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The Rise and Fall of Zimbabwe

Article in The Journal of African History · July 1972

DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700011683

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The Rise and Fall of Zimbabwe
Author(s): T. N. Huffman
Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1972), pp. 353-366
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Journal of African History, XIII, 3 (1972), pp. 353-366
Printed in Great Britain

THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE

BY T. N. HUFFMAN

RANDALL-MAC I VER developed the theory that Zimbabwe was 'essentially

African' over sixty years ago.' It has been reaffirmed with every Iron Age
excavation in Rhodesia and never seriously scientifically questioned. To
say 'essentially African', however, gives only the barest outline of a very
complex situation.
Approximately I 50 ruins are similar to Zimbabwe in Rhodesia, Moqam-
bique, Botswana and the Transvaal. According to our present knowledge,
Zimbabwe is the earliest, and, therefore, the place of origin of this culture.
For the present, the Zimbabwe culture is probably best considered as an
incipient state organization. Certainly, it was not a civilization, since no
evidence exists for the organization that makes possible writing, specialized
crafts and city status. Most of the other ruins are irrelevant to the origin of
this culture, and the present discussion will be limited to Great Zimbabwe.
Two opposing schools of thought exist within the framework of the
'essentially African' theory: a religious and a trade hypothesis. The religious
hypothesis proposes that Bantu-speaking migrants with a special religious
superiority established a kingdom prior to any external trade connections.
Only later did Arabs on the coast hear of a wealthy nation and develop
commercial contacts with it.2 Alternatively, the trade hypothesis maintains
that Zimbabwe was a result of surplus wealth from the East African gold
trade.3
Presentations of these two explanations are limited and occasionally in-
consistent. Liberty has been taken here to formalize them and emphasize
their major components to present a better understanding of their implica-
tions about state formation.

THE 'ESSENTIALLY AFRICAN' THEORY

Any theory concerning Zimbabwe's origin must be based on its stratigraphy

and the known Iron Age sequence of the area. The Acropolis contains the
only complete sequence at Zimbabwe, and both Caton-Thompson's4 and
I D. Randall-MacIver, Mediaeval Rhodesia (London: MacMillan and Co., I906), 85.
2 D. P. Abraham, 'The early political history of the Kingdom of Mwena Mutapa
(850-I 589)', in Historians in Tropical Africa, Proceedings of the Leverhulme Inter-Collegiate
History Conference (Salisbury, I962), 61-92. B. M. Fagan, Southern Africa during the Iron
Age (London: Thames and Hudson, I965), 120-I.
3 G. Caton-Thompson, The Zimbabwe Culture, Ruins and Reactions (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 193I), I96-9. A. J. E. Jaffey, 'A reappraisal of the history of the Rhodesian Iron
Age up to the fifteenth century', J. Afr. Hist. VII, 2 (I966), I93-4. R. Summers, 'Ancient
Mining in Rhodesia', Natn. Mus. Rhod. Mem. 3 (I969), 2I8.
4 Caton-Thompson, Zimbabwe Culture, 69-85.

