Sign-In
Cart
The Pre-Colonial Stonewalled Structures of Zimbabwe: An Illustrated Guide to the Archaeological Sites C.900 - 1900ad
Hardcover
African HistoryAnthropologyArchaeology
ISBN13: 9783032081117
Publisher: Springer
Published: Jan 3 2026
Pages: 269
Weight: 1.27
Height: 0.84 Width: 6.40 Depth: 9.55
Language: English
This book provides a general guide to stone-structures of the pre-colonial period called zimbabwes. This is a name which denotes their usage as prestige buildings and that a particular quality of masonry with frequent application of wall decoration patterns was required, which distinguishes them from many other stone structures of coarse workmanship. At least 300 sites are known within the borders of Zimbabwe alone, while a few more are found in Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique. However, recent findings have indicated that stone buildings in southern Angola of similar typology also carry decoration patterns that suggests a much wider distribution in the region than was previously thought.
The word Zimbabwe is of historical origin which has been customized to refer to a specific typology of stone walls and to distinguish them from the rest of low-grade buildings which number several hundred. In the 16th century, it denoted royal and chiefly settlements built in stone and it was used figuratively to imply the presence there of such important political figures. In this guide, zimbabwe (lower case and in italics) refers to stone walls whereas when in upper case it refers either to Great Zimbabwe or Zimbabwe the modern country.
This work is the first comprehensive volume to act as a guide to the archaeological stone wall structures. Zimbabwe sites are the only immovable cultural remains of substantial physical form that have been inherited from a pre-colonial past. In a post-colonial state, they are extremely valuable as tangible evidence of the historical continuity of indigenous populations with a pre-colonial past. Their history implies an inheritance for present and future generations and entrust ownership to the public. Religious activities connected with the sites imply not just vestigial importance, but embody cosmological values that bind people together. A descriptive inventory such as this guidebook serves two purposes, i.e. a heritage register to support conservation programmes and as a popular study guide to interest both local and international visitors.
Also in
Archaeology
The Death of Christ: The Bible and Popular Culture Vs Archaeological and Historical Evidence
Rutledge, Steven
Hardcover
Things We Found in the Ground: Discovering the History Buried Beneath Our Feet
Bruce, Ellie
Gray, Lucie
Paperback
Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts
Langlands, Alexander
Paperback
Treasures of Egypt: A Legacy in Photographs from the Pyramids to Cleopatra
National Geographic
Hardcover
Archaeology and the People of the Bible: Exploring the Evidence for the Historical Existence of Bible Characters
Kennedy, Titus
Paperback
The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
Wisnom, Selena
Hardcover
Those Who Walked Before: Fossil Footprints at White Sands
Bustos, David F.
Odess, Daniel
Bennett, Matthew
Paperback
Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed
Cline, Eric H.
Hardcover
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
Anthony, David W.
Paperback
The Indo-Europeans Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution Is Rewriting Their Story
Mallory, J. P.
Hardcover
The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
Lawler, Andrew
Paperback
Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age
Hapgood, Charles
Paperback
Escape from Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Its Survivors
Tuck, Steven L.
Hardcover
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
Anthony, David W.
Paperback
An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya
Taube, Karl
Miller, Mary Ellen
Paperback
The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved
Mithen, Steven
Hardcover
American Archaeology: Living History, Stolen Pasts, and Defending the Future
Burillo, R. E.
Paperback
Slaving States: From West Africa to the Ancient Mediterranean
Fentress, Elizabeth
Rabinowitz, Adam
Hardcover
The Earl and the Pharaoh: From the Real Downton Abbey to the Discovery of Tutankhamun
The Countess of Carnarvon
Paperback
The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
Wisnom, Selena
Paperback
A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i
Kirch, Patrick Vinton
Paperback
The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery
Page, Jake
Adovasio, James
Paperback
The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution
Hicks, Dan
Paperback
Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest
Turner, Christy G., II
Paperback
Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age
Sheppard, Kathleen
Hardcover
The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts
Finkelstein, Israel
Silberman, Neil Asher
Paperback
Macedonia Under the Argead Kings: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower
Worthington, Ian
Hardcover
Behind the Bears Ears: Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape
Burrillo, R. E.
