The Sunday News
Cultural Heritage with Pathisa Nyathi
In the last article, we referred to the Ndebele monarch’s state roles and importance.
What we furnished was based on ethnographic sources.
In this article, we seek to find out if, what was furnished has any archaeological research basis.
When we began the series on Old Bulawayo, we did indicate initial work covered topographical survey.
It was undertaken by staff at the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) under the guidance of Ivan Murambiwa who was resident archaeologist for the Western Region.
Work commenced in December 1993 and it coincided with my removal from Gloag Secondary School to Nketa Secondary School in Bulawayo.
The topographical survey results conformed ideas gleaned from Ndebele ethnographical knowledge.
The King, being the occupant of the highest rung in the socio-economic, political and spiritual ladder, occupied the highest piece of land within the Royal Enclosure.
The Royal Enclosure happened to be the highest part of the Old Bulawayo settlement complex.
There was thus confirmation of the knowledge from ethnographic sources.
There was positive correlation between royal socio-economic and political height on the one hand and the physical height (altitude) of the land occupied by the monarch.
The higher one was in the socio-economic ladder, the higher he was located in physical terms.
This is true of other African ethnic groups.
Interviewed some years back, one Khesari Tjibumba Nthoyiwa expressed the same idea in relation to the occupation of Mapungubwe Hill at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers:
Bohhe bagele dombo,
BoNthoyiwa bagele dombo,
BoTjiBumba bagele dombo,
Zwilanda zwigele pasi kuBambanalo.
The King lived on the mountain, so were Nthoyiwa and TjiBumba, Khesari’s contemporary ancestors.
They were part of royalty that constituted aristocracy.
The commoners, however, occupied the lower place, at Bambanalo; a hill of lower altitude, and therefore lower socio-economic and political status.
Old Bulawayo physical landscape exhibited altitudinal variations, which were amicable to expressions of socio-economic hierarchies.
In July-August 1997 there was conducted the second stage of archaeological research at Old Bulawayo, which was led by Gwilym Hughes from the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit (BUFAU).
The new expanded team included students from the History Department at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom (UK).
Funds for the second stage were availed by the British Academy, the British High Commission and the Cadbury Trust.
The first stage was involved with the mapping and identification of items, or artifacts visible on the surface within the Old Bulawayo landscape.
That yielded quite an array of items of European origin.
There was already trade between the Ndebele people in general, but more specifically with the monarch and his household.
Some items were not traded.
Rather, they were gifts for the monarch who held power to either deny or accept visits by foreigners into his kingdom.
There was some customs offices to the south which at one time were manned by John Lee.
Gifts for the King were not without good reason.
Trading with the Ndebele and beyond was sanctioned by the King.
Hunters such as Henry Hartley required endorsement by the King.
Endorsement was facilitated through various gifts that were offered to the King.
The capital town was the trade centre and therefore the site for changes that were wrought on material culture.
We do know from both the fragments of bottles found at Old Bulawayo and from history sources that the King did partake of brandy that he called ibhlandi.
The 1997 geophysical surveys relied on varying magnetic susceptibility.
Different materials below ground level give different readings for magnetic susceptibility.
Through these surveys, it was possible to map the existence of different materials ranging from soil through stone and wood.
However, the kaleidoscope from varying magnetic susceptibilities did not tell a full story.
What materials were these that exhibited variations?
Such questions could not be answered by the surveys, which admittedly did identify the exact distribution, extent of the underground materials, both natural and cultural such as the wooden palisades, hut floors and stone foundations.
Strategic excavations guided by the geophysical surveys pinpointed exactly where the excavation trenches could be dug. Hit and miss affair was thus avoided.
A magnetic susceptibility survey, for example, produced a circular darker patch, which upon excavation, indicated the presence of burnt wooden stumps that were part of the wooden poles that constituted the wooden double-walled palisade that marked the limit or boundary of the Royal Enclosure.
The near complete line was broken by quite a large circular structure where the grass was lush and greener than elsewhere.
To appreciate the contrast between this area and its structures, it is important to compare it with the Commoners Enclosure.
The royal palisade was double and better suited to guarantee security and defence to the residents of the Royal Enclosure who included the monarch himself and the senior queens.
Walls, be they of clay, wood, grass or stones, demarcate different zones for different functions or utilities.
There are zones for industries, residences, royalty, commoners and grain storage, inter alia.
At times the walls provide secrecy, especially to residents who are socially and politically superior.
The double palisade demarcated commoners from royalty.
In addition to the double palisade, there was some empty space between the Royal Enclosure and the Commoners Enclosure.
This relatively vast zone was used for social and military ceremonies.
The King moved out of the Royal Enclosure to officiate during the social, economic and spiritual occasions.
Security considerations required that the big numbers of visitors keep away from the Royal Enclosure.
Indaba Tree was also located outside the Royal Enclosure.
Between the two royal palisades, it was possible that security personnel paraded along and kept watch over possible intruders seeking to harm the king and his household, either physically or metaphysically.
The King and royalty needed privacy while at the same time they needed protection and security.
The two considerations required different physical arrangements.
The two seemingly contradictory demands were mediated through the existence of a royal palisade followed by some vast empty space constituting the Commoners Enclosure, umdango.
That arrangement catered for both relative secrecy or privacy and protection and security.
The King was quite clearly an important person, importance that was expressed through architectural or physical arrangements relating to the physical landscape.
The near perfect line constituting the royal double palisade was interrupted by some cattle byre.
Its location reflected relative security for the cattle at the time when the Ndebele were resident in Matabeleland.
In earlier times, characterised by cattle raids, the cattle byre was centrally located.
However, of importance to us was the vast size of the cattle byre that bore evidence that the King, being the richest individual in the land, possessed a large herd of cattle.
The size of a man’s herd was an indicator of his wealth.
As pointed out earlier, King Lobengula had other herds kept far away from the core-state.
Remember there were some cattle farmed out to Chief Bere in Masvingo.
Commander Mgandane Dlodlo was sent to investigate the confiscation of the cattle by white colonists based in Fort Victoria (now Masvingo).
The white colonists were hell bent on spoiling for a war against the Ndebele state and nation.
Thus far, archaeological research findings relating to the double wooden palisade, the vast empty Commoners’ Enclosure, the presence of a relatively large cattle byre all point to the fact that the King indeed occupied the top-most rung in the ladder of life.
We shall continue with more research findings that corroborate what we espoused through ethnographic knowledge.
