Contemporary Gold Mining in Eastern Zimbabwe: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Characteristics

Abstract

This paper is based on the dataset that I collected during my doctoral research in Eastern Zimbabwe between 2015 and 2018. The dataset represents an investigation of pre-colonial and contemporary gold mining practices in this area and covers the period from AD 1300–2018 from an anthropological and archaeological perspective. The fieldwork conducted consists of archaeological excavations and surface collections that I carried out at three selected sites. Recovered material culture was then analysed using ethnographic analogies based on interviewing contemporary gold miners who were working near these sites. The dataset will be potentially useful to southern African archaeologists by offering them new direction on pre-colonial gold mining practices in a region where these have only been partially studied as appendages of iron production processes. The use of archaeological ethnography in this research also adds a multi- dimensional perspective in the interpretation of archaeological objects associated with pre-colonial gold mining practices in Eastern Zimbabwe. Funding statement: Financial support for this research project was received from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research through the Wadsworth Foundation African Doctoral Fellowship Programme (2015–2018).

Keywords

• archaeological ethnography
• contemporary miners
• eastern zimbabwe
• mutanda
• nyahokwe
• saungweme