The Grandeur of Great Zimbabwe Quiz

Answer: Shona

Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986, Great Zimbabwe National Monument is located near the city of Masvingo (formerly Fort Victoria), in the south-eastern part of Zimbabwe. The country, previously known as Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia, adopted the name of Zimbabwe on 1 June 1979, a year before it became officially independent. Though Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, Shona - one of the many languages in the Bantu family - is spoken by about 70% of the country's population.

The Shona people have lived for centuries in the region of Southern Africa where Great Zimbabwe is located. The site's name is widely believed to be a contraction of "dzimba-dza-mabwe", meaning "houses of stone" - from the Shona "dzimba" (houses) and "mabwe" (stones). However, Zimbabwean archaeologist Peter Garlake (the author of the definitive textbook on the site) interpreted the name as "dzimba-hwe", meaning "venerated houses" - possibly a reference to royal houses or tombs. The "Great" was added to the site's name to distinguish it from the numerous, smaller "zimbabwes" scattered around the region.

The Maasai live in Kenya and Tanzania, the Ashanti in Ghana, and the Yoruba in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa; none of these peoples are part of the Bantu family.

Answer: Portugal

In the early 16th century, Portugal already had established a substantial presence in Southern Africa, especially on the east coast (what is now Mozambique). Traders and prospectors travelling to the interior in search of gold came across Great Zimbabwe's majestic remains, and left written records of their experience. The very first visit to the site by a European may have occurred in 1513-15, when explorer (and former convict) António Fernandes wrote about some of the settlements he found during his travels through the region, mentioning buildings with similar features to those of Great Zimbabwe. The first to leave a detailed description of the site, however, was Vicente Pegado, the captain of the Portuguese garrison stationed at the port of Sofala, on the coast of the Indian Ocean; in 1531, Pegado recorded the city's name as "Symbao", which he translated as "royal court". At that time, Great Zimbabwe had already been abandoned.

The site was forgotten until 1867, when it was rediscovered by Adam Render, a German-American hunter and trader, who shared his find with German explorer Karl Mauch. The latter, who had been searching for the legendary Biblical city of Ophir, visited the ruins in 1871.

Answer: 11th

Great Zimbabwe lies on a plateau that enjoys a temperate climate, at an elevation of about 1,100 m (3,609 ft) above sea level. Though the region had been settled much earlier, around the 4th century AD, construction of the monumental complex started in the 11th century, and continued for the next 300 years. It is believed that people from the Kingdom of Mapungubwe moved north and founded Great Zimbabwe, bringing their construction skills and other crafts to the new location. Mapungubwe, which is found in north-eastern South Africa, is believed to have been abandoned some time during the 13th century. This kingdom, probably based on the trade of ivory and animal hides as well as gold, lasted about 80 years. In the early 20th century, some archaeologists believed that Great Zimbabwe had been built much earlier, but the first scientific excavations came to the conclusion that the site's origins were medieval. From the 1950s onwards, the use of radiocarbon dating has been essential in determining the time frame that is commonly accepted today.

The East-West Schism, which led to the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox Church, occurred in 1054, and the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Answer: Gold

The plateau where Great Zimbabwe stands is rich in natural resources, especially gold - which is the likely reason why people moved there from other parts of the region and established a centre that quickly became the heart of a thriving trade network. Initially, gold was found in surface deposits and panned in the rivers that run through the plateau; at a later time, when these sources were exhausted, mine pits were dug. When the ruins of Great Zimbabwe were rediscovered in the late 19th century, a number of European explorers identified the site with the legendary, gold-rich city of Ophir mentioned in the Bible. In any case, also owing to its favourable location between the gold mines and the coast of the Indian Ocean, Great Zimbabwe became the most important centre for the gold trade in sub-Saharan Africa. Ivory was also widely traded there; evidence of the city's contacts with faraway locations has been provided by some of the objects found in the ruins, such as the remains of Chinese and Persian pottery, Syrian glassware, and foreign coins.

