Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2015
It is now 24 years since Dr Randall MacIver investigated the problems of the origin and age of the Southern Rhodesian ruins. Nothing of any scientific consequence has since been added to the evidence on the purely archaeological side, with the exception of the partial excavation of the so-called Western Temple of the Zimbabwe Acropolis.
In physical anthropology, we had, in 1924, Sir Arthur Keith's report on four ancient skeletons found in gold mines, and one from Zimbabwe itself. They were of Bantu type, but do they represent the original miners, and how old are they?
1 Procs. Rhodesia Sci. Soc. (1924) 23 20–22.Google Scholar
2 Great Zimbabwe, p. 103.
3 Medieval Rhodesia, pp. 61-4.
4 Geographical Journal (April 1906) 27, 344–5.Google Scholar
5 Great Zimbabwe, p. 239 : ‘ From the base of the northern wall of this section to the centre of this area is a cemented floor laid on a pavement of blocks ’.
6 SeeMr Douslin’s, paper in the Proceedings of the Rhodesia Scientific Association, June 1921–22.Google Scholar
7 See Schofield, J.F. ‘ Zimbabwe : a Critical Examination of the Building Methods Employed ’. South African Jmrnal of Science (Dec. 1926). 23, 971–86.Google Scholar
8 Medieval Rhodesia, pp. 42-3.