Great Enclosure

Zimbabwe / Masvingo / Devuli /
 archaeological site, fortification, interesting place
The Great Enclosure, part of the Great Zimbabwe ruins, is the largest pre-modern structure south of the Sahara Desert. Its stone walls and solid conical tower are built of granite blocks without mortar.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe_National_Monument
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   20°16'22"S   30°56'3"E

Comments

  • I haven't been there, but judging from some aerial photos, it looks like a huge sluice box used for placer gold mining. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_mining#Sluice_box Water enters from the top, accelerates down the corridor besides the outer walls, the tower and the walls squeezes the stream even more into two torrents, which then wash of the soil, leaving behind the gold. Miners collect the gold trapped in the filter-like chasms of the stonework. This requires deep understanding of fluid mechanics (the tower) and placer mining.
  • Michael Tellinger, who has documented many (millions even) of the silica/quartz stone circles of southern Africa, has stated his belief that this "Great Enclosure" may be far more significant than currently believed, and that indeed, it does relate to gold mining.
  • It should be noted that Michael Tellinger is a promoter of pseudoarchaelogy and an unreliable source
This article was last modified 17 years ago