COMMONERS AND ELITE AT GREAT ZIMBABWE, excavations from 1971 to 1975

204pp., 4to., b/w & colour illus., maps, paperback, Occasional Publications of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, Number 6, Pietermaritzburg, 2025

ISBN: 9780620994958

This monograph records and illustrates the large scale salvage excavations led by Thomas Huffman and his colleagues at Great Zimbabwe between 1971 and 1975, which uncovered a sizeable residential area for commoners outside the monumental stone enclosures, proving that ordinary citizens lived closely integrated with the broader town layout.

Includes contributions from Duncan Miller, Carolyn Thorp, Wendy Voorvelt and Stephen Woodborne.

"The monograph is much more than a field report ... The well-documented research results, including several new radiocarbon dates, are carefully assessed and used as a backdrop to address key issues currently dominating debates about the site. To substantiate the archeological observations, analyses and interpretation, recourse is frequently made to Portuguese eyewitness accounts of the Mutapa state, Shona customs and oral traditions, as well as Venda ethnography. The author's arguments and conclusions, which will no doubt spark new debate and research, are clearly presented in a highly readable style and format that will appeal to non-specialists as well." Jan Boeyens, Professor Emeritus, University of South Africa

Thomas Huffman (1944-2022) was Professor Emeritus and a former Head of Archaeology at the University of Witwatersrand. His publications include Palaces of Stone, uncovering ancient Southern African kingdoms (with Mike Main), Snakes & Crocodiles: Power and Symbolism in Ancient Zimbabwe and Handbook to the Iron Age: the archaeology of pre-colonial farming societies in Southern Africa.