24 AH XII

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 354 T. N. HUFFMAN

Robinson's5 excavations are in general agreement. The reader is referred

to Robinson's report for details about the stratigraphy, which is only
summarized here.
Bedrock was covered by an ochrous hill-earth containing Class i
pottery. Overlaying the hill earth were Class 2 pottery, Type A huts
(pole and daga) and cattle figurines, covered in turn by Type A huts with
Class 3 pottery. Class 3 pottery continued, but now with Type B huts
(solid daga walls and floors). The first stone wall was then built on top of a
solid daga structure. Class 4 pottery was found above this, associated with
a hut with radiating stone walls. Overlying all of the previous material were
thin deposits of Class 5 pottery. Classes I, 2 and 5 were not associated with
stone walls. Other than obvious imports, all the material from the excava-
tions was African in character, both under, above and within the stone
walls.6 This evidence is the foundation of the 'essentially African' theory.
In the 1958 excavation report this stratigraphy was divided into five
periods and interpreted as a different people for each period.7 Period I
represented an Early Iron Age occupation with Class i pottery, ending
about A.D. 400. Period II began soon after with a new population and lasted
until A.D. II00. It was characterized by Type A huts, clay figurines and
Class 2 pottery. Period III started immediately afterwards and lasted till
the 15th century. During this period the south wall of the Western En-
closure was begun, and towards the end of the period the valley was in-
habited and the Great Enclosure constructed. Class 3 pottery and Type B
huts characterized this time. During Period IV all the major buildings were
built in Q style, and gold imports were numerous. This period was thought
to have ended with the sacking of Zimbabwe by Nguni speakers in the
i8oos.
Subsequent evidence has altered the above interpretation and has
produced a shorter chronology. Firstly, the upper end of the sequence
was revised because of the absence of Portuguese Period imports. Periods
III and IV were merged and the end of the sequence placed at about
A.D. 1500, 300 years earlier than previously thought.8
This revision has not been totally accepted,9 because it could be argued
that the crucial evidence was removed by Hall and other early excavators.
It could also be argued that the Monomatapa in northern Mashonaland cut
off the trade channels to the south, so there would not have been sixteenth-
6 K. R. Robinson, 'Excavations on the Acropolis Hill', in R. Summers, K. R. Robinson
and A. Whitty, 'Zimbabwe excavations; I958', Occ. Papers Natn. Mus. Sth Rhod. iii,
3A (I96I), 159-92.
6 Randall-MacIver, Mediaeval Rhodesia; Caton-Thompson, Zimbabwe Culture;
Summers, et. al., 'Zimbabwe excavations' op cit. 7 Summers, ibid, 326-30.
8 P. S. Garlake, 'The value of imported ceramics in the dating and interpretation of the
Rhodesian Iron Age', .7. Afr. Hist. ix, i (I968), 13-33.
9 E.g. Summers, Ancient Mining, 126. Although a sixteenth century date is accepted for
the end of the sequence, separate classes and periods are kept. In 'Forty years progress in
Iron Age studies in Rhodesia, 1929-69', S. Afr. archaeol. Bull. xxv (1970), 95-103,
Garlake's work is entirely omitted.

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 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE 355

century porcelain anyway.10 Recent salvage excavations at Zimbabwe by

the author substantiate Garlake's conclusion, since no later material over-
lay the Period III/IV deposits in an undisturbed area.
This abandonment of Zimbabwe is also compatible with oral tradition.
Whereas to the north such chiefdoms as Manyika, Barwe, Teve and
Danda were well established by the mid-sixteenth century,11 the polities
around Zimbabwe for about fifty miles are of recent origin, dating from
the late seventeenth century or later. This applies to the Bonda, Ngowa,
Rufura, Govera, Manwa, Nini, southern Hera, Mhari and Duma peoples.
References to chiefdoms predating these people, such as Gwadzi and Dewe,
do not suggest large polities, although obviously later traditions would
tend to underestimate their size. Traditions from Zimuto and Gurajena,
just north of Fort Victoria, stress the emptiness of the land.
Around Zimbabwe itself the shumba-totem Nemanwa chiefdom sup-
planted that of Gwadzi at the end of the seventeenth century,12 and
entered into a close relationship with the Mwari-cult officers who continued
to offer sacrifices on the Acropolis until c. I820-30.13 Nemanwa's control
of the Zimbabwe area ended at about this time, but this was due to a west-
ward move by Mugabe's moyo-totem Duma, not to the Nguni.14 There is
no reliable oral evidence that Zwangendaba approached Zimbabwe before
he crossed the Zambezi in i835. Shortly before this, Ngwana Maseko
('Masesenyana') passed nearby on his way from Urozvi (the Rozvi area in
modern Matabeleland) to the Manyika country.'5 He fought in the Jena
country south of Zimbabwe,16 until Mugabe drove him from the area,17
but there is no evidence that he or any other Nguni leader did any damage
to Zimbabwe itself.
Secondly, the lower end of the 1958 chronology was revised when the
beginning of Period II was placed in the eighth century because of eighth
and ninth century dates for Leopard's Kopje II.18 Leopard's Kopje II and
Zimbabwe Period II represent the first Later Iron Age cultures in
Matabeleland and southern Mashonaland. Nowhere in Rhodesia does the
Later Iron Age begin until after at least two phases of the Early Iron Age,

