Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace
Great Zimbabwe · Valley N Terrace
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE)·Bronze Age urban·🇿🇼 Masvingo, Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
image:NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona modified by Mariagata1959 · Public domain
About
About Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace
Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace in Masvingo, Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Bronze Age urban. Systematic survey and magnetometry document ceramic seriation. The site includes a principal citadel and domestic quarter. Dimensions city wall circuit 1.2 km; area 18 ha; area 12.0 ha. Excavation excavated; condition preserved. Peer-reviewed reports and georeferenced plans available.
Why it mattersKey Bronze Age urban ancient-city with stratified sequence and landscape setting at 1100 m elevation.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Function and labor organization
- 02Construction technique
Theories
- 01Territorial marker
- 02Elite residence hypothesis
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 2500 BCE
- Period
- Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE)
- Culture
- Bronze Age urban
- Purpose
- Urban centre with palace and temple precinct
- Rediscovered
- 1896
- Excavation
- Excavated
c. 2500 BCE
Initial construction / foundation
c. 803 BCE
Major refurbishment / second phase
1905
Antiquarian record, modern excavation from 1960s
On the ground
Structures & features
20.2700° S · 30.9300° E · 1100 m · 3 mapped features
- Principal MonumentstructurePrincipal Monument at Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace — structure with stratified deposits20.2711° S · 30.9300° E
- Ancillary ComplexcomplexAncillary Complex at Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace — complex with stratified deposits20.2717° S · 30.9285° E
- Outlier FeatureoutlierOutlier Feature at Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace — outlier with stratified deposits20.2688° S · 30.9309° E
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