Archaeological science, globalisation, and local agency: gold in Great Zimbabwe

Jasmine Vieri; Shadreck Chirikure; Paul Lane; Marcos Martinón-Torres

doi:10.1007/s12520-023-01811-7

Archaeological science, globalisation, and local agency: gold in Great Zimbabwe

Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 2023;15(8):127. doi: 10.1007/s12520-023-01811-7. Epub 2023 Aug 3.

Authors

Jasmine Vieri¹, Shadreck Chirikure^{2

3}, Paul Lane^{1

4

5}, Marcos Martinón-Torres^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER UK.
² Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3TG UK.
³ Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701 South Africa.
⁴ Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ UK.
⁵ School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Abstract

Great Zimbabwe (CE1000-1600) is world famous for outstanding cultural innovations and localised and globalised entanglement with trans-Africa and trans-Indian Ocean exchange. New excavations yielded fragments of over a hundred gold processing vessels comprising reused pottery and purpose-made crucibles from stratified contexts in the Eastern Ridge Ruins and adjacent areas. Selected samples were studied using archaeological, microscopic, and compositional (SEM-EDS) techniques. All ceramics were made of alumina-rich clays and contain minerals common to granite-derived lithologies typical of the area, although it is possible that particularly refractory clays were selected to make crucibles locally. These technical ceramics were used for refining and collecting gold at high temperature, most likely producing not only relatively standardised ingots but also finished objects. The composition of the gold prills set in crucible slag is consistent with that of natural, unalloyed gold, while the variability in silver levels and minor impurities point to heterogeneous sources of the gold. Considering these finds in their multiple site and regional contexts, and together with complementary threads of information from early reports of antiquarians and looters, we argue that local agency and gold consumption were much more significant than generally assumed. The conclusion to the paper is that Great Zimbabwe's famous participation in local and global exchanges was backed by internally driven but improvisation laden production and consumption occurring in homesteads located throughout its various settlements. We end by raising a word of caution about oversimplified narratives of globalisation and their archaeological expressions (see Supplementary Material S0 for the abstract in Shona).

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-023-01811-7.

Keywords: Globalisation; Gold metallurgy; Great Zimbabwe; Indian Ocean exchange; Local agency; Technology.