Khami

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Khami Ruins National Monument


State Party = ZIM
Type = Cultural
Criteria = iii, iv
ID = 365
Region = Africa
Year = 1986
Session = 10th
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/365

Khami is a ruined city in southern Africa, in what is now western and central Zimbabwe. It is located 22 kilometers west of the modern city of Bulawayo, capital of the province of Matabeleland North. Its ruins are now a national monument in Zimbabwe. Khami is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1986.

Context

The settlement that we see today was a development of the architectural form that emerged at Great Zimbabwe in the 13th century AD. The structure and style of the buildings (very little but foundations and pavements survive) show some original solutions to the problems of building in dry stone although the overall impression is of a poorer and less grand society than the one at Great Zimbabwe.

Its architecture is an innovation from Great Zimbabwe. This innovation arose out of the environment in which the city was built. With Matopan granite which is harder to quarry it was difficult to make flat stone blocks to build free-standing walls. The stones they quarried were from parent rock that exfoliates like onions following the circular nature of the rock. This was suitable for building platforms but not for free standing walls. There were also no flat hills from which to build so the broken Matopan environment had to tamed by filling up the areas in between the boulders with stones and soil. This shortage of good quality stone meant that almost all the buildings were constructed of wood-reinforced mud, of which no examples survive on the site.

History

The town appears to have been founded at the time of the disappearance of the state at Great Zimbabwe, sometime around the middle of the 15th century.

Khami was the capital of the Torwa dynasty for about 200 years from around 1450. After that, (the traditional date is 1683), it was ransacked by Changamire Dombo who led an army of rebels from the Munhumutapa State. Excavations seem to show that the site was not occupied after the Rozvi took over. The Rozvi made another Khami phase site, Danamombe (Dhlo-Dhlo), their new capital.

The site of Khami reveals seven built-up areas occupied by the royal family with open areas in the valley occupied by the commoners. The ruins include a royal enclosure or Hill Complex, which had to be on higher ground than other buildings, stone walls and hut platforms, and also a Christian cross believed to have been placed by a contemporary missionary. There are also ruins on the eastern side of the Khami River. Other platforms are believed to have been cattle kraals and a retaining wall with a chequered pattern. Recent excavations (2000-2006) have revealed that the walls of the western parts of the Hill Complex were all decorated in chequer, herringbone, cord, as well as variegated stone blocks.

See also

* Dhlo-Dhlo
* Great Zimbabwe
* Ziwa
*List of World Heritage Sites in Africa.

External links

* [http://www.bulawayo1872.com/pics/khamiruins1.htm Pictures of Khami Ruins,Bulawayo Zimbabwe]

* [http://www.bulawayo1872.com/tourist/KhamiRuins.htm Trail Guide of Khami Ruins,Bulawayo Zimbabwe]

* [http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=365 Khami Ruins National Monument] – UNESCO World Heritage Centre