10 P. S. Garlake, 'Rhodesian ruins-a preliminary assessment of their styles and

chronology', J3. Afr. Hist. XI, 4 (1970), 508.
"D. P. Abraham, 'The early political history of the kingdom of Mwene Mutapa', 67.
12 Sr. Mary Aquina, O.P. (Dr A. K. H. Weinrich), 'The Tribes in Victoria Reserve',
NADA, IX, 2 (I965), 8.
] The Journals of Carl Mauch, I869-I872, E. E. Burke (ed.) (Salisbury, I969), 215-I8.
14 Aquina, 'Tribes in Victoria Reserve', 8-9.
15 M. Read, The Ngoni of Nyasaland (London), 8-9.
16 H. von Sicard, 'The Dumbuseya', NADA, Ix, 5 (i968), 22-3, describes this, but
wrongly assumes Zwangendaba to be the 'Swazi' leader. A much more accurate account
by W. M. Thomas in I906 (National Archives of Rhodesia, A 3/1I8/28, N. C. Insize to
C.N.C. Bulawayo, i6 May I906) identified 'Masesenyana', who was in turn identified as
Ngwana Maseko by G. J. Liesegang, 'Nguni migration between Delagoa Bay and the
Zambezi, I82I-I839, African Historical Studies, III, 2 (1970), 319.
17 Mauch, i86. This information regarding oral tradition has been supplied by D. N.
Beach. 18 Summers, Ancient Mining, I26.

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 356 T. N. HUFFMAN

and since Leopard's Kopje II, Bambandyanalo and Zimbabwe Period II

ceramics are similar, it is postulated that they should be contemporaneous.
By the same logicWoolandale, Mapungubwe and Zimbabwe III/IV should
also be contemporaneous. Recent excavations at Leopard's Kopje Main
Kraal place Zhizo (a second phase of the Early Iron Age) in the ninth
century and Leopard's Kopje II (the beginning of the Later Iron Age) in
the tenth and eleventh centuries.19 This eleventh-century beginning for
Leopard's Kopje II is supported by similar dates for Bambandyanalo and
Mwala Hill.20 The eleventh-century date from Zimbabwe, previously used
to mark the end of Period II, is probably best considered now as a general
indication of Period II occupation.
Zhizo pottery, or any other late stamped-ware pottery is absent at
Zimbabwe; thus, there must have been an appreciable gap between Periods
I and II. Taking the rest of the Later Iron Age into consideration, Period II
could not have started until at least A.D. ioo. Zimbabwe's rise, florescence
and decline, therefore, probably occurred within a maximum of 400 years.
The shorter chronology also affects the interpretation of the ceramics.
The 'one-class one-people' interpretation appears to be based on an a priori
assumption that ceramic change must be initiated by outside influences,
and that change over time is not a normal process. The converse assump-
tion, that change is normal, is equally plausible.
The 1958 interpretation has been criticized for its subjectivity, and the
small sample on which it was based, and a continuum hypothesis for
Classes 3 and 4, has been suggested as an alternative.21 The ceramics from
the salvage excavation support this continuum and extend it to include
Khami band-and-panel ware. Figure i illustrates this seriation. There is
a gradual lengthening of jar necks and complication of design in Classes
3 and 4, and during the Khami phase, bands and panels are added to the
neck. The development from Zimbabwe Class 3 to Khami band-and-panel
ware can be seen as a gradual evolution in one ceramic tradition.
The change from Class 2 to Class 3 is not only one of degree. All Iron
Age ceramic traditions in Rhodesia, other than the Ruins Tradition, are
characterized by a multiplicity of shapes. One of the most conspicuous
differences between Classes 2 and 3 is the absence of bowls in 3. This
difference cannot be easily explained by a new population, for it is more
likely to represent a social or economic change. Since there is no evidence
of an economic difference between Periods II and III, the most plausible
explanation is a social change. If Period III represents a new population,
then the social change was made elsewhere. But the gradual replacement
of Type A huts by Type B huts and, later, the building of stone walls
suggest that the social transition took place at Zimbabwe, and it is un-
necessary to postulate a new population to explain Period III.
19 T. N. Huffman, 'Excavations at Leopard's Kopje Main Kraal: A preliminary report',
S. Afr. Archaeol. Bull. XXVI (I97I), 495-513.
20 Y-I35-17, A.D. 1050?65 (Bambandyanalo) and SR-I34, A.D. 1090 ?95 (Mawala Hill).
21 Garlake, 'Rhodesian ruins', 504.

