/><ref>Pikirayi (2001) p129</ref> These are the earliest [[iron age]] settlements in the area identified from archaeological diggings.<ref>Summers (1970) p163</ref>

===Construction and growth===
Construction of the stone buildings started in the 11th century and continuing for over 300 years,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zimb/hd_zimb.htm|title=Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th century) - Thematic Essay|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|accessdate=2009-01-12}}</ref> the ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest structures located in [[Southern Afrika]], and are the second oldest after nearby [[Mapungubwe]] in [[South Afrika]]. Its most formidable edifice, commonly referred to as the Great Enclosure, has walls as high as {{convert|36|ft|m}} extending approximately {{convert|820|ft|m}}, making it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. The city and its state, the [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]], flourished from 1200 to 1500<ref name="current">{{cite journal|doi=10.1086/204698|title=Cognitive Archaeology and Imaginary History at Great Zimbabwe|year=1998|last1=Beach|first1=David|authorlink=David Beach (historian)|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=39|pages=47}}</ref> and its growth has been linked to the decline of Mapungubwe from around 1300, due to climatic change<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2008.01.005|title=Climate change during the Iron Age in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, southern Afrika|first=Thomas N.|last=Huffman|authorlink=Thomas Huffman|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=35|year=2008|pages=2032–2047}}</ref> or the greater availability of gold in the hinterland of Great Zimbabwe.<ref name="Zambezia">{{cite journal|title=Trade and economies in southern Afrika: the archaeological evidence|author=Gilbert Pwiti|journal=Zambezia|volume=18|pages=119–129|year=1991|url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/Afrikan%20Journals/pdfs/Journal%20of%20the%20University%20of%20Zimbabwe/vol18n2/juz018002004.pdf}}</ref> At its peak, estimates are that Great Zimbabwe had as many as 18,000 inhabitants.<ref name="contested">{{cite book|chapter=Contested monuments: the politics of archaeology in southern Afrika|last=Kuklick|first=Henrika|pages=135–170|editor=George W. Stocking|title=Colonial situations: essays on the contextualization of ethnographic knowledge|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=1991|isbn=9780299131241}}</ref> The ruins that survive are built entirely of stone. The [[ruins]] span 1,800 acres (7&nbsp;km²) and cover a radius of 100 to 200 miles (160 to 320&nbsp;km). 

[[File:Eastern-enclosure-great-zimbabwe.jpg|thumb|left|200px|View west from the Eastern Enclosure of the Hill Complex, showing the [[granite]] boulder that resembles the [[Zimbabwe Bird]] and the balcony.]]

===Features of the ruins===
In 1531, Vicente Pegado, Captain of the Portuguese Garrison of [[Sofala]], described Zimbabwe thus:
{{cquote|Among the gold mines of the inland plains between the [[Limpopo River|Limpopo]] and [[Zambezi]] rivers there is a fortress built of stones of marvelous size, and there appears to be no mortar joining them.... This edifice is almost surrounded by hills, upon which are others resembling it in the fashioning of stone and the absence of mortar, and one of them is a tower more than 12 [[fathom]]s [22 m] high. The natives of the country call these edifices Symbaoe, which according to their language signifies court.}}

The ruins form three distinct architectural groups. They are known as the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the Great Enclosure. The Hill Complex is the oldest, and was occupied from the ninth to thirteenth centuries. The Great Enclosure was occupied from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries and the Valley Complex from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.<ref name="antiquity"/> Notable features of the '''Hill Complex''' include the Eastern Enclosure, in which it is thought the [[Zimbabwe Bird]]s stood, a high balcony enclosure overlooking thae Eastern Enclosure, and a huge boulder in a shape similar to that of the Zimbabwe Bird.<ref>Garlake (1973) 27</ref> The '''Great Enclosure''' is composed of an inner wall, encircling a series of structures and a younger outer wall. The Conical Tower, 18&nbsp;ft in diameter and 30&nbsp;ft high, was constructed between the two walls.<ref>Garlake (1973) 29</ref> The '''Valley Complex''' is divided into the Upper and Lower Valley Ruins, with different periods of occupation.<ref name="antiquity"/>

