Читать книгу Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia. An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia онлайн

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The writer is fully convinced that the original west wall of the temple once extended outwards further west, and that the present west wall extending towards the south is of much more recent construction and is built on a shorter curve, also that most of the structures of the central and western portions of the building are also of much later construction, and this for many substantial reasons, some of which are here briefly stated:—

(a) The west wall is considered by all practical builders and architects to be far slighter, much inferior in construction, fuller of defects, and to contain to a greater extent ill-shaped stones than the main wall on the east side, while the foundations are at many points far more irregular, and the batter-back of the interior face of the west wall is less severe than is the case of the east side. Lengths of 25 ft. each of both walls have been examined and compared and photographed, and the number of defects of construction recorded. The number of false and “straight joints,” false and disappearing courses, and stones supported at their corners by granite chips, which the west wall contains, is roughly about forty odd to every one of such defects in the east wall, which is the architectural marvel for symmetry, grand proportion, true courses of most carefully selected and assorted blocks (some of which have been dressed with metal tools) of any other ancient architectural features at Zimbabwe. All this is an ocular demonstration, and is commented upon by the most casual visitor to these ruins. This, too, is very patent when seen from the summit of Zimbabwe Hill, the view looking down upon the temple revealing most obviously the different characters of the walls.