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 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE 357

8 .

FIG. i. Diagrammatic seriation of Zimbabwe pottery to Khami band-and-panel ware:

A =- Zimbabwe Class 3; B = Class 4; C = Khami.

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 358 T. N. HUFFMAN

The two hypotheses are really concerned with explaining the transition
from Period II to III. The time of this transition is not known, even though
it is generally accepted to have taken place in the eleventh century.22 If the
eleventh century date is interpreted as a general indication of Period II, as
suggested here, then a seventy-year gap exists between the standard de-
viations of the Period II and III/IV radiocarbon dates. This seventy year
gap centres around A.D. I250.
Other Zimbabwe-phase ruins in Rhodesia, such as Zaka,23 Lekkerwater,
Harleigh Farm24 and Little Mapela25 date from the fourteenth to the
sixteenth centuries. Mapungubwe, Woolandale and Ingombe Ilede are
peasant sites typologically contemporary with Zimbabwe III/IV, and
they date from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.26 If all these Later
Iron Age dates are plotted together (Table i), a chronological gap also
appears about A.D. I250, confirming the impression from Zimbabwe that
the transition from Period II to III occurred in the thirteenth century at
the earliest.
Figure 2 summarizes the Iron Age sequence for Matabeleland and
southern Mashonaland. Zimbabwe Period II begins about A.D. iooo and
develops into III/IV in the thirteenth century. Zimbabwe is virtually
abandoned by A.D. I500, and the centre of the Ruins Tradition shifts to
Matabeleland.

All samples (see Table i opposite) representing a single component have been
combined with the formula:

mean + S2+S2+S2
9
A Mambo level at Leopard's Kopje Main Kraal: (SR-224) 845 ? 85, (N-772)
900+I00, (SR-2i6) IO00+50, (SR-2I7) I070+65, (SR-2I8) I070+80 and
(SR-2I9) I4Io+075 combined to I050+65; B = Mwala Hill (SR-I34); C =
Taba Zika Mambo (SR-68); D = Bambandyanalo (Y-I35-I7); E = Zimbabwe
Period II (M-9I4); F = Little Mapela (SR-I20); G - Woolandale (SR-44);
H - Mapungubwe (Y-I35-I4) I380+50 and (Y-I35-9) I420+60 combined
to I400+ 65; I = Zimbabwe III/IV (SR-47) I380+ go and (M-9I5) I440+ I50
combined to I4Io+ 60; J = Zaka (SR-I96) I485? 50 and (SR-I96) I695? 55
combined to I590+ 25; K Harleigh Farm (SR-25) 1300+ Izo, (SR-70)
I340+90 and (SR-70) I5Io+90 combined to I385?60; L Lekkerwater
(SR-io9) I300?120, (SR-io8) I390+ I20 and (SR-I24) I5I0+90 combined
to I400+65; M=Ingombe Ilede (GX-I368) I340+85 and (GX-I369)
I445?85 combined to I395?30; N Geelong Mine (SR-I43); and 0
Aboyne Mine (SR-53) II70+ i io and (SR-58) I300 + iio combined to I235 5 5
22 M-914, A.D. i085?150, Robinson, op. cit. I9I.
23 P. S. Garlake, 'New Rhodesian Iron Age radiocarbon dates', Rhodesian Prehistory,
in (I969), 8. 24 Summers, op. cit. I26.
25 P. S. Garlake, 'Test excavations at Mapela Hill, near the Shashi River, Rhodesia',
Arnoldia, Rhod. III, 34 (I968), I-29.
26 Summers, Ancient Mining, 124-8; D. W. Phillipson and B. M. Fagan 'The date of
the Ingombe Ilede burials', J. Afr. Hist. x, 2 (I969), 199-204.

