Joseph O. Vogel - Great Zimbabwe

The Iron Age in South Central Africa

by
Joseph O. Vogel

First published 1994 by Garland Publishing, Inc.

Published 2019 by Routledge
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Copyright 1994 Joseph O. Vogel

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vogel, Joseph O.
Great Zimbabwe: the Iron Age in South Central Africa / Joseph O.
Vogel.
p. cm. (Research guides to ancient civilizations; v. 2)
(Garland reference library of the humanities; v. 1487)
ISBN 0-8153-0398-X
1. Great Zimbabwe (Extinct city)Bibliography. 2. Iron Age
ZimbabweBibliography. 3. Shona (African people)History
Bibliography. 4. Iron ageAfrica, Sub-SaharanBibliography. 5. Africa,
Sub-SaharanAntiquitiesBibliography. 6. ZimbabweAntiquities
Bibliography. I. Title. II. Series. III. Series: Garland reference library
of the humanities; vol. 1487.
Z3578.V64 1994
[DT3025.G84]
016.96891dc20 93-34506
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-8153-0398-5 (hbk)

In recent years there has been a significant increase of academic and popular interest in the study of past civilizations. This is due in part to the dramatic coverage of the archaeological profession in popular film and television, and extensive journalistic reporting of spectacular new finds from all parts of the world. Yet, because archaeologists and other scholars have tended to approach their study of ancient peoples and places exclusively from their own disciplinary perspectives, there has long been a lack of general bibliographic and other research resources available for the nonspecialist. This series is intended to fill that need.

Volumes in the Research Guides to Ancient Civilizations series are principally designed to introduce the general reader, student, and nonspecialist to the study of specific ancient civilizations. Each volume is devoted to a specific archaeological culture (for example, the ancient Maya of southern Mexico) or cultural region (for example, ancient Anatolia and Mesopotamia), Each volume in the series seeks to achieve, by use of careful selectivity and a critical assessment of the literature, an expression of a particular civilization and an appreciation of its achievements to guide the reader towards an understanding of its unique importance.

Each volume is written by an authority in the field and will provide a selective, annotated guide to the readily available literature (books, journal articles, essays in edited volumes, dissertations, etc.) in relevant languages. Each volume will also include an introductory essay that reviews appropriate literature for the field, suggests areas for future research, and describes the scope and organization of the work. In addition, each volume will contain extensive indexing for personal names, subjects, and other areas as appropriate.

The keynote of the Research Guides to Ancient Civilizations series is to provide, in a uniform format, an interpretation of each civilization that will express its culture and place in the world, and the qualities and background that make it unique.

Maya Civilization, the first volume in the series, is concerned with the romantic and enigmatic Maya civilization of southern Mexico and northern Central America. Forthcoming works include Paul Zimansky's volume on Urartu in eastern modern Turkey and the Indus Valley civilization of South Asia by Rita Wright. Other projected volumes will cover the archaeology and prehistory of Hohokam culture of the American Southwest, the Phoenicians of the eastern Mediterranean, and the Nile Valley civilizations among others. Still others are in the planning stage.

Great Zimbabwe: The Iron Age in South Central Africa considers the important changes that took place in sub-Saharan Africa towards the end of the first millennium B.C. These changes involved not only the spread of new types of economic organization from the north, but also widespread movements of population. New forms of society were typified by changes that took place in the grasslands of southwestern Zimbabwe. Early Iron Age villages here were replaced by larger settlements, often fortified hilltops, and by the 13th century, state-level societies had developed. This transformation is best characterized by the Zimbabwe culture with its distinctive dry-stone masonry walls that surround dwelling units and courtyards. The earliest and largest stone-walled settlement was Great Zimbabwe. The first walls were constructed about A.D. 1200 and buildings were extended until the settlement covered some 40 hectares before its abandonment in A.D. 1450. More than a hundred smaller enclosures extended over the adjacent plateau. These were the dwellings of the ruling class of Shona. They were the symbols of its power: political statements. The Zimbabwe culture demonstrates the centralized control of a complex economy in a region with rich resources. With Professor Vogel's volume, the accomplishments of the ancient Zimbabwe culture should become available for undergraduate students and experienced scholars alike, to confront, explore, and appreciate.

This research guide was written as a comprehensive, though by no means exhaustive, survey of the literature pertinent to studying the indigenous complex societies of south central Africa. Although the paramount focus of the compilation was the archaeology of Great Zimbabwe, I have drawn from a broad geographical area and a wider period of time than that usually associated with Zimbabwean culture in order to demonstrate the cultural background for the growth of monumental trading towns in south central Africa.