Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia: An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of RhodesiaHall, R. N. (Richard Nicklin)
History
Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia: An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia
Hall, R. N. (Richard Nicklin)
Great Zimbabwe (Extinct city); Zimbabwe -- Antiquities
In 1902–3 the author unearthed the upper portion of the fractured bird
(Pl. I., fig. 1), the lower portion of which was found on the Acropolis
in 1890, together with a section of the beam upon which it once stood.
The head, neck, and shoulders of this bird are 9½ in. long. Up the
neck, front, and back is a carved protruding rib. This portion of the
bird is in an extremely good state of preservation, and the carving
shows more artistic skill than do any of the birds on beams in the Cape
Town Museum.
In 1903 the author discovered the tenth carved soapstone bird on
beam. This was found in Philips Ruins, the most interesting buildings
outside the Acropolis and Elliptical Temple. The bird and beam, which
are still intact, were found on the east side of a high and massive
wall and at the south side of a small conical tower in the North-East
Enclosure of these ruins, being buried in soil and block débris to a
depth of 3 ft. It was upside down, with the base resting against the
side of the cone, from the summit of which it most probably had fallen,
as the cone, which is approached by two steps and a platform on its
east side, was covered with granite cement, while the base of the beam
bears marks of its having once stood embedded in granite cement. All
the birds at Zimbabwe found standing, with one exception, had the bases
of the beams fixed in excellent granite cement. This bird and beam are
undoubtedly not only in the best state of preservation of any yet found
at Zimbabwe, but show evidence of more artistic workmanship having been
bestowed upon them than any of those previously discovered. Up the face
of the beam is carved a crocodile 16 in. long, and round the _cestus_
beneath the bird’s feet, which is 3 in. deep, is carved work—on one
side a large double row of chevron pattern, similar to the pattern
on the east wall of the Elliptical Temple, and on the opposite side
a single row of chevron, surmounted by two large embossed circular
discs; the back edge of the beam is plain, and the front edge above the
crocodile has two small embossed circular discs. The bird stands 11
in. high, the total height of the beam and bird being 5 ft. 5 in., its
width 8 in. on the flat sides, and 2½ in. on its end edges.
_Miniature soapstone birds_ on pedestals have been found by other
explorers of Zimbabwe, but the writer discovered only a portion of one
of such birds.
In Mr. Bent’s work are given the opinions of several of the best-known
scientists of Europe, who, by means of the birds and associated relics
found at Zimbabwe, connect the worship carried on there with that of
the ancient Sabæan people of South Arabia, who worshipped the goddess
Almaquah (Venus), the Morning Star. See Preface, also pages 181–87 of
_The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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