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 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE 359
Table i. Later Iron Age dates

i6oo

I600

1400 H{j

G4i Lr
1300

01

N'd
1100 l

E-L

AI'L Di

1000

900

A.D. Sioo

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 36O T. N. HUFFMAN

MATABELELAND MASHONALAND SOUTH

1900

REFUGE PERIOD
1800

1700
KHAM I

1600

1500 1 1 ?
4

1400 WOOLANDALE ZIMBABWE

1300
1200 oi I

1100 L L'< L~ ~~I- 2 c

1200 - [
LATER~
CD IIRO AG
ZIMBABWE
1100 ~MAMBO 2
110002

LATER.~~~~~~~~3
IRON AGE z
900

800
ZHIZO MALAPATI

700

600 z 77
5004

400
GOKOMERE

300

200
EARLY IRON AGE
AD 100

FIG. 2. Iron Age sequence for Matabeleland and southern Mashonaland. Double bonds
represent genetic affinities between phases.

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 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE 36I

RELIGION VERSUS TRADE

To evaluate both hypotheses it is necessary to consider their implications

about state formation. One variant of the religious hypothesis introduces
the religious minority with a new population,27 and another develops it
from a local Leopard's Kopje base.28 But both versions imply that Zim-
babwe was a primary incipient state. The archaeological evidence indicates
that all Iron Age societies before A.D. I250 in Rhodesia were based on mixed
farming at a subsistence level. It is equally clear that no known primary
state has ever developed from such a foundation.29 In all areas of primary
civilization the centralized political authority developed from a reasonably
large population based on intensive agriculture. It is also highly unlikely
that a horticultural society would value gold to the extent assumed by the
religious hypothesis. Furthermore, primary states did not originate in
extensively open country like that around Zimbabwe, but rather in isolated
areas of high productivity that provided an incentive for people to stay,
even when they were confronted with escalating population and military
pressures.30 The first large population anywhere in Rhodesia did not
develop until Period III/IV, and then it was limited to Zimbabwe.
These points should be sufficient to make the religious hypothesis highly
improbable, but perhaps a review of the evidence for trade would be more
convincing.

PORTUGUESE DOCUMENTS

When the Portuguese first entered the Indian Ocean they found an
extensive trade network between Arabs and Shona-speaking peoples in
the interior. Gold and ivory were the major exports from Rhodesia, while
cloth, beads and glazed ceramics were the imports. Sofala was only a clear-
ing house, for the trade goods that were brought from India and China
were taxed at Kilwa before they were allowed to continue.3'

27 Abraham, 'History of Mwene Mutapa', 6I-2.

28 Garlake, 'Rhodesian ruins', 507. All of the Later Iron Age ceramic traditions share
many attributes, and it is possible that they had a common ancestor. But it is a complete
misunderstanding of ceramic typology to consider Zimbabwe Class 2 as part of the
Leopard's Kopje tradition or to have derived from it.
29 M. C. Webb, 'Carneiro's hypothesis of limited land resources and the origins of the
state; a Latin Americanist's approach to an old problem', S East. Latin Amst. xii, 3 (I968),
i-8.
30 R. L. Carneiro, 'Slash-and-burn cultivation among the Kuikuru and its implications
for cultural developments in the Amazon basin', in Y. A. Cohen (ed.), Man in Adaptation:
The Cultural Present (Chicago: Aldine, 1968), 131-45. Webb, 'Carneiro's hypothesis'.
31 'Description of the situations, customs and produce of some places of Africa (c. 1518)',
in Documents on the Portuguese in Mozambique and Central Africa (Lisbon: National
Archives of Rhodesia and Centro de Estudos Historicos Ultramarinos, x966), V, 373-8I.
'Notes made by Gasper Veloso, clerk of the factory of Mozambique and to the King
(c. 15I2)', in Documents, iii (I964), I8I-9.