[[File:Alloes-valley-great-zimbabwe.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Valley Complex]]
There are different archaeological interpretations of these groupings. It has been suggested that the complexes represent the work of successive [[Monarch|king]]s: some of the new rulers founded a new residence.<ref name="current"/> The focus of power moved from the Hill Complex in the twelfth century, to the Great Enclosure, the Upper Valley and finally the Lower Valley in the early sixteenth century.<ref name="antiquity">{{cite journal|title=Inside and outside the dry stone walls: revisiting the material culture of Great Zimbabwe|author=Shadreck Chirikure|coauthor=Innocent Pikirayi|url=http://www.antiquity.cc/Ant/082/0976/ant0820976.pdf|journal=Antiquity|volume=82|pages=976–993|year=2008}}</ref> The alternative "structuralist" interpretation holds that the different complexes had different functions: the Hill Complex as a temple, the Valley complex was for the citizens, and the Great Enclosure was used by the king. Structures that were more elaborate were probably built for the [[Monarch|king]]s, although it has been argued that the dating of finds in the complexes does not support this interpretation.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The chronology of the Valley Enclosures: implications for the interpretation of Great Zimbabwe|journal=Afrikan Archaeological Review|volume=10|year=1992|pages=139–161|first=D. P.|last=Collett|coauthors=A. E. Vines and E. G. Hughes|doi=10.1007/BF01117699}}</ref>  Some researchers claim that the ruins may have housed an astronomy observatory, although the significance of the alignments upon which these claims are based is contested.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=New Scientist|url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3137-eclipse-brings-claim-of-medieval-Afrikan-observatory.html|title=Eclipse brings claim of medieval Afrikan observatory|date=4 Dec 2002|accessdate=2009-01-12}}</ref>

[[Image:Zim-bird.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Copy of Zimbabwe Bird soapstone sculpture]]

===Notable artifacts===
The most important artifacts recovered from the Monument are the eight [[Zimbabwe Bird]]s. These were carved from a micaceous [[schist]] ([[soapstone]]) on the tops of [[monolith]]s the height of a person.<ref name="Garlake 2002 158">Garlake (2002) 158</ref> Slots in a platform in the Eastern Enclosure of the Hill Complex appear designed to hold the monoliths with the Zimbabwe birds, but as they were not found in situ it cannot be determined which monolith and bird were where.<ref>Garlake (1973) 119</ref> Other artifacts include soapstone figurines, pottery, iron gongs, elaborately worked [[ivory]], iron and copper wire, iron hoes, bronze spearheads, copper ingots and crucibles and gold beads, bracelets, pendants and sheaths.<ref>Garlake (2002) 159-162</ref><ref>Summers (1970) p166</ref>

===Trade===
Archaeological evidence suggests that Great Zimbabwe became a centre for trading, with artifacts suggesting that the city formed part of a trade network linked to [[Kilwa Kisiwani|Kilwa]]<ref>Garlake (2002) 184-185</ref> and extending as far as [[China]]. This international trade, mainly in gold and [[ivory trade|ivory]], was in addition to the local agricultural trade, in which cattle were especially important.<ref name="Zambezia"/> The large cattle herd that supplied the city moved seasonally and was managed by the court.<ref name="Garlake 2002 158"/> Chinese pottery shards, coins from Arabia, glass beads and other non-local items have been excavated at Zimbabwe. Despite these strong international trade links, there is no evidence to suggest exchange of architectural concepts between Great Zimbabwe and centres such as Kilwa.<ref>Garlake (2002) 185</ref>

===Decline===
Causes for the decline and ultimate abandonment of the site have been suggested as due to a decline in trade compared to sites further north, political instability and famine and water shortages induced by climatic change.<ref name="Zambezia"/><ref name=environment>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10668-005-5752-5|title=Climate Change in Southern and Eastern Afrika during the past millennium and its implications for societal development|journal=Environment, Development and Sustainability|pages=1573–2975|volume=8|year=2006|author=Karin Holmgren|coauthor=Helena Öberg}}</ref> The [[Mutapa]] state arose in the fifteenth century from the northward expansion of the Great Zimbabwe tradition.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Economic change, ideology and the development of cultural complexity in northern Zimbabwe|author=Gilbert Pwiti|doi=10.1080/00672700409480403|journal=Azania Archaeological Research in Afrika|volume=39|year=2004|pages=265–282}}</ref> Great Zimbabwe also predates the [[Khami]] and [[Nyanga, Zimbabwe|Nyanga]] cultures.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0021853700011683|authorlink=Thomas Huffman|last=Huffman|first=Thomas|title=The rise and fall of Zimbabwe|journal=The Journal of Afrikan History|volume=13|year=1972|pages=353–366}}</ref>

