Great Zimbabwe's Stone Walls Begin to Rise

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On a granite hilltop in the southeastern African plateau, Shona builders began constructing the mortarless stone walls that would eventually enclose the largest pre-colonial structures in sub-Saharan Africa. The stones were cut to fit without mortar - a technique requiring extraordinary precision - and the enclosures signified not defense but status: living within stone walls marked you as elite. Gold from nearby mines funded the construction; Indian Ocean trade goods furnished the interiors.