The Sunday Mail
Panashe Mabeza
The mystique of the Great Zimbabwe monument is one of the alluring qualities of the world heritage site.
Scholars and historians have always engaged in heated and fierce debate about legends associated with the monument.
One of the enduring myths of Great Zimbabwe is the claim that it used to house objects that could converse with human beings.
Among them are the famous clay pots better known as Pfuko yaKuvanji.
A curator with this national monument, Munyaradzi Sagiya, gave us an insight about the mysterious pots in a recent interview with The Sunday Mail Society.
“It is not known how the pots came into existence,” he said, adding: “Pfuko yaKuvanji (a joint name for the pots) were female and male, with one of the pots containing gold and the other precious stones.”
According to the curator, the objects were named after a native — a Kuvanji — who unsuccessfully tried to steal the stored precious stones.
Legend also has it that during early colonial days, as the British South Africa Company’s archaeologists were excavating the ruins, a white man tried to steal the gold contained in one of the clay pots. However, the pot reportedly “bit him bard” to the extent that his arm was subsequently amputated.
Historical accounts indicate that clay pots were not only used to fetch water but were also integral to the rain-making ceremony.
There are historians who believe that the pots were responsible for the strange voices that allegedly emanated from the stone enclosure.
The said voices, nonetheless, disappeared after one of the pots went missing.
Sceptics, however, dismiss every version of the tale. For instance, they argue that the voices did not come from the pots but from settlers going about their daily activities.
Mysterious sounds are not peculiar to Zimbabwe though.
In London, back in the seventies, citizens reported to have heard some strange, low-pitched noise whose source they could not detect. Similarly, in 2018, some Londoners also claim to have heard the same noise, which is now known as the “hum.”
Also, in Jerusalem, trumpets are said to have been heard “from heaven” in 2018 and the source of these mind-boggling sounds remains unknown, according to the Guardian (UK).
