Chinese pottery found in Zimbabwe reveals ancient trade routes
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Archaeologists working in Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city in southeastern Zimbabwe, discovered fragments of jade-green pottery originating from China. This find indicates the empire, which flourished from around A.D. 1000, maintained long-distance trade connections with East Asia over 1,000 years ago.
The empire’s history is largely unwritten, but recent excavations led by University of Oxford archaeologist Shadreck Chirikure are revealing its scale and connections.
Initial excavations of the site in the late 19th century involved British colonists who wrongly attributed the city’s construction to the Phoenicians, a people from the Mediterranean, and removed artifacts to England. Chirikure’s team is now demonstrating that Great Zimbabwe was a thriving African kingdom connected to a wide network of trade. Archaeologists have previously found glass artifacts originating from Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East at the site.
The Chinese pottery, known as Longquan celadon, was produced in eastern China starting around A.D. 950 and requires high-temperature firing. Chirikure believes the pottery’s rarity suggests it was used by the elite within Great Zimbabwe. In addition to goods from Asia, the people of Great Zimbabwe traded with regions as far away as the Democratic Republic of Congo and modern-day South Africa for metals, and exchanged cattle within a 87-mile radius.
Chirikure plans to investigate the sources of soapstone used for the iconic Zimbabwe Birds, carvings that serve as the national emblem of Zimbabwe and appear on the country’s flag.