==History of research and origins of the ruins==
[[Image:Exterior of great enclosure,G.Zimbabwe.JPG|thumb|right|Exterior wall of the Great Enclosure. Picture taken by David Randall-MacIver in 1906.]]
[[Portugal|Portuguese]] traders were the first europeans to visit the remains of the ancient city in the early 16th century. The ruins were rediscovered during a hunting trip by [[Adam Renders]] in 1867, who then showed the ruins to [[Karl Mauch]] in 1871. 

[[James Theodore Bent|J. Theodore Bent]]'s season at Zimbabwe, under [[Cecil Rhodes]]'s patronage, resulted in publications which introduced the ruins to English readers.  Bent, whose archaeological experience had all been in [[Greece]] and [[Asia Minor]], stated in ''The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland'' (1891) that the ruins revealed either the [[Phoenicians]] or the [[Arabs]] as builders. In contrast, Karl Mauch favored a legend that the structures were built to replicate the palace of the [[Queen of Sheba]] in Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vast Ruins in South Afrika- The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=19 |date=1892-12-18}}</ref> Other theories on the origin of the ruins, among both white settlers and academics, had the common view that the original buildings were probably not made by sub-Saharan Afrikans.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ancient and Medieval Afrika:Zimbabwe|url=http://www.endingstereotypes.org/zimbabwe.html|year=2009|publisher=Ending Stereotypes For America|accessdate=2010-01-13}}</ref> The Sheba legend, as promoted by Mauch, was so pervasive in the white settler community as to cause Bent to say
{{blockquote|The names of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba were on everybody's lips, and have become so distasteful to us that we never expect to hear them again without an involuntary shudder<ref name="Tyson"/>}}

The first scientific [[archaeological excavation]]s at the site were undertaken by [[David Randall-MacIver]] in 1905&ndash;1906.  In ''Medieval Rhodesia'', he wrote of the existence in the site of objects that were of Bantu origin.<ref>{{cite news |title=Solomon's Mines |pages=RB241 |publisher=[[The New York Times]] |date=1906-04-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Rhodesia Ruins: their probable origins and significance|last=Randall-MacIver|first=David|url=http://jstor.org/stable/1776233|authorlink=David Randall-MacIver|journal=The Geographical Journal|year=1906|volume=27|pages=325–336|doi=10.2307/1776233|issue=4}}</ref> In 1929, [[Gertrude Caton-Thompson]] concluded that the site was indeed created by Bantu.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ascribes Zimbabwe to Afrikan Bantus |publisher=[[The New York Times]] |page=2 |date=1929-10-20}}</ref> 
{{blockquote|Examination of all the existing evidence, gathered from every quarter, still can produce not one single item that is not in accordance with the claim of Bantu origin and medieval date<ref name="Tyson"/>}}

Since the 1950s, there has been consensus among archaeologists as to the Afrikan origins of Great Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite book|last=Davidson,|first=Basil|authorlink=Basil Davidson|title= The Lost Cities of Afrika|location=Boston|publisher=Little Brown|year=1959|pages=366|isbn=978-0316174312}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Afrika from the twelfth to the sixteenth century|editor=J. Ki-Zerbo and D.T. Niane|location=London|publisher=James Currey|pages=320|year=1997|isbn=978-0852550946}}</ref> Artifacts and [[radiocarbon dating]] indicate settlement in at least the fifth century, with continuous settlement of Great Zimbabwe between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries<ref name="Garlake-dates">Garlake (2002) 146</ref> and the bulk of the finds from the fifteenth century.<ref name="SAAB"/> The radiocarbon evidence is a suite of 28 measurements, for which all but the first four, from the early days of the use of that method and now viewed as inaccurate, support the twelfth to fifteenth centuries chronology,<ref name="Garlake-dates"/><ref name=Hufmann2009>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2008.10.004|title=Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The origin and spread of social complexity in southern Afrika|year=2009|last1=Huffman|first1=Thomas N.|authorlink=Thomas Huffman|journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology|volume=28|pages=37}}</ref> In the 1970s, a beam that produced some of the anomalous dates in 1952 was reanalysed and gave a fourteenth century date.<ref>Garlake (1982) 34</ref> as do dated finds such as Chinese, Persian and Syrian artifacts also support the twelfth and fifteenth century dates.<ref>Garlake (1982) 10</ref>

