Khami Ruins

Capital of the Torwa state after Great Zimbabwe, with dry-stone terraces decorated in chequered patterns.

The walls were built from carefully shaped stones laid without any mortar, and many are decorated with checkerboard, herringbone and cord patterns. Today Khami is a national monument and, since 1986, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its builders had to work with hard granite and dolerite stone that was difficult to cut, so they came up with a new way of building.

A city on platforms

The builders followed the style that began at Great Zimbabwe, but changed it to suit their land. Khami's stone is hard and splits into odd shapes, so the builders made retaining walls, which hold up earth like a terrace, instead of tall free-standing walls.

Houses stood on the flat platforms behind them. This made the houses cooler, and it also kept the royal family away from the mosquitoes of the river valley, which carried malaria.

Kings and what came next

The king lived in the Hill Complex, which was built from terraces of rough walling and then covered with neat, dressed stone. The site has seven built-up areas for the royal family, while ordinary people lived in the open valley below.

Khami was the Torwa capital for about 200 years. It was then conquered by Changamire Dombo and his Rozvi army, traditionally in 1683, and later Ndebele raiders drove people away in the 1830s.

On the globe

The model shows the terraced stone walls of Khami with their chequered decoration.