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 362 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE

ARABIC DOCUMENTS

The earliest reference to a trade through Sofala in Arab documents is the

tenth century writing of Masudi.32 A Sofala area is mentioned thereafter by
Bozora (c. A.D. 950), al-Biruni (c. I030), al-Idrisi (c. II54), Yakut al Rumi
(C. I225), Ibn Sa'id (I2I4-74), Abu al-Fida (I273-I33i), al Dimshki
(c. I325), Ibn Battuta (c. I33I), al Wardi (c. I340) and Ibn Khaldun
(c. I375).33 Both Ibn Sa'id and al-Fida place the principal town of thirteenth
century Sofala at 20 south of the equator and its southern boundary at 12?
south.34 Modern Sofala is 200 south, 5I2 miles away. Consequently, the
location of early Sofala is in some doubt, although a trade with its hinter-
land and probably Rhodesia, can be assumed to have begun at an early date.
Confirmation of the documentary evidence has been found in the salvage
excavations at Zimbabwe in the form of an Arab coin. This coin has the
signature of al-Hasan bin Sulaiman on the obverse35 (Plate i), and a phrase
on the reverse which probably starts with the word 'trusts'. There were
two Sultans at Kilwa known as al-Hasan bin Sulaiman, but only the second
one (c. I320-33) is thought to have minted any coins. If this view is correct,
his inscription is one of the most common on all Kilwa coins. By a remark-
able coincidence, al Hasan bin Sulaiman II was Sultan when Ibn Battuta
visited Kilwa in A.D. I33I.
Ibn Battuta referred to Yufi in the land of the Limis, one month's march
from Sofala, as the source of gold for the Sofalan trade.36 If thirteenth-
century Sofala was near the modern one, then the land of the Limis was
probably the Rhodesian plateau. If this is true and Yufi was a settlement,
then Yufi could only have been Zimbabwe, for no other place at that time
could compare in size and importance. It seems remarkable that the only
coin ever recovered from Zimbabwe in a scientific context was minted at
the same time as the only known possible Arab reference to Zimbabwe was
recorded.

IMPORTS

It is difficult to establish precisely when Arab trading began in Rhodesia.

Kilwa is thought to have taken over the Sofalan gold trade from Mogadishu
about A.D. 1300, when there was a marked increase in the prosperity at
Kilwa.37 The comparable time at Zimbabwe, Period III/IV, also shows an

32 G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, The East African Coast-select documents from the first

to the early i9th century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, I962), 14-17.
33 E. E. Burke, 'Some aspects of Arab contact with Southern Africa', in Historians in
Tropical Africa (I962), 93-I66.
34 Freeman-GrenviUe, 'Select documents', 23-4. Burke, 'Arab contact', IoI.
35 Kindly identified by N. Chittick. 38 Freeman-Grenville, op. cit. 31.
37 N. Chittick, 'A new look at the history of Pate', J. Afr. Hist. x, 3 (I969), 375-9I.
'Discoveries in the Lamu Archipelago', Azania. iII (IQ6q), 37-67.

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PLATE i. Kilwa coin found at Zimbabwe. Obverse reads al-Hasan (bin) Sulaiman. Scale
in centimetres.

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 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE 363

increase in trade activities and wealth. Beads are found in profusion in

these deposits, besides other imports, such as fourteenth-century Syrian
glass, fourteenth-century Persian faience and fourteenth- to sixteenth-
century Chinese celadon.38 Although cloth itself is rarely found, spindle-
whorls are common in Period III/IV deposits and at other Zimbabwe-
phase sites. They probably represent the introduction of weaving by
Arabs.39 Clearly, trade with the East Coast was well established by the
fourteenth century.
Period III/IV, however, was not the first time that trade occurred at
Zimbabwe. Glass beads were found throughout the Period II deposits,40
and they are common in all Later Iron Age sites.41 Because only a few are
known from the first Phase of the Early Iron Age, and many Early Iron
Age sites contain only shell beads, these earliest glass beads could easily
have been the result of small scale village-to-village barter. They are
considerably more common in tenth-century Phase II sites, such as the
Zhizo level at Leopard's Kopje Main Kraal, Makuru near Shabani and the
Three-Mile-Water site near Que Que.42 This increase in beads may not
indicate direct trade contact with Arabs, but it does indicate an increase in
trading activities.