It has been suggested that, during Great Zimbabwe's heyday, about 40% of the world's gold came from the hundreds of mines near the city. Unfortunately, the ruins were plundered at the turn of the 20th century, and most of the gold objects that had been left there by the city's former inhabitants were stolen. Iron and copper also abound in the area, and many artefacts made of both these metals have been found on the site.

Answer: They were built without mortar

The site of Great Zimbabwe covers a surface of 722 hectares (1,780 acres). Many theories have been put forward regarding the function of the Great Enclosure: the most common of them is that it was a royal palace, or in any case a residence for the city's ruling class (as evidence of living quarters would suggest). Some, on the other hand, believe the Enclosure might have been an observatory, or some kind of religious building. Its walls, which in some points measure 9.7 m (32 ft) in height, with an average thickness of 5 m (16.4 ft), were built with about 900,000 cunningly-shaped blocks of granite fitted together without the need for mortar - a technique known as "dry stone", successfully used in monumental constructions such as Machu Picchu and the cyclopean walls of Mycenae. Blocks of granite quarried from the nearby hills were heated, then cooled with water in order to split them into manageable pieces of more or less regular shape; these slabs were placed on top of each other, producing a slight inward slope that increased stability.

A striking feature of the Great Enclosure walls is their flowing, curved shape, which is even more remarkable considering the size of the stones utilized in the construction. In some portions of the walls, the stones were worked so as to create a smooth finish. Various doorways open in the walls (though no windows) - which would rule out any defensive function; some of these doorways have wooden lintels. The Great Enclosure has a circumference of 250 m (820 ft); inner walls runs parallel to the outer ones, creating narrow passageways that lead to the Conical Tower, probably the most familiar feature on the Great Zimbabwe site. Like the Great Enclosure itself, its function has been much debated: some believe it was a symbolic granary, representing the king's role in the survival of the city, while others have interpreted the tower's shape as a phallic symbol (possibly linked to rites of passage). The Conical Tower is prominently featured on Zimbabwe's coat of arms.

Answer: Acropolis

Because of its location up on an 80-m (262-ft) hill overlooking the plain, Great Zimbabwe's Hill Complex has been dubbed the Acropolis. This Greek word, meaning "upper city", is usually associated with the spectacular Ancient Greek ruins in Athens. However, the Acropolis of Athens was not the only one of its kind, and the term can be applied to any citadel built on elevated ground. The oldest of Great Zimbabwe's main areas, the Hill Complex shows evidence of human settlement from different eras. It is also surrounded by high, oval-shaped walls, known as the Eastern and Western Enclosure. These walls also incorporate some naturally-occurring granite boulders.

It is commonly believed that the Hill Complex was the city's religious centre, though it has also been referred to as Hill Fortress. However, it seems highly unlikely that it had any military purpose, because it was far from impregnable, and also lacked natural sources of water - which would have made it impossible to withstand a siege.

Answer: Mud-brick huts

The Valley Complex was probably the last part of the site to be abandoned. The huts that housed most of the city's population were built of "daga", bricks made of clay and sand traditionally used in many parts of Africa. While the remains of the daga huts are not as imposing as those of the Great Enclosure, they were the ones that yielded the largest number of artefacts, revealing at least some details about the life of Great Zimbabwe's inhabitants. While no more than 200-300 people are believed to have lived within the Great Enclosure, the majority of Great Zimbabwe's population dwelt in the valley. Many of the people who lived in the Valley Complex were artisans - not only goldsmiths and other metalworkers, but also potters, weavers and stonemasons. Excavations have also revealed an extensive drainage system running through the valley.

The remains of the daga huts show rather large structures, with a diameter of about 10 m (32.8 ft), and traces of elements such as benches, basins and shelves; they probably had thatched roofs, which added to their height. Each of these houses is surrounded by dry-stone walls, much like modern houses are separated from each other by fences. The stonework is no less accomplished than elsewhere on the site, and some of the larger huts are believed to have been painted.

