The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga Senior Business Reporter
LIFE in the 14th century, compared to today seems worlds apart as this generation boasts among other things technological advancement. But that does not put those people who lived during ancient times at the bottom of the ladder in terms on innovation. A trip to one of the country’s oldest and significant towns — Masvingo — buttresses the thinking that probably our ancestors were better and sophisticated architects than those of today.
Great Zimbabwe, the face of the town and probably the nation too as Zimbabwe’s name was born out of these ruins, tells a story of clever craftsmen and a well-thought out process that is not only a marvel but a sight that remains imprinted on one’s mind for a very long time.
Great Zimbabwe ruins, proclaimed a national monument in 1937, was built by the Rozvi with stones without mortar.
The patterns used to build Great Zimbabwe, according to a tour guide at the monument symbolise a number of traditional stories all well linked to how our ancestors used to rule and live.
The chevron pattern symbolises fertility while the herringbone pattern shows lineage and succession.
The dentelle pattern is a sign of political power and the check pattern is a symbol of unity.
The conical tower as it stands majestically in the residence of senior wives shows the abundant royal wealth and housed also in the great enclosure was a pre-marital school for young men and women.
One artifact that surely catches many a tourists’ eye in the museum is the zoomorphic pot known as pfuko yanevanji.
According to people in the area, the pot used to walk and anyone who tampered with it could become insane or die.
The people of Great Zimbabwe were known for iron smelting and their model of the blast furnace is yet another interesting artifact.
The blast furnace is created in the shape of a woman and this signifies strength of the iron just as a baby is made strong by their mother’s breast milk and the heat in the furnace as the iron is smelted symbolises pain and endurance faced at child birth/labour pains.
But this is not the only drawcard to the ruins as situated in the same area is an upmarket lodge built upon a ridge overlooking the Great Enclosure, the Lodge at the Ancient City.
Nestled between the monuments and Lake Mutirikwi, the lodge was built specifically to re-ignite the legend of this ancient empire.
