Thursday, March 28, 2013

The ancient ruins of Great Zimbabwe

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The Hill Complex of the Great Zimbabwe ruins near Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

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Construction of Great Zimbabwe's stone buildings began in the 11th century and lasted for over 300 years.

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The Hill Complex is the oldest part of the ruins, occupied from the 9th to the 13th centuries.

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The view from one of the entrances of the Hill Complex onto the Valley where the Great Enclosure is.

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These ruins were absolutely amazing.  I was stunned and freely admit it is one of the most amazing places I've ever visited.

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After Rhodesia gained independence in 1980 from the British,
the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe and Great Zimbabwe has been adopted as a national monument.

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It is also an UNESCO world heritage site!!

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The Hill Complex was the palace.

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The walls of Great Zimbabwe are as high as over 5 meters and are constructed without mortar.
There is literally nothing adhesive on these stones.  It is amazing and awe inspiring engineering.

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It is the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert and spans over 1,800 acres.

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It was believed that the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe flourished from 1200 to 1500
although the area was settled as early as the 4th century.

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In more recent colonial times, there was great controversy surrounding the ruins in the archaeological world as archaeologists were put under political pressure by the Rhodesian Government to deny that it could have been designed and built by indigenous Africans.




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