EXPORTS

Gold mining can be proved for Period III/IV, since gold has b
in the Leopard's Kopje III levels at Taba Zika Mambo,43 at Mapungubwe,44
Ingombe Ilede45 and several Zimbabwe-phase sites.46 The crucial question
is whether the mining of gold can be substantiated before Period III/IV.
Ancient gold mining is said to have begun by A.D. 6oo,47 but the evidence
is circumstantial: (a) similarities in simple digging techniques between
India and Rhodesia do not necessarily imply an historical connexion; (b)
the early dates for trade at Ingombe Ilede have been rejected;48 and (c),
only one ancient working, Golden Shower, actually has pottery in the
stopes. All other Early Iron Age evidence for gold mining consists of

38 Summers, Ancient Mining, 197-8.

39 T. N. Huffman, 'Cloth from the Iron Age in Rhodesia', Arnoldia, Rhod. v, I4 (1971),
'5.
40 Robinson, 'Excavations on the Acropolis'.
41 J. F. Schofield, 'Southern African beads and their relation to the beads of Inyanga',
in R. Summers, Inyanga; Prehistoric Settlement in Southern Rhodesia (Cambridge:
University Press, 1959), Appendix Io, i80-229.
42 T. N. Huffman, unpublished field notes.
43 K. R. Robinson, 'Archaeology of the Rozvi', in E. Stokes and R. Brown (eds), The
Zambesian Past: Studies in Central African History (Manchester: University Press, I966),
3-27-
44 L. Fouche, Mapungubwe, ancient Bantu civilization on the Limpopo (Cambridge:
University Press, I937); G. A. Gardner, Mapungubwe, Vol. 2 (Pretoria: Van Schaik, I963).
45 B. M. Fagan, Iron Age cultures in Zambia, Vol. I (London: Chatto & Windus, I967).
46 Summers, Ancient Mining, I84-94. 47 Ibid. II9.
48 D. W. Phillipson and B. M. Fagan, 'The date of the Ingombe Ilede bur

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 364 T. N. HUFFMAN

ancient workings with Iron Age sites nearby. But Late Stone Age, Middle
Stone Age and Later Iron Age sites are also in the neighbourhood and could
just as easily be associated with the ancient workings. If the Golden Shower
pottery was actually made by the miners, then it would be a strong case for
extensive early gold mining. But until proof has been found for gold
mining or smelting in the associated village, then the logical possibility
remains that an earlier village's refuse was used to fill a later mine stope.
Considering that Golden Shower is the only site which might contain
evidence for gold mining before A.D. IOOO, it should be held in reserve.
Only six radiocarbon dates are available for ancient mining in Rhodesia.
The earliest three range from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries.49
Even though the sample size is small, it appears significant that these three
dates bridge the time gap between Periods II and III/IV (Table i).
By correlating the independent evidence from Arab documents, glass
beads and ancient mining, one can suggest that trade contacts between the
East Coast and Rhodesia were well established before Period III/IV,
possibly by A.D. iooo. There should be little doubt, then, that Zimbabwe's
origin is due in some way to trade. This is not to deny the importance of
religion. Indeed, if the association at Golden Shower is reliable, a difference
in the political influences of religions might explain why Later Iron Age
people were able to develop a state and Early Iron Age people were not.
Rather, the emphasis here has been on the hypothesis that Zimbabwe
could not have developed without the stimulus from the Arab gold trade.

THE RISE OF ZIMBABWE THROUGH TRADE

A trade stimulus is a well-known mechanism for the format

states in Africa,50 as well as in other parts of the world.5' T
such a state can be summarized as follows:
Given a tribal society with some social stratification, the chief is the most
wealthy person. Because he entertains visiting dignitaries, donates to
weddings and funeral feasts of his people and supports other functions,
his wealth is constantly re-cycled within his tribe. Once trade contacts
with an existing state organization are established, the chief invariably
monopolizes the tribal end of it. Since the new wealth is far in excess of
that which is normally generated within the system, it cannot be re-
distributed, and wealth and political authority become increasingly con-
centrated. People can then be hired to perform a duty instead of co-
operating through a system based on kinship ties. An army, or police force,

49 Summers, op. cit. 134.

50 M. Gluckman, 'Econoia.y of the Central Barotze plain', Rhodes Livingstone Papers
No. 7; A. Smith, 'The trade of Delagoa Bay as a factor in Nguni politics, 1750-1835',
in L. Thompson (ed.) African Societies in Southern Africa (New York: Praeger, 1969),
17I-89.
r1 Webb, 'Carneiro's hypothesis'.

