By Dr Tony Monda

I WENT on a visit to some rock art sites with a selection of local and expatriate students to study some of the interesting rock art friezes near Nharira Hills Monument just outside Harare near the Snake Park.
Very close to the sign post for Nharira Hills Monument I witnessed some foreign concern carrying out unchecked blasting of the hills for granite.
This disturbing observation prompted this article.
Should such unbridled activities be permitted at sacred sites?
Many of these sites are culturally and spiritually important heirlooms to the nation. Nharira Hills is an important rain shrine for Zimbabwe.
Our national monuments and shrines are a significant component of our past, present and future.
Archaeology can be defined as the study of past societies from their material remains.
These remains, however, represent only a fragmented part of the past daily life of the inhabitants in the area in question, since perishable items such as clothing, food and wood will have often decomposed over the ages.
Archaeologists excavate study and construct models of past societies and how they developed and changed over time.
The models must, however, be flexible enough to incorporate new evidence as it is uncovered and translated into historical data.
Zimbabwe is replete with archaeological sites in the various rocky outcrops and caves found throughout the country.
The country has recorded over 67 and probably (in my estimate, double the number), of important archaeological stone and iron age sites, including ruins, caves, forts, hills, shelters and ancient workings that were inhabited by our forebearers which show clear indication of past human activities.
However, due to the expensive and time-consuming processes involved in archaeology, relatively few sites in the country have been professionally excavated from an indigenous perspective.
Several examples of restorative archaeology have been carried out in Zimbabwe.
Redcliff Lime works for instance, which had been exposed by quarrying in the 1940s revealed Stone Age cave deposits; subsequently recovered by archaeological excavation.
The attention of archaeologists was drawn to this limestone quarry in Redcliff in 1946, from an examination of an exposed section of the quarry.
The site is situated 14 kilometres south-west of Kwekwe.
Further site digging and archaeological excavations of a number of dolomitic caves in Redcliff in search of the famous Australopithecus fossils led to another cave site being excavated in 1964.
In the main, limestone deposits were found preserved many of the extinct animals recorded to have existed in pre-historic Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean Bambata Wild Horse, also known as the Giant Cape Horse (Equus Capensis), the Giant extinct Springbok (Anti Dorcus Bondii) and species of Giant Antelope, Giant Buffalo and Giant Warthog were found in their fossilised states.
Zimbabwe’s reputation as an important major ground for pre-historic research was enhanced in early 1900 from the findings of stone flakes and human workmanship at Khame Ruins by British entomologist Dr George Arnold (1881 – 1961) and Dr Neville Jones (1880 – 1954) a British missionary-archaeologist who undertook excavations in Bambata Cave.
This brought international attention to Zimbabwe as a field for pre-historic research and established another cultural phase pre-dating that of Mesolithic Europe.
This was the first stone cave excavation ever undertaken in Southern Africa.
In Zimbabwe, archaeological research is carried out mainly by the Zimbabwean Museum of Human Sciences in Harare, and the Department of History at the University of Zimbabwe, (also Harare), where archaeology was introduced to the undergraduate course in 1984.
Several independent archaeologists, mainly of expatriate origin, have been conducting independent archaeological research throughout the country since the early 19th century.
The Matobo region near Bulawayo is particularly well known for the number and quality of its Stone Age rock art sites.
Excavations conducted during 1932 at Nswatugi Cave, a Stone Age site, in the area, unearthed one of the richest late Stone Age deposits ever found in the world. It not only contained the usual microlithic implements, but also many ornaments of bone, ivory and shale as well as a polished stone bracelet.
More recently a skeleton of what was probably a Stone Age man was found at Nswatugi Cave.
In 1895 after nearly 25 kilogrammes of gold had been found at some sites, the Government of Rhodesia (at the time), formed The Rhodesian Ancient Ruins Limited.
It was established in the hope that other ruins in the country would prove to be equally lucrative for ‘easy pickings’.
The directors of The Rhodesian Ancient Ruins Limited became known as, ‘Blanket Prospectors’ because they offered a reward in the form of magumbeze echingezi (the whiteman’s woollen blankets), to indigenous people to reveal the whereabouts of old sacred rock sites and ruins in order to extract gold and other valuable items from these places.
Over a five-year period one director, of the notorious ‘Blanket Company of Prospectors’, W.G. Neal, recovered 15,55kg of gold from 43 ruins; an estimated value of US$ 1,904 million on today’s gold market.
Licences to explore the ruins were also issued to other European prospectors.
The manner, in which the ruins and sacred caves were ransacked, destroyed valuable evidence of the history of Zimbabwean heirlooms’.
In 1900, the company ceased to operate after the damage being wrought at the sites was brought to the attention of Cecil John Rhodes and British South African Company (formed in c. 1889).
Today in post –Independence Zimbabwe, it is important that we preserve, protect, rehabilitate and reconstruct many of our sites of historical and cultural importance, which are facing collapse and degradation due to wear and tear, public abuse and natural weathering.
It is disheartening to see the sorry state of neglect of some of the natural monuments and cultural sites that we as a nation, have inherited from our rich ancestry.
Our Government needs to institute urgent and strict measures to prevent wanton destruction and desecration of our sacred sites and monuments such as Nharira and to increase manpower to rehabilitate and maintain our National Monuments.
Dr. Tony Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) and Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, musician, art critic, practising artist and Corporate Image Consultant. He is also a specialist Art Consultant and Post-Colonial Scholar.