Noticeably one piece of pottery is exceedingly excellent,
worthy of a good period of classic Greek ware,
The pattern round it is evidently stamped on, being
done with such absolute accuracy. It is geometric, as
all the patterns on the pottery are. It is not handmade
pottery, for on the back of it are distinct signs of
a wheel. Then there are some black fragments with
an excellent glaze and bevel, also fragments of pottery
DECO RA T ED FR A GM EN T O F PO T T E R Y
lids, and a pottery stopper, pointing to the fact that
the old inhabitants of Zimbabwe had reached an
advanced state of proficiency in ceramic art. Fragments
of one pot with holes neatly bored round the
neck remind one of water-coolers still found in the
East. Besides the fragments of pots, we found an
enormous number of small circular objects of pottery,
which may have been used as spindle-whorls, though
most of them show no signs of wear, and some of
them having rude decorations thereon. The only
fragment which shows an attempt at the use of pot-
T O P OF PO T T E R Y BOW L
tery for other than domestic purposes is a sow which
we found in a kitchen midden just outside the large
circular building on the plain, with two phalli
PO T T E R Y SOW
near it. This animal compares well with the rude
attempts to depict animal life found in prehistoric
excavations on the Mediterranean. Whether it has
any religious significance or not is, of course, only