PI: Munyaradzi Elton Sagiya | Collaborators: Innocent Pikirayi, Federica Sulas | Research Assistants: Tendai Happiness Zimucha, and Munyaradzi Innocent Mashamaire | Stonemasons – Knowledge Holders: Leonard Vengai Mugabe, Daniel Mugabe, Munyaradzi Mapfuwa, Tranos Matafa, and William Mudawose | Project ID:  2020SG08 | Location of Research: Great Zimbabwe National Monument, Masvingo District | Host Institution: National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Southern Region

The thrust of this project was to document the disappearing indigenous knowledge, skills, and practices of dry-stone masonry at Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site, in southern Zimbabwe. The project was conceptualised, and partly implemented between March – April 2021. The ‘archaeologies of listening’ was deployed as a conceptual framework in the recording, analysis and discussion of dry-stone masonry knowledge, skills and practices at Great Zimbabwe. Listening is a skill, an art, a means by which knowledge is gained (Schmidt and Kehoe 2019). Central to the archaeologies of listening is what the proponents of this concept called ‘epistemic humility’ (Schmidt and Kehoe 2019:15). The epistemic humility is reflected by the readiness of the researcher to listen without privileging his/her academic and/or professional background. It is these ideas that are embedded in the archaeologies of listening that made it a relevant theoretical framework for recording indigenous dry-stone masonry knowledge, skills and practices of conserving Great Zimbabwe. Data was collected through qualitative research approaches. The main data collection tools being documentary analysis, in-depth interviews, participant observations, focus group discussion, filming and photography. The documentary analysis included detailed study of written, cartographic and imagery material concerning the recording, monitoring, and conservation of dry-stone built structures at Great Zimbabwe. For this purpose, the written and mapping material at the NMMZ archives (at Great Zimbabwe and the NMMZ’s Head Office archive in Harare) were examined to establish the history of documenting and restoring dry-stone structures. The documentary analysis also included the examination of published and unpublished (hand-written, typed and electronic) documents including books, journal articles, restoration reports, memoranda, newspapers, and photographs. These documents provided insights on how the knowledge, practice and skills of the stonemasons have developed in recent decades, but also, remain marginalized in the ever-growing literature on the conservation of the Zimbabwe culture sites. Synthesising these data was beneficial towards guiding questions during interviews and discussions, and for identifying specific attributes to be observed and recorded during participant observation activities.

Dry-stone masonry: An endangered material knowledge in the conservation of Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site.

Overall, what has emerged from this project is the fact that the preservation of Great Zimbabwe, is anchored by two diametrically positioned conservation approaches, one inspired by modernist conservation practices and the other one founded on local knowledge, skills and practices. At Great Zimbabwe as well as the rest of the country, dry-stone masonry is a skill and practice embedded in the local knowledge epistemologies. There are no formal institutions that train dry-stone masonry. It is largely believed that the stonemasonry knowledge and skills have been inherited from the ancestral builders of the ancient dry-stone built settlements predominately found in Zimbabwe with some few in the neighbouring countries of Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. It was observed through this project that currently, only few stonemasons are skilled in restoring these ancient structures. The knowledge and practices of drystone masonry have never been recorded in detail not only in Zimbabwe but in other southern African countries where these monumental stone buildings are also found. It is against this background that the findings of this project lay a foundation to other similar but large-scale research project(s) meant to safeguard this critical material knowledge in southern Africa.

The major contribution of this project has been to raise awareness about the threats facing the indigenous dry-stone masonry knowledge, skills and practices in Zimbabwe as well as southern Africa. This project provides researched-based status quo of the craftsmanship of dry-stone masonry at Great Zimbabwe. It provides information and evokes further deliberations on the future of dry-stone masonry material knowledge and practices in the conservation of the key architectural and archaeological heritage of Zimbabwe among several key stakeholders such as national heritage managing agency (NMMZ), policymakers, academics, heritage professionals, local communities, and other different publics. This project has demonstrated that in the absence of sustainable skill transfer mechanisms, the is a danger of losing the very few local experts who are experienced, skilled and knowledge in repairing the ancient dry-stone built walls. In February 2022, the Principal Investigator was invited by the organisers of the York Consortium for Conservation and Craftsmanship (United Kingdom) to deliver an online talk about the project. Besides, disseminating findings of the project to the wider publics, this platform created an opportunity to discuss about the possibilities of future collaborations and exchanges with the Yorkshire Dry Stone Walling Guild. More so, this project managed to activate a dialogue with the retired and current crop of serving stonemasons at Great Zimbabwe, and other dry-stone conservation professionals for the first time.The get-together platform that was facilitated through this project managed to establish the ongoing professional networking that promotes knowledge exchange and sharing of ideas on the safeguarding of dry-stone masonry at Great Zimbabwe. Resultantly, the project sowed the seeds for further deliberations on setting up a dry-stone masonry association in Zimbabwe. If this materialise, this be the first of its kind in southern Africa. Finally, this project has demonstrated that a large-scale documentation project of dry-stone masonry is feasible in the region where this type of heritage is predominant. This recommended large-scale project can collaborate with other European countries such as Switzerland, Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Slovenia, France, Greece and Croatia that managed to enlist the art of dry-stone masonry in their continent on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018.

Dry stone wall

Exterior western wall of the Western Enclosure in the Hill Complex, Great Zimbabwe

Dry stone wall

Exterior western wall of the Western Enclosure in the Hill Complex, Great Zimbabwe

Restoration

Repairing and restoring the collapsed wall section.

Quarrying

Henry Mugabe demostrating the fire-setting quarrying process. The demostration was done about 40m west of his homestead in Gwenhe village (6km south-west of Great Zimbabwe).

Dismantling

Munyaradzi Mapfuwa (stonemason) is systematically dismantling a wall as part of the restoration process

Collapse

The collapse of wall number 18a (Great Enclosure)

Sorting of small blocks 

Stonemasons and their assistants sorting core and face blocks from a collapsed section during the restoration process at Great Zimbabwe

Group Discussion

Stonemasons, monument surveyor and archeologists discussing the restoration process and procedure

Acknowledgments

The key knowledge-holders and practitioners who participated in this project were the retired and serving traditional stonemasons employed by the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ). Most of the stonemasons are members of the local clans and chiefdoms of Nemanwa, Mugabe and Charumbira that have ancestral claims and connections to the site. A purposively sample of elders from the local communities as well as curators, heritage managers and conservators familiar with the conservation of Great Zimbabwe were consulted and, in some cases, interviewed.