Cognitive Archaeology and Imaginary History at Great Zimbabwe

Abstract

The archaeology of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa is well developed, but supporting evidence from other disciplines is scanty and often suspect. Consequently, the interpretation of many features of the city that flourished ca. 1200–1500 is difficult. Thomas Huffman's well‐known reconstruction of the site's cognitive archaeology relies upon misunderstood documents, dubious oral traditions, and inappropriate comparisons to arrive at a picture of a city that was essentially static in its use of space for at least two centuries. An alternative interpretation is offered that draws upon Shona historical and anthropological sources and, explicitly, imagination to show how political processes within a Shona dynasty could have affected the building of the central part of the city. This model does not pretend to explain every feature of the site, nor does it claim to be more than one of several possible models of its kind. Nevertheless, it corresponds far more closely to the workings of Shona society, as it is known to us from history, than Huffman's.

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