Answer: Birds

The Great Zimbabwe birds may have been totemic figures, symbols of royal authority. Unique to the site, they do not represent any living bird, and have some human features - such as lips and four- or five-toed feet. Carved in steatite (also known as soapstone), the sculptures are about 40 cm (16 in) high; each bird stands on a pedestal that surmounts 90-cm (3-ft) column. They are believed to have been inspired by local bird species, such as the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle; the bateleur eagle in particular is revered by the Shona as a spiritual messenger. The birds were found in 1889 by a South African hunter, Willi Posselt, who penetrated the enclosure in the Hill Complex and found the sculptures surrounding what looked like an altar. Defying the locals' opposition, he removed one of the birds, and sold it to Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the British South Africa Company. This bird is still held at Groote Schuur, Rhodes' estate in Cape Town, South Africa, while the others have been returned to Zimbabwe in recent years. Four of them are on display in the museum that is part of the Great Zimbabwe's site. Interestingly, one of the boulders in the Hill Complex has a shape similar to that of the birds.

Upon Zimbabwe's independence, the mysterious bird image was adopted as a national emblem, and now appears not only on the country's flag and coat of arms, but also on its currency.

Answer: Overpopulation

Still very little is known about the causes that led Zimbabwe to be abandoned by its inhabitants, probably already in the mid-15 century. One of the most plausible explanations are the effects of overpopulation and mismanagement of resources. At the height of its power, Great Zimbabwe may have been home to almost 20,000 people, who obviously needed to be housed and fed. The reliance on cattle as a source of food and other commodities probably led to overgrazing and deforestation, and the soil may have been further depleted by drought - resulting in famine and water shortages. The gold mines are also likely to have become exhausted at some point, which may have caused a decline in the coastal trade, as well as political instability.

As their ancestors had done a few centuries earlier, the inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe moved north, to the region along the shores of the Zambezi River (which at present divides Zimbabwe from Zambia). There, around 1430, the prince Nyatsimba Motota founded the Kingdom of Mutapa, which endured until the mid-18th century. Some other people migrated south, where they established the Kingdom of Butua, ruled by the Torwa dynasty.

Legally protected since 1893, Great Zimbabwe still has a profound spiritual significance for the people who inhabit the region - a factor that has been beneficial for preserving the site and its environment after the massive damage done in the past by nature and human activity.

Answer: It was a Greek colony

Ever since Great Zimbabwe was first discovered by Europeans, its striking appearance and mysterious origins have fuelled all sorts of speculations. 16th century Portuguese historian João de Barros reported that Moorish traders believed the ruins to be the work of the devil. On the other hand, late 19th-century German explorer Karl Mauch speculated about a connection with the legendary city of Ophir, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (also mentioned by Barros in his writings). This theory was reinforced by the name of "Imba huru" (meaning "house of the great woman") given by the locals to the Great Enclosure.

Unfortunately, the beliefs prevalent in the West in the 19th and part of the 20th century influenced the research conducted on the site for a long time. James Theodore Bent, whose excavations were sponsored by Cecil Rhodes in the early years of the 20th century, believed the builders to be of either Phoenician or Arab origin, but definitely not native Africans. Another archaeologist hired by Rhodes, Richard Hall, inflicted serious damage to the site by removing layers of sediment that represented "the filth and decadence of Kaffir [a racial slur for Black African] occupation". Even noted archaeologist Gertrude Caton-Thompson, who in 1929 used the stratigraphy technique in her work on the site, coming to the conclusion that Great Zimbabwe had been built by Bantu people in the Christian era, commented that the ruins were the product of an "infantile mind". Between 1965 and 1979, when Zimbabwe was named Rhodesia and led by a White supremacist regime, the official line was that Great Zimbabwe had been built by non-Blacks, and any archaeologists who dissented from this line were censored. At the same time, the site grew into a powerful symbol of African nationalism and identity.

There has also been no lack of rather outlandish theories about Great Zimbabwe being the work of an alien civilization. Connections with ancient Egyptians, Vikings and Atlantis were also made at various points in the past; no one, however, has ever suggested that the city might have been a Greek colony.