Remains of a medieval native civilization in southeast Africa. In 1871, German explorer Karl Mauch (1837-75) set out on an expedition from South Africa. He was heading north, looking for the fabled city of Ophir, perhaps the home of the Queen of Sheba or the site of King Solomon’s Mines. However, Mauch was less interested in archaeological exploration than he was in expanding German power and influence in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. On September 5, 1871, he came across a series of stone ruins north of the Limpopo River in what was then known as Rhodesia. The ruins built of individual granite stones without the use of mortar to hold them together fascinated Mauch. Some of them were on top of a stony hill, later named the Acropolis; others were in the plain below. The site, known to the local natives as Great Zimbabwe, meaning “stone enclosure,” covered an area of more than 24 hectares (60 acres).
Mauch was extremely impressed by the grandeur of the site. He compared it to the great cathedrals and castles of Europe, and he could not conceive of it being built by Africans, whom he despised. He reported that local natives, when questioned, declared that the great wall had been built in the distant past by a foreign race of white people. In his report on the site, Mauch dated the site to before the birth of Christ. He also believed that he had found evidence that the ancient inhabitants of the lost city practiced Jewish rites of sacrifice. Mauch concluded, “The Queen of Sheba is the Queen of Zimbabwe.”