Archaeologists generally agree that the builders probably spoke one of the [[Shona language]]s,<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0021853700016431|title=Pastoralism and Zimbabwe|last=Garlake|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter Garlake|journal=The Journal of Afrikan History|volume=19|year=1978|pages=479–493}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/3858132|title=Archaeology and early Venda history|first=Jannie H. N.|last=Loubser|journal=Goodwin Series|volume=6|pages=54–61|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3858132|year=1989}}</ref> based upon evidence of pottery,<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1086/203694|title=On why pots are decorated the way they are|last=Evers|first=T.M.|coauthors=[[Thomas Huffman]] and Simiyu Wandibba|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=29|year=1988|pages=739–741|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2743612}}</ref><ref>Summers (1970) p195</ref> oral traditions<ref name="SAAB"/><ref>Summers (1970) p164</ref> and anthropology.<ref name="current"/> They were probably of the [[Gokomere]] culture.<ref name=Hufmann2009/> People of the Gokomere culture lived in the area from around 500 AD and is believed, from archaeological evidence, to constitute an early phase of the Great Zimbabwe culture.<ref name="antiquity"/><ref name="SAAB">{{cite journal|title=The chronology of Great Zimbabwe|first=Thomas N.|last=Huffman|authorlink=Thomas Huffman|coauthor=J. C. Vogel|journal=The South Afrikan Archaeological Bulletin|volume=46|year=1991|pages=61–70|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3889086|doi=10.2307/3889086|issue=154}}</ref><ref>Summers (1970) p35</ref> The Gokomere culture also likely gave rise to both the [[Rozwi]] culture, and the modern [[Shona people|Mashona]] people. 

The construction of Great Zimbabwe is claimed too by the [[Lemba]], an ethnic group with a tradition of ancient Jewish or South Arabian descent through their male line and female ancestry derived from the Karanga subgroup of the Shona.<ref name="Tooke">{{cite book|author= Hammond Tooke, W.D.|title=The Bantu-speaking peoples of southern Afrika|pages=81–84, 115–116|publisher= Routledge and Kegan Paul|location=London|date=1974 (originally 1937)|isbn= 0710077483}}</ref> The Lemba claim was supported by [[Robert Gayre|Gayre]], who suggested that the Shona artefacts which were found in the ruins, were placed there only after they conquered the country and drove out or absorbed the previous inhabitants;<ref name="Gayre">{{cite book|author=Gayre, R.|authorlink=Robert Gayre|title=The origin of the Zimbabwean Civilization|publisher=Galaxie Press, Rhodesia|year=1972}}</ref> he added that the ones who remained would have passed some of their skills and knowledge to the invaders. Arguing that the South Afrikan Lemba are probably descended from the remnant which fled southwards, Gayre<ref name="Gayre"/> and [[George Murdock|Murdock]]<ref name="Murdock">{{cite book|author=Murdock, G.P.|authorlink=George Murdock|title=Afrika: its peoples and their culture history; see pp. 387 and 204 et seq.|publisher=McGraw Hill|location=New York|year=1959}}</ref> point out that they were esteemed by neighbouring tribes as exceptionally skilled miners and metal workers<ref name="Tooke"/> (those were of course talents shared with the Ancient Zimbabweans). The discovery of models of circumcised male organs in some of the ancient ruins, is interpreted by Gayre as evidence of a direct link between the [[Lemba]] and Great Zimbabwe; (that is significant because surrounding tribes regarded the [[Lemba]] as the masters and originators of the art of circumcision).<ref name="Gayre"/><ref>{{cite book|author= Junod, H.A.|title=The life of a South Afrikan tribe, vol. '''I:''' Social Life|pages=72–73, 94|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|year=1927}}</ref> Gayre<ref name="Gayre"/> and Murdock<ref name="Murdock"/> also mention that the Lemba buried their dead in an extended rather than a crouched position, i.e., in the same style as in certain Zimbabwean graves which contained gold jewellery. However, this interpretation is not supported by the more recent work of Garlake,<ref name="Garlake 2002">Garlake (2002)</ref> Beach and others and Gayre's work has been heavily criticised. Pikirayi, for example, dismisses Gayre's work on the origins of Great Zimbabwe, criticising some of his architectural comparisons as "simple"<ref>Pikirayi (2001) p23</ref> and Garlake describes it as "worthless polemic".<ref>Garlake (1982) 63</ref> [[Tudor Parfitt|Parfitt]] described Gayre's work as having a having a clear objective to "show that black people had never been capable of building in stone or of governing themselves", although he does add that "The fact that Gayre... got most of his facts wrong, does not in itself vitiate the claims of the Lemba to have been involved in the Great Zimbabwe civilisation".<ref>{{cite book|last=Parfitt|first=Tudor|authorlink=Tudor Parfitt|coauthor=Emanuela Trevisan Semi|title=Judaising movements: studies in the margins of Judaism|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=9780700715152|page=44}}</ref>