Paperback
Los Cuatro Cielos: Una Nueva Historia de Los Mayas / The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya
Stuart, David
Paperback
Paper Number 89: Coastal Archaeology of Suchitepéquez and Escuintla, Guatemala; Paper Number 90: Environment and Settlement in the Jesús River Drainag
Pye, Mary Elizabeth
Arroyo, Barbara
Paperback
Turtle Island and the Tradition of Giants: When Earth Met Sky and Men Walked with Gods
Hamilton, Ross
Paperback
Arrowheads and Stone Artifacts: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist
Yeager, C. G.
Paperback
The Valkyries' Loom: The Archaeology of Cloth Production and Female Power in the North Atlantic
Hayeur Smith, Michèle
Paperback
Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns
ØStergård, Else
Fransen, LILLI
Nørgård, Anna
Paperback
An Archaeology of Milpa Cultures: Maize and Ecological Worldbuilding in Central Mexico
Alcántara, Keitlyn
Paperback
Classic Maya Social Inequality, Networks, and Collapse at DOS Pilas, Petén, Guatemala
Palka, Joel W.
Hardcover
The Bible's First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David, and Solomon
Farber, Zev I.
Faust, Avraham
Hardcover
The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols
Von Petzinger, Genevieve
Paperback
The Trouble with Ancient DNA: Telling Stories of the Past with Genomic Science
Källén, Anna
Paperback
The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World
Broodbank, Cyprian
Hardcover
Uncovering America's First War: Contact, Conflict, and Coronado's Expedition to the Rio Grande
Schmader, Matthew F.
Hardcover
The Founding of Thessaloniki: A Comparison of Literary, Archaeological and Topographical Evidence
Manoledakis, Manolis
Paperback
Roman Maritime Villas: Rediscovering Architecture in Southern Latium and Its Wider Context
Ferritto, Roberta
Hardcover
Flaked Stone Artifacts from the East Wenatchee Clovis Cache
Mehringer, Peter J., Jr.
Bradley, Bruce A.
Huckell, Bruce
Hardcover
Silk Roads, Steppe Roads: History Unearthed from the Tombs of Medieval China
Skaff, Jonathan Karam
Hardcover
Stones Still Speak: How Biblical Archaeology Illuminates the Stories You Thought You Knew
Haley, Amanda Hope
Paperback
Pueblo Bonito and Chaco Canyon Revisited: The Published Versus the Unpublished Record
Reyman, Jonathan E.
Paperback
Administrative Reality and Scribal Apparatus in the Middle Babylonian Period, with Accompanying Texts
Tenney, Jonathan S.
Hardcover
The Trouble with Ancient DNA: Telling Stories of the Past with Genomic Science
Källén, Anna
Hardcover
Talking to the Rain: Paintings and Carvings on Stone in Chihuahuan Desert Landscapes
Schaafsma, Polly
Hardcover
Capturing Water: Puebloan Resilience and Agricultural Sustainability in Chaco Canyon
Fladd, Samantha G.
Vivian, R. Gwinn
Hardcover
Sins of the Shovel: Looting, Murder, and the Evolution of American Archaeology
Morgan, Rachel
Paperback
Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales: Fossils of Washington State
Williams, David B.
Nesbitt, Elizabeth A.
Paperback
The Message of the Sphinx: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind
Bauval, Robert
Hancock, Graham
Paperback
Blackbeard's Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne's Revenge
Carnes-McNaughton, Linda F.
Wilde-Ramsing, Mark U.
Paperback
Guardians of the Dragon Path: Ancient Temples of the Pyrenees, the Way of the Stars Camino, A Magdalena Meridian
Williams, Ani
Paperback
Archaeology of the Bible: The Greatest Discoveries from Genesis to the Roman Era
Isbouts, Jean-Pierre
Hardcover
Joining the Dots: uniting Salisbury's past through holes in the ground
Mepham, Lorraine
Harding, Phil
Higbee, Lorrain
Hardcover