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 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIMBABWE 365

can be established to collect taxes to support the government, and the

functions of a state emerge.
This generalization also provides a plausible explanation for the con-
struction of Zimbabwe's monumental architecture. As the paramount
chief's wealth increased, the population of the royal settlement would
swell, partly because of the prestige of living in the settlement and the
chance that some of the wealth might find its way through the normal
redistributive channels. Even though it might not have been conceptualized
in this manner, this increased population has to be controlled. Armies and
public work projects are two alternatives which come readily to mind. The
availability of construction material at Zimbabwe makes the latter a logical
course to take, especially considering that building in stone was probably
a common feature among other Later Iron Age cultures.52 The stone walls
at Zimbabwe can then be seen as a typical step in the formation of a state.
Not only were they an ostentatious display of wealth, but they were also a
method for organizing an existing labour force.
Once the Ruins Culture reached a certain level, other areas would have
been absorbed by this state. No logical necessity arises, then, to postulate
independent origins for any other Zimbabwe- or Khami-phase ruin. Other
Zimbabwe-phase ruins appear to have been built during Zimbabwe's peak
(c. I350-1450), and probably represent an extension of political authority.
They can be visualized as local administrative centres, while Khami-phase
ruins probably represent the geographical shift of a political centre within
the same culture group.

DECLINE OF ZIMBABWE

An ecological explanation has been suggested for the decline of Zimbabwe

which is virtually indisputable.53 The large Period III/IV population at
Zimbabwe must have taxed the environment heavily. The constant demand
for firewood over several decades and the gradual exhaustion of the soil
must have made it increasingly difficult to live there without a more
efficient agricultural system. Irrigation might have been one alternative,
but it does not appear to have been practised.
Attention has been drawn to the coincidence between the decline of
Zimbabwe and the beginning of the Mwene Mutapa dynasty.54 According
to oral tradition, the move was made because the king was tired of eating
salt made from goats' dung.55 The African strategy of abandoning the land
once it is exhausted is well known, and the reference to salt sounds like a
social rationalization of this strategy.
Archaeologically speaking, it does not matter if the first Mwene Mutapa

52 E.g. Leopard's Kopje. K. R. Robinson, 'The Leopard's Kopje culture its position in
the Iron Age of Southern Rhodesia', S. Afr. Archaeol. Bull. xxi, 8i (I966), 26.
6 Garlake, 'Rhodesian ruins', 507-8. "Ibid. 507.
56 Abraham, 'History of the Mwene Mutapa', 62.

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 366 T. N. HUFFMAN

was the last king at Zimbabwe,56 or just a dissatisfied person who broke off
with a small following. Nor does it matter if Changamire was originally a
vassal of the Mwene Mutapa,57 or another member of the royal household
who established an independent dynasty on the break-up of Zimbabwe.
The significance of the ecological explanation is that the fragmentation of
Zimbabwe was ultimately due to the deterioration of the environment.

SUMMARY

Two hypotheses are available for the origin of the Zimbabwe culture. A religious
hypothesis attributes its development to an African society in isolation, placing
it in the class of a primary state. In contrast, the trade hypothesis maintains
that it was a secondary state resulting from the gold trade.
If the religious hypothesis is correct, then Zimbabwe would be an exception
to all other known cases of primary state formation. The archaeological evidence
points to a horticultural subsistence throughout the Iron Age sequence in the
area and a small population until Period III/IV. On the other hand, all known
primary states were based on large populations and intensive agriculture. It is
more likely that Zimbabwe is a typical case of secondary state formation.
The stratigraphy on the Acropolis indicates that a social transition from Period
II to III probably occurred at Zimbabwe and was not the result of an immigrant
group, and the short chronology places this transition around A.D. I250. The
evidence available from Arab documents, trade imports and ancient mining
demonstrates that trade existed well before then. Consequently, the evolution of
the Zimbabwe culture was almost certainly due to the Arab gold trade.58

Se Ibid. 62.
S D. P. Abraham, 'The Monomotapa dynasty', NADA, xxxvi (959), 59-84.
S8 Previous drafts of this paper have benefited by comments from Dr D. N. Beach,
Mr G. Bell-Cross, Mr C. K. Cooke, Miss P. Hobley, Mr M. A. Raath, and Mrs R. White.

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