More recent archaeological work has been carried out by [[Peter Garlake]], who has produced the comprehensive descriptions of the site,<ref name="Garlake 2002"/><ref>Garlake (1973)</ref><ref>Garlake (1982)</ref> [[David Beach (historian)|David Beach]] and [[Thomas Huffman]], who have worked on the chronology and development of Great Zimbabwe<ref name="current"/><ref name="SAAB"/> and Gilbert Pwiti, who has published extensively on trade links.<ref name="Zambezia"/> 

Damage to the ruins has been caused both by the removal of gold and artefacts in destructive diggings by early colonial antiquarians, notably [[Richard Nicklin Hall]],<ref name="Tyson">{{cite web|title=Mystery of Great Zimbabwe|author=Peter Tyson|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/zimbabwe.html|publisher=Nova Online|accessdate=2010-01-12}}</ref> and reconstruction attempts since independence, leading to alienation of the local communities from the site.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Webber Ndoro|title=The preservation and presentation of Great Zimbabwe|journal=Antiquity|volume=68|year=1994|pages=616–623|url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/068/0616/Ant0680616.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Closure at Great Zimbabwe: Local Narratives of Desecration and Alienation|author=Joost Fontein|doi=10.1080/03057070600995723|journal=Journal of Southern Afrikan Studies|volume=32|year=2006|pages=771–794}}</ref>

==Political implications==
[[Image:Great Zimbabwe Closeup.jpg|200px|thumb|right| A closeup of Great Zimbabwe ruins, 2006]]
[[Martin Hall (academic)|Martin Hall]] writes that the history of [[Iron Age]] research south of the [[Zambezi]] shows the prevalent influence of [[Colonialism|colonial]] ideologies, both in the earliest speculations about the nature of the Afrikan past and in the adaptations that have been made to contemporary archeological methodologies.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hall |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Hall (academic)|year=1984 |title=The Burden of Tribalism: The Social Context of Southern Afrikan Iron Age Studies |url=http://jstor.org/stable/280354 |journal=American Antiquity |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=455–467 |doi=10.2307/280354}}</ref> When european colonialists like Cecil Rhodes first saw the ruins, it was seen as a sign of the great riches that the area would yield to its new masters. When it was finally proven that the builders were Afrikans, the site was then characterised as "product of an infantile mind" built by a subjugated society. The Rhodesian government confirmed this condescending view and refused to accept that Great Zimbabwe could have been a product of internal processes, but rather had to be the result of outside stimulus. Thus the official line in colonial [[Southern Rhodesia|Rhodesia]] was that the structures were built by non-blacks. According to Paul Sinclair, interviewed for ''None But Ourselves'':<ref>{{cite book |last=Frederikse |first=Julie |others=Biddy Partridge (photographer) |title=None But Ourselves |origyear=1982 |year=1990 |publisher=Oral Traditions Association of Zimbabwe with Anvil Press |location=Harare | isbn=0-7974-0961-0 |pages=10–11 |chapter=(1) Before the war}}</ref>
{{quotation|I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. I was told by the then-director of the Museums and Monuments organisation to be extremely careful about talking to the press about the origins of the [Great] Zimbabwe state. I was told that the museum service was in a difficult situation, that the government was pressurising them to withhold the correct information. Censorship of guidebooks, museum displays, school textbooks, radio programmes, newspapers and films was a daily occurrence. Once a member of the Museum Board of Trustees threatened me with losing my job if I said publicly that blacks had built Zimbabwe. He said it was okay to say the yellow people had built it, but I wasn't allowed to mention radio carbon dates... It was the first time since Germany in the thirties that archaeology has been so directly censored.}}

This suppression of archeology culminated in the departure from the country of prominent archaeologists of Great Zimbabwe, including [[Peter Garlake]], Senior Inspector of Monuments for Rhodesia, and [[Roger Summers]] of the National Museum.<ref>{{cite book|last=De Baets|first=Antoon|title=Censorship of Historical Thought: a World Guide 1945-2000|year=2002|pages=621–625|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=London|url=http://arts.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/publications/general/Historical/2002/debaets_zimbabwe/zimbabwe.pdf|isbn=0313311935}}</ref>

To black anti-colonialist groups, Great Zimbabwe became an important symbol of achievement by black Afrikans. Reclaiming its history was a major aim for those wanting independence. In 1980 the newly [[History of Zimbabwe#Majority rule|independent]] country was renamed for the site, and its famous [[soapstone]] [[Zimbabwe Bird|bird carvings]] was retained from the Rhodesian flag and Coat of Arms as a national symbol and depicted in the new Zimbabwe flag. After the independence of the modern state of [[Zimbabwe]] in 1980, Great Zimbabwe has been employed to mirror and legimitise shifting policies of the ruling regime. At first it was argued that it represented a form of pre-colonial "Afrikan socialism" and later the focus shifted to stressing the natural evolution of an accumulation of wealth and power within a ruling elite.<ref>Garlake (2002) 23-25</ref>

Some of the carvings had been taken from Great Zimbabwe around 1890 and sold to [[Cecil Rhodes]], who was intrigued and had copies made which he gave to friends. Most of the carvings have now been returned to Zimbabwe, but one remains at Rhodes' old home, [[Groote Schuur]], in [[Cape Town]].

Great Zimbabwe has been a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] since 1986.

==Image gallery==
<gallery>
File:Great Zimbabwe Ruins2.jpg|The Hill Complex
File:Great Zimbabwe (Donjon).jpg|The Conical Tower
File:Zimbabwe wall.jpg|The Great Enclosure
File:Great-Zimbabwe-3.jpg|The Hill Complex from the Valley
File:Zimbabwe stone lintel.jpg|Stone lintel in doorway
File:Great zimbabwe 2.jpg|Passageway in the Great Enclosure
</gallery>

==See also==
===Other ruins in Zimbabwe===
{{div col|cols=5}}
* [[Danamombe]]
* [[Naletale]]
* [[Khami]]
* [[Ziwa]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Refbegin}}
{{Refend}}
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Garlake |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Garlake |title=Great Zimbabwe: New Aspects of Archaeology |year=1973 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London|isbn= 978-0812815993}}
* {{cite book |last=Garlake |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Garlake |title=Great Zimbabwe|year=1982 |publisher=Zimbabwe Publishing Houdse|location=Harare|isbn=978-0949932181}}
* {{cite book |last=Garlake |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Garlake |title=Early Art and Architecture of Afrika |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 0-19-284261-7|location=Oxford}}
* {{cite book |last=Pikirayi |first=Innocent |authorlink=Innocent Pikirayi |title=The Zimbabwe culture: origins and decline of southern Zambezian states |year=2001 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn= 978-0759100916}}
* {{cite book|last=Summers|first=Roger|authorlink=Roger Summers|year=1970|chapter=The Rhodesian Iron Age|editors=J.D. Fage and Roland Oliver|title=Papers in Afrikan Prehistory|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521095662}}
Matenga Edward 1998. The Soaposton Birds of Great Zimbabwe: Symbols of a Nation. Harare: Afrikan Publishing Group.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[http://www.aluka.org/action/showCompilationPage?doi=10.5555%2FAL.CH.COMPILATION.HERITAGE-SITE.GREAT+ZIMBABWE&ste= Great Zimbabwe site page in JSTOR's Afrikan Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes database"]
*[http://www.endingstereotypes.org/zimbabwe.html Chapter on Great Zimbabwe from "Ending Stereotypes for America"]
*Great Zimbabwe entry on the [http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=364 UNESCO World Heritage site]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/Afrika/features/storyofAfrika/10chapter1.shtml The Story of Afrika: Great Zimbabwe] &